Calvin45
Well-Known Member
Hey all, I had promised a few people to share results of my experimenting with the 120 grain Barnes TAC-TX (designed for the .300 blackout)
In my 300 win mag (savage 111 Long Range Hunter).
I've got a load worked up! Unfortunately I have no velocity numbers for you right now as a friend borrowed my chronograph and retrieving it is proving difficult .
I treated these bullets with hexagonal boron nitride, as with all bullets that go down this particular barrel.
the final load to test velocity on soon is the 120 tac tx hbn treated, in new Peterson brass, a
Federal 215m primer, and 89.5 grains of hodgdon Superformance powder lightly compressed. Being a dense ball powder you can fit a lot in there! Also 90 grains of powder out of a 300 win mag with a muzzle brake sounds deightfully MEAN and is furthering my suspicions that in the future I'll own a bigger .30 of some kind.
I know they're monometals but they also have an insanely huge tip and hollow point, meant for low velocity expansion. So i was surprised and impressed when these blew through an 18" thick tree (willow, very soft wood but still…if it can go through a foot and a half of tree I don't see why an elk shoulder would be a problem at all).
accuracy was a bit disappointing at first (because I've been spoiled by my "one ragged hole" accurate 225 eld m load) but still measured around 3/4 of an inch at 90 paces or so, and I can work on that a bit: I never ran the virgin brass through the sizing die/expander ball, maybe that would help. I also did not crimp or play with seating depth yet. Most importantly, i was shooting in lightly drizzling rain and I don't know how much that affects accuracy but surely it must! I'm not done yet but preliminary findings are promising
I hit pressure at 91.5 grains compressed (yes, 91.5 grains of this stuff easily fit in a .300 win mag!). Slightly stiff bolt lift, a bit of soot around the primer. So I backed off two grains and it shoots great, when doing load work up I always cycle the bolt with one finger just to make sure I'm notice any difference in resistance. There is none at 89.5, the cases just slide on our, no shiny marks on the base, no cratering of the primer, nothing.
Anyone care to make a guess or use software to guess how fast these might be running?
In my 300 win mag (savage 111 Long Range Hunter).
I've got a load worked up! Unfortunately I have no velocity numbers for you right now as a friend borrowed my chronograph and retrieving it is proving difficult .
I treated these bullets with hexagonal boron nitride, as with all bullets that go down this particular barrel.
the final load to test velocity on soon is the 120 tac tx hbn treated, in new Peterson brass, a
Federal 215m primer, and 89.5 grains of hodgdon Superformance powder lightly compressed. Being a dense ball powder you can fit a lot in there! Also 90 grains of powder out of a 300 win mag with a muzzle brake sounds deightfully MEAN and is furthering my suspicions that in the future I'll own a bigger .30 of some kind.
I know they're monometals but they also have an insanely huge tip and hollow point, meant for low velocity expansion. So i was surprised and impressed when these blew through an 18" thick tree (willow, very soft wood but still…if it can go through a foot and a half of tree I don't see why an elk shoulder would be a problem at all).
accuracy was a bit disappointing at first (because I've been spoiled by my "one ragged hole" accurate 225 eld m load) but still measured around 3/4 of an inch at 90 paces or so, and I can work on that a bit: I never ran the virgin brass through the sizing die/expander ball, maybe that would help. I also did not crimp or play with seating depth yet. Most importantly, i was shooting in lightly drizzling rain and I don't know how much that affects accuracy but surely it must! I'm not done yet but preliminary findings are promising
I hit pressure at 91.5 grains compressed (yes, 91.5 grains of this stuff easily fit in a .300 win mag!). Slightly stiff bolt lift, a bit of soot around the primer. So I backed off two grains and it shoots great, when doing load work up I always cycle the bolt with one finger just to make sure I'm notice any difference in resistance. There is none at 89.5, the cases just slide on our, no shiny marks on the base, no cratering of the primer, nothing.
Anyone care to make a guess or use software to guess how fast these might be running?