.223 Barnes 70 Grain TSX Performance

[Whootsinator]

Location: Kentucky
Time: 10:30
Gender: Doe
Weight: Didn't weigh her, but she was a medium-large doe
Weapon: BCM AR-15 14.5" 5.56x45mm
Ammo: Barnes VOR-TX 55gr TSX
Range: ~120 yards
Shot Placement: Right behind shoulder
Terminal Effects: Blew out both lungs, no blood/damage below diaphragm
Distance Deer Traveled After Shot: ~150 yards

This deer thought the Barnes .223 VOR-TX 55gr TSX was adequate.

Fired from ~125 yards, quartering toward me a little more than I realized. Entered behind shoulder a little higher than I meant and missed the heart, took out both lungs, exited farther down the rib cage on the far side. She jumped straight up in the air, took off like a bolt of lightning, disappeared into the woods, collapsed, and died in a pool of blood. No blood trail due to height of wound, but the blood started pouring once she went down. Total distance traveled after hit was around 150 yards, total time to expire was less than ten minutes (took ten minutes from time of shot to find her, probably died sooner). No damage or blood below the diaphragm. I would say .223 and 5.56 are viable for hunting whitetail as long as you use the correct bullet designed for controlled expansion and put it where it needs to go. And maybe, just possibly, she gets cool points for being the first Aimpoint T-2 kill?

TSX recovered from water, NOT recovered from deer.


Bullet exited this side, right above the diaphragm. No blood/damage below diaphragm.

[SkyPup]

ASYM 70gr TSX COSMETIC SECONDS are available for $54.37 per box. ASYM usually has coupon codes active, AND they offer military/LE/First Responder discounts. Mil/LE/FR discounts are -very- nice, and stack with the coupon codes. Email them for details. I ordered 250 rounds for less than $1/rnd shipped.

Barnes VOR-TX 55gr TSX is available for $.66/rnd after rebate.
http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/produc...6-hollow-point
http://www.barnesbullets.com/wp-cont...m_FNLsmall.pdf

Buy 200 rounds for $200 shipped, get 100 rounds free from the Barnes rebate.

That is a great deal on some store bought Barnes TSX, so great I jumped on it!!!

Thanks a bunch....

[Whootsinator]

That is a great deal on some store bought Barnes TSX, so great I jumped on it!!!

Thanks a bunch....

I'm glad to have helped! Thank you for documenting your use of this round and your hunting adventures. It has provided a lot of helpful information to everyone who has read the thread.

[SkyPup]

200 yard Song Dog in the rain....









Then while riding home I see this in the thermal too!





Fur and Food in One Night, can't beat that!


Plus, looks like I'll be needing some bigger traps too:






Another good reason to invest in some quality NV?Thermal gear as it always freaks me out to walk up on these guys deep in the swamps at night....

[MBtech]

Dude there is a bull (cow) named Romeo and one is Top Gun, where I hunt, big...mean... and I have to cross "their" pasture with their girlfriends to get to my hunting area in the dark. So not cool.

Have you ever used the "hog hammer" ammo?

[SkyPup]

That is some of the same Barnes TSX that I hand load.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SkyPup]

HK 556A1 is dialed in and ready to kill some hogs tonight!


It does rock literally.

[SkyPup]

Ridiculously stoopid shamful selfie while freezing my arse off last night out hogging again, will post some fraternal hog killer pics of the hunt with mucho NV/Thermal gear getting used to the max....





Three manics with guns, FLIR RS64-60mm 6.8SPC, FLIR RS64-35mm 6.8SPC, and FLIR T-50 7.62/51mm:
















ZOMBIE HOGS MUST DIE!

That was 18 hogs total eradicated including the feti...and we were just getting started! Thermal rules the night again..

[SkyPup]

Then, to top it all off, one of the gang was walking in the dark to a tree stand in a dense live oak understory and spotted this boar hog off to the side with the helmet mounted FLIR M-24 and shot it at 150 yards when it crossed the trail using the FLIR RS64-60mm ThermoScope and left it there and climbed up into the 15 foot tree stand.

Fifteen minutes later he hears some barking and thinks some hunting dogs are nearby, but then all hell breaks loose 150 yards from him with yelping, barking, and howling. Looks over through the thermal and a pack of coyotes are attacking his recently deceased hog and trying to drag the carcass off deeper into the woods. Got down out of tree stand and went to go rescue the hog as the dogs were going wild in the dark. Saw the dogs in the thermal but too dense to shoot. It was all over in about three minutes when he got there and they took off, however this is the damage the coyote pack did to the hog in less than 3 minutes......





Another two minutes and they would have ripped the boar hogs head off!

[SkyPup]

Here is the REAL BEAUTY of thermal.

Drenching hot for Christmas, 100% Humid, 75*F, raining 2.5 inches all day long and still raining, thick pea soup fog cannot even see using the Red LED Blaster more than 75 feet.

Hunted for two hours out by myself and saw loads of deer and called it a night.

On the way back home going 10 mph creeping through the intense fog and rain, the FLIR M-324 thermal picks up a sounder deep in the brush as I am rounding a corner. Turn off the engine and Red LED and snake out the HK556 with FLIR T-70 over the half windshield and put a 77 grain SMK in this boar hogs ear @ 100 yards, DRT as usual....


No way would any kind of NV been useful in these conditions, thermal worked like a charm!