Barnes Bullets Accuracy

deertroy

deertroy

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First off, I'm not looking for advice.
I just want to post my observations.
I've been handloading for over 40 years. In that time I have shot thousands of rounds in a variety of calibers and rifles.
In that time without exception I have never been able to get great accuracy out of Barnes mono-metal bullets.
I have tried different powders, different seating depths from 0.200" jump to almost touching. I have tried mild loads, hot loads and everything in between and the best I can usually do is around 1.25" for three or five rounds at 100 yds. Yes, like most, I get the odd half inch group but these are outliers and not repeatable.
I know a lot of you have gotten stellar results and I don't doubt that for a minute. I'm simply stating I have had less than good results with Barnes TTSX and LRX bullets.
Currently I have a 308 with a JC barrel. Soper accurate with Speer, Sierra & Berger, not so much with TTSX.
I have a 300 Win Mag with a Hart barrel. It loves Nosler and Berger, but refuses to shoot LRX.
Oh and yes I've cleaned the bore down to bare metal. No difference.
I'm certainly interested in others opinions.
 
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I have had the exact same experience as you. Best I can get with my Sako S20 in 308, is 1-1.25 inch groups. Exact same rifle shoots consistent .5 groups with Nosler BTs and ABLRs…….. I’ve basically given up on Barnes at this point
 
Uniacke said:
I have had the exact same experience as you. Best I can get with my Sako S20 in 308, is 1-1.25 inch groups. Exact same rifle shoots consistent .5 groups with Nosler BTs and ABLRs…….. I’ve basically given up on Barnes at this point
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I've given up too.............kind of. I'm currently having a rifle built. Lone Peak Razor, K&S 6.5 CM barrel, AllTerra stock. I have a new box of 127gr LRX I'm going to try but I'm not holding my breath.
 
175lrx in a win 70 30-06, 100 and 127gr ttsx and lrx in a Ruger American 6.5 Creedmoor, Winchester 70 and Tikka 6.5x55 and 70gr tsx from a Tikka in 223 have all been consistent sub MOA performers. Not 3 round groups either.

6 shots of the 123gr 7.62x39 go into just over an inch too. The 110 and 120 grain Tac-Tx for 300 Blk also

Have heard the stuff about scrubbing all the copper out of your barrel before shooting em. Haven't had to yet. Or clean a barrel at all for that matter lol

Guess I've just been blessed.

Have had some dogs now and then but never worse than 2".
 
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Seems like rifles either love or hate them. My creed shoots the 127lrx well and my 280ai likes the 168 lrx but other than that, I haven't had the greatest luck. I get just under 2" with the 150ttsx in my 308 but that's fine since I only consider it a 300 yard gun with those bullets anyway. They definitely prefer a good amount of jump in my experience. I usually just load them to book length and go from there.
 
Ive shot lots of barns, and have notice some boxs and lots are garbage. I started measuring some base to ogive with my 7mm. 145 lxr, kind sort them into batchs

Most of my cailbers shot will 0.02 off the lands, all the way out to 0.2 and 0.3 back
Just depends on speed i guess

I did a ladder poweder charge to fine max in My 300win mag ruger#1 22inch barrel shots 110 gr ttsx with the bullets .002 jam into the lands, just touchs the edges of the lands.
Lapua brass , wieght sorted and neck turn. Manderl inside the necks 0.003 neck tension on the bullet.

I switched to cutting edge bullets
Last year.. ill shot barns at goghers and coyotes
 
I haven’t shot alot of barnes, only a few boxes of factory loaded 225 ttsx in a 338 wing mag with acceptable accuracy, but that’s moa in an old browning a-bolt.

I just started trying out the 7mm 168lrx recently in a new gun and I noticed they like a really fast twist rate. I went with a 1-8” for mine.
 
I have shot nothing but barnes for almost 20 years.
I had one 308 rifle that didnt like factory VorTX in 150 gr.
That is literally tue only gun/bullet combo i have ever had that performed poorly.

My current 308 shoots consistently under 1/2 moa at 300 with 130gr Barnes TSX and 168gr TTSX.

My Creedmoor loves the LRX. And i just loaded to Barnes website data and it shoots very well.

My grendel loves the 115gr tac tx. 1/2moa again.

All that said, i am switching to cutting edge and/or hammer bullets in all my hunting rifles because i want better terminal performance at the lower velocities that result from longer shots.

Have many boxes of Barnes to work my way through though.
 
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Had terrible accuracy with barnes out of my ruger american ranch, but I might have been running too heavy of a bullet for how short the barrel is.
 
Beeron said:
I have shot nothing but barnes for almost 20 years.
I had one 308 rifle that didnt like factory VorTX in 150 gr.
That is literally tue only gun/bullet combo i have ever had that performed poorly.

My current 308 shoots consistently under 1/2 moa at 300 with 130gr Barnes TSX and 168gr TTSX.

My Creedmoor loves the LRX. And i just loaded to Barnes website data and it shoots very well.

My grendel loves the 115gr tac tx. 1/2moa again.

All that said, i am switching to cutting edge and/or hammer bullets in all my hunting rifles because i want better terminal performance at the lower velocities that result from longer shots.

Have many boxes of Barnes to work my way through though.
Click to expand...
What’s your load for your 308 and the 168 TTSX?
 
Same thing here in 270Win. Shot Barnes LRX in MOA accuracy on a good day. Same rifle shot Sierra Game kings in half moa every day of the week.

I usually try Barnes on new rifles with little hope and move to something else almost every time.
 
Yea I don’t know if it affects the accuracy or not but none of the polymer tips on mine are on straight. I haven’t investigated much into this but they do not group as well as lead bullets for me in my rifles.

My main hunting load is the 308 Winchester 130 grain ttsx going 270 speeds. That shoots inside an inch at 100 yards but I get better accuracy with other bullets.
 
I just averaged my last ten 3-shot groups with my 308 Win. Powders used were W748, H4895 and IMR3031. The ten group average was 1.44"
This isn't necessarily bad but with other bullets the average is half that.
The same holds true for other rifles.
 
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OP, I had pretty much given up on Barne's TTSX, TSX, and other monolithic type bullets, such as the GMX.

Then, in one single post by a CGNer, sorry I forgot your handle, he mentioned they need a lot of "jump" before engaging the leades to shoot well.

I had previously used them in 6.5mm, 7mm, and 30 cal. Groups were abysmal, even at 50 yards, and they opened up from there, looking more like a shot gun blast on the targets.

I will admit, I was skeptical, but I also had several hundred bullets on hand, of different weights and calibers.

I had eyes on proof of performance of these great bullets on game from Deer to Moose, and it was impressive.

So, to shorten up the story a bit, I loaded up 5 rounds of 120 grain TTSX, into 280Rem cases, so they were .100 inches off the leades.

It was like "someone" waved a magic wand.

First load, no work up, other than to look at what the manual recommended as the most accurate load, and it grouped appx 1.5in at 100 yds.

That's what I call a pretty good starting load.

With a bit of tweaking, seating the bullet at .050 inch off the leades, the groups are consistently/predictably sub moa out to 300yds.

The rifle is a Remington 700 Classic, SS, Laminated stock. Actually there are two rifles chambered for the 280Rem, the other is also a Remington 700, but it's a BDL/DM model and has a 24 inch bbl. It's also SS, has a very nice Walnut stock.

Velocities are about 35fps faster from the BDL/DM, but they both shoot the same load just as well.

I had similar experiences with the Tikka T3, 6.5x55, and a custom Mauser 98, 30-06.

Monolithic bullets differ from cup and core bullets, which, depending on design, need to be seated as close to the leades as possible.

Other than some Hammer monolithic bullets, which are 9.3mm round nose, I haven't seen or tried any monolithics that weren't of VLD or ELD design.

Maybe they would behave more like cup and core offerings.
 
Uniacke said:
What’s your load for your 308 and the 168 TTSX?
Click to expand...

The 130’s are handloads and have been my primary load for years.
The 168’s i have left are factory VorTX cuz I once had 8 boxes.
I will be loading a bunch this year though as I am finally running low on those and I like it for bears.

As another poster has said, i have seen poor consistency in the blue tip alignment but so far i have seen zero effect to 300 yards. Even so, i now buy and shoot only the TSX to avoid that.

When i build a Barnes load, I start with their data and work up from 80% or so. I go with their COAL and so far so good.

One exception was my Grendel. That one needed more jump. Shoots like a boss with 115gr Tactx but im now shooting the cutting edge Maximus 105’s in that gun.
Also switching in the 308 and the creedmoor. Those may be a bit as I have a large stockpile of pills for those rifles.

I do have a load for the 165gr TSX and thats 41.7gr H4895. Coal 2.81.
Right around 2770 fps out of a 20” barrel.
 
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bearhunter said:
OP, I had pretty much given up on Barne's TTSX, TSX, and other monolithic type bullets, such as the GMX.

Then, in one single post by a CGNer, sorry I forgot your handle, he mentioned they need a lot of "jump" before engaging the leades to shoot well.

I had previously used them in 6.5mm, 7mm, and 30 cal. Groups were abysmal, even at 50 yards, and they opened up from there, looking more like a shot gun blast on the targets.

I will admit, I was skeptical, but I also had several hundred bullets on hand, of different weights and calibers.

I had eyes on proof of performance of these great bullets on game from Deer to Moose, and it was impressive.

So, to shorten up the story a bit, I loaded up 5 rounds of 120 grain TTSX, into 280Rem cases, so they were .100 inches off the leades.

It was like "someone" waved a magic wand.

First load, no work up, other than to look at what the manual recommended as the most accurate load, and it grouped appx 1.5in at 100 yds.

That's what I call a pretty good starting load.

With a bit of tweaking, seating the bullet at .050 inch off the leades, the groups are consistently/predictably sub moa out to 300yds.

The rifle is a Remington 700 Classic, SS, Laminated stock. Actually there are two rifles chambered for the 280Rem, the other is also a Remington 700, but it's a BDL/DM model and has a 24 inch bbl. It's also SS, has a very nice Walnut stock.

Velocities are about 35fps faster from the BDL/DM, but they both shoot the same load just as well.

I had similar experiences with the Tikka T3, 6.5x55, and a custom Mauser 98, 30-06.

Monolithic bullets differ from cup and core bullets, which, depending on design, need to be seated as close to the leades as possible.

Other than some Hammer monolithic bullets, which are 9.3mm round nose, I haven't seen or tried any monolithics that weren't of VLD or ELD design.

Maybe they would behave more like cup and core offerings.
Click to expand...
I've jumped them up to 0.200". I also read where they're powder sensitive so I tried a multitude of powders. No luck. They're just too expensive to mess with anymore!
 
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