Before I invest about 75$ for a box of Swift A Frame bullets to try in my son's 338 W/M, I was wondering if anybody has had any experience with them. Anything on accuracy, performance on game like moose and bear... that sort of thing. (225 gr, 250 gr, & 275gr)
SWIFT A FRAME ?'s
- Thread starter MHUNT
- Start date
at the price of X bullets, or Accubonds for that matter, ya gotta wonder why bother trying a bullet like the A-Frame, at the price they sell for. Same goes for the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw. Its the reason I never have tried either myself. Guess Im not much help 
I have only lost 2 deer in the last 20 odd years of hunting and both were the year I tried the Barnes X bullet. I did some comparisons with them, and every other 30-06 load I had at the time. (shooting into boxes of old magazines) The X bullets penatrated much further, but did very little expanding. Seems to me that if a box of old hunting mags cann't get them to open up, they must have zipped right through a mule deer. I have been told that they have been improved since then (about 15 years ago)but I'm left a little leary.
I was talking with Jack Atcheson Jr. about bullet selection for large African game earlier this week. We talked about both the A Frame and Barnes X. After seeing lots of animals shot with them and using Barnes himself,his opinion is that you can't go wrong with the X bullet. I have since ordered a bunch for the .416 Mag, but I won't be able to give you any first hand testimony until next fall.
A Frames
I've taken elk with 250gn Swift A frames in a .338 ultra mag, they worked. Although I made a 3" three shot group in the lungs at 160yds none of them exited which kind of suprised me. They must expand pretty fast not to exit at that velocity.
I took 11 plains game animals in Africa last spring, from Duiker size to Kudu and Gemsbok with 180 gn Trophy Bonded Bear Claws in a .300WSM and was very impressed, some of the bullets were recovered and were perfect mushrooms. The shots ranged from 50 to 350 yds and 9 of the 11 animals were one shot kills and the others were operator error not the fault of the bullets. So I am definetly impressed with the bullets, altough I'v heard that the 300 gn for .375 H&H and bigger ones some people thought they were to soft for buffalo but I have no personal experience with them.
I've taken elk with 250gn Swift A frames in a .338 ultra mag, they worked. Although I made a 3" three shot group in the lungs at 160yds none of them exited which kind of suprised me. They must expand pretty fast not to exit at that velocity.
I took 11 plains game animals in Africa last spring, from Duiker size to Kudu and Gemsbok with 180 gn Trophy Bonded Bear Claws in a .300WSM and was very impressed, some of the bullets were recovered and were perfect mushrooms. The shots ranged from 50 to 350 yds and 9 of the 11 animals were one shot kills and the others were operator error not the fault of the bullets. So I am definetly impressed with the bullets, altough I'v heard that the 300 gn for .375 H&H and bigger ones some people thought they were to soft for buffalo but I have no personal experience with them.
Slooshark1
CGN frequent flyer
I shot a moose last fall with the Barnes-X triple shock and was quite impressed with the performance. I thought that it was quite expensive paying $58.00 for a box but I see that they Swift A-frames are quite a bit more. I read a good artricle on the Swift A-frame but I think they're overpriced. I think the Barnes-X is overpriced too but I am willing to pay it for the hunt of a lifetime. (Every big game hunt is the hunt of a lifetime)
I picked up a couple boxes of 400 grain 416s to try. They shot almost as well as the TSXs and to the same point of impact. I haven't shot anything living with them, but they have a rep for being a top notch buffalo bullet. They also are one of the only things that make the Barnes admission price seem cheap. I'm going with the Barnes.
- Location
- South Cariboo, BC
Slooshark1 said:
Well put Slooshark1
"It's better to put a couple of extra bucks into your bullet, than to have to put a couple of extra bullets into your buck." Got that from the Rifles for Africa book by Gregor Woods. Great book.
I'm tempted to give the X bullets another try, though I think they are probably better used for things like grizzly and buffalo than thin skinned critters like mule deer.
Thanks for taking the time to share your opinions and experience. Got to get to work. I'll check back here later.
I'm tempted to give the X bullets another try, though I think they are probably better used for things like grizzly and buffalo than thin skinned critters like mule deer.
Thanks for taking the time to share your opinions and experience. Got to get to work. I'll check back here later.
Last edited:
The barnes tsx are very much improved over the original x bullet.They offer minimal fouling,much better accuracy in most guns,more velocity potential,and more reliable expansion.I have used the scirocco and was very disappointed due to very poor accuracy and extreme copper fouling.
