Barnes bullets issue

Rosebud

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
2,452
Location
Anniston Alabama
I'm just an average loader, but I have forty years experience doing so, I've loaded thousands of rounds of ammo but never encountered this problem. I've been loading ammo for a Local gun shop owner for several years, he owns quite a collection. He also loves Barnes bullets. I've loaded many of them for him without a problem. He bought100 rounds of120 grain tipped TTX, from midway, not blaming midway. The rifle was a Remington700 from their custom shop, great gun shoots sub half inch groups with143 ELDX . best I could do with the Barnes was there inches. Tried four different powders and seating depth. Ladder loads, the works. Shot like, well, bad. My caliper is dial, a good one but got a digital caliper and bullets ranged from.258 to .263 being the best. Who's making Barnes now? Don't own a Mic. I'd like to see what it says.
 
It's not terribly unusual for a rifle to just not shoot a particular bullet very well. Try changing the bullet weight or try a Hammer mono which is usually easier to find an accurate load for, IMO. Just visually comparing a Barnes bullet to a Hammer bullet will show you that they aren't in the same league as far as finished products go.

That's not to say that Barnes bullets don't shoot well. My 308 Win will shoot surprisingly small groups with the 130gr TTSX. Smaller actually, than any match bullet that I've used.
 
It's not terribly unusual for a rifle to just not shoot a particular bullet very well. Try changing the bullet weight or try a Hammer mono which is usually easier to find an accurate load for, IMO. Just visually comparing a Barnes bullet to a Hammer bullet will show you that they aren't in the same league as far as finished products go.

That's not to say that Barnes bullets don't shoot well. My 308 Win will shoot surprisingly small groups with the 130gr TTSX. Smaller actually, than any match bullet that I've used.
Rifle will shoot just about anything you put in it , but not these Barnes.It shoots130 Barnes great. I'm concerned about the new bullets. Is it normal for Barnes to have that big a variation in bullet diameter.
 
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Hammers are real easy on load development and foul less than barnes from my experience I loved barnes until I tried the hammers
That's what I informed the owner of the rifle, I'm fond of hornady SSTs for hunting. But have killed whitetails ,mule deer antelope, hogs, ECT. With just about everything. Shot Berger for couple of years, but VLD hunters were a pain to get to shoot and will not fit in a magazine.. Yes I know that they have the classic hunter. Have some, shoot them in a .243. But hornady is usually easy to get an accurate load with. And they are killers.
 
I just went through this with barnes. Don't get me wrong I'm a fan and have had fantastic results in the past but I gave up and had 1/2 moa results quickly with eldx in a 30 cal. After 5 range sessions I threw in the towel to my disappointment. Additionally the previous owner swore by the Barnes but I couldn't come close to his claims.
 
Id be on the phone with that much difference immediately did u measure the dia before loading? Your lucky you didn't get a pressure spike. Customer service please I need a refund
No, I wasted bunch of powder and primers. Exhausted everything I knew before checking diameter. I've loaded Barnes before many times with no issues. Had no reason to expect it to happen this time. Then discovered he had just bought them from midway. From the new maker. And the fact he tossed them into the trash. It was so frustrating. Some of them were ok, shoot great. Then flyers off into the next target. 6.5 bullet with the diameter close to twenty five caliber.
 
We were in anniston a few weeks ago went to top of the river for dinner its not like it used to be hello from around the corner
 
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