Thread: Barnes .224 50 TSX vs 55 TSX

Hi everyone,
has anyone compared the above projectiles in a 1:12 Tikka .223 ?
Are they suitable for fallow deer, goats and pigs to max. 200 yards with good shot placement or not worth the money and some other .224 projectiles would be a better choice?
Your input is much appreciated.
Cheers

My son in Canada uses the 53 gr TSX in his 22 250 as a better penetrating round than the varmint load he uses for coyotes which is a 50 gr Ballistic Silvertip. They shoot very close to the same point of impact as the varmint load and work well on deer. My wife shot a nice Whitetail Buck with one and it only took a couple of steps before dropping. Interestingly the bullet exited in several bits on that Buck which was about 50 yards away. I think you will fine they will work well on our deer , the 50 gr would be good in 222 and the 53/55 gr in the 223 etc.

Interesting,I thought the Barnes TSX are retaining their weight.But the result is what counts.Thanks for your advise

For the game you have mentioned I would be happy with the Hornady 55 gr SP / WC , it is reasonably priced at about $30 a 100 on TM and they shoot well and kill very efficiently.

It was out of a 22 250 at about 3500 fps and close. It looked as if the petals had come off but it sure did the job. I have heard over the years that they work well in the 222 / 223 so longasyour rifle likes them. I think today they aren't as hard to get shooting well as in the early days.

I have tried most over the years and still go back to the 55grn SP Hornady they are bloody awesome on all game and cheap.

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The 55 gr TSX out of an X Bolt destroys stags for my mate. I load his gear.

They retain their weight very well, but if driven too fast the petals can break off, as happened in Mooseman’s 22-250. This will probably never happen in a .223 (with pills of this weight range anyway)

They are crazy good in my 22-250. But how well would they work in the 223? I image they would lose effective at a much shorter range due to the lower velocity of the 223.
I have also found the Hornady V Max to be very good. Give them both a go and see which you prefer.

I was using 55 gr Sierras on Fallow & a lot of Sika including some big Sika stags & they always worked a charm.

I’ve also used the 55 gr Hornady SP’s as mentioned above on alit of goats & some fallow & wouldn’t hesitate using them either.

Another projectile is the 63 gr Sierras which I’ve found to be a harder projectile but still get the job done.

I found the Barnes to be an expensive projectile which I couldn’t get to group in my rifle & shuddered at the expense of them as opposed to the Hornady & Sierra’s which always got the job done anyway.

I used the 60g nosler partition in mine .223 ,worked well but a bit pricey.

I've never tried tsx in .224 but have and still do in 7mm mag I've found if I drive them over 2950fps the petals start coming off but they still do the job the down side for me is the tsx leaves my barrel dirty even after only 2-3 shots the Barnes tsx 160gn in 7mag does kill well and does penetrate deep so judging by how they perform in 7mag even though 223 is smaller I think the tsx would be an ideal bullet for deer size animals as well you don't get a lot of meat damage not even in wild cattle size animals with 7mm sometimes I think too much thought goes into projectiles and things start to blurr as far as projectiles go . I was looking for a good allrounder for the 7mag so I tried many projectiles a lot good a lot not so good but I ended up back with the common old fb 154gn soft nose it works as good as some and better than some so a good all rounder and cheap also and deadly accurate out to 600yds which is all I've shot to when I have tested it. As far as the Vmax goes I shoot 55gn Vmax in my 22-250 and only Vmax for ferals but i'd stall at using them on deer size animals they damage large areas of meat because they blow up shallow although some people say they have had them go right through small pigs but I have never had that happen to me we have a large wild dog problem over here and I've never had a Vmax go right through one of them and I've shot hundreds some people confuse Amax with Vmax i'm led to believe Amax is a slightly harder bullet than Vmax I've found the Vmax comes apart rapidly once it enters the animal especially at high speed mine run at 3414fps. ( NOTE) the tsx are expensive over here so I presume they're expensive over there as well

I used to use the Hornady V-Max 50 +55 grain on rabbits and hares and they did a lot of meat damage and never had any bullets that went right through,- I changed to 50grain Nosler SP and lately to Sierra 55grain HP for better meat recovery.
For goats and fallow up to 200yds, I will try the .223 with 55grain Hornady w/cannelure,-heard only good things so far, and cost only a fraction of the Barnes tsx.
Cheers

50grn ttsx work great in .223...so far a couple or 4 red deer and a couple of pigs including a 140ish pound boar at 150ish yards,one shot angling through crease into chest and broke offside shoulder.... they work. have got some 55grn TTSX loads but havent tried them yet....cant see them being any better or worse.

Sierra 1345’s are good, I believe they’re the bullet @Seventenths is referring to. (I know this because I stole the idea from him)