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daddy o

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Been shooting Barnes TEZ's at paper for a couple years now with no opportunity to run one through a deer. Until now. Earlier today I had the chance. Early muzzleloader season, anterless only. Fairly small doe pops out 20 minutes before shooting time ends. I had it in my scope and actually decided to let it walk. At the last second I decided I had waited long enough to try these out. Only about a 40yd shot but all I can say is wow! 1/2" entrance hole and at least a 3" exit. Out of all the deer I shot with shockwaves NONE had an exit wound anywhere near that. I may still use shockwaves or hornady sst's for practice but Barnes is the only thing I will ever again send at an animal.
 
BuckDoeHunter said:
250gr or 290? Just curious

250gr. I plan on trying the 290gr eventually but last year when Midway had Barnes on clearance I bought like 8 pks at $18 a pack. Still have 3 pks so once those are gone I plan on trying 290's and then decide what I want to buy more of. (Hopefully find another clearance sale at that time :D )
 
WV Hunter said:
Congrats! No pics? We always like entry/exit pics :D
Sorry, I really should have taken pics of the exit hole. I really could have put my fist in it. But like I said it was a fairly small doe so I never felt the need to take pictures.
 
I got a decent load worked up with 290gr tez's but haven't had a chance to shoot them at any live deer. I have 5 deer tags and one antlerless Moose tag hopefully one will find its mark! :) they were on sale at Cabelas for $19.95 (Cdn) for the 15 pack so I ended up ordering 5 packages the other day. Lol!
 
After shooting my elk, I am a Barnes fan all the way!

I was above and behind the elk (bedded). Bullet entered just right of spine, recovered from left lower lung. Looks just like all the pix you see.

I used the 290 TMZ
 
usmcssgt said:
After shooting my elk, I am a Barnes fan all the way!

I was above and behind the elk (bedded). Bullet entered just right of spine, recovered from left lower lung. Looks just like all the pix you see.

I used the 290 TMZ

Photos????
 
At long last.....This is the TMZ 290
 

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Has anybody seen a Barnes that didn't look like that? What a great bullet.
 
Muley Hunter said:
Has anybody seen a Barnes that didn't look like that? What a great bullet.

How bout this 300 grain Thor with the tip still in the bullet - 13 yard shot on a Bull


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Can not say that I am fond of the looks of this... plus the bull was still alive an hour later when he found it... and shot it again - when it got up and ran again

His account of the shot and Harvest

finally stopping at about 13 yards facing me head on. Finally he picks me out, and rips out a bugle right in my face. By this point, I am shaking like a leaf on a tree! He decides he doesn’t like what he sees, and turns to go back down the hill when I let him have a 300 grain Thor. He trots off about around the hill about 30 yards and out of sight as I try to reload as quickly as possible, while listening for a crash. Nothing. I crept up to where he was when I shot to look for blood. Nothing. I am in disbelief! I slowly work my way to where I last saw him, looking for blood. Nothing! I checked all around where he stopped where I last saw him, and STILL no blood, and worse, NO BULL! Some time has passed, and now I am exploring every direction he could have went, following tracks, but not finding any reassuring signs of a hit. I spend close to an hour unsuccessfully looking, and start to think, well maybe something happened. Did I hit a tree??? Did I miss amidst the shaking and excitement???? 13 yards??? NO WAY I could miss….right!?!?!?! Maybe I made a poor shot and grazed him or worse, wounded him. I had flashbacks to losing a wounded bull, and started to feel that sick feeling. More about 15 minutes of searching has passed, and by this time I am freaking out. I decide to walk down over the hill one more time in a last ditch effort, knowing that if he crashed, I would have heard it because of how thick it was. I look, and look, and look some more, now certain that something went wrong. I’m working my way back up this steep hill cussing everything from my gun to myself, to the fact that I decided to even go muzzleloader hunting again after I swore it off. I stopped to catch my breath, and look off to my right down the hill about 20 yards, and HOLY SHEEP Sh!T, there he is! He’s bedded down, still alive, but not getting up. At this point, I knew he was hit hard, especially because he hadn’t bolted amongst my thrashing around in the brush looking for him. I give him another one, right in the vitals, and he get ups and bolts! He only makes it a little ways before he went down for good.
 
Thor is made by Barnes, but it's not a Barnes. Not sure everything is the same.
 

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