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They have been around a lot longer than that | |||
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My experiences with Barnes bullets has all been good. Killed a lot of deer both whitetail and mule deer with a 100 gr 257 Wby and 2 elk with a 338Wm , none have went very far, most DRT. | |||
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Talking of blood trail. The fact is if you hit the animals in a vital zone he is not going to go very far anyway. And I have seen so many animals where the bullet has gone through, but very little blood has come out of the exit wound. Unless one hits an artery, external bleeding might not be very much. We have had many times where an animal was shot and killed with a few yards, and we spent quite a while looking for blood trails in the Forrest without seeing anything. The only time I could attribute something might have wrong with bullet performance was actually my own fault. We followed a sable in a horribly hot day in Chete. We saw him lying down under a tree. I fired a shot at him, and jumped and took off. We could not find any blood, but we stayed behind him hoping for a second chance. It was one of the hottest days we have ever had hunting. Eventually we gave up on him, and decided that I had missed. 3 days later early one morning, we saw him again, and I managed to shoot him. WE found that my bullet from the previous days hit him high in the shoulders, caused no damage at all, except make a hole. Blood trailed down for a couple of inches, and stopped, hence we did not find any. So we cannot blame that mistake on the bullet. It was entirely my fault, as I misjudged his position | |||
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That's the thing intriguing me in this whole conversation, the number of contributors here talking of the post-impact blood trails. In my entire hunting career I have hardly ever seen this. I think I have shot enough game that if it happens readily then statistically I should have experienced this. But no. Once hunting with my son he shot a Sika deer offhand and front on from about 50 metres. The shot looked good to me but the deer bolted. We were able to follow a few scattered blood blotches here and there up to a large patch of very thick, tangled undergrowth but couldn't carry on as darkness set in. However, I wouldn't describe the bleeding as copious and obviously the deer retained enough to run away. That's about the most post-shot bleeding I have ever seen. I remember some animals I shot with gaping exit wounds that were barely oozing blood. How much blood needs to be on the ground to be called a blood trail ...?? However , post shot internal bleeding of game, in my experience, is an entirely different matter. I have certainly gutted a few that had chest cavities with copious amounts of bloody fluids. Hunting.... it's not everything, it's the only thing. | |||
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"Misjudged his position". Did not Miss. Love the confidence and the honesty! The bullet went where it was aimed. It was just an error in target identification. Blood trails: Love them. But lots of game well shot killed and recovered without a good blood trail. Biggest blood trail I ever had was about three feet wide and 20 yards long. Shot a calf elk in the going away end wth a 300 grain 338 Barnes solid and the thoratic exit wound right at the junction of the blood pump and all the pipes, lower throat, throughly drained that elk who was running at full speed in 20 yards. Tracking is another thread I suppose. To answer the OP I HAVE USED BARNES X in 180 30-06 and 225 in 35 whelen. Both were spectacular killers. The 165 X I loaded for a buddy were not. They changed that bullet several times in the original X series. Happy hunting. "The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights." ~George Washington - 1789 | |||
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Absolutely, P dog, but I've only been around for 3/4 of a century so I can only speak for the time I've used them. The whine about Barnes bullets has been around since they first came out and the Barnes company has continuously improved them... Wish they still had those "blue bombs" coated bullets...they were truly "the bomb". Even with the whines those bullets just keep collecting dinner or varmints...I've used quite a few of the "blue bombs" in 22 and 6mm on varmints...WHEN they were on sale.  How many whines have been collected concerning all the other various and sundry bullets over the past umpteen years and why is it that Barnes seems to collect then most virulent kinds of vitriolic vituperousness? Love them or hate them...use them or don't... and get over it.    Luck   | |||
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Two things Ive seen with monolithics, in this case both were Barnes X, Two the bullets hit bone and pinched the hollow point shut and one the bullet changed direction and was recover in the hip slightly bent, the other on the off side skin almost reloadable. I know of two other instances wherein this happened..I have also recovered them with the petals blown off. Its abundantly clear to me that they do fail based on the number of posts, with simulair failures. Sometime with any bullet you can shoot over the lungs and under the spine and your never going to see him again.. I lost a coyote with my 300 H&H and a 165 gr. Barnes X..found him later in the week, shot center but a bit far back. I shot a deer with the tipped 150 X bullet found a little blood, a chunk of shoulder bone. I followed him until he got with a herd of deer, then heard a shot and a guy was gutting my deer, said yeah shot him twice he was a tough bugger..I only heard one shot! My shot was a tad high in the shoulder Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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I am sure hunters have experienced "Failures" with each and every commercially made bullet ever produced. I have also noticed from past discussions on this site, that some hunters believe that any bullet that exits an animal is a failure. It should have expended all of its energy in the targets body. Others, of which I am a subscriber want an exit wound pumping blood and air out of the targets body! Who is right and who is wrong, and is there a "One Size Fits All" in expectations of bullet performance? I also subscribe to the idea that a carcass on the ground, whether "Dead Right There" are laying dead after 100 yards of blood trailing is evidence of reliable performance of a bullet, ANY Bullet. I can't help but wonder how often hunters place the on Bullet Failure, instead of questioning their own ability to properly place a bullet where it needs to go? I have been using the various Barnes bullets for a little over 20 years now, and I see no reason of changing. From my experience, and I seriously doubt that I am wrong on this, for too many people, placing the blame on "Bullet Failure" is easier than facing the idea that they are not placing their shots where they need to go! Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
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The question posed by the OP is "EXPANSION Reliability". Does it kill, how long have you been using it, how many animals did you kill with it, and it's all about placement were not the question. Those are all important but most are skirting the issue asked. On the other hand, posts like that by Atkinson address some of those other issues but also go directly to the question of "EXPANSION Reliability". . | |||
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I have experienced expansion reliability on all the bullet I have recovered from game! Does NOT recovering a bullet from a DEAD animal indicate that the bullet did not expand properly? Where is the line drawn, and who draws that line? I have been fortunate to kill quite a few animals, but I rarely recovered a bullet, but the Barnes bullets I have recovered looked just like the ones in the catalog pictures concerning performance. I know what I have experienced since beginning to use Barnes Bullets in 1996, and I have been confident enough to have been using Barnes Bullets exclusively in my rifles since then. Everyone's mileage will vary, just as all game and hunting conditions and the expectations of the individual hunter will vary. Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
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Crazyhorse… Like Atkinson and other very knowledgeable folks who post here, your posts typically ask good questions and provide much appreciated, common sense answers. You said: “I can't help but wonder how often hunters place the on Bullet Failure, instead of questioning their own ability to properly place a bullet where it needs to go? I have been using the various Barnes bullets for a little over 20 years now, and I see no reason of changing. From my experience, and I seriously doubt that I am wrong on this, for too many people, placing the blame on "Bullet Failure" is easier than facing the idea that they are not placing their shots where they need to go!” I don’t know if you were including me in those 2 statements? Possibly not? Not that I’m incapable of missing but, for the record, I didn’t and have already stated how I know that. Not mistaken. 100% certain. Solid rest; very reasonable distance; rifle consistently shooting .25 to .50 moa groups @ 100 yards with the TTSX; did not flinch; sight picture was perfect behind the shoulder when the Sako set trigger let off the shot. What I've learned from this educational thread: a) hold for the shoulder when using the TSX and b) yes, placed properly, they do expand most of the time and kill cleanly. For me, that answers my expansion question. If you wish to pursue the “marksmanship aspect” further, instead of the "expansion reliability" question, may I respectfully suggest you abide by your tag line…which I happen to like a lot!! | |||
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As to pass thrus I have seen bullets skip along the ground or blow up dirt or rocks after going through an animal many times, it sometimes is hard to claim a hit as many times its a high or even a low hit.. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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I was not meaning to offend, and really was not pursuing the marksmanship aspect. As far as my comment concerning shooters not placing a bullet where it needs to go, that is not an indictment toward you or any other person, just a statement of from what I have experienced is a fact. Recalling all of the aspects of a shot taken, especially if an animal is lost or travels farther than the shooter expected after the hit, gets to be difficult. Most of us, probably all of us when taking a shot, feel or believe that the sight picture we were looking at was perfect when we fired. The majority of the time, the gun goes bang, depending on the range/wind conditions we hear the strike of the bullet or see the animal fall or show visible signs of a hit. It is those times however, at least for me whether hunting or guiding, when the gun goes bang and the critter hauls ass showing no sign of a hit. That is when the guessing begins. Was it bullet failure, did I simply flat miss, was the animal actually broad side at the shot or quartering slightly, did I miss bone completely and slip the shot between ribs and just hit lung etc. etc. etc. There are just so many oddball things that can happen between the time the trigger is pulled and the animal is on the ground, that pinpointing any one particular reason is difficult at best. Throw in our own individual expectations of what we were figuring was going to happen and it just compounds the problem. Having viewed such things from the aspect of the person taking the shot and from the aspect of getting a hunter into the position to take the shot, I have had the opportunity to see lots of good shots made and seen quite a few that I still wonder about. Any of my comments that you felt questioned your abilities, were not meant to come across that way, but having been in similar situations myself, it is difficult for most folks to address the idea that they may have simply done something in that last instant before the gun fired that affected where the bullet went. Things happen and the more times a person does something the greater the odds for oddball things to happen. Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
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I've had the opportunity to kill near 300 head of big game, 100 of them culling aoudad sheep in W TX. I've used many different bullets, including about 20 with a 7-08/ 120 & 140 TTSX. Yes, they kill well, but in my limited experience, as compared to partitions and accubonds anyway, game tends to run farther with a mono hit than the others. What I have noticed though is that if I really push the velocity when using a TTSX, as with a 3100 fps 120g TTSX, it seems they kill quicker. I have continued to get quicker kills with partially fragmenting bullets though (partition. accubond, certain ballistic tips), but we all know that if you've shot enough animals, they can react differently to being shot with the exact same bullet and rifle combo. | |||
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Here's a pic for those who think a TTSX doesn't leave a blood trail.   Have gun- Will travel The value of a trophy is computed directly in terms of personal investment in its acquisition. Robert Ruark | |||
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I appreciate your experience and your response Ch...and fully agree with the factual points you made. | |||
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That's more or less where I ended up for the fastest kills on light animals, partially fragmenting bullets. Actually, its also where I started out. I have noticed that higher speeds do help the monos work, but having driven 170 7mms up to 3500 fps and 257 80s up to 3950 fps I still can't make them kill like lead. | |||
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The Barnes TSX has been / is the bullet of my choice for moose. Zero complaints with 225 TSX in 338 Win, the 270 TSX in 375 Ruger, and the 350TSX in 416 Ruger. I also have several buddies that use the TSX, which have included the 270 WSM for sheep and the 338 Win for multiple moose, black bears, and grizzly. No disappointing results. I tend to agree a lot with Saeed's example of the Sable. Sometimes the animal is not in the position / precise angle that we think it is, and/or it moves / contorts its body before the bullet arrives. To date the 338 Win with a 225 TSX, Federal factory load, dropped a moose faster than anything that I could imagine. Distance was about 150 yds, one rib in, one rib out and a hole through the scapula (no major moose bones) and instant collapse with tremendous internal destruction. Hole in the entrance & exit sides of the hide, unscientific dimensions, entrance = first joint of little finger tip, exit = first of index finger tip. Another shot at about 80yds with 270 TSX 375 Ruger; entrance and exit holes in the hide about the same, and rib count, but it literally destroyed the shoulder joint on exiting. My experiences with the TSX have been no large gaping exit holes, unless bone is blown through; but very quick kills. I shot a coyote with a 338 Win and 225 TSX (Federal factory load) at about 60yds, terribly miss-judged his twisted around position. Destroyed the back bone, threw pieces of coyote tender loin 4-5' high onto tree limbs several feet behind the impact. Can only describe it as being able to look inside a void about a foot long. Which in my case, goes right back to Saeed's comment on the sable: "It was entirely my fault, as I misjudged his position" Edited for grammar: which I probably still missed a few -------------------------------------------
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Again, there is no "One Size Fits All", and all of us on here have had our own experiences. If all of us are honest, we have had shots that were perfect and we have had shots that were less than perfect, and that is simply part of hunting. All any of us can do is make it our goal to put our bullets where they need to go to make a quick/clean kill. Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
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Task1 you are a gentelman. Just a thought, some of the lead and core bullets that lose a given percentage of their weight by design, don't just vanish. No matter how miniscule, they can perforate, sever or cause more damage than otherwise. That may be the observation that they induce quicker incapacitation. The most expanded and impressive bonded bullet on deer size game that I have observed is the Hornady Interbond. | |||
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Even if you used a Barnes Spitzer Boattail Banded Solid . if you double lunged it . It died. Especially with a 7 mm bullet @ over 3k. I've been shooting Barnes monos since they first came out with the X bullet. I can't recall an animal lost when shot with a Barnes X TSX or TTSXBT . The past 2 years I've been hunting caribou with my 6.5 Creedmoor carbine . I shoot 130 gr TSX or 130 Swift Sirocco @ 2775 MV . My results are 1 shot stops and kills . Conversely guys I've been hunting with 06s that are averaging 2 or more shots each . One using 165 gr TTSX and one shooting 165 Noslers. . . Some might think I'm implying the 6.5 kills better than the 06. Not at all my bullets just went where they were supposed to . Theirs , well , kinda near where they were supposed to. My last bou . In November I killed with a 250 gr TTSXBT 375 bullet . 1 shot dump and dead . TSX and TTSX just plane work is my experience. Phil Shoemaker : "I went to a .30-06 on a fine old Mauser action. That worked successfully for a few years until a wounded, vindictive brown bear taught me that precise bullet placement is not always possible in thick alders, at spitting distances and when time is measured in split seconds. Lucky to come out of that lesson alive, I decided to look for a more suitable rifle." | |||
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Love'em or hate'em, use'em or don't, sometimes they fail, sometimes they don't...JUST LIKE ALL BULLETS. The newer ones are different that the older ones...if you're gnawing on a critter steak bone I don't see how the bullet failed...if I got away then blame yourself NOT the bullet...and do better next time. LUCK | |||
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Sounds more like two misses to me. -------------------- THANOS WAS RIGHT! | |||
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Sounds like two dead and lost deer, shot through the ribs with TSXs to me. | |||
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After 3 pages of posts, I regret having to agree with you except it was a TTSX. Search, I did…and then some more. Carefully…I covered a 100+ yard half circle on the side of the field the deer exited. Not saying there wasn’t any but I found no hair…no blood…no sign of a hit or anything else. I’ve never once lost a deer to my arrow or bullet. I knew before I posted that your statement could be true. I also wanted to get closer to a better explanation than I had so I posted what I saw…at and after the shot. I’m no happier with this conclusion now than I was when it happened. I will likely use a TTSX again, but will again keep the speed well up...and this time change my POA. Thanks, I very much appreciate the posts. | |||
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I haven't shot a lot of things with TTSX or TSX bullets, but they are all dead. Here's my rule of thumb on Barnes bullets - they shoot overweight. So where you might use a 200 gr Aframe, Woodleigh etc in a 300 Mag, use a 180 gr TSX or TTSX. If you are shooting a 300 gr TSX in a 375 H&H or a 400 gr TSX in a 40 caliber, may God help that poor animal. "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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In my .300 Weatherby I use 165 or 168 grain TSX's fort Elk or Deer, in my .35 Whelen, 225 grain for the same animals, in my 375 H&H 235 grain. I used to hunt Javelinas with a .22 Hornet using 50 grain Barnes "X" flat base and the only bullet I ever recovered had mushroomed perfectly except for shedding one petal. It still boils down to the concept that if you shoot ;long enough and at enough critters, odd things will happen that simply defy explanation. Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
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This buck and a couple does fell to 80 TTSX in a 25-06 ranges were between 250 and 300 yards.  I really like the Barnes bullets myself and have had no bad experiences with them. I had to follow a double lung elk about 100 yards once with a LRX out of a 30-06 100 yard shot. Most animals stumble and fall a short distance from where they were hit. The three this year all went straight down once hit in the body. The buck was hit in the ham first and a fist sized chunk of meat was missing from the leg (just a hole a baseball could fit in). -------------------- THANOS WAS RIGHT! | |||
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If there is any question about a bullet not performing 100 % of the time I would not use them. I would use cup and core bullet for whitetails and a nosler partition for big stuff or the nosler partition for everything. | |||
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So those of us that have had the results we desire with Barnes bullets are wrong??? Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
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I agree with Raider, for deer as they are light bodied, use the lightest Barnes bullet offered, excluding the varmint bullets..The 120 would be my choice.. Ive seen enough Barnes bullets fail and do funny things to not use them anymore, Ive read and talked to enough folks to know that too many people base their choice of bullets on one or two kills..It takes a lot of kills to truly test bullets, all the media tests are only useful in comparing bullets, and even that's iffy.. I also know some of the best guides, hunters etc. that swear by them, people I have a world of respect for, I also know that Barnes bullets work 110% on large animals like Buffalo, but may fail on fragile animals it seems, when they work they are outstanding, but they can be very,very bad when they fail.. That said and in all fairness, most of my experience with Barnes bullets was with the original Barnes Xs some 15 or so years ago when I quit using them, but I had one incident about ? years ago on a deer that I recovered shot with the first tipped x bullets that went almost two miles with a high shoulder shot.. The latest Barnes X may be a much better bullet as bullet companies usually pay attention to complaints and with the sale of the company, I suspect they will listen much better than a certain lady at the old Barnes company. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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A bullet failure is when a bullet does not penetrate deep enough or in a straight enough line . To get adequet damage to the important parts. That is bullet failure. If the bullets X,TSX, TTSX, TTSXBT, LRX . turned and went funny directions then that is most likely a rifling twist rate problem. But , it could be a bullet problem. But, if an animal was shot thru the lungs , and it ran off. I don't see that as a bullet problem, but rather a trackers problem. Wounded animals can disappear quite easily. I don't know why this thread keeps going on and on. If the OP doesn't like how Barnes bullets preformed . There are plenty of Berger Hunting VLD s sold every day. Phil Shoemaker : "I went to a .30-06 on a fine old Mauser action. That worked successfully for a few years until a wounded, vindictive brown bear taught me that precise bullet placement is not always possible in thick alders, at spitting distances and when time is measured in split seconds. Lucky to come out of that lesson alive, I decided to look for a more suitable rifle." | |||
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How does this concept strike anyone, and I know people are tired of my same old song, but instead of concentrating on a behind the shoulder, heart/lung shot, why not go with a dead center shoulder shot that breaks the animal down for an easy follow up shot/finisher??? Has killing an animal with a perfectly placed heart/lung shot that most or all of us know does NOT indicate an instantaneous death, become the goal of all hunters? Why not just try for head or spine, CNS shots, that guarantee an animal down where it was standing? Sorry to be such an ass, but the only shots that are pretty well guaranteed to prevent a tracking job is breaking one or both front legs or a direct hit to the CNS, and in those cases, bullet expansion is not really an issue. Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
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The reason the thread keeps going on and on CTF is because honest folks here are replying to the OP’s question. It wasn’t a question about “like,” it was a question about expansion to make a more educated decision in the future on using Barnes bullets. I posted the regrettable hunt report to find out what others think may have happened. Their field experiences have been enlightening and the main reason why I frequent this great Forum. I now believe I know what happened…at least to a reasonable degree of probability. Much obliged to everyone. Have you considered Crazyhorse’s tag line? | |||
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For GOD's sake don't get me involved in this, enough people on here hate me as it is! From my experiences, does not matter what caliber or bullet a person uses, things go wobbly and No One can explain WHY! Not meaning to insult anyone's intelligence, but unless or until you have a 120/130 pound Texas White Tail buck shot at 40/45 yards thru the chest with a 250 grain Barnes "X" Flat Base, out of a .375 H&H, run close to 70 yards and when field dressed the whole top third of the heart was gone and the heart was NOT connected to ANYTHING, can a person ACTUALLY appreciate that even with top of the line PREMIUM bullets things do not go as expected! Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
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Ch……sorry about that. If you decide you don’t want that tagline anymore, please let me know first. I think most of us, after some consistent success with a particular bullet, do come to expect a certain result after the trigger pull. To be honest about it, the 120gr BT in my 7x57 on WT has been so successful, it would surprise me if the next WT shot acted any differently. That said…..you are right, anything can and will likely happen. | |||
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Todd, How dare you insult my mother? Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Let's see, to recover a bullet the animal has to be dead! If the animal is dead, wasn't that the job the bullet was sent to do?????????? Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
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My limited experience with Barnes TSX bullets is on red, fallow & sika deer in NZ and black bear & mule deer in Canada. All were shot with 7mm cal - 7mm08 in NZ & 7mm Rem mag in Canada Over all experience is excellent - Most animals shot broad side heart lung. Most dropped on the spot with 2 exceptions. The large black bear was shot with 160 gr TSX in 7mm Rem mag at 307 yards & the bear dropped at the shot & rolled around for a while & then got up & ran. I hit once on the run in the back thigh into guts. All pass through. Bear ran another 30 yards. The other exception was a sika spiker at 15 yards. I shot it with 7mm08 in the armpit. It disappeared and I never found it. No blood trail. All other animals dropped on the spot. Some were double shoulder heart hits. Very good accuracy in my rifles. A note: The old Barnes X bullets from 1995 are a different story & cannot be compared. Their accuracy was very poor (2.5 inch groups at 100 meters), pressure spikes were terrible with blown primers and case head separation on what looked like medium safe loads. Old X Bullets were nominal diameter while TSX are 0.001 inch smaller than same caliber cup & core bullets. "When the wind stops....start rowing. When the wind starts, get the sail up quick." | |||
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Everyone's mileage varies, use whatever your comfortable with. I went with the Barnes bullets, simply because I like to eat game meat, and after having used Hornady/Speer and Sierra bullets, I did not like the wound channels created and with the Hornady's, I did not like biting down on a piece of lead after the bullet went to pieces. We are lucky to be able to have a variety of manufacturers bullets to choose from, find what works for you, but do not expect everyone to agree with your choice. On a side note, over the years since I began using Barnes bullets, the most frequent complaint I have heard concerning the use of Barnes, had nothing to do with expansion issues, but the cost of the bullets themselves. Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
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