bowbender6

Good results 150gr ff and Barnes 290TMZ
Any thoughts on terminal performance on an animal? These are designed for 100% weight retention. I don’t hear much talk about these bullets on this forum. Just got these in to try – looks like they shoot great. All the way up to 150 grains T7 FF. Groups were under an 2 inches. I didn’t chrony many loads yesterday but it looks like I need to shoot this some more.
Omega- SS –Fluted Stainless – Laminated Bedded Thumbhole stock- 4-12X swift
Target is 82 yards- MOA is based on 100 yards.
Triple Seven FF , Triple Seven Primers

cayugad

that is some good shooting. No animal would want to be hit by any of them loads.. nice shooting.

Semisane

Excellent! The Barnes TMZ has to be one of the most effective bullets made. I just can't afford to shoot them in my 30 to 40 round range sessions.

gleason.chapman

Wow, very nice. That was the first choice of bullet in my Savage, it did NOT group well for me as it did you. That is the bullet you should go with, it does it all---accuracy (you got that)
penetration (see below)
expansion (see wound channel in ballistic gel)
shoot thru (21" is huge)
long range (if your open fields hunting for 175 to 200 yard shots this is your bullet), sight in 3" high at 100 yards.

see this for PENETRATION:

http://dougva.proboards34.com/index.cgi?board=Savage&action=display&thre ad=1203185985

Chap Gleason

txhunter58

As stated, the bullet and accuracy looks good, but are you shooting 150 grains looseffg 777 powder? That is NOT recommended and not considered a safeload by T/Cin an Omega. My elk load only has 90 grains of ffg 777 in it. In my opinion, you don't need all that extra powder/kick. To each his own, but you may want to research the safety of that much loose power. Pellets in 150 are supposedly ok, but not loose. Good shootin.

bowbender6

Loose powder, I am not sure if I will shoot that much powder. I bought it used no manual. Still need to play. I am going to look at a Savage 10 ML II thumbhole today. After this I don’t think I will need it.

hossdaniels

That's one of the vey few bullets that can handle that much thump, good shooting, and excellent hunting choice.

gleason.chapman

Yep, guys are pushing them 2600 fps and above in their Savages and they hold together well. Did not realize they shot so darn well at high loads in an Omega (which I have), wonder how they shoot at 100g loose (which is what I consider my sweet point for that gun)? Chap

gleason.chapman

the reason you do NOT hear a lot about these bullets on this forum is that the variouspeople that tend to respond to questions on this forum have been MLer hunting for >>>years<<<<, have tremendious experienceand wisdom, but have chosen excellent bullets from 8 to 10 years ago AND they have NOT switched to a more "modern bullet" like a Parker BE, Barnes TMZ, SW Bonded, Harverster Scorpion PT Gold--all of which have come out in the last 5 years. Barnes came out with the Barnes MZ about 5 years ago, and then the TMZ only about 2 years ago, so most of the gurus here would not consider these bullets because they have their "pet"bullet which works well for them, some (SL for example) have lifetime supplies of.458 Nosler 260g and 300grifle bulletsand they work excellent for them in all hunting situations---how can you beat a Nosler at < 150 yards? Can you beat it at 200, yes, with the bullets your testing, but only by afew of inches of drop. Go with the 300g bullets, better down range energy, better shoot thru, and youreally get the boom flop with the 300g. There are many STRONG opinions on bullets on this and most MLer forums. If you do some tests into sand/dirt/wet newspaper and see what fragment and what doesn't, then you will know. Here ismy blunt opinion:

1. Nosler Partition excellent to 150 or 175 yards
2. Speer Gold Dot excellent to 150 to 175 yards, much cheaper than Nosler Paritions
3. PBE fragments about 70 weight retention, excellent accuracy, switch to another MMP sabot to get true fit
3. Barnes TMZ, great if they shoot in your gun, not accurate in every gun, they ARE boat tail based, so you CAN'T swithch sabot, some have shot a #8 washer in bottom of sabot to switch to a better fitting sabot in loose bores
4. Barnes MZ, great bullet for inside 150 yards, can't be beat for terminal performance. Same as Barnes FB .458 rifle bullet, but in a .452 for MLers.
5. Barnes origonal, great bullet with great ballistic coefficient, costly $1/bullet favorite of Savage shooter since it will take high speed hits (>2500 fps)
6. SW unbonded, 250g fragments really bad, but retains enough weight to cleanly kill, many like them cause they are not as expensive as some and are >>EXTREMELY accurate<< in most guns, especially in TC, there are even BDC scopes designed around this bullet. The 300g SW does NOT have the fragmentation problem, but they don't seem to be as accurate as the 250g, I don't know why, could have to do with barrel twist.
7. SW bonded. Great bullet, a little over kill for deer since it tends to shoot thru a deer with little expansion. Great for moose and elk in 300g.
8. Dead Center--from Canada, expensive, all lead, boattail, can't switch sabots. Available now from Cabelas, and in a Cabelas brands. They work great from what I have read.

These are my opinions only, they are NOT universal claims--please don't push back on me because you have NEVER had a SW fragment or a SW that didn't expand. I know, you may not have shooting them with 100g of pellets, each gun has it own personality of what bullet, charge, primer and sabot it LIKES to shoot best. These are ONLY my impressions from my extensive review of bullets for my Savage.
Chap Gleason

mayguy

You have a good bullet. I have killed 4 deer with them, all boom flop. If you are using 150 grs of loose 777 then, as said previously, back it off to around 125 grs. which is about equal to 150 gr 777 pellets. I shoot the 290 TMZ with 125 grs of loose 777, out of my Omega, with good success.
If your 150 gr load is pellets, and you like the way it shoots, then go for it. ( probably 100 grs of loose 777 is plenty, but use what shoots best).
I have a bullet catcher, a 5/16 steel plate on about a 30 deg. angle, at 50 yds. My 125 gr charge, even on the angled plate, nearly goes through. The recovered bullets are completely flat but still in on piece.