Barnes Bullets: Discuss

Demonical

Demonical

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Whitecourt, Alberta
I will start by saying I have never used these bullets.




BECAUSE:

1) I think they are too expensive relative to the excellent bullets available from Nosler, Hornady, Sierra etc...
TRIPLE-SHOCK X-BULLET · 8MM Caliber (.323 Dia.)
Type - TSX BT • Description - 8mm Caliber (.323 Dia.) • Grain - 180
Mfr. # 32306 · 217928
$46.99 for a box of 50.

RIFLE BULLETS · 8MM Caliber (.323 Dia.)
Type - SBT • Description - 8MM Caliber (.323 Dia.) • Grain - 220
Mfr. # 2420 · 83180
$24.99 for a box of 100

2) I'm not sold on the light weights; they tend to be limited in grains. Like I was checking out 8mm and the heaviest bullet weight is a 180gr. IMHO a 220gr Sierra GameKing is going to be a better bullet. I'd rather have heavy weight and moderate speed. Not sold on the hyper velocity thing, which I think Barnes caters to by offering the lighter bullets.

3) I admit a bias towards lead-core bullets... high sectional density.

4) The Barnes has a reputation for 99% weight retention, but I also hear stories of poor expansion and bullets that do not travel straight line after hitting an animal. And that they do not expand as widely as a quality lead-core bullet.




Fire away. I'd love to hear both the good and the bad... I know TBart is a Barnes shareholder... :D

If you like 'em, what calibers/weights do you use and are you a Barnes guy... TBart... :runaway:
 
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I'm not sold on the '100% retention' as a GOOD thing. Any lost mass has to *go* somewhere, contributing to wound volume and secondary channels. For my money, yuo can;t get anyhting better than a partition. I will admit that TSX's are probably the best option in the smaller calibers, or in cartridges without the oomph to move heavier bullets at effective speeds
 
I've just switched my 35 Whelen load to a 225TSX for Bullwinkle. I share the concerns of sectional sensity althought there are just so many positive reviews of the TSX, I figured they were worth a go. Even at their ridiculous price. I put it in front of 60gr of RE15 for 2600fps at the muzzle.

Most of my hunting experience has been with the 30-06 for deer and moose. A few years ago, I tried partitions and failsafes on mooses/deer and ballistic tips on deer. After a bunch of animals shot, with these higher tech bullets, I switched back to the 180gr RN core-lokt that my friends and family have been using for years. I'm not aware of a failure with these bullets. They have always performed for me.

I wonder If I'll be switching my whelen load back to a Core-lokt?:)
 
There's an interesting thread going on over at accurate reloading in the medium bore rifles section on this very topic, you might want to take a look. I'm trying the 168's this year in my 30-06 and honestly expect good results with them. That being said I still like my lead core jacketed hornady's and nosler partitions for 99.9% of the hunting I do , heavy for caliber bullets at moderate( 2500-2700 fps at the muzzle ) velocities in non mag cartridges. If I used a magnum or ultra mag I'd definetly jump on the TSX bandwagon as the increased velocities stress some jacketed lead core bullets beyond their design parameters.
 
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1) I think they are too expensive relative to the excellent bullets available from Nosler, Hornady, Sierra etc...
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TSX bullets and Partitions are about the same price, give or take a couple of bucks. The added price of good hunting bullets doesn't even register on my scale, a box of 50 TSX bullets is half the price of a tank of gas for the truck, and assuming you do some sight ins etc, you are going to be shooting 30+ of those bullets at game, probably over a few years.

I use cheaper bullets for practice, mostly hornadys.

2) I'm not sold on the light weights; they tend to be limited in grains. Like I was checking out 8mm and the heaviest bullet weight is a 180gr. IMHO a 220gr Sierra GameKing is going to be a better bullet. I'd rather have heavy weight and moderate speed. Not sold on the hyper velocity thing, which I think Barnes caters to by offering the lighter bullets
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Light weights are one of the nicer things about TSX bullets. You can use a lighter bullet than a regular cup and core, and stil have similar performance in penetration.

If you recall when I shot a 140gr TSX at 7-08 velocities vs a 200gr Sierra game King in a 30-06, into newspaper, the TSX WAY outperformed the Sierra.

3) I admit a bias towards lead-core bullets... high sectional density
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And why do you like high SD? Penetration, right? Due to the construction of the TSX, they have higher SD for weight than most lead bullets, but also perform like heavy bullets for penetraiton. See above.:D


4) The Barnes has a reputation for 99% weight retention, but I also hear stories of poor expansion and bullets that do not travel straight line after hitting an animal. And that they do not expand as widely as a quality lead-core bullet.
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I htink that just baout any bullet can have something go wrong wiht it, and Barnes is no exception. I've seen several animals killed wiht TSX and X bullets, and they all have very excellent straight line penetration, and the wound channel is long and tubular. All animals died quite quickly, some dropping on the spot.

I saw one failure (or I think it was a failure) of an X bullet, probably 5-6 years ago, I shot a bear at 75 yards- Coudl not have missed. Bear showed no indication of a hit, and we found no blood, no hair etc.

I've also heard stories of failures wiht just about every bullet, including the *gasp* partition- Which have served me very well BTW.

What it comes down to is that everyone bases his opinions on bullets from thier experiences, some subscribe to big slow and heavy, others fast and light...I woudlnt' blame someone that had a failure wiht an X bullet a few years ago to be gun shy about trying a TSX, but they sure seem to work well.
 
I am not sold on the 100 % weight thing either, I am old school as well thinking that a bullet need to fragment some to increae the size of the wound chanel.

Price wise I have not notice them to be that mush if any more expensive than a partition or other priemium head, but I rarely run a priemium head.

Expansion every bullet has a performance envelope one of the marketing bit for the tsx was better expansion so I would expect that the previous x bullet had a problem. of the no expansion stories I have erad they almost always seem to be fast mag at close range my guess is the petal blew off or extreame range where the bullet was going too slow (the hunter who killed the animal found the head under the skin put there by another hunter).

I also seems to be trickier to load for or at least you need to know where the lands are in your gun since COl does seem to be a factor in getting accuracy.

I bet I would still have a 243 if I had tried the 85 gr tsx, so I agree that it is a good bullet to maximize a small bore, or in instances where big penetration is needed.
 
I've been using the TSXs for the last 3 seasons and I'm sold on them now. I think Gatehouse has outlined most of the advantages of them quite nicely. Between my hunting buddy and myself I've seen them kill 12 big game animals from the size of pronghorn antelope to elk. Not exactly a huge number of animals to judge anything on, but they have performed great on all of these kills, which is something considering the size differential. The rifles used were a 270 Win. and a 270 WSM, both using the 130 gr. weight.

Another thing that I've noticed is that they don't seem to ruin as much meat as many bullets that I've tried.

I decided to try the TSXs after discovering they were about the most accurate bullet that I tried out of my particular rifle. They seem to perform so well in the field that I am now sold on them. I don't mind paying a little more for them because the bullet is still the cheapest part of the hunt.
 
FYI the Sierra 220 grain GameKings come in boxes of 50 and Barnes makes a 200 grain 8mm TSX


THe TSX is an excellent bullet that penetrates very deep but also expands easily. They are accurate and price isnt much different than Partitions. If a few dollars is a problem maybe stick with Hornady Interlocks
 
BTW I have been using X bullets since 1996. The newer TSX is by far the best version yet. They solved accuracy problems and inconsistent expansion issues and the TSX is an absolute gem.

I've loaded them in 25-284 Winchester, 25-06 Rem, 260 Remington, 7mm Remington Mag, 308 Winchester, 30-06, 300 Win Mag, 8mm Rem Mag, 338 Win Mag, 375 H&H, and 416 Rem. Accuracy in all rifles was as good as any other bullet and their results on game have been very good.
 
I shoot the 168 in my 300 win mag, it shoots flatter than the heavier ullets and penetrates like a 200 gr partition.

In just about all weights and diametres I am absolutely sold that they are THE BEST hunting bullets...period.

I've shot around a dozen deer with 4 different rifles high amd moderate velocity great performance, nice soupy red stuff wear lungs used to be. One very large moose at about 250 with the 168 gr TSX form my 300 win, broadside, took out a rib going in , top of the heart, turned the lungs to soup, (kind of like a lumpy borscht) and broke the shoulder in the other side. I recovered the bullet in the offsie hide, the moose went abotu 15 feet before it was down, I killed it with a finisher in the neck. The bullet expanded to just over .60 inches and weighed 164 grains.

I'll be hunting plains game in July with the same combo, hunt $30k+, Barnes $46/box. The price of the bullets are irrelevant.
 
I'd have to agree that bullets are one of the least expensive parts of a hunting trip. On the other hand, they are (assuming that the hunter does his part right) the ultimate factor in a succesful hunt.

I'll be trying TSX bullets on game this year for the first time, having killed my fair share of deer, moose, bear, etc. very well with plain-Jane Hornady spire points (Interlocks) and Nosler Partitions. The TSX bullets were a close runner-up to the Hornady Interbonds (which are considerably cheaper, if you're planning on shooting more).
 
todbartell said:
FYI the Sierra 220 grain GameKings come in boxes of 50 and Barnes makes a 200 grain 8mm TSX


THe TSX is an excellent bullet that penetrates very deep but also expands easily. They are accurate and price isnt much different than Partitions. If a few dollars is a problem maybe stick with Hornady Interlocks
Click to expand...


Right you are TBart. I just bought some today at Wholesale Sports. The catalogue lists them in boxes of 100 and is obviously wrong, so that makes the 220gr GameKing 1/2 the price of the TSX.

I have heard very good things regarding accuracy with the TSX.

As far as sticking with Hornady, yeah hard to argue the value of Hornady. Sadly though Hornady seems to be dropping the Interlock (in certain calibers) in favor of the Interbond.
 
I shot 16 big-game animals with two calibers of TSXs last year with boringly predictable results. Everything dies.;) I found one .375 bullet after trying to shoot through a gemsbuck more or less lengthwise, otherwise all bullets exited. Animals usually don't seem to show as much visual reaction to hits, some didn't even look hit before they fell over.

Demonical,
Good news, Hornady has reversed it's decision to replace the big caliber Interlocks with Interbonds. In fact the big Interbonds are being scrapped altogether and the Interlocks in .375, .416, and .458 are coming back. It may not apply to many, but the "Old pattern Steel jacketted solids" are being brought back as well. Right now the .375 Interbonds are selling for less than the Interlocks at WSS.
Nothing like a company embarrassing itself with a camera rolling to make them see the light.:D
 
Price of a bullet on a hunt is irrelevant but in load dev it's not, if you lucky you can get a load picked in under fifty a load test is 25 or so rounds then maybe some fine tuning. If you have to play with COL or the bullet powder combination was a dud that will crank up the cost quick. and that is where the priemium bullets can really pinch the budget. Because then there is the practice rounds, and building enough rounds to cover a couple of years of hunting and practice. It's more of a cash flow thing but then we don't reload to save money :)
 
Dogleg explain about Hornady embarrassing themselves on camera; not sure what the reference is. So what was the problem with the large caliber IB's? IMHO the old reliable IL is great as a bear/moose bullet out of .375/.416 cals.
 
Demonical,
To paraphrase the story a bit, Hornady had set up a buffalo hunt to show-case their products, amoung them the .458 Lott factory loads with Interbonds and encapsulated solids. Their president was along, and got to see some bullets splattering and failing. They had the story up on their own website for a little while, at least until they realized that nobody was impressed by it. Shortly after that Hornady "found" a new source for copper coated steel material that they couldn't get for a while and they announced that the old pattern solids would be made again, and the Interlocks would be made in .375. .416 and 458. The big Interbonds are done.
Personally I never had much luck with the Interbonds anyway, so won't miss them. On the other hand I have had great success with plain ole Interlocks for performance and accuracy. Now I should be able to get them in .416 400 grain for my practice ammo, the supply had dryed up so I had to use 350 Speer Magtips. The Barnes will still be my .375 and .416 hunting bullet though, at least until I'm convinced that there is something better. I'm trying for buffalo in July with the .416 and hope to get a giraffe at the same time. A big giraffe is the size of 3 average sized buffalo so I don't mind clobbering one with the Rigby. Think it'll work?
 
Demonical said:
3) I admit a bias towards lead-core bullets... high sectional density.
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ALL bullets of the same weight in the same caliber will have the same Sectional Density.

Mind you, SD while the bullet is in the air means nothing. The SD after impact and expansion is what counts. Of course, the other thing that determines penetration is momentum(velocity X weight). Maybe the Barnes bullets penetrate better because they don't expand as much as others.
 
I dont know if anyone has seen their high speed video clips but just looking at what it does with Gel is neat and can give you an idea of what it does after it hits the animal.

w ww.barnesbullets.com/information/high-speed-video/
 
Back40Sniper used 270 gr TSX on everything in Africa. He only recovered one and that was from a frontal shot on a zebra. Perfect expansion like you see in the advertisments. Not to mention the zebra tipped over like a toy horse.

I used the traditional X Bullets in my 416 and found them wonderfully accurate. Again, only recovered one and that was from a raking shot on a kudu.
 
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