Barnes X

[schrades]

I recently purchased a couple boxes of 7mm Wby cartridges from Weatherby, and the boxes are labeled only Barnes X. Does anyone know if these are Barnes X, Barnes XLC, or Triple Shock?
Also, I've heard of accuracy issues with Barnes X bullets? Can anyone shed any light on this? Are they ill suited as target rounds but for hunting, where a 3-4 inch group at 200 yds is acceptable, they're OK? And finally, how many of these all copper rounds can I fire before I need to give my barrel a thorough cleaning.

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

I am sure that if these cartridges had XLC or TSX bullets it would be indicated on the box.

The XLC bullets are blue so they would be easy to identify. I'm not aware of Weatherby loading TSX bullets in factory ammo.

VH

 

[Jeff In TX]

Schardes,

I've been working up loads for the Barnes 165 gr. X bullet in my .308 for an upcoming moose hunt this fall.

So far 44 grains of VarGet is producing consistent .45" groups at 100 yards. I'm not sure how much more I'll be able to tighten that up, but in my opinion, they're fantastic bullets.

Hope it helps

 

[davewilson]

Jeff, should be accurate enough for moose... is that a 165 x or a 168 tsx that you were talking about on the other post?

[ 07-23-2004: Message edited by: no.1 whitetail ]

 

[Jeff In TX]

#1 Whitetail,

They were out of the Barnes 168 gr TSX bullets when I purchased them, so I decided to try the 165 Barnes X.

We're going to play with seating depth and couple of different powders on Sunday morning to see what we can come up with.

Basically, I have a load that exceeded my wildest expectations, but why were at it, were going to see just how tight we can get the groups.

Its good trigger time and lots of fun. We're also going to chronograph the loads out at 10' 100, 200 and 300 yards to see exactly what I'm working with. Once I have that done, I'll have enough data to plug into my RSI ballistic lab to see how they'll perform farther out.

Gota love a sport that can be so rewarding at times and frustrating at other times!

 

[Guest]

Jeff in TX,
Keep me posted on your progress with the Barnes testing. I'm very curious as to the distance off of the lands setting you are using and what kind of loads you're using.
I'm a Barnes fan; though many folks don't seem to like em. I suspect they are seating to close to the lands and getting signs of high pressure. Good Shootin'

 

[Jeff In TX]

nighthunter264winmag,

I'll keep you posted. Seating depth seems to be a major factor with those bullets.

One curious observation. Using VarGet, 44 grains on up is a compressed load. After loading the rounds, the pressure of the compressed load seems to push the bullet out a few thousands, so we are working around that also.

Once I have the complete load and all the details, I'll post the information and send you an email.


Have a great weekend!

[ 07-24-2004: Message edited by: Jeff In TX ]

 

[royinidaho]

Bought a box of Barnes XBTs in hopes of doing some prep work for this season. Was warned that they were "finikie" but was supprised by what happened.

Accuracy was a bit off but pressures were high to the point of blowing primers with what has been pretty much a standard load for 140 gr Hornady/Sierra Game Kings etc.

Dropped powder and still blew a primer.

Did some measureing. Diameter fluctuated from < .277 to > than .277 and were way out of round.

Figure they would work well if I dropped velocity off a couple of hundres FPS but I'm not going to settle for that.

Just my tho'ts.

 

[Jeff In TX]

Range results from earlier today

My buddy and I were able to get the Barnes 165 gr X-Bullets down to a consistent .340 group @ 100 yards. But we still have a bit more work to do on the velocity.

We used 40.5 grains of IMR 4895
Comp length 2.235 with the bullet touching the lands. Having the bullets seated into the lands works best with my rifle
Muzzle velocity was 2607 fps with a standard deviation of 18 fps
Muzzle velocity was about 175 to 200 fps slower than the 168 gr AMAX and Sierra BTHP. That will be next weekends project to see if we can get the velocity up some more without affecting the accuracy to much

46 grains of VarGet gave a consistent .50" groups with the Barnes X bullets.

We couldn't get the 168 gr AMAX bullets to shoot any better than the mid .4's to .5's. I'm giving up on them and going to the Sierra 168 gr BTHP bullets.

Best group of today and my life. .153" group at 100 yards. It was one ragged hole. Overall average groups with this load are in the low to mid .2's.
46 grains of varget
Sierra 168 gr BTHP
Comp Length 2.269 seated into the lands
Muzzle velocity of 2795 fps with a standard deviation of 16 fps

That's it for this weekend. I'll let you know next weekend if we made any improvements.

 

[rost495]

Off topic a bit but curiosity got me. I looked and had 9 different boxes of X bullets here. Both coated and non coated. No TS though. From about 10 years or more ago to a box less than a year old.

Regardless of whether they shoot in all guns or not(have found a few rifles that don't like a certain type of X bullet- this is true) I wanted to measure them.

Measured about 20 out of each box. Average variance out of size and round was less than .0003 Then went and measured the match bullets I use in competition. Berger, JLK and Sierra. Both old 30 cal and a number of different .224 ones. Average out of round and off size .0002

I don't doubt that bad bullets from anyone can get out though. But that measuring put me at ease figuring the box that Roy measured was a plain fluke.

Roy-- send em back and get a replacement. Never did that with Barnes but have had to do it with Sierra and Hornady. Works out fine. No one is perfect.

Jeff