Let me jump in and provide all of you with some interesting information about the Barnes X. Keep in mind that I have used the X bullet in the .30-06, .300 Win Mag, and .338 Win Mag for many years.
As for the X Bullet. I have used a 165X in my .30-06 and shot a doe at 50 yards. The petals not only expanded, but at least 2 broke off. I never recovered this bullet, so you may ask how I know that at least 2 petals broke off. Well, I'll tell you. Despite the fact that I shot the doe only ONCE, there were THREE holes in the deer! Yes, THREE. The petals broke off with such great force that they in turn FULLY penetrated the animal. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this. In fact, the smaller holes from the petals were (to the best of my recollection) about a foot apart. The poor deer's shoulder was just jelly.
With my .300 Win Mag, I used 180 X and shot a 250 pound hog also at 50 yards. I shot the Hog three times. It was down on the first shot, kicking it's legs, but I have seen dead hogs come back to life, so I shot it 2 more times just in case. In any event, when we cleaned the hog, my father recovered one of the bullets. On that particular shot, I was in a box blind about 6 feet above the ground. A feeder was down a hill about 50 yards in front of me and about another 15 or 20 feet down, so in total the hog was 50 yards in front of me, and at an angle of about 20 to 25 feet down. I should also say that the hog was generally facing me, with his head and body slightly pointing towards his left, my right. I aimed right at the top of the base of his neck, meaning that the bullet would pass through his left shoulder/grisle plate. Well, when we recovered that bullet, NONE of the petals broke off. In fact, it looked almost like a perfect mushroom, just more "sqooshed." I was surprised that the petals did not break off. I haven't checked the velocities, but I would imagine that a 180 grain bullet out of a .300 Win Mag should still be traveling faster at 50 yards than a lighter weight 165 grain bullet from a .30-06. So then why did the 165 have it's petals broken off at a lower velocity, and why did the 180 X become sqooshed at faster velocity?
If there is one consistent thing that I hear over and over from X-Bullet shooters is that the X Bullet performs INconsistently. I can certainly vouch for that. I must say that I hardly recover X bullets from animals, but when I do, you never know what to expect. The same goes for X-Bullet accuracy - they are accurate in some guns, and some people say just plain horrible in others. Then again, that's another subject. I have yet to shoot the new Barnes TSX on an animal, so I can't provide any relevant experience.
Zachary