Need an opinion. I plan to carry a rifle in Big Brown Bear country. Looking at loading up some
Barnes 270 grain X bullets. I have never shot them in my 375, but everybodys says they are
extremely accurate and really facilitate quick kills. Anybody used them?

Al,
The "extremely accurate" part is really up to your rifle! Many rifles "pattern" with Xs while others group quite well with them. I've never used a bullet in my life that gave such divergent results from gun to gun.
IF your rifle shoots them well you will have a great bullet to use against those nasty brownies that inhabit much of coastal Alaska!
Just in case it doesn't digest them all that well, try some 270gr Fail Safes. They'll do anything the X does and are usually easier to get shooting tight groups.

The only rifle I could ever get 'X' bullets to shoot really well from was my Ruger #1 in .375h&h. The #1 had a long throat & usually the 'X' bullets like to be seated well off of the lands. My .375 liked the .270gr 'X' over 4064 or RL15.
I shot a Gemsbok in RSA from front to back & he dropped like a stone, never moved. We didn't recover the bullet but I'ld bet it ended up in the spine somewhere. Good luck w/ your load developement.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Alaskan Al:
Hi Alaskan Al,
As mentioned if they shoot well in your rifle you will have a great bullet to hunt with. I've shot a couple of moose with the 270 grain Barnes X and the results were as expected. Very good. One shot was about thirty yards with my 375 Weatherby. The shot was a frontal chest shot with the bullet recovered just ahead of the hind quarters in tact. This particular bull wasn't large. I was the last to shoot on a fly in trip and had to find an imature bull. The stopping power is there as well as the penetration required for Brown Bear.

470 Mbogo

Alaskan Al,

Why not try the woodleigh 270 grain SN's ?? I reckon they might be just the ticket for Bears.

Al,

The X bullets are great if they group well from your rifle. Like John said, you might want to try the Fail Safe bullet - similar design and extremely effective. I haven't heard of accuracy problems with the FS. If you're set on the 270 grain bullet, that's fine, but I would go with the 300 grain in whichever bullet you use.

Let's take a look at the type of performance you need. You said you would be carrying a rifle in bear-country and NOT hunting bear specifically. As I read it you are looking for a self-defence load and if I remember my Alaskan Game Laws the bear better be damn close if you are going to shoot it. I take damn close to be 25 yards so accuracy isn't an issue...right! I would also take all the bullet weight I could get in that .375 so I would go with the 300gr.

Gentlemen.
Saeed, uses the 300 x in his .375/404 I have seen some of his vidoes and they are devestating on buffalo. I have used then in the .416 with perfect results both in the 400 and 350 grain versions. A lot of people complain about the accuracy, however all of my rifles have shot them
just fine.
George

Ditto George Hoffman, a man who knows the territory. My meager experience has lead me to the same ideas. I get along fine with the 300 grain X-Bullet in the 375 H&H for any application where an expanding bullet is needed. I also love the 350 grain and 400 grain X-Bullets in a .416. Adds versatility to the .416, allowing it to surpass the .375 for all-around use, and that is really saying a lot. Must be why the .416 worked so well for George Hoffman.

Welcome back George!

I have been trying to get the 270 X's to shoot in my 375 H&H, but they just won't group well enough for me. I tried H4895, H4350, and R15, but no luck. If I can't get at least something promising within 1 box of X's, then it's on to another kind of bullet.

Although the X's wouldn't shoot, the 300 gr. Northforks put almost every load combo I tried (H4350 and R15) into 1.25" or less for 3 shot groups.

If Ray Atkinson comes back from Africa and gives his final stamp of approval, then I will look no further (well, maybe I will have to give the Failsafes a whirl).

I have a .338 that loves 225 X's .......

Steve

Just got through with a range session today. I am trying to get the 270 gr XLC's to shoot in my 375 ultra,having no luck! Tried 4350 rl15 and 7828 nothin seems to work. I have had really good succsess with the 300gr northfork bullets and also the the 300 gr swift A frame. Good luck finding a Load that shoots!

I got to thinking after posting my last reply here. I went over the targets that I was shooting at with the 270 X bullets, I was getting 2" groups at 100yds,ok acuracy for a 375. But what really matters is where the first shot goes! I think we as reloaders and gun buffs get hooked on shooting nice tight groups,dont get me wrong i like a rifle that will print a small group. When we are hunting,espesially something as big as a brown bear I think 2" at 100 yds is plenty acurate!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by diesel_dude:
diesel_dude,
If your having great success with the 300 grain Swift A-Frame look no further. The A-Frame is an awesome bullet. You will get very high weight retension and devastating penetration. The Barnes X bullet is very good also but if it won't fly go Swift. My 375's all seemed to like Varget powder with the X bullets. I didn't see Varget listed as tried by any of the previous posters. With the H&H work up from 68 grains with a 270 grain X. I think the reloading manual showed 72 as a Max load but use caution and proceed with safe reloading practices for your own rifle.

470 Mbogo