7X64 / .284 Barnes

20 November 2012, 11:10

Asimbonanga

7X64 / .284 Barnes

Hi guys,
I'm new on the forum and I don't know whether there is a specific place where introduce myself.
Well, I'm fong of hunting in Africa, South America (Argentina, Uruguay) and Europe (France, Spain). I shoot both bolt-action rifles and double rifles for extreme cases

I'm glad to be on AR

Well, my question is the following :
I'm looking for Barnes bullets for my 7x64 (=.284) but I don't find very heavy loads like 177gr as I used to shoot with Brenneke TUG in 11,4 grams . I need to shoot further but keeping a good energy. Do you think Barnes' bullets are a good choice ? Otherwise what would you recommend me for Hunting Red-deer-sized games ?
Thanks and enjoy shooting !

20 November 2012, 15:31

Gerry

Welcome Aboard!

I load for several of my Buddies 7x64's although I don't use this cartridge myself; it is an outstanding chambering.

I do use the 177 gr. TIG's in 7x57R & 7x65R and it is one of my preferred choices for these cartridges as the penetration is superb.

Monmetal bullets in a similar weight to the 177 gr. TIG would be way-y-y too long.

For those occaisions where Barnes are used in the 7x64 we use the .284" TTSX 150 grainers and they perform perfectly.

20 November 2012, 23:53

Andre Mertens

I mostly use Sierra bullets as :
1. they're marvelously accurate ;
2. they're the easiest to find in this country.
Sierra has a good 7mm (.284) 175 Pro-Hunter pointed or RN (the last being my favourite considering its great penetration). However, for all around use in 7x64, my preference goes to the Sierra GK 160 (SP for lighter game and GK HP -actually a much tougher bullet meant for magnum velocities- for wild boar and up. As a bonus and thanks to their identical profile, both bullets shoot equally well and to the same POI (you could actually mix them with the same grouping).
Here's how my Sauer 202 in 7x64 shoots its petload consisting of 160 GK / N 160 / 56.0 :

BTW, I also have another .30-06 barrel for the Sauer and it behaves just the same with 165 GK's, i.e. 5 shots <.5 MOA at 100 meters.

21 November 2012, 10:50

eagle27

quote:
Originally posted by Andre Mertens:
I mostly use Sierra bullets as :
1. they're marvelously accurate ;
2. they're the easiest to find in this country.
Sierra has a good 7mm (.284) 175 Pro-Hunter pointed or RN (the last being my favourite considering its great penetration). However, for all around use in 7x64, my preference goes to the Sierra GK 160 (SP for lighter game and GH HP -actually a much tougher bullet meant for magnum velocities- for wild boar and up. As a bonus and thanks to their identical profile, both bullets shoot equally well and to the same POI (you could actually mix them with the same grouping).
Here's how my Sauer 202 in 7x64 shoots its petload consisting of 160 GK / N 160 / 56.0 :

BTW, I also have another .30-06 barrel for the Sauer and it behaves just the same with 165 GK's, i.e. 5 shots <.5 MOA at 100 meters.

This is my experience also. Sierra bullets just don't seem to get the kudos they deserve although a lot of hunters just set to and use them without any fuss.

My favourite load of 160gr GK / IMR4831 / 59.0grs gave me a very consistent 3000fps out of the 26" barrel on my Schultz and Larsen 7x61S&H and accuracy was always superb. The M60 S&L had a 1 in 12 twist and good free bore. It stabilised these bullets perfectly. I use nothing else but Sierra in my 7mm-08 and 6.5-06 with similar superb velocities and accuracy for the 140gr GK used in them both.