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Barnes – .375″ – 270gr TSX – Bullet test

Barnes Bullets is a copper bullet manufacturer from USA and is one of the biggest and oldest copper bullet manufacturers. Their history starts from the year 1932. You can found their homepage here: https://www.barnesbullets.com

We want to give our thanks to our reader who sent these .375″ Barnes TSX 270gr bullets for us to test  in our Hard-Hitting Shooting Lab. 

But to the results!

Barnes – .375″ – 270gr TSX ( Triple-Shock X ) bullet results!

TESTING

Testing was made by reloading the bullets to the 375 H&H Magnum cartridges. We measured the impact velocities ca. 5 meters from the muzzle. Harder impact velocity was 766m/s (2513fps) and the lower impact velocity was 619m/s (2031fps).

The ballistic coefficient of this bullet is 0,326 (G1). So If the velocity at the muzzle is 766m/s (2513fps), the lower impact velocity of 619m/s (2031fps) simulates the impact at the distance of 172 meters (188 yards).

THE BULLET

The Barnes TSX bullet was introduced in 2003 and they say it has become their most popular hunting bullet. Like they say on their homepage:

“Barnes’ TSX Bullet Features include all-copper construction, no fragmentation, rapid expansion, 28% deeper penetration than lead-core bullets, and maximum weight retention.”

“Barnes TSX, TTSX, and LRX share the same all-copper design resulting in virtually 100% weight retention. Four razor-sharp cutting petals expand to double the bullet’s original diameter to create a very long and wide wound channel. The TTSX differs from the TSX in that it features a re-engineered nose cavity that accommodates a polymer tip. The LRX also features a polymer tip along with a longer nose profile and a boattail design that delivers match grade accuracy at long range with an incredibly high B.C. without sacrificing terminal performance.”

At the higher velocity of 766m/s (2513fps) the expansion of the bullet was good. The bullet doubled (2,1x) its width, as the manufacturer advertices. The bullet expanded to the very end of the expansion chamber. It is possible, that this bullet can handle more velocity without breakdown, or not. By reloading you can push it even higher velocities and adjust desired impact velocity for example to the 50 meters.

Also at the slower velocity of 619m/s (2031fps) the expansion of the bullet was at the OK level (1,68x), considering that we are talking about the big-game rifle cartridge and bullet, and the impact at the 172 meters (188 yards).

Retained weights of the both bullets was almost 100% and of course at the excellent level.

WOUND CHANNELS

Test targets were the wet newspapers. The bullet with impact velocity of 766m/s (2513fps) penetrated 76cm (29,9″) of wet newspapers, and the bullet with impact velocity of 619m/s (2031fps) penetrated 74cm (29,1″). The amounts of penetrations was exellent. 

The wound channels can be seen below. Lower impact velocity and lesser mushrooming of the bullet, can clearly be seen from the cavitation.

SUMMA SUMMARUM

Really good bullet choice to .375 H & H Magnum for the big-game hunting. You can expect good working at the wide velocity range and with exellent penetration. Quality big game bullet from the biggest copper bullet manufacturer.

Sincerely yours – The Hard-Hitting Shooting Lab

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Fox Bullets Classic Hunter – .366″ – 250gr – Bullet test

Fox bullets is a bullet manufacturer from Slovenia. They are producing a lead-free hunting and training bullets which are made of copper- zinc alloy. You can found their homepage here: https://www.foxbullets.eu

We want to give our thanks to the Finnish importer Corenius for the possibility to test the Fox Bullets products in our Hard-Hitting Shooting Lab. Yes, we have quite good selection of Fox Bullet products for testing purposes, so there will be more tests! You can found Corenius’s homepage and the availability of Fox Bullets products here: https://www.corenius.fi

But to the results!

Fox Bullets Classic Hunter .366″ 250gr bullet results!

TESTING

Testing was made by reloading the bullets to the 9,3×62 cartridges. We measured the impact velocities ca. 5 meters from the muzzle. Harder impact velocity was 708m/s (2323fps) and the lower impact velocity was 646m/s (2119fps).

Note: This bullet is quite long for this weight class and it steals quite much powder capacity from the brass. Measured lenght is 38,00mm (1,49″).

The ballistic coefficient of this bullet is 0,332 (G1). So If the velocity at the muzzle is 708m/s (2323fps), the lower impact velocity of 646m/s (2119fps) simulates the impact at the distance of 74 meters (80 yards).

THE BULLET

Fox Bullets Classic Hunter bullets are designed for hunting. As they say on their homepage:

“The Fox Classic hunter are lead-free bullets designed for all hunting situations that an European hunter can experience, from a close distance shot on a wild boar on a driven hunt, to an extremely long shot on a gams in the high mountains. Bullets are lead-free and are made of copper- zinc alloy. The selected material provides an adequate deformation even at a lower impact velocities”.

“The grooves on the bullet reduce the contact surface between the bullet and the rifle barrel, which reduce the pressure and increase the speed. The degree of deformation is determined by the depth of the hole at the top of the bullet. The tip is made of thermo-stable plastic that increases the ballistics as well as the terminal effect.”

“At the impact, the bullet deforms into a mushroom shape of a double off the diameter off the caliber. A controlled and rapid expansion enables an effective transfer of energy from the bullet to the body of the game. All this together provide an extraordinary stopping effect, while at the same time keeps the games meat undamaged.”

This 250gr bullet is quite long and the shape of the bullet is quite special. With the Blaser R8 rifle, you usually can reload 9,3×62 cartridges to quite long OAL. But with this bullet, the cartridge’s overall lenght became shorter than normally, because of the shape of the bullet.

So this bullet steals quite much powder capacity from the brass, and you cannot expect very high velocities with it. We would gladly push this 250gr Classic Hunter bullet to even higher velocities than what we archieved in this test, to ensure the good expansion at the target.

At the higher velocity of 708m/s (2323fps) the expansion of the bullet was good. With this velocity, the bullet did not expand to the very end of the expansion chamber. So this bullet can probably also handle little greater impact velocities and expand even little more.

At the slower speed of 646m/s (2119fps) the expansion of the bullet was too modest, concerning the caliber used on the test and the impact velocity of the bullet. Consequently the long lenght and the heavier tail of the bullet resulted bullet to turn sideways inside the target after the expansion.

Retained weights of the both bullets were over 99% and of course at the excellent level.

WOUND CHANNELS

Test targets were the wet newspapers. The bullet with impact speed of 708m/s (2323fps) penetrated 71cm (28″) of wet newspapers, and the bullet with impact speed of 646m/s (2119fps) penetrated 69cm (27,2″). The amounts of penetrations was really good. The slower speed bullet traveled completely sideways and it can be seen from the wound channel. It tumbled quite fast after the expansion.

SUMMA SUMMARUM

Copper alloy bullets usually likes quite high velocities, because the material is harder than it is on the bullets that are made from the pure copper. And it can be seen on this bullet test. Density of the copper alloy is also usually little lower, which can be seen on the bigger size of the bullets, compared to pure copper bullets.

Our opinion is, that this bullet is not for the slow velocity reloading. You have to push it hard, to get the good results at the greater shooting distances. But with this bullet, the size and the special shape of the bullet will not help you on that mission!

At the short distances, the bullet will expand ok, and you can expect really good penetration!

Sincerely yours – The Hard-Hitting Shooting Lab