I may reach out to Barnes and see what they say.
That said, they did do their job of successfully taking animals.
As a follow up tp this post, I have heard back from Chase at Barnes and he had some interesting input regarding the .30 TTSX bullets.
"The 180 gr TTSX bullet generally will always retain 100 percent weight but at certain higher velocities one or two and sometimes rarely, all petals, can break off after fully expanding and dumping a huge amount of hydrostatic shock/energy. In our research and testing (as well as my personal use on over 30 elk plus a few deer and even antelope all using 180 gr TTSX, 168 gr TTSX, 175 gr or 190 gr LRX’s fired at very high muzzle velocities) when the bullet sheds its petals after fully expanding , the bullet is not losing much performance or really any at all. In fact it has basically dispersed all energy at that point but is still travelling fast enough to keep expanding and the petal(s) breaking off. The trauma and tissue/organ damage is extremely high. 99.9% of the time the 180 gr TTSX retains near 100% weight or at least up wards of 80 to 90 percent weight retention and fully expanding with very large expansion. If the petals do shed, it is no less then around 15 inches to 20 inches AFTER penetrating the animal. The petals I have personally recovered from elk have been either against or stuck in the off side hide. There is certainly no other bullet that will retain as high of weight, holding together without fragmenting, yet still provide great expansion if a further shot is needed. That bullet will expand clear down to a minimum IMPACT velocity of 1500 fps."
"But for whatever reason if you want the picture perfect looking bullet for high velocity close range shots that retain all four petals, then I recommend either the 165 gr TTSX, 165 gr TSX or 200 gr TSX. Those bullets require a minimum of 1800 fps and also require a higher velocity before the petals break off. But to me I would rather have a bullet that I know will expand a longer range if needed, yet performs just as good up close. I have shot way too many gelatin blocks and game animals and seen how it absolutely does not affect performance if the petals break off a Barnes Bullet. Because they can’t break off till fully expanded and each time they do it is well after passing through the vitals and on the off side hide.
Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of animals that have died to a Barnes 30 caliber 180 gr TTSX. That is by far our most popular bullet hands down. "
The take away that I found most interesting, is that Barnes designed the 180gr .30 bullets to expand down to a minimum impact velocity of 15000fps, while the 165gr TSX/TTSX and 200gr TSX both need a minimum impact velocity of 1800fps.
Chase also provided the attached two photos of TTSX bullets he's personally recovered from game.