Barnes tsx 55 grain performance

by Bob Hatfield , Saturday, December 21, 2013, 19:32 (3933 days ago)

I shot a doe for canning today with my 16 inch AR with a 3x Burris scope. I used a handload consisting of a 55 grain Barnes TSX bullet over 26.2 grains of H-4895 (IIRC). This is a 5.56 pressure load according to Barnes. This load chronographs about 2860 fps out of the 16 inch barrel.

I shot the doe at a distance of 195 yards. I used a Leupold rangefinder before the shot. I hit little farther back than I like but the all copper bullet broke a rib on the way in and richochet slightly off the bottom of the vertabra and absolutely disintegrated the liver and breaking an offside rib and stopping under the hide. It was a bang flop. I did not find the bullet in the mess. It was under the hide on the offside but I lost it while gutting the deer.

I have never seen a liver blown to bits by a bullet like that before. That all copper bullet with it's 4 petals spinning an ungodly rpm is most destructive. I would venture to say it would have exited out of a 20 inch barrel with the extra velocity.

Bob