Hello all,

Does or has anyone used the Sako factory loaded Barnes XLC's at all? A mate id using the 85gr in 243 and is suffering a lot of carcass damage on everything he shoots.

Just wandering if anyone has any experience with the load or the bullet?

Rgds,

FB

I'm using the 140gn soft point sakos in my 7mmremmag,(not sure who produce the tips) and they dont seem very destructive at all. Even on small muntjac the carcass damge is very much acceptable.

Fallowbuck,
are we talking shrapnel and bone shrapnel damage, or just plain o'l blood and bruising..
regards
griff

Griff,

It's the good old fasioned blood and bruising..... But a lot of it.

The XLC's are the little blue coated X-Bullets.

I'm not sure whatthe advertised muzzle velocity of them is but I imagine they are zipping along.Unfortunately I didn't have a new box handy with the spec sheet in it.

Rgds,
FB

Fallowbuck,
sounds like too much velocity!

regards
griff

Fallow Buck

a friend tried the very same round, but did not suffer from overly destructive damage, just total lack of accuracy. From a Sako rifle it was not possible to get a 5 inch group with the Blue XLC's.

however with the ordinary Sako 90 grain soft nosed it held consistently well under 1 inch at 100 yards.

That seems to be the underlying theme with Barnes X bullets, the TSX happily seem another story, accuracy is near guaranteed.

Griff,

That was my reaction initially. I still haven't managed to get the factory data for the load, ffrom the web or otherwise.

Johnathan,

I had accurracy problems with the sako loaded Barnes -X in my 308. It ended up being the powder that the rifle didn't like...
The only reason we found out was because We loaded some TSX's with the same Vhit 140 powder and got the same results. When we changed poder the groups with the TSX's went to under an inch.

I use the same 90grain game points in my 243 and yes, they group well but do tend to blow up a bit. However everything I shoot with them is well killed.

FB

X Bullets are the worst and the best bullets in the world at the same time.

They tried to improve accuracy and decrease pressure by adding the blue coating. It is baked on and a similar material to the ceramic used on the space shuttle tiles and the break pads in Mikey Schumakers F1 Ferrari and Nascar.

It works, but not all guns like it. I have a couple of boxes of X bullets and they give exceptional accuracy in only one of my rifles. The design is an accurate one, and so is the ogive.

The problem lies in the fact that a solid copper bullet doesn't slide down the barrel quite as well as a copper gilded lead bullet.

Anyway, the new Triple shock and TSX which is a tunsten core X bullet should help.

They will give 100 percent penetration on almost any animal within 200-300 yards. So they are not ideal for shooting into a big mob of animals.

They have a very violent wound channel, but I find it hard to believe that the X bullet is causing any more damage than a lead based bullet for a shoulder shot.

If meat is the big concern then neck and head shots should be used.