Any Barnes fans out there?

[deadeye2]

I quit using Barnes X bullets in 2001. I shot a Kudu with my 338 Win mag at about 150 yds, hit him hard in the lung area, one or two drops of blood. I was lucky the guides found him the next morning or I would have lost a $1,500.00 animal.
I have killed two very large moose with that same load at some long ranges and never have a recovered bullet that looked like the one pictured.

 

[buffybr]

I started using Nosler Partitions for Elk size animals in the late 70's when I had my .30-06 converted to a .30 Gibbs. With the increased velocity of the Gibbs, I wanted (and got) deeper penetration with the Partitions than with the standard cup and core bullets. This combination worked great for almost 30 years giving me mostly one shot kills on 22 elk, 2 moose, an Alaskan caribou, and a mountain goat.

I've never made a big deal about recovering the bullet from the animals that I've shot. If I find it fine, if I don't, fine. On North American animals, I try to shoot into the crease behind the front leg. I only shot 180 gr Partitions as hunting bullets in my .30 Gibbs. The Partitions that I did find were usually just under the skin on the opposite side of the bull.

This photo shows .30 caliber 180 gr Nosler Partitions that I have recovered from elk that I shot. They all expanded back to the copper center to about twice their caliber diameter, and the lead core from the front half was gone.

In 2005 I booked a Cape Buffalo hunt in Zimbabwe. I built a .375 Rem Ultra Mag rifle for that hunt. I had heard alot about Barnes bullets, so new rifle, new bullets. I worked up a load with 300 gr TSX bullets that gave me 3-shot MOA groups at 2850 fps. This combination gave me a one shot kill on my Cape Buffalo and four plains game animals in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The only bullet that I recovered was from the Cape Buffalo. It was in the shoulder opposite from the entrance, and it expanded to the advertized Barnes mushroom.

I hunted the Eastern Cape region of South Africa in 2007, and the only rifle that I took was my .375 RUM. For this hunt I wanted a flatter shooting bullet than the 300 gr TSX, so I worked up a load with the Barnes 270 gr TSX. This load also shoots 3-shot MOA groups on paper to 300 yds at a muzzle velocity of 3043 fps. On this hunt I shot 14 animals varying in size from Steinbok to a Cape Eland. I only recovered two bullets from the animals that I shot. Both were from a Kudu bull that I shot just before sundown.

At my first shot the bull was quarting toward me at 165 yds. The bullet entered the front of his left shoulder and stopped under the skin on the back of his right ham. This bullet expanded to the classic Barnes mushroom, but broke off one petal. After my first shot, the bull ran a few yards and stopped broad side. Since it was so close to sundown, I put a second shot in him. The second bullet entered his left shoulder and stopped just under the skin of his right shoulder. It expanded to the classic Barnes mushroom.

This photo shows the Barnes TSX bullets that I recovered from my Cape Buffalo and Cape Kudu. They all expanded to twice their caliber diameter (0.75-0.81").

My experience with Barnes bullets is limited to 19 African animals. I only recovered 3 bullets and they expanded to a classic double caliber diameter mushroom. Two of them retained 100% of their original weight. All of the animals except two died within 50 yds of where they were shot. The two that didn't were shot too far back with the first shot (shooter error) and had to be chased and shot again.

I am currently working on a 180 gr TSX load for my new .300 Weatherby for elk and larger animals.

 

[Der Aulte Jaeger]

I've used Noslers, Barnes, Core Lokts, Hornadays, Speers, Sierras and more and rate the Barnes highly for moderate mushrooming and deep penetration. The intitial pics that started this appears to be a low velocity loading especially if the shots were up close. Noslers are good bullets and designed to come apart leaving the back end to punch through and provide a blood trail. They work as advertised unless you go after too big an animal and then they'll fail to punch through as the momentum drops severely once it sheds it's front load.

The initial pics look much like some penetratin test, water filled milk jugs, pics I took a couple years ago shooting low speed Barnes. If I recall right the impact velocity was at or about 2000 fps may'be less and although I did get good penetration as lower velocity mixed with hard or small expansion bullets usually does give you max penetration. Since those in the pic ended up not punching through and with little expansion, it would seem that impact velociy was way down there and we're talking in that significantly under 2000fps range.

 

[Der Aulte Jaeger]

I gave a bit of thought to this and offer a possible explanation. If your loads weren't chronographed, there's an easy explanation that involves bullet design and reloading technique. If you look at the Barnes Reloading data versus some of the others, you'll notice the Barnes loads seem heavy (more powder) in comparison. It'd due to bullet shape and material. Should you use another companies reloading manual for the same size and weight bullet, they may say the bullet will be moving along at X fps when in fact it's moving a few hundred feet slower due to what would be a light load, or off the charts in the minimum direction in the Barnes Reloading manual. Here's currenty what Barnes gives for loads: http://www.barnesbullets.com/Copper_Manual4/7mm-08 Remington.pdf

 

[cwalsh2]

I tested the original Barnes x bullet in wind on my 600 yd range against Nosler ballistic tip and found about 35% more wind drift. This is no doubt due to the considerable longer bullet for the same weight. Both were140 gr in 7mm. I have killed a couple hundred deer with ballistic tips and recovered a lot of bullets. They retained only the weight of the copper jacket. They still used all their energy in the deer and the ONLY ones that needed tracking were due to bad shot placement, too far back. I guess i fail to see the importance of weight retention or just haven't been brainwashed by the ammo people that I need to pay over 30 cents for a bullet. I started with ballistic tips and went to 162 A-max- only for longer range performance. These (Target) bullets really flatten the big whitetails and they do it without retaining all their weight. Cal

 

[Der Aulte Jaeger]

Good point of that wind drift! Make sense! On the ballistic tips though I tried and discarded them as they waste meat. I prefer eating right up to the hole! Other than that they did shoot nicely. I wonder if any of the tungsten added Barnes have shortened the bullets any??

 

[billy-bob8]

Wow, I guess that old saying about opinions and aholes holds true. My 2 cents, I am a fan of barnes tipped x-bullets in my 308 win. I have witnessed three elk taken with this 150 grain bullet @ 2700 fps.
All 3 dropped on the spot and 2 of the three bullets were recovered. 1 could have been used in an Barnes add, perfect expansion, the other expanded around 1 1/2 times its original diamater. The 3rd was not recovered. The bullets wernt perfect but 3 elk anchored on the spot tell a pretty convincing story. On the other hand I shoot 115 grain combined technoligies ballistic tip bullets in my 25-06 for deer and antelope and have similar success with 1 shot kills, and little or no tracking required. Bottom line, shoot what works for you, everyone has their favorites and an opinion on why their way is the only way thats right. Results matter, shoot what you shoot best and make clean, fast humane kills.