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Ok - here's the deal. I've been testing different bullets in my 7mm TCU. In this picture is a Barns 120gr., and two Nosler Ballistic tips 120gr. In my test media of a water jug in front of a newspaper filled box the Nosler core separated after expansion and weighs about fifty grs. and the Barns with it's less than stellar expansion weighs 119 grs. Which would you use for deer and antelope and why?
Also, if forced to use a non lead bullet, as I will be in a couple years here in Calif., do you think the Barns expanded enough to be effective on the animals mentioned.

Personally, I prefer rapid expansion on thin skinned, deer sized game.

I'd go with the Nosler.

I'd lean towards the Nosler.

What was the impact velocity, incidentally?

Thanks guys for the posts. The Ballistic Tip has more than proven itself on deer sized game and the bullet I use most often for my hunting. The velocity of these bullets was 2200 fps +/- thru a chronograph. I was a bit surprised on both ends. At that speed, I was hoping for a little more expansion out of the Barns, and didn't expect the Nosler to come apart as much as it did.
I'm still looking for a non-lead bullet and have tried Barns, GSC, and Hammer bullets so far. The Hammer bullets are built like Cutting edge bullets where the peddles of the expanding tip separate and cause tissue damage while the base penetrates deep. So far, they have been pretty impressive in the tests I have done. The GSC bullets are supposed to expand down to 1600fps but at 2200fps I got less than with the Barns.
On a side note, in my 7mm TCU I switched powders from IMR3031 to AA2015 and was able to gain over 150fps. My new loads with both the Barns and Nosler are running 2350fps without much flattening of the primers or hard opening of my Contender. At this point any gain in velocity is well received.

Have you thought about the Hornady GMX bullet? I'm planning on trying them out this fall.

Have you thought about stepping up to a bigger cartridge than the 7 TCU ? I have used it twice on deer and was not impresseed either time. A wonderful cartridge for silhouette, where you want the bullet to stay together and push not expand, with mild recoil. It will and has killed game,[this I know] but I have better cartridges for big game hunting, and I will not use it again for that task. It was designed for steel silhouette and shines in that application.
Good luck and good hunting with whatever you choose.

TN - I've thought about all the mono bullets but it seems that all the big name companies, Nosler, Hornaday, Barns, all say they expand around 2000fps. So far in my testing theydon't expand much at that velocity.

Junebug - Yes I thought about a bigger cartridge, then I reasoned, I can get within 100fps of the fabled 6.5 JDJ which is supposed to be a great deer/antelope cartridge, so I'm pretty sure I have enough for what I will be doing with it. Using a Nosler Ballistic Tip I'm good to go. It expands well and I know it kills well, but like I said in my original post, in the near future I will have to use non-lead. That's where all this bullet testing started in the first place.

Kind of frustrating

Sierra 120 gr. Game King is soft, accurate, and stays together better than BT.
Also, I've found regular Xs less than .30 cal have too small opening to get the tissue to expand it well. Better choice in monos would be tip TSX.
I've shot a lot of deer with 120 gr. 6.5 GMXs, faster than your TCU. EVERY one of them looked like the X you posted. That may be the same outcome of a tipped X.
Bottom line, the TCU doesn't generated enough velocity with the available 7mm bullets to be a predictable, efficient killer all the time.

Abler. Was that the polymer tipped Barnes or the hollow Point? Barnes says they are suppose to double in cross sectional area at full expansion. I wonder if 7mm bullets are designed more for 7mm mag speeds?

Based on what you say, I would use the hammer bullets for hunting and find a cheaper bullet that has similar ballistics for range time.

I do think that a well placed shot with the Barnes would work fine with on deer. That's still a lot of energy and a large blunt face.

Doc is correct. Go with the Sierra 120 grain offering. I've seen too many nosler bt's fail. I'm not comfortable using them on our small deer here, and it doesn't take much to kill a deer.

I wouldn't be afraid of using the Barnes. I know it had minimal expansion, but if you shoulder shoot deer, there won't be an issue. At the distances most deer are shot, I wouldnt be afraid of it.

I'm a Barnes and Sierra fan. They have done well for me.

wvhitman - Thanks for reminding me, I have some 120 gr. Sierras that I haven't tested yet. I will give them a try. You are right about the available 7mm bullets. At the speeds I'm shooting the only one I really liked was the Hammers and they are very pricey. What velocity are you getting with your 6.5?

karl - the Barns are the tipped TTXS. I'm thinking that if I do go with a mono, I will do just what you suggested, going with the Hammer and practicing with a cheaper bullet.

Brenden - The only 120gr. Sierra bullet I see is the Pro Hunter. Is this the bullet you and Doc are talking about? I actually have some. The only reason I quit using them was that the other bullets were longer and I could seat the others closer to the lands. If memory serves though, the Sierras were pretty darn accurate.

The pro hunter will work just fine. They are a good bullet. I use them in a 6.5x55 rifle at very sedate velocities and they work well. I don't figure their is much difference in construction between the two calibers.

If you are shooting deer fairly close, (100-150 yards) just about anything will do. I know several deer have fallen to Sierra Match Kings, and it just so happens they makes 130 grain offering in .284.

Abner, I don't chrono. No time. I load for accuracy. In the 6mmTCU I think a friend told me my load was around 2200 give or take. I know it was accurate, killed groundhogs very well, and was fair on deer with lung shots.
In the 6.5/.284, I think he said it was around 2800+ with Hybrid. Again, I didn't chrono, but is this bullet ever accurate and deadly. Dropped a very large doe in her tracks at 402 a few years back. Still got a 2+" exit(broadside. Don't expect that on angled shots. Expands too violently to penetrate a lot).

Neither, I would choose the Hornady 120 V-Max bullet. Why you ask.

The 120 V-Max is actually the Hornady SSPB bullet with a polymer tip. I live near the Hornady plant in Grand Island, Nebraska and was concerned when they supposedly dropped the 120 SSPB from the bullet line.

After stopping in and asking why, they showed me a 120 V-Max cut vertically. Inside the bullet was the trusty Horandy Inter-Lok ring that hold the core and jacket together. So the 7mm SSPB bullet was never dropped. Hornady just killed 2 birds with one bullet.

In a nut shell. If you shoot the 120 V-Max at velocities of 2500 fps or less it will expand like a hunting bullet should on a deer.

If you shoot it at 3200 fps like a varmit bullet it will fragment like a V-max should.

I have shot and taken animials with the 120 V-max and the original 120 SSPB bullet. I see no difference between either shot from a 14" 7-30 Waters barrel.

357 Herrett - I'll have to try some and see if they hold together any better than the Nosler BT. Thanks for your input.

And the tests continue. In the expanded bullet picture, starting from the left. I took the tip out of a Barns 120gr TTXS. That didn't work. As you can see, I got very little expansion even compared to the second Barns that was shot with the tip in. The next two are 120 GSC custom bullets. The larger expanded GSC was one I opened the hollow point up a bit as you can see in the second picture. That one looks real good. I will continue working with that one. The last two are Nosler 120gr Ballistic Tips recovered from my bullet trap at TWO HUNDRED yards. It's hard not to think they are still the way to go.
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On a side note, I tried some Sierra 120gr. Pro Hunters and remembered why I wasn't using them. They must have a thick or hard jacket because I can't get anywhere near the powder weight or velocity out of them without seeing major pressure signs. Anyway, I still need to shoot some GSC and Hammer bullets out at two hundred yards and see what I get.

I just received an answer from Hornaday regarding the 7mm 120gr. V-Max. This is what they said.
"The bullet does not have an Interlock in it. However at that velocity you would very well have a good match for allowing expansion to the bullet. You would need to make sure that the bullet still gets 1750 fps. impact velocities to allow the bullet to expand. Thanks"
I will have to try some and see what happens.

I would be interested in seeing what you get at 200 yards with the GSC (modified and standard) and Hammer Bullets. I would also be interested in seeing some of the Barns TTSX at that range for comparison.
Any insight or research about how well your bullet trap replicates an animal?
Looking at your picture, I would think the unaltered Barnes or either GSC look like they would work fine. I base this on the expanded face appearing to be ~2x bullet diameter and relatively flat. It looks like the nosler separated from the core even at 200 yards with massive deformation. Is that the goal? I would call that bullet failure even if the target was dead.

Karl - You have some good points, the same ones I go back and forth with every time I do my tests. First, I think my newspaper and magazine trap is much tougher on bullets than an animal. I mainly use it to catch the bullets so I can see them. What I consider of more importance is how well the bullet expands through the water jugs. The Hammer, GSC, and Nosler all expanded well even in the first jug. The Barns must be a bit tougher, it seemed to expand somewhere in the second jug. Like you, I wonder what the Nosler is really doing in the jugs. Every one I have tested so far has separated. What I really want to do is just line up about five jugs and see if I can catch these bullets just going through water. I think that would give a better idea of what to expect on a broadside deer. I still need to shoot out to 200 yds with all bullets and see what happens. I'm guessing that the Nosler and Hammers will win in that test but we will see. My main trouble is rounding up enough jugs. LOL

I can understand the problem about enough jugs. Seems like there must be an easier solution, but I haven't seen it.