Barnes bullets
 

Which would you choose and why? The MZ, spitfire, spitfire TMZ, or the TEZ?

I guess it would depend on how far you have to shoot. I personally like and use the MZ Expanders. Although I have never harvested a deer with them yet.

I am shooting the 250gr TMZ's with a Harvester yellow crushed rib sabot. I know for a fact they perform well on impact with animals and they shoot really well out of my gun.

Did you buy the yellow crushed rib separate or did they come with those?

Prior to this season, in the process of determining if I could come up with a better bullet and load combo than I had been using in my Savage 10-ML, I bought a pack of 50 cal. , 250 gr., Spitfire T-EZ's ... for no other reason than to try them out. Of all the bullets, bullet weights, bullet designs and load combinations that I have ever tried, the 250 gr. T-EZ combined with the Savage recommended Accurate powder load punched paper the best. Groups at 100 yards were essentially a clover-leaf. I shot a 5 shot group that essentially cut a 2" diameter hole in the paper. Punching paper in small groups does not necessary equal killing game quickly. However in my case this bullet has done a super job so far. I have taken 4 deer wth it. Four shots. Four deer. Three doe and a nice , 190# 8 pt. Shots were from about 50 yards to a ranged 140 yards. Full pass through in all cases with a good blood trail. I stocked up on enough to last me a good while.

in my case the tez's fit the triumph and did what it was supposed to on deer.

I was having problems with the XTP's that I have shot for several years. I switched to the Spitfire T EZ's. I shoot an Encore with 100 grains (pellets). Not sure how the bullet would shoot in my gun mid season I took it out and shot one round at 50 yards. It shot about 3 1/2 inches high, dead center. I moved back to 100 yards and the second hole was just touching the bottom of the first hole, again dead center. Since then I shot two does with this bullet and both went less then 50 yards and died. Both left a good blood trail (the main reason I switched). Here is the bullet that I recovered from the second doe I got last Sunday. I shot her at about 70 yards hitting her just behind the left shoulder. The bullet was found between the meat and the hide on the right side about half way back. ( the deer was angeling). As you can see in the picture the bullet preformed absolutely perfectly. The first kill was a pass through and I never found the bullet.

Close to medium ranges the expanders, long range in a T/C rifle the TEZ.

I use the very same set up. Shot 6 large bucks with the TMZ and all deer only needed one bullet to put them in the dirt. Can't beat the polymere tip boat-tailed design for accuracy and terminal performance in my book. With the BH209 my load averages 2040 fps.

The buck in my avitar was the last taken during this ML season. 192lbs - 11 pointer.

452 250gr Expander MZ or the 45/70 458 250gr X-Bullet for general use and the 485SOCOM 300gr in bulk for longer ranges and/or more knock down. The SOCOMs are a tiny bit cheaper and are made for 1900fps MV.

Non tipped Spitfires can pencil through without expanding. Ive seen it happen a couple of times. If you want to use the Spitfire, use the lighter 245gr. Tipped versions dont seem to be nearly as bad.

If you are going to buy bulk, i would take a good look at the Lehigh DOA line in 452 and 458 too. The 458 275gr DOA is a nasty sucker. They offer an over sized .459 277gr too and its even cheaper.