HI,

I am wondering about Barns X bullets in general. Are they good or bad?, there seems to be a great deal of posts that state they are great and than many say they are no good. I am particularly interested in a 416 Barns X, will it work on cape buffalo and will it also work on big bears?I like the fact that they have a high BC and how do they compare to GS Custom bullets, the HV bullets , which one penenetrates more and will be over all a better bullet. If I am going to spend my money on a barns X or HV which one would be the one? Thanks,Kev

Saeed love the Barnes X, but, some people have a hard time getting them to shoot in their rifles.
Try em, and see if they work.

I suspect Gerards' bullets are the best in the world. Order some, and buy some Barnes X bullets. That will give you time to find out if the Barnes work in your rifle, and, hopefully, you'll be delighted when the GS bullets arrive.

Check Fed EX, or a similar carrier if you want your bullets. Seems RSA postal service is worse then the US postal service(see MIB 2 for a description of the problem)

Dr. S

Kev,
If my rifles shoot X bullets, that's what they get feed for hunting. Worst case scenerio, you get a (since you asked about 416) a .416 solid busting through whatever you hit. I kinda like that, if the barnes has a bullet failure, it's to stay closed and nearly 100% weight retention. talk about "failing safe"

If that had been a BT (getting a dig in here) it's bullet failure would have been to explode in the hippo's hide, causing a 3" wound, that will heal after the hippo bits you in half and leaves you for the croc.

jeffe

Jeff, that's exactly the way I've always looked at it too.

I shoot under .8moa out of my 416wby with 400gr XLCs and when I had my #1 in 378wby it did .5moa almost all the time with 300gr X bullets. My old Ruger shot under .8moa all the time too with 250gr Xs as well. All of them with max or almost max loads too. Both my 308win don't do under moa with 150BTs to 180BTs though. I have to go to a FB and try them now. The flat base bullets always seem to shoot better for some reason for me, too bad the BTs don't.

My only experience with Barnes X bullets resulted in groups that were more like patterns. I tried them on two separate range days, with the same results. These were the XLC bullets. I would still try them again though, as any one gun is like no other in my experience; maybe they just didn't like that barrel.

If they work for you, I would agree you have a great bullet.

Todd

A couple of my rifles don't like them, but my .416 Remington Magnum eats them like there's no tomorrow. I easily get three-shot, one-hole groups. I've seen what the .416-caliber, 400-grain "X" does to bears. It's marvelous to behold. Guns either love them or hate them, there is no "in between" with the "X" bullet. You just have to belly up to the bar and take your chances.

Russ

I loaded .416 barnes x for my trip to Africa. I found them to be very accurate, but did not expand on average game. I shot Leopard, waterbuck, Kudu, Zebra and Impala. I did not have one exit wound larger than a quarter. I used my 505 Gibbs on Buffalo and Elephant. I think the Barnes x would have probably worked better on the Buffalo than the smaller game.