I've reloaded about a box of Barnes 180gXLCs STPBTs over Varget and just bought another box of these to test with. (Had a problem sighting my scope and shot the base loose so I'm starting over the sighting process)What kind of accuary are you getting with these bullets and how far off the lands are you seating? I was told 5 thousands by a rep atBarnes and when I asked for confirmation of that number he said .05 which is hundreths. I figure he meant .05. Any other tip you all have run into would be a plus. thanks

YEP--you got it right--barnes actually usually says .050" (fifty thousandths). I don't know if it's necessary unless you are running on the hot side of your loads.
Before the days of the xlc I moly coated my own 180xbts and loaded them in my 300 wby. It shot mediocre 1.5" groups at 100 yds BUT could easily shoot 3-3.5" at 300 yds. It is the only bullet I shoot out of that weatherby because it is accurate, deadly, and has an unbelievable ballistic coefficient.
RE the xlc coating. It seems some guns need to be fouled with this coating before they shoot good. I have a 30-378 that only likes 150 grain bullets and smaller. It will not shoot good until i've run about 12-15 rounds (xlc's) the barrel (what a pain in the butt with a big bad caliber like that).
Only experimenting will give you answers. I am beginning to think that I am not going to try and scrub that 30-378 barrel clean after hunting or shooting. I'm thinking a pass with a boresnake followed by a few patches of kroil oil may become my routine for that combo.
Don't know if I helped--let us know your results.
PS--what is your gun?? An '06 or .308. You may want to check into lighter barnes bullets to pick up more velocity. I am a believer that barnes performance is only limitted by when velocity drops below about 2100 fps. I use ballistic charts to pick the barnes bullet that will give me both velocity and flatness to a certain range.
Hope this helps.

Thanks Don, you helped clear up a techinical issue regarding the measurement. In my mind it's 5 hundredths not 50 thousandths and that led to my confusion, but it makes sense. As to my gun I am shooting a Savage Scout 20" BBl in .308. Shoots really nice, but I shot the scope mount loose during a 93 round bench session and now I have to resight it(bummer).

[ 06-30-2002, 11:29: Message edited by: Dave In LB ]