Two of my rifles wouldn't shoot worth sour apples, accuracy wise. One was a .405 Wincheser built on an '03 Springfield action with a M95 Win barrel. The other was a .404 Jeffrey built by Trevor Musgrave (RSA).

I tried every bullet I could think of, of conventional design. Because of all the copper-fouling horror stories I had heard, I steered away from the Barnes-X bullets.

Finally, I bit the bullet (groan), and tried the Barnes-X in the .404 Jeffie. Very first load shot groups slightly smaller than 1 MOA at 100 yards. When I took it home to clean it, it cleaned very well with two wet patches and 4 dry ones.

Based on that, I tried the Barnes-X bullets in the .405 Winny. Re-read above paragraph to see how that worked out.

Anyone else have any tales to tell, positive or negative, about their use of the Barnes-X in either large or small bores?

Do you suppose bores that foul horribly with the Barnes-X also foul pretty badly with all jacketed bullets?

AC

[ 10-03-2003, 10:11: Message edited by: Alberta Canuck ]

When I have a few beers I tend to explain it all this way::

Your barrel is a tuning fork and there is a different tuning fork on every gun.

The shell is a bomb and the bullet is the relief valve to the bomb.

When the bomb goes off and the relief valve goes down the tuning fork and the tuning fork vibrates the least....that's when accuracy happens.

And you never know which combo might surprise you with stunning accuracy!

I took a muley buck last season with a 235 gr. X bullet in a .375 H&H. I was pleased with it. Prior to that I fired some for recovery and at the distance of 10 feet got good expansion with no missing petals.

I tryed 350 and 400 in a 416R,lots of copper no acc.
130 and 225 in a 340W same as above.
These where all X bullets
Latest 225 Smurf (blue coating) less fouling, 4 to 5" @ 200y.
There may be a accurate load for them but I can,t afford to find it not for $65 per 50.
So for me:Hornady for practice/Sierra for acc.(Sierra man. leads you in the right direction for the right load,same as Nosler) and Nosler Part. for hunting.
Regards Martin

I tryed 350 and 400 in a 416R,lots of copper no acc.
130 and 225 in a 340W same as above.
These where all X bullets
Latest 338/378W 225 Smurf (blue coating) less fouling, 4 to 5" @ 200y.
There may be a accurate load for them but I can,t afford to find it not for $65 per 50.
So for me:Hornady for practice/Sierra for acc.(Sierra man. leads you in the right direction for the right load,same as Nosler) and Nosler Part. for hunting.
Regards Martin

Sorry for the dubbel

225 X in 338 Win Mag ... 1.25" at 200 yards
270 X in 375 H&H ... 1.4" at 200 yards
350 X in 416 Rigby ... 0.8" at 100 yards

Used Shooter's Choice for cleaning ... maybe a little more difficult than traditional bullets, but not all that much.

All in all, I like'm!

I shot a whitetail 3 years in Alabama, range was 260 and I was on a hill probably 40 yards or so higher than he. Gun was Browning Eclipse, 270 cal. 130gr xlcbt, powder Reloder 22.

Bullet entered just in front of right shoulder, exited in lower abdomen, reentered left upper thigh smashed through leg bone and lodged in the skin in back of the thigh. This is the only Barnes that I have ever recovered, perfect mushroom, looked like an advertisement picture. But in my book that is pretty good penetration, deer was a mature Alabama buck so it was a petty good size animal.

I like um! So far the 3shock seems to be easier to find accuracy.

Now give the new new Triple Shocks a try, and you might find that they really shoot well. They sure do for me.

The only X bullet I've seen recovered came from a large elk. Fired from a .270 Winchester, it penetrated the animal almost fulllength, and lodged in base of the neck. Don't know the distance as I wasn't on that hunt. I do know this much, when they can be made to shoot accurately, they are among the best bullets available.

i just started shooting the barnes bullets this year. a few months ago i started playing with the 120 xbt in my 7mm RM. the first loads didn't impress me to much then i started playing with the seating depth and groups started to tighten up. this is the load that i am going to shoot at whitetail this year.

7mm RM rem. case
Barnes 120 XBT
WLR primer
71.5 gr RL22
Velocity 3486 fps out of a 26" tube.
group average 0.863

I have personally used two types of Barnes X bullets. One is the 210-grain .375, and the other is the 165 grain .308" Both shoot about as well as any other bullet I've tried in the rifles I have shot these in. The .375 has shot some 1.4" groups at 150 yards, which is as good as this rifle gets. And, I have experienced no excessive fouling in these bullets. I have never shot a game animal with one, but may use the .375" 210-grain on an elk hunt this season.

I have yet to find a very accurate load for any bullet Barnes makes, BUT for mose hunting they are pretty da.. good. I once shot a moose up the rear end (by accident. It turned 90 degrees as I took the shot) anyway... the bullet entered just above the rectum and took the long way along the spine to the chest cavity where I later found it, perfectly mushroomed, just like the ads.

I've been shooting the 225 X in my 338WM since 95'. Accuracy has normally been less than 1 MOA. I really like their performance on game too.

I used the 270 grn X to take my first moose, I realy like the bullet, but untill I get reloading I will not be using them because PMC ammo is very unreliable...

Ive tried the 120gn for .270. Tried 3 powders so far.

You couldnt cover the groups with a dinner plate at 100yds.

Poor.

I think it was Niels who said above something like "I haven't found a really accurate load for anything Barnes makes..." Pardon if I have the quote wrong, please...can't figure how to cut & paste on this forum yet, so have to paraphrase.

Just wanted to add, in my rifles that is pretty much the same experience I have had with the Barnes "traditional" bullets.

Was particularly true below .300" diameter bores...just awful in a Mauser-actioned Jeffrey .280 Ross for instance. They were accurate enough for hunting, about MOM at 150 yards (that's Minute Of Moose), but not much better than that. Did fairly well in a pair of 10.75x68 Mausers, but not really highly precision.

But, with the Barnes-X bullets, in my big bores they are really accurate performers. And I have experienced much less coppering in the .404 & .405 than with traditional jacketed bullets

Haven't tried any Barnes-X in the smaller bores yet...

AC

The more I shoot them, the more I realize they are NOT like any other bullet.

Groups two grains apart in loading in my 7 mag will go from 5" to 1.5". I just worked up a load for the 53Gr. XLC in my 223WSSM. The 200 yard groups went from 2" to 5" to 2" with just 1 grain increments each.

It seems that the "nodes" are somehow smaller than with other bullets. FWIW,

I just got done loading up some 168gr XLC's over the past two weekends for my .308 Warbird. I tried 3 different seating depths and nothing
worked...finally I had some hit within an inch of each other. I called it good, and just decided to limit my shots to 300yds or so because I REALLY wanted to use the XLC's this season. I loaded up 26 rounds of them (.055" off the lands), and then cleaned my bbl. I used CR10 and more than a few patches, but definitely got 'er spick and span.

Went out shooting this weekend as well, and decided to see if cleaning the bbl made that much difference. (I had been shooting nosler ballistic
tips before the XLC's the previous weekend...didn't think it would be that
dirty, and wouldn't make a difference) Well...I'll be a monkey's uncle!!! With a clean bbl; 1st shot, dead on, a little over 1.75" high.......2nd shot: less than 1/2" high from the first....3rd shot: flier- 1.5" low and to the left...a little disappointing, but my friend said it looked like I pulled it and to shoot again, so I did.....4th shot, cut the hole of my second shot!!!!!! 3 XLC's within .75" of each other(center to center) with the 4th flier that I think was more human error than anything. On a side note, The 165gr XLC shoots this well in my buddy's Warbird also. In my experiences and hearing from other devoted Barnes users, having a spotless bbl is absolutely necessary if you are going to be shooting these bullets. I also talked with one of the techs at Barnes and he said that many people are having great success with the Triple shocks. And from reading these forums, it sounds like a few from here are doing quite well with them too.

On another side note, I loaded up some 165gr Hornady Interbonds for insurance, in case the XLC's didn't want to shoot, and because the 165gr Nosler BTips shot very well too (.5-.75") and the Interbonds shot 1.5", walking left to right.

So, my best advice if you decide to use Barnes bullets; clean your barrel well and clean it often, and play with your seating depths. They are very finicky, but they do have the capability to shoot extremely well.

As has been said on this thread before, at these prices....I'm not rich enough to work up an "accurate" load. The bore fouling legends also make me steer away from shooting too awful many of them.

However...

This isn't a match bullet. It's a premium HUNTING bullet. Subminute of angle accuracy is waisted on bouncing blacktails in the field. I practice with Hornady spires or Speer Hotcores. For hunting, I swap out these bullets for Barnes X of the same weight. At my usual hunting range, well inside 300 yards, the X bullets shoot tight enough and close enough to the Speers and Hornadys to call it good.

I pay the extra for the X for it's downrange proformance on game. Thus far, it has proformed in splendid fashion. Gives outstanding penetration and seems to shock game down better than any other bullet I've tried. The cost is no issue cause, you just don't fire all that many rounds hunting.