Women’s Spotlight
Maxine Blackburn
I just wanted to let you know that we used our first Barnes Bullet on large game last week when my wife (Maxine) shot her first elk (pictured above) with a .270 Win. I’ve used your muzzleloader and .22 Varmint Grenade bullets but have never used any of your.270 Win. bullets.
I’ve shot numerous big game including elk, moose, deer, antelope, sheep, black bear and caribou with a .270 win. I’ve always used a 130-gr on the smaller deer sized animals because of its accuracy, and lack of recoil. I did have a little reservation about using a 130-gr. bullet for her elk hunt, plus combined with her inexperience with shooting I was worried about possibly ending up with a wounded animal. But after reading and hearing about the performance of your 130-gr TSX bullets and seeing the video clips on your website I decided to go with it.
The 130-gr. TSX entered the bulls left shoulder while he was standing broadside right at 310 yards. The bullet passed completely through the chest getting both lungs, tearing the top third of the heart completely off and exited the right shoulder. The bull bucked once, walked another 10 – 15 feet, stood for 3-5 seconds and fell forward on his face and never moved again. To say that my wife and I were excited when the bull went down would be a big understatement. With the low light and the stress of it all I was pretty proud of her making the shot and know I couldn’t have done better.
When I seen the devastation the bullet caused to the elk’s heart and lungs I was very surprised that there was very little meat damage. The entrance and exit wounds looked exactly the same.
I’ve made similar shots on elk with a .270 Win. and unless bone was hit the elk usually ran a short distance before going down. If this bull would have run even 50 yards it would have tripled our work trying to find and recover him. When she shot the bull, it was almost dark and he was in a small opening at the end of a steep ridge surrounded by steep dark timbered canyons where he would have disappeared in a second with no time for a second shot.
The .270 Win. 130-gr TSX is a great bullet. I’ll never shoot anything else out of this gun from now on.
Thank you.
Scott & Maxine Blackburn
Please send pictures and bios to:
email@barnesbullets.com
or mail to:
Barnes Bullets
P.O. Box 620
Mona, Utah 84645