I am curious to hear opinions of those who have used the X bullet in medium and/or large bore rifles for taking dangerous game. Is the X bullet up to penetrating heavy bone to get to the vitals?

The Barnes X work great on all animals, from the small African cat to buffalo.

I have shot several hundred game animals with them, including at least 90 buffalo, and have not experienced one single failure.

Recommended without any reservations.

I've been using them almost "X"clusively from time of introduction and I'm a member of the Barnes advisory team. All my African game has been taken with this bullet, including buffalo, with calibers from .375 thru .505. I consider the "X" bullet a fine choice for all round African hunting application and possibly the best choice in a heavy game softpoint.

I have never had the opportunity to try them on game. I know a whole bunch of folks that use them with good results and swear by them. I have had too many accuracy problems over the years with them to use them with confidence on game. My 375 H&H AI will shoot Swift A Frames into 1 ragged hole all day at 100 yards, Rhino's group consistantly under an inch for me. I have to seat x bullets so far off the lands to get any kind of accuracy (best has been just under 2"-average 3.5") that I start having pressure problems. Same thing for the 338 Lapua and 500 Jefferys. I've asked Barnes about this several times, they have been very helpful, but I like very tight chambers and throats on my rifles. It's a great bullet design, and I wish they worked for me. I lost a nice duiker with a flier from my 22-250 last year and decided I was done trying them.

I've taken 2 Buff with the 350X in 416 Rem; they were devastating. I've taken a lot of other game with X bullets in 375, 35, 7 MM, with only one failure and it reached the animal at such reduced velocity that it didn't open, and it acted like a solid. It was recovered against the broken bone on the offside leg.

JD,

What velocity were you pushing the 350 X's with your .416 Remington?

Thanks,

I have shot several buffalo with them and seen several others shot with the same load and they all worked very well. I've used 400gr "X" in 416 Rem and 375H&H 300gr "X" with very good accuracy as well. I've also been very satisfied with the barnes solids.

I've used x bullets on numerous African animals. I shoot a .338 Ultra Mag and a .375 Ultra Mag. I have one shot kills on buffalo,lion,leopard,eland,gemsbok,blue and black wildebeeste, kudu and waterbuck.I shoot a 250 grain x in the .338 and a 300 grain in the .375. These are loaded hot but the bullets hold up well.

I have seen them used on Buffalo and they always worked great with perfect expansion...I have seen failures on smaller animals over the years, but I suppose any bullet will fail from time to time.

Will a barnes penetrate the length like a solid when buf is quartering away and will a X bullet penetrate the skull of a buf on a frontal shot???
Mike

I have shot several buffalo quartering away, and I have shot several in teh head.

The quartering away ones had the bullet penetrate all the way to the chest or neck on the opposite side.

The one shot in the head dropped dead.

You will not find fault with the barnes-x

I intend to use the 450 X in a 458 Win Mag. I have an original pre-64 with a 25 inch barrel. Reworked by Penrod. I fully expect 2250 fps. Any impressions?

I used barnes 450gr x and solids in my 458 win mag. It is an interarms mark x. I got 2225fps without pushing it. They shot great and I took a buffalo and elephant cow with her last September.

Dean

Ditto Saeed. I've shot buffalo on extreme raking shots, almost going away and gotten 4 to 5 feet of penetration and this, in .458 caliber, using the 450 grain X.



Scrollcutter, it's my guess you'll be well pleased with that approach.

Nick:

Was that a Win Mag or a bigger cased version?

It was the .458 Lott, doing 2,450+ fps, which is too fast. I believe you'll do as well in regard to penetration @ 2,250 fps, if not better. I do feel, however, the extra speed of the Lott delivers more reaction to the shot from Mr. Buffalo. I recall seeing this for the first time while using the Lott, which encouraged me to build my Gibbs.



I'd say the Barnes 450 grain X @ about 2,350 fps would approach the ideal for buffalo in .458 Lott, all things considered.

Saeed, do you think the 270 gr Barnes X bullet in 375 HH would be enough for buff and follow up shots if needed or would you use Barnes solids for the follow up shots? I would think the 270 gr bullet would have a little less recoil. I have not shot a big bore rifle yet and don't want to get to pounded by recoil.

HI,

MR. Saeed or anyone here, what do you think of the triple shock X as they will have them now for larger cals,I think they would work the same as the X,but more accurate? these might even work out better than the standard X, Thanks,Kev

I am sure the 270 will work fine for buffalo, and will probably penetrate just as well.

I wonder why you are going to use them instead of the 300.

I am sure you have your reasons, but, personally I would just stick to the 300 grains.

Kev,

I have had no exprience with these new bullets. But from what I can see they should be just as effective as the original X.

The over-riding requirement for hunting large game animals like buffalo is to have a bullet that will penetrate consistentanly well.

Placing teh shot in the right place helps a lot too.

Scrollcutter,
I hand loaded Barnes X in both .257 wby mag. and .300 win mag to take seven African plains game animals back in September. I took a blue wildebeast at 100 yds, zebra at 150 yds, gemsbok at 200 yds, Kudu at 125 yds and Impala at 275 yds with the 300 win mag. All of them were one shot kills. I did anchor the Gemsbok and Wildebeast with a second shot before they were able to hit the ground, to save me any potential of additional walking. After stalking the wildebeast for 6 days I wasn't taking any chances.

Granted, these weren't very long shots but all but one of the bullets passed through both shoulders and made impressive exit wounds. The one bullet that was recovered expanded picture perfect.

I wouldn't hesitate to load Barnes X in .375 H&H for dangerous game.

I had a hard time at first, getting acceptable groups when I was working up loads. The Barnes bullets are long. My .300 win mag is a browning a-bolt, which have really short box magazines. I ended up using the 180 gr. XFB with an over all length of 3.340". The .257 wby did the best with the 100 gr. XBT. Both guns ended up shooting under 1/2" - 5/8" groups. Both calibers were loaded with R22.

I load exclusively Barnes X for all my calibers. I don't think you can beat the reliability in performance. I'll be working up some loads for a .375 H&H for my next hunt, which will probably include eland and buffalo.