Are barnes reliable?

[BigSkyGP]

168 TSX .300WM 1x mule deer 100yds , 1x antelope 306yds DRT nice holes.

110 TSX 6.8SPC 1x white tail 75 yds, 1x mule deer 200yds DRT nice holes.

Ive used 180 Hornady SPBT on antelope and deer that made smaller exit holes than the 110gr 6.8. I'll take Barnes to the field, they seem as accurate as the hornady match I've tried.

 

[HARPERC]

I haven't used them in a decade or so, and this may not apply to Barnes current production.
We kept having inconsistent results on game/expansion test. One time it would provide the devastating wounds folks talk about, the next it would leave a wound channel resembling what we used to get with recycled Armor Piercing rounds.
I've got one here somewhere, .338 Blue Coated, 225 grain. My brother shot into a domestic hog of about 650 lbs, quartering to him, at about 50 yards. That first bullet bent like a banana on the shoulder turned and slid along the inside of the ribs, the second one with the animal spinning hit broadside left a hell of a wound channel, and exited, the third one the hog stopped spinning facing the gun, went in the forehead penetrated the length of the body, exited and if it expanded en route I'd be surprised. Side note those were the most accurate bullets we ever found for that particular .338.
Being tinkerers we scratched our heads a bit, and thought maybe, if we doubled the cavity in the hollow point, and put a tip like the old bronze point in it we could get more consistent results. We chucked them up in the lathe and the first few cut like butter, beautiful soft copper peeling just like we hoped. The next few (same box) we could not get to cut at all, busted a few bits before giving up.
We gave those bullets to one of the younger guys in the group. Like most young guys free is always good. He shot a few deer with them, and like you might expect those soft ones left tremendous wound cavities, and the hard ones not so much.
I spoke with Barnes on 3 occasions and got their assurance of the 1800 fps expansion threshold. I suspect it remains higher than that. I believe the folks recommending using lighter bullets and driving them fast, at moderate distances are on the right track. I would not be confident of them expanding at long range. The other question I wish we had addressed at the time was with bullet hardness so varied what was happening with our velocities?
Like I said the experience may be a bit dated.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

I know what those are! You're talking about the old XLC which had Barnes "Dry Film Lubricant" on them which made the bullet a cool blue color (my dad still uses them in a 6.5-06AI), in fac t dad dropped his whitetail this year with that bullet, 310yds bang... flop...

They were part of the original X-Bullet line IIRC, which we are all aware of particular "issues" with. I originally started shooting the original "X" in 6mm 95grn, I got along fairly well with that bullet....

I have come to find, in my experience with Barnes TSX, TTSX & some experience with the high end MRX, a significant increase in consistency, I have yet in the lat 4-5yrs to have the failure that were so common in days of old.

Can it still happen? sure... no manufacturer is perfect, but The Boys From Utah have come a LONG way with the new lines, I'm sure happy with them.

 

[meatyrem]

Does anyone know how to locate the xp3 or the failsafe? Other than the loaded factory stuff

 

[Outlaw6.0]

Funny you should mention that,..

I don't think you can buy the XP3 individually, as for the FailSafe, I've only spoke with one person who used them in 30cal 180 grain IIRC in a 300RUM, which from what my buddy described resulted in nearly exact performance to the old Barnes "x", some good performance with a large amount of inconsistency.

... could be a topic for whole other thread!

 

[meatyrem]

It's just that the xp3 and the mrx have very similar construction, and it does not make a bit of sense to me that they would not offer it alone for reloading purposes. The only bullet that CT offers is the ballistic silvertip, but not the xp3 or the fail safe. I have two whole boxes of the failsafe in 280 Rem that I bought on sale several years ago and had not touched them. Therefore I can't say how they work either.

Back to topic, barnes claims that the ttsx and the mrx have highly rapid expansion do to the redesigned nose cavity, more so than the original tsx, which I didn't care for. So I can see also that maybe they have batches of bullets that may be much denser or harder ( inconsistantsies ) copper materials that could alter the bullets performance. Idk I'm just thinking out loud.

 

[meatyrem]

Now that I think of it, I seem to remember looking at some tsx before and was looking at the ( hollow point ) and seen that it appeared to not be hollow from one to another, which could explain them ( penciling through ).

 

[Outlaw6.0]

It's just that the xp3 and the mrx have very similar construction.....

Are you sure about that? The MRX has a Tungsten Silvex core in the base (might as well be Gold for the $2.00 per bullet), I was thinking the XP3 was constructed differently...

Now you got me thinking out loud!

 

[meatyrem]

Yes you are correct about the tungsten silvex core. But I think the xp3 core is pure led. And it's molybdenum coated. I believe that's the only difference between the two. They both have polymer tip hollow nose. Oh and I'm not sure if thexp3 is pure copper, it may be a copper alloy.

 

[jimbires]

I don't know if you did a forum search on Barnes , here is a thread from not too long ago . Jim


http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f84/barnes-triple-shock-disappointment-62461/

 

[Outlaw6.0]

I remember that thread quite well, bullets fail, it happens to every manufacturer; show me a bullet that performs flawlessly every single time & i'll show you the only bullet left on the market in a few years.

It does make me scratch my head when I read/see stories like this... how did that happen? When all of the game i've taken, the hundreds of rounds I've shot, tested etc performed the way I expected? I surely can't answer that question.... sure wish I could.

I'm sorry you folks have had failures... but in my neck of the woods a failure seems to be the exception rather than the norm.

 

[Terrytf]

I live in the condor zone in California so it's lead free only !!! if I go out of state I dont wast time trying to load for a lead bullet. I just take my barne's ...150 grain in the .270 - 36 grain in the .223 - 235 grain in the 375hh - 85 grain in a .243.. And getting ready for the 140 grain in a 7 mm rem mag but also trying the 160 grain to see what is best all in the TSX ! With the 7mm I will try to go past 600 yards so I will also try the TTSX .. Every thing bad for the hunting laws start here in CA and the lead free zone is growing and becoming very popular and other states are looking at this along with the fed's . All the old guy's complained when solids went out for hunting and said lead core sucked and the bullets just blue apart . barne's is just like a solid but better . where you hit is how a animal goes down not the bullet the real old guys can use a bow with a sharp stick . your fault if you cant make the shot .
BOTTOM LINE IS YES BARNES ARE RELIABLE

 

[jimbires]

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

I remember that thread quite well, bullets fail, it happens to every manufacturer; show me a bullet that performs flawlessly every single time & i'll show you the only bullet left on the market in a few years.

It does make me scratch my head when I read/see stories like this... how did that happen? When all of the game i've taken, the hundreds of rounds I've shot, tested etc performed the way I expected? I surely can't answer that question.... sure wish I could.

I'm sorry you folks have had failures... but in my neck of the woods a failure seems to be the exception rather than the norm.

I live in the condor zone in California so it's lead free only !!! if I go out of state I dont wast time trying to load for a lead bullet. I just take my barne's ...150 grain in the .270 - 36 grain in the .223 - 235 grain in the 375hh - 85 grain in a .243.. And getting ready for the 140 grain in a 7 mm rem mag but also trying the 160 grain to see what is best all in the TSX ! With the 7mm I will try to go past 600 yards so I will also try the TTSX .. Every thing bad for the hunting laws start here in CA and the lead free zone is growing and becoming very popular and other states are looking at this along with the fed's . All the old guy's complained when solids went out for hunting and said lead core sucked and the bullets just blue apart . barne's is just like a solid but better . where you hit is how a animal goes down not the bullet the real old guys can use a bow with a sharp stick . your fault if you cant make the shot .
BOTTOM LINE IS YES BARNES ARE RELIABLE

I'm assuming these last two posts are written for me . I guess my shot placement is pretty good on this thread , because I sure stirred up the hornets nest .I hope you guys didn't loose much sleep over this . if you guys read the very first post , the meatyrem asked for opinions on the bullets good or bad from people that have used them . that's all I did was put up a link to another thread that had both good and bad replies for him to read . if he only wants to read good reviews he should go to the barnes website .

outlaw , I'm sorry they didn't work out for me too . I had no accuracy problems , in fact I thought they were very easy to get to fly well , I just didn't get the on game performance I was looking for . now I'm using 160 accubond and so far I like them . killed a elk with one shot , and I could see damage from the bullet .

TF , I agree ,you have to hit the animal in the right spot , but then the bullet does have a little something to do with how quickly the animal dies or goes down . I'm a bowhunter at heart , so I know a little about shot placement with a sharp stick , and one shot kills . here is my first kill with a muzzle loader 2010 last day last hour . I didn't want to shoot a yearling , but I wanted to see how this bullet worked before going to Illinois on a muzzy hunt . shot placement looks ok to me and he went right down without complaining .

here is my 09 bow buck . he ran about 50 yards .

here is my 08 Barnes bullet buck . shot him ,and trailed him a good ways . when he jumped up to run I shot him again . I stood there while he died .

my 07 bow buck . looks like shot placement was pretty close to me .

I think from 2000 to 2007 were all bow kills for me . I didn't have a digital camera back then , you know how us old guys are . if you want I'll look up pics to post and we can go over them .

 

[Outlaw6.0]

Jim,

Yeah my post was for you, please don't think I had even the slightest bit of elevated blood pressure when I wrote that. I just cannot comment on Barnes failure because that has never happened for me, or my hunting partner or my father.

I encourage guys like you to bring forth your failure reports so guys like meatyrem can make an educated guess.

What was the distance to the buck you shot? Where was the bullet placed (I couldn't make it out in the pic), I'm not questioning your ability, but I would like to know. What bullet weight & caliber?

Sorry for all the questions, Root Cause Analysis is programmed into my brain!