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I have not purchased a box of factory ammo in over 40 years so I load all mine.I have only had maybe a 6-8 primers fail to fire in all those years and brand did not matter.changing ammo for his trip is not the answer just take the ammo Barnes sends to you and do not worry about it.you could have a bad primer in any brand.it just happens very rarely,have a great hunt | |||
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Congratulations to your son. I started in Africa with a .375 and TSXs as well. | |||
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Looking forward to your report. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Give me the simple life; an AK-47, a good guard dog and a nymphomaniac who owns a liquor store. | |||
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cleaning the rifle and hiking off to Africa is a bandaid, not a fix...A rifle can get pretty dusty and gummed up on Safari at times..If it were me id have a good gunsmith go through the gun with a fine tooth comb then handload some 300 gr. bullets of choice, probably Woodleigh softs and solids in the heaviest weight for the caliber I was using such as 350 in a .375 and 450s in a 40 caliber, but if factory ammo was the need, then some Nosler or WW, that's as good as any..At a certain point you just have to roll the dice and pray!!  Do all these things prior to going hunting is the best advise..A good reason to have had ole betsy around for a decade or so, she is battle proven..no new gun is void of bugs these days IMO..At least you found the problem beforehand, oh so many do not, have not and never will!  so a plus one for you.Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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Well I am done with Barnes ammo. In my original post above I mentioned that I had experienced problems with Barnes 416 Remington Ammo, but not had problems with Barnes 338 Win Mag ammo. That has changed. I just returned from an elk hunt in Utah. I was shooting Barnes VorTX 338 Win Mag with 225 grain Tipped TSX. I was about 350 yards away from an old big bodied 340 bull. I had a solid rest, and I pulled the trigger...and the rifle goes "CLICK". I ejected the unfired round with a dented primer, and jacked in a fresh round,...and the rifle gives me a second "CLICK". The look on my guide's face was priceless. I ejected the 2nd unfired round with a dented primer and loaded up a third round with pretty low expectations. On the 3rd round, the rifle finally went boom. The bullet performed brilliantly. The shot broke both shoulders, and the bull tumbled down the mountain, stone dead. When we quartered the bull, we found both shoulder were shattered. Truly devastating performance, but I'll never use Barnes Ammo again. There is no issue with my rifle. I have shot lots of other factory ammo, Federal, Nosler, Remington, and Hornaday, with ZERO misfires. In fact in 40 years of shooting centerfire rifles, Barnes is the only factory ammo that has ever given me misfires. I'm done with them. Go Duke!! | |||
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The only misfires I have ever had were on occasion with one particular rifle. I stripped the bolt down and put a couple of washers behind the firing pin spring which seemed to sort it. I wonder if Barnes primers are thicker? However, cannot remember Barnes being a problem in the bush. ROYAL KAFUE LTD Email - kafueroyal@gmail.com Tel/Whatsapp (00260) 975315144 Instagram - kafueroyal | |||
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That’s amazing, for all the wrong reasons. I shoot that exact same load in my .338 Win Mag, love that load. But, the more I hear about others having problems with Barnes factory ammo, the less I’m inclined to trust it for a big hunt in the future. Might be time to handload 225 gr. TTSX going forward. | |||
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I've only had one rifle cartridge not ignite and it was several decades ago; that was a Rem Core-lokt cartridge. Last season, I shot 4 boxes of Barnes (some at the range, the rest with my wife on her first safari) and had zero problems with ignition or performance on game. Losing confidence in ones favorite ammo is a downer. Hopefully, your sons hunt will not have any problems with ammunition. LDK Gray Ghost Hunting Safaris http://grayghostsafaris.com Phone: 615-860-4333 Email: hunts@grayghostsafaris.com NRA Benefactor DSC Professional Member SCI Member RMEF Life Member NWTF Guardian Life Sponsor NAHC Life Member Rowland Ward - SCI Scorer Took the wife the Eastern Cape for her first hunt: http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6881000262 Hunting in the Stormberg, Winterberg and Hankey Mountains of the Eastern Cape 2018 http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/4801073142 Hunting the Eastern Cape, RSA May 22nd - June 15th 2007 http://forums.accuratereloadin...=810104007#810104007 16 Days in Zimbabwe: Leopard, plains game, fowl and more: http://forums.accuratereloadin...=212108409#212108409 Natal: Rhino, Croc, Nyala, Bushbuck and more http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6341092311 Recent hunt in the Eastern Cape, August 2010: Pics added http://forums.accuratereloadin...261039941#9261039941 10 days in the Stormberg Mountains http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/7781081322 Back in the Stormberg Mountains with friends: May-June 2017 http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6001078232 "Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading" - Thomas Jefferson Every morning the Zebra wakes up knowing it must outrun the fastest Lion if it wants to stay alive. Every morning the Lion wakes up knowing it must outrun the slowest Zebra or it will starve. It makes no difference if you are a Zebra or a Lion; when the Sun comes up in Africa, you must wake up running...... "If you're being chased by a Lion, you don't have to be faster than the Lion, you just have to be faster than the person next to you." | |||
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Funny, I hand load the 225TTSx and was thinning of just using factory...guess I’ll keep in keeping on... | |||
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I shoot mostly Barnes factory ammo as I am a big fan of their bullets. I shoot Barnes ammo in 30-06, 375 H&H, 458 win mag, 416 Rigby, 338 win mag, 357 mag, 44 mag, 223, 243 and 9.3x62. I have never had a misfire with Barnes ammo. | |||
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This exact thing happened to my with 30-06 Barnes Vor-tx a few years back - multiple primer fails in one box. I called barnes, they had me look at the lot numbers on the inside of the box flap and send back all lot numbers that matched the one of the box that failed, they replaced all the ammo and no issues. I primarily use vor-tx as I don't handload and I've had great success with it, I would call Barnes and I would bet they will make sure what they replace it with is in great shape. My 2 cents. | |||
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This thread is amazing. Where does Barnes buy their primers? I suspect they don't make them. I don't shoot much factory ammo but I've fired tens of thousands of rounds (rifle matches and hunting) through quite a few rifles and NEVER had a primer fail to fire. I suspect that there is something involved with the rifles, not the primers, except that no one is reporting failures to fire with other brands of ammo. Indy Life is short. Hunt hard. | |||
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If you see a well dented primer, it ain’t the rifle! Vote Trump- Putin’s best friend… To quote a former AND CURRENT Trumpiteer - DUMP TRUMP | |||
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Bingo! The primers in the defective shell in my son's rifle were totally crushed. And, every other cartridge he fired, either other factory brands or handloads, all fired flawlessly. He shot handloads on his buffalo hunt, with the same 300 grain TSX bullets and had great performance on the two buffalo he shot. | |||
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Agree, I had a brand new Rem XCR II in 375 H&H that had the same issue. I had my gunsmith (Kevin Weaver disassemble the bolt, clean it and install a heavier spring. Never had the problem again. Maybe it was just a bad round, but it was worth the peace of mind to get it done. Regards, Chuck "There's a saying in prize fighting, everyone's got a plan until they get hit" Michael Douglas "The Ghost And The Darkness" | |||
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This has nothing to do with my rifles. I've shot hundreds of round of 338 Win Mag and 416 Rem of nearly every ammo brand (Federal, Remington, Winchester, Hornaday, Norma, Nosler and Swift) with ZERO misfires. However in the same rifles with Barnes ammo I've had about dozen misfires. I love the Barnes TTSX bullet, but I'll NEVER buy another box of Barnes ammo. Go Duke!! | |||
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My take on bullet failure in an animal, or misfires or anything else is thats the manufacturers problem, not mine and I wouldn't shoot their ammo again, why would I?? As for primers in rifles I have used Federal forever, and nary a problem, but with factory ammo again Ive never had a problem or a misfire..but since you had a problem with Vortex, I won't shoot it either, but then Ive never used Vortex ammo to start with.. I don't see monolithic bullets as the only bullet out there, its just another good bullet IMO..but so is the Nosler, Woodleigh and most bonded core bullets. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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Sierra Bullets purchased the Barnes Bullet line from Remington for $30 million. | |||
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I have several misfires with 300 mag LR. Was pretty pissed I don't think I'd use that stuff until it is sorted out. Hornady was number 2 on misfires in my experience but just the budget line. Had a bullet seated backwards from hornady as well. For the important stuff I'd go better White Mountains Arizona | |||
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I have Reloaded 100,000 - 200,000 shells (probably more that that) and have never had a misfire from my reloads. I have had misfire's in factory new Remingtons - Federal & Winchester ammo. That does not stop me from purchasing their ammo and using it. I also use Barnes ammo and I have never had a misfire and plan to continue to use it. And plan to purchase more in different calibers for my rifles. What I look at is how the bullet performed in the field. And so far, the ammo I am purchasing appears to be doing the trick. I look to purchase the premium or safari grade ammo to use and have not experienced issues while hunting. >>>>>>>>>>>>>> "You've got the strongest hand in the world. That's right. Your hand. The hand that marks the ballot. The hand that pulls the voting lever. Use it, will you" John Wayne | |||
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I had similar misfire issues on my 1917 Enfields. Both were converted to cock on open - MISTAKE on my part - shortening the firing pin fall. I solved by using a carbide bit to uniform the primer pockets on my Norma brass for the 404J; on the 35 Whelen I did the same, but not sufficient. So I researched primer hardness and found CCI (what I was using) as some of the hardest and switched to Federal (some of the softest). Problem solved! "Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid" -- Ronald Reagan "Ignorance of The People gives strength to totalitarians." Want to make just about anything work better? Keep the government as far away from it as possible, then step back and behold the wonderment and goodness. | |||
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Soon, Barnes will be run by Sierra (Clarus Corp) and most probably will no longer use "Remington Primers " ( additionally, Vista Group (owner of ATK/Federal) bought the remainder of Remington's ammunition business) DuggaBoye-O NRA-Life Whittington-Life TSRA-Life DRSS DSC HSC SCI | |||
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Can't wait for that
White Mountains Arizona | |||
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I had a failure on safari one time on my first safari. Same thing, dented primer on factory ammo loaded with my favorite bullet Barnes TSX. Never happened again. I now exclusively hand load ALL my ammo except defensive handgun ammo, that is because of potential legal issues. With my hand loaded rifle ammo, I have shot thousands of rounds with zero failure. That said, experts still say that statistically factory ammo is more dependable but for me only, that is contrary to my experience. Most hunters shoot a little but do not TRAIN for a hunt. The first shot is most important and most dangerous game incidents where hunters are injured or killed is because of things not going right with the initial shot. For almost all instances, a misfire on the first shot will likely. Send the target animal fleeing and no harm done. A misfire on a wounded incoming enraged animal is very serious but in a bolt action rifle is easily fixed by a rapid working of the bolt and continued shooting. This is easily practiced by misfire drill practicing with snap caps. You can even practice with snap caps or dummy rounds mixed in with real ammo on a range. Mental planning and practice mixed with training for the hunt is in essence planning for a successful and safe and enjoyable hunt. | |||
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