.257 Barnes lrx 101gr

Nice- wonder if they'll be stable
I believe they will. In the email they gave me a starting point of 62gr and he said I should be fine untill 69gr of Rl26. He also said I could use the 100gr ttsx data for starting points. I loaded the ttsx up to 73gr and never saw pressure so I started my little 6 shot string at 71.5gr and stepped up .5gr to 74gr. If it stops raining I'll step outside and run them through the Chrono but it's not looking likely today.
 
Small break In the weather this am so I ran my pressure/speed test. Rifle is a vanguard with 26" bbl. 78 degrees with near 100% humidity. 71.5gr 3502 fps, 72gr 3544fps, 72.5gr 3613fps very very slight ejector mark primer not flattened. 73 gr 3642 fps ejector mark more prominent primer starting to flatten..73.5gr 3677fps strong ejector mark primer flat I stopped here and pulled the 74gr load. Going to run a ladder with 3 rounds each at 71.8 , 72.3 and 72.8 and see where to go from here. Remnants of the tropical storm are messing up the weather but hopefully I can get some more testing done today. Really want to try these out on a crop damage tag this weekend.
 
I ran the 72.5gr load through strelok just for an idea. This is with a 300yd zero and full value 10mph wind. We grew corn this year so my 600yd range isn't available right now but I can test to 300yds and if I get antsy to stretch it out before the corn comes down the local range goes to 1200 and is 15min away. If Barnes bc is accurate and the Lrx holds up at those speeds for unexpected close shots on game it could make for a very rewarding combo.
 

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72.3grs gave me a sd18 es32 and a .800 3 shot group avg 3592fps. Nothing to write home about but this is new brass that I ran through a sizing die with no other prep. I'm confident I can shrink those numbers with fire formed brass and a little brass prep. I'm going to load up 10 more at that charge weight and get my zero @ 300yds. Really hope to run one of these through a whitetail doe this weekend to test on game performance. Next week I'll start working on fine tuning the load in fireformed brass to see what it can really do.
 
72.3grs gave me a sd18 es32 and a .800 3 shot group avg 3592fps. Nothing to write home about but this is new brass that I ran through a sizing die with no other prep. I'm confident I can shrink those numbers with fire formed brass and a little brass prep. I'm going to load up 10 more at that charge weight and get my zero @ 300yds. Really hope to run one of these through a whitetail doe this weekend to test on game performance. Next week I'll start working on fine tuning the load in fireformed brass to see what it can really do.
Thanks for your load info. That speed is a bit disappointing. I am getting 3600fps with 115 Bergers in a 25" Krieger barrel and I'm just starting to show slight ejector marks. It groups 5 shots in .28" at that so I just stopped there.
 
Thanks for your load info. That speed is a bit disappointing. I am getting 3600fps with 115 Bergers in a 25" Krieger barrel and I'm just starting to show slight ejector marks. It groups 5 shots in .28" at that so I just stopped there.
I pushed them to 3700 but ran into pressure there. These have a pretty long bearing surface and I've never been able to get the same speeds with Barnes as i do with cup and core bullets. I'm sure the groups will get down closer to .5 moa with some tinkering and that's all I've ever really been able to wring out of the factory vanguard barell.
 
Ran one through a whitetail doe at 250yds pencil sized entrance golfball sized exit. Harvest season is almost over and I'll get the chance to run them out to 1k once the corn is down. I have 17 more crop damage tags to fill too so lots more on game testing will be happening soon.. I plan to play with the seating depth a bit this winter see if I can wring anymore out of it. For now 3/4 moa is good enough and likely won't improve a whole lot from the factory vanguard barell.
 
Ive had the chance to take a couple more deer with this combo. 2 more doe one of which was a big corn fed deer at around 40yds. Did exactly what i had hoped and i drilled her in the shloulder on a quick shot as she sprang from her bed. The bullet exited with little bigger than golfball exit. Insides were mush bone fragment as far as the liver. Multiple pieces penetrated into and some through the liver. The other doe was smaller and at 185yds neck shot dime size exit. The last was a smaller 8pt at 308yds quartering away. Bullet entered just behind rib cage through liver lungs and out through the brisket. Maybe a quarter sized exit did tremendous damage the buck fell over face first where it stood kick twice and that was it. Looking forward to tweaking the seating depth and really stretching them out this winter
 
Took 2 more does with it today @ 100yds. The one doe was almost turned completely away from me. Bullet traveled length of her body and exited out her chest. The exit wound is pretty crazy everything inside was pretty much turned to jelly.
 

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