Are barnes reliable?

meatyrem

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Messages
1,237
Location
Coldwater michigan
I am wanting to get feedback from all who use barnes bullets. How reliable is expansion. From the TSX-----TTSX-----MRX. Has anybody had them fail? Has anybody have them perform flawlessly? I would like to hear back from those with experiences, good or bad, and what they concluded. Thanks
 
My 300wsm did not care for them accuracy wise, they grouped around 1 inch to 1.25 at 100yds, and also left lots of copper. I have better results with berger and accubonds. However the muzzle loader bullets are excellent, very accurate and effective on game.
 
Barnes TSX, TTSX, MRX are excellent very accurate and the terminal performance is secound to none.

I took an Antelope at 777 yards using the 180 grain TSX bullet from my 300 win mag and the wound channel looked the same as did the one that I took at 280 yards

I have probably seen around 100 animals taken with Barnes and I never ever saw anything but perfect performance. The bullets are extremely accurate as much so as match bullets in my experience, but they are a bit seat depth sensitive. In a good barrel copper fowling is no worse than in other jacketed bullet
 
My 300wsm did not care for them accuracy wise, they grouped around 1 inch to 1.25 at 100yds, and also left lots of copper. I have better results with berger and accubonds. However the muzzle loader bullets are excellent, very accurate and effective on game.


+1
I have had about the same results .

High velocity cartriges produced mixed results on game and accuracy was not what I though
it should be. However, In the big bores (375, 416, and 458) they were very predictable and
reasonably accurate.

When they first came out I tried a lot of them and never did find a good combination and the
copper fouling was terrible. (I think they changed the alloy and fixed the problem).

This is just what I found. some others have had good luck with them.

J E CUSTOM
 
As stated before, Barnes bullets are fairly sensative to seating depth, in my experience they like to jump. The number one reason I see & read/hear about failures with Barnes bullets is folks using too much bullet for their particular cartridge, i.e. >160 TSX in a 7 RM which seems to induce penciling at extended ranges. Many hunters including myself have found the best results with lighter for caliber bullets @ higher muzzle velocity, that seems to be the recipe to get the TSX to perform magnificently on game.
In the last 6-8yrs I've used ONLY Barnes bullets to harvest everything I've hunted, why? Because I get ~1/2moa (5 shots) accuracy, & as long a I do my part from behind the rifle I KNOW the Barnes bullets will do their job from the other end.

The most definite accuracy load so far is with my M700 SA/LH chambered in 7.82 Lazzeroni Patriot & the 150 grn TSX at a nominal velocity of 3200fps (sd & es were both <10fps which is why I stopped there). This load produces consistant 1/2 moa accuracy (furthest I've target shot is 967yds which was just over 1moa 10shot string w/ one called flyer) .

I've taken Whitetail, Mule deer & antelope in good numbers, I cannot recall a single time where more than one round was needed (as long as I did my part:D)I've now moved on to the 168TTSX.... yup, you've guessed it, I suffer from tinkeritis.

Just my experience only, a VERY high percentage of the gents I hunt with use & absolutely love Barnes bullets, we aren't the long range precision crowd (not all of us:D), honestly most shots are <500yds, so there may be the caveat to my info... who knows?? Maybe LTLR will chime in on his long range experiences.
 
Last edited:
I reload the TSX in two of my rifles. a 7mm Rem Mag with 140 grain and 25-06 with 100 grain. They are both bad medicine!! I agree with that stated above where a lighter for caliber bullet is where they shine. the 140 for a 7mm is middle to light weight. Same with the 100 grain for the 25-06 being in the middle. I have seen several Mule deer killed with the load out of my 7mm with either me or a friend pulling the trigger and the terminal performance has been predictable and consistently good. Good wound channel and silver dollar sized exit hole. When entering the ribcage there was the X shaped hole that would be consistent with them opening up into the designated shape they were designed to.

One of the biggest things that I noticed with the barnes is that your barrel needs to be immaculately clean before you start using them. After which they tend to behave like any other bullet with similar fouling. The Barnes manual will even mention this. copper fouling from previous bullets must be gone. That being said, I had great success in terms of accuracy. The two rifles mentioned above shot the best they have ever shot with these bullets. Both well under MOA, approaching 1/2 MOA.
 
...One of the biggest things that I noticed with the barnes is that your barrel needs to be immaculately clean before you start using them. After which they tend to behave like any other bullet with similar fouling. The Barnes manual will even mention this. copper fouling from previous bullets must be gone. That being said, I had great success in terms of accuracy. The two rifles mentioned above shot the best they have ever shot with these bullets. Both well under MOA, approaching 1/2 MOA.


^^^ Thank you! I completely forgot to mention the fouling part, CLEAN THAT RIFLE!!! I made that mistake & so did my hunting partner, BOY do they foul quick with "other" material in there. Clean it spotless BEFORE shooting Barnes & I have found the fouling to be on par with any other bullet i've shot.
 
The new Barnes bullets with the grooves cut in them are as accurate as any bullet I shoot including all target bullets. There are very few bullets that can match the accuracy of the barnes tsx and ttsx. Performance on game is the best of any bullet. Every bullet weighs exactly the same so there are no culls in a box. The only bullet I have no culls with. I use Barnes bullets for all my hunting except specialized extreme range shooting. I have found BC's are higher with many Barnes bullets than what is listed.

When making a hunting bullet choice performance on game to not have a wounded animal is first and foremost. BC comes after that. The bullet has to be one that does the job first and Barnes are the best most reliable hunting bullets on the market.

The old Barnes bullets before they put the grooves in them were worthless junk. Many of my guns would not hold a 3" group at 100 yards with them.
 
I was hoping LTLR was going to weigh in, as his experience goes well beyond my own.

I think it was Kirby Allen that was talking about the actual vs the posted BC's of Barnes bullets, also stating that the acutal BC was possibly higher than the posted BC. I wish I would have tagged that thread... i'll have to look it up again:D.

If I missed it, what caliber are you thinkin of trying?
Intended target/distances?
 
I think it was Kirby Allen that was talking about the actual vs the posted BC's of Barnes bullets, also stating that the acutal BC was possibly higher than the posted BC. I wish I would have tagged that thread... i'll have to look it up again:D.
Here you go :D :
http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/new-barnes-bullet-testing-68495/


I, personally, have been having great luck with the .308 200g TTSX (LRX) from an accuracy standpoint. I just bought a 300 RUM and have been doing load development for it. The Barnes have been notably more accurate for me than the Accubonds I've been testing with as well. Here's another thread, where I've been listing the loads I've tried w/ the TTSX....one of which was shooting 1/2 MOA @ 200 yds.
http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/load-workup-300-rum-70581/

I can't comment on terminal ballistics from a practical viewpoint yet, since I just started testing the bullets and haven't used them on game. They seem to rate pretty favorably, however, with folks who *have*.

--Ben
 
Venom, did you ever try that 97.5grn load? i've been using Magnum in my 6-284, now you have my curiouslty peaked.... what else can I try it in :D
 
I recall having called Barnes to ask the question specifically as to the minimum velocity they recommend for their bullets to mushroom reliably. It seems like it was 1600-1800 fps. This is interesting since this is right in the industry standard for large game hunting bullets. Berger recommend no less than 1800 fps impact velocity. I think that we could use this number as a pretty safe standard across the board for reliable expansion. The key to any bullet and its performance is to understand its intended purpose and use it accordingly. However, I must say that the TSX has not let me down yet.
 
Venom, did you ever try that 97.5grn load? i've been using Magnum in my 6-284, now you have my curiouslty peaked.... what else can I try it in :D
I haven't tried the 97.5g load yet. Just discovered the 98g load 2 nights ago. Might be a couple of weeks before I get some rounds loaded and tested at that charge level.

--Ben
 
I personally don't like the TSX, I've had them fail to penetrate vitals on two elk due to deflection and I've watched a friend take a bull at normal range and not had them make it to the other side just blowing up one lung, I couldn't believe it so I cut a bullet down and it was all copper. Both rifles were 300 WBYs loaded with 168 and 165 TSX. To date I've seen more TSX bullets fail than any other bullet hands down!!!!!
Used to us Barnes exclusively because of how good they are for meat, but discontinued using them till the TTSX came out and I'm giving them a try again.
 
Last edited:
Warning! This thread is more than 13 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.
Top