Aight so I’m getting a 308. I am going to shoot barnes ttsx more than likely. Do i go with 168 or 150. This will be a deer rifle pretty much only. If I ever have a rich uncle give me some money I might get to go out west. Also any other ammo recommendations. I shoot barnes in my other rifles and have been very pleased but I would entertain other ideas if for some reason this gun doesn’t like them.

If you're set on using Barnes, go with lighter bullets. Check out the 130 TTSX loads.

For just deer in a 308, a TTSX over 150 is more bullet than you need, and velocity is your friend with a TTSX. Thought about the 130gr TTSX? I prefer regular cup and core for anything over 223 or so, for deer or hogs. Going bigger? Sure. Your bullet gets more help being violent on big stuff, and penetration is harder to come by. Just my opinions. There’s just not gonna be much difference in some of the stuff you already use, unless you go heavy and slow it down and decrease expansion too much on deer.

It's a roll of the dice if the rifle will like either of those bullet's.i bought a Tikka 308 hoping it liked nosler accubond 150gr to run kinda hard with cfe223 powder but no luck.it ended up shooting Hornady 165 btsp real well same as my other 308's and it shoots Hornady btsp 150's good also.i haven't fooled with all copper bullet's yet though still feel like they are made for California folks that can't hunt with lead...

Will you explain why you would go lighter with a copper bullet. Is it density kinda like shooting tss. I know I’m shooting 180s out of a 300 win mag and it’s devastating on a deer. I had that gun set up to go elk hunting and the stork visited my house the exact week I was supposed to be gone. The gun shot them so well I stuck with em. But they’re a little much for deer. I guess the 168s would be the same?

Shoot what your rifle likes. Mine happens to like the Hornady 168 btsp the best so that's what I shoot. The difference is a 2-3" group & a 1" group at a100yds vs other ammo.

I think it goes like this, copper is lighter than lead so the heavier copper bullets are really long. The TTSX copper bullets like speed to preform , lighter equals more speed . I've gone to the 130 TTSX in my .308 Finnlight and really like them .

TTSX bullets perform better with more speed. The higher muzzle velocity increases the effective range as Barnes bullets do not expand very well at impact velocities less than @ 2300 fps, where a softer lead core will reliably open up down to @ 2000 FPS.

10/4. Thank you

The Ruger Hawkeye compact would be the perfect rifle for you. .308 or 7-08 would be perfect

Shoot a a lightweight Copper Bullet with a terrible ballistic coefficent which requires additional speed (produced by the lightweight bullet with a terrible ballisticcoefficent) to produce an allegedly devastating wound channel?

Yea. I don't think so. Anyone with an understanding of ballistics knows that is ass backwards.

I’m guessing you didn’t actually look at the BC of the lighter copper bullets that are the same length as the non-mono bullets (weighing more), and the actual down range ballistics and compared them to actual hunting under 400 yards vs shooting stuff at 1k, etc?

Otherwise, you’d understand that a 130ttsx has a bc equal to or exceeding many common 150gr cup and core bullets, and can be driven faster, which equals flatter, more retained energy, penetration, etc.

You probably didn’t know that the expansion thresholds are 1500-1800fps, depending on weight for what has been discussed here, AND that ‘liking’ speed can be a good thing, vs speed often being detrimental to a cup and core.

Maybe you’ve never heard of Berger bullets?

...but I’m just guessing.

I'm about tell you a secret. Nearly all the Berger bullets except the Match solids are ALL lead core. They ain't bonded either. They are excellent bullets though I killed a deer last year with a Berger and it dropped it DRT. Right through the front legs and got a nice clean exit. Reading the internet that is hard to imagine. Seems nearly impossible. I don't know how one ever died after being shot with some an old timer's Sierra.

The G1 Ballistic Coefficient (BC) of the 130 Barnes TTSX = 0.35. I did find a 150 Grain Hornady Interlock which is a flat base with a crappier BC. I couldn't find a 150 spitzer that fit your BC claims.

Just a run-of-the-mill cup and core 150 Grain Nosler Ballistic Tip has a G1 Ballistic Coefficient = 0.435. Still not great. But significantly better.

One additional problem with your logic.... I don't think the optimal 30 cal bullet is a 150 grain cup and core either.. I would go higher in weight and much higher BC myself. They are more accurate the numbers simply do not lie. If your rifle won't shoot them better that's an equipment problem.

The next secret I will tell you is that 400 yards is significantly further than a .308's maximum point blank range. I am not sure if you have ever shot that far, but if you have very much with a 130 Barnes, you would know that the wind at that distance will matter for this round.

Goat, I was only suggesting a 130 TTSX because the OP said he wanted to try it in his rifle. I like 165 or 168 he bullets in my 308. Only gun I use Barnes bullets in is my 300 Weatherby, shooting a 168 gr TTSX at 3300 FPS.

Barnes bullets DO NOT expand well at sub 2000 FPS velocities. The nose may open up a little but it will not expand the greater than caliber diameter.

I never thought of a barnes as a long range bullet. I use them in smaller calibers like my 243 so I can be sure to blow through both shoulders at close range where a lead cup and core would be much more likely to fragment all to pieces.

Barnes LRX bullet. Bet they use different classes of copper in LRX versus TTSX and so on.

https://www.barnesbullets.com/bullets/lrx/

To anyone who understands classes of and properties of copper , makes perfect sense . All copper is not created equal .

Yep, you missed the wink.

Logical fallacy: presuming something occurred or is factual, that there is no evidence for, then proceeding as if there is.

I doubt you have any ‘secrets’ I haven’t probably already forgot. Stick to the OP’s subject here, and it’ll work out better. Stay off the absolutes, and focus on what is actually stated, not what isn’t. You’re just making presumptions about things with what someone might know or have done with firearms, loading, professional gun work, military/civilian, over the last 35 years, but have at it.

Why you’d just assume that merely discussing bullet weights for a particular use is some discussion about what’s best for (apparently) banking steel at. 1k or trying to kill an elk across a canyon, when the previous comments were devoid of any long range, huge animal requirements, is the mystery. I mean, if you want to talk about those things, great.
ANY pointed .308 of almost any weight, designed for hunting medium game, has ENOUGH BC to work just fine to 300. If you just want argue with me about wind and 130s at 400? You didn’t know Barnes makes cup and core bullets, too? Did you just assume I’m promoting something I’m not? Just assuming that talking about one thing means someone doesn’t know about another is a bit cognitively limited. Specific applications, questions, discussions are just that. MPBR of itself, has nothing to do with how far you can shoot effectively or accurately, but some have been required to work out everything from 25m-1200m, with a 600m zero and crappy 308 loads.


OP CAN grab monos in 130-190, and kill deer just fine to whatever range their suited for in 308.....which is at least 300, for the worst of them. Some will be more emphatic inside 300, than others, because they’re made to be. Some are better past 400, because they’re made to be. All of them are probably overkill on deer, or at least no better than a cup and core.....but BC discussions are way down the priority list unless you’re looking at living past 300-400....instead of inside it.

So. I have done some research on barnes in regards to what y’all were saying about the velocity’s. Supposedly the ttsx was an improvement from the tsx. The ttsx was supposed to expand a little better. Now they have come out with the lrx which is supposed to expand more readily that the ttsx. I shoot the lrx in my 6.5 (127 grain) and have killed deer from 30-350 yards and it has performed well. Barnes makes a LRX for 308 but it’s either a 170 or 190 grain. My question is at this point assuming the gun will shoot all three equally. Would you go with ttsx 130, LRX at whatever grain they are or a Hornady ELDX at 178. Once again I’m shooting deer. Most of my shots will be 100-300 yards. I do have several opportunities to stretch out significantly further than that but unless it’s absolutely ideal conditions I would restrict myself to 400 or less.

All our banter aside, there’s only incomplete explanations here, I guess...I’ll try to go more in depth, but I usually don’t, as I don’t like to assume or insult others’ intelligence....but I don’t mind bantering with others over it, either. Even if you’re P.O. Ackley, everyone on a gun board knows more than you.

You could shoot any of them at that range, but optimum wound channel, blood trails, instant effect, etc (for deer, which mfgs consider on the lighter/smaller end of big game use) will come within the higher range of the velocity window for a mono bullet. This is also the case with a cup and core bullet, to a point. C&C bullets can have too much impact velocity to stay together, whereas monos are very hard to drive too fast.
....with your limitations being 300 or so, the 130s (and 150s) will be some serious medicine for deer. Not that the heavier, higher BC bullets won’t, but your launch/impact velocities under 300 are going to be a good bit slower in a 308, with really long bullets. If you were shooting stuff past 3-400, regularly, they’re gonna start outperforming the lighter bullets pretty quickly. Violence of expansion may be harder to come by with the heavies in the 308, but just depends on the bullet.....which is why it could get you more on deer by going to a accubond LR, Sierra PH tipped, ELDX, or even ELDM cup and core for a heavy/high BC bullet to use on deer at 0-300 (and way past), vs a mono. OTOH, they’re all gonna kill deer in a 308, period. It’s just up to how you want it done. I don’t feel much need to use monos in a 308 for deer around here. Any good 150-165 C&C at modest 308 speeds does it as good as anything else, from under the stand to medium range. ELD-Ms are surprisingly effective for a softer C&C intended as a match bullet, at 308 (and 6.5) velocities, which start out slower than your mag/3k FPS stuff, and they hold together for full penetration, but expand violently, too. I probably wouldn’t use them for Texas heart shots or shooting shoulders all the time, due to meet loss, but nothing moves much at all after. JME

I have some of the old Barnes TSX 150gr 30-30 bullets with a huge HP, and their BC is terrible.....but for a woods load, inside 200, at 30-30 through mild 308 velocities, they act like a lightning strike on stuff.....but so can plenty of C&C bullets, and they just aren’t ‘needed’ in a 30-30, much less a 308.....but they sure are fun. The old PMC Starfires were similar in 30-30: DRT violent.