Barnes 95 gr. TSX in a 6.8 SPC?

Squeeze

New member

Anybody shooting the 95 gr. Barnes in a 6.8 SPC? I just ordered
a couple of boxes to do some load development with. I need
a deer load to go with my 90gr. Sierra HP coyote load.
Any suggestions on powder choices? As it stands now, RL-10x
has been one of my better choices in the 6.8. What velocities
might I expect? I am shooting an 18" mid-length 1:10 twist
SPEC II chamber.

Squeeze
 
RL-10x rl-7 and exterminator are good powders to try. H-322 is also supposed to be good but I havn't tried it yet cause I had the others on hand. Also AA-2460.

having read alot and done quite a bit of testing on the 95gr TTSX I think 10X is probably the go to powder to try. You should be able to get close to or over 2600 fps. Some people have given velocities over 2700, I havn't seen that high,
But I tend not to Push things.

My load for the 95gr TTSX is 29.0gr exterminator. (work up carefully but that is only a moderate load)That hits about 2600 fps in my 18" BL It shoots equally well in both of my 6.8's.

While they promise to be wickedly lethal on game I have found them to be not a super accurate bullet. At least in my 2 6.8's the 95 gr TTSX is hard pressed to go under 1 MOA. Which is plenty good for hunting applications, but not great. The sierra pro hunters however have been very accurate. YMMV

Below are a couple picture of how the 95gr TTSX perorms at various velocities.

101_6481.jpg
101_6479.jpg
 
Last edited:

Ricky,

Thanks for the great reply. Looks like the bullet performs
well at what ever velocities you tested at.

I have a lot of experience with Barnes bullets, as I prefer to
shoot copper only into things I eat. And yes, there are more
consistent bullets out there. I have yet to meet a rifle I
couldn't get to shoot 1 MOA with Barnes, although some of them
took a fair amount of effort. I am hoping to find an accuracy
node over 2700 fps before I hit signs of pressure. We shall
see.

I will try RL-7, Benchmark, W748, and RL-10x, starting with
RL-10x. I have had some stellar results with RL-7 in an AR-15
chambered in 7.62x39, so that might be round 2 if I can't make
RL-10x get to fast and accurate.

Thanks again.

Squeeze
 
Well I'd like to hear about your results, ie accuracy and speed etc as you do the testing.

I'm sure you already know what your doing, but do be careful as that node above 2600 fps is higher than I dared to push things and I know other people who found the same.

One of the reasons is the long length of the TTSX. Because it has to be seated so deep to fit in a magazine, I always treated it like a 100 or 110 gr bullet as far as powder charge.


Good luck and post pics.

Ricky
 
I've shot a fair amount of deer with 85 gr TSX's with a 243 and they always exited even on some hard angled shots striking heavy bone. The velocity was much higher than the 6.8's naturally. They weren't the most accurate bullets out of the TC Encore PH I was shooting them out of and they fouled the barrel quickly. I couldn't argue their on game performance one bit. I actually had my best results hitting heavy bone on purpose.
 
Back
Top