.270 Win Fouling with Barnes TSX

[Picher]

I'm experiencing fouling in Rem 700 Stainless .270 when shooting Barnes 130 grain TSX bullets.

About 800 rounds of ammo, perhaps 400 of them 60+ grain, Reloder 22, 130 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip rounds were fired through this rifle.

It's never been allowed to heat up beyond a comfortable warmth when shooting at the range, yet the tendency to foul is bothering me and I can feel slight roughness in the first 10 inches of bore, even after scrubbing the copper out. If this barrel is getting shot out, it would be the first ever for me in over 50 years of shooting.

My question: Has anyone here noticed considerably less fouling with Hornady GMX 130s than with Barnes TSX? I've loaded some, but the weather hasn't been good for shooting here in Maine. We've had way too much snow and cold for much bench shooting.

 

[Felix1]

I wouldn't think you'd need to worry about that barrel being shot out in 800 rounds.

I'm wondering if you are truly getting your barrel clean although with 50 years of shooting you certainly know what a clean bore looks like. I routinely use KG-12 for removing copper fouling out of my Clay Spencer stainless barreled NBRSA rifles. It's the best I've found.

Unfortunately, I can't compare the two bullets you mentioned since I don't use either one. My match bullets are Bart Ultra in 6mm and MatchKing in 30cal, neither of which I've experienced any problems with.

 

[243winxb]

Hornady are hard Gilding Metal. Barnes are all soft copper. Barnes cut grooves in the bullet to reduce fouling and pressure years ago, it was a major problem. Try David Tubbs Final Finish Fire Lapping to smooth out your bore.

 

[suzukisam]

do you scrub or soak your barrel? again as said above you have more cleaning experience than me, but I soak my barrels, I plug the chamber and let some copper solvent run down the rifling. I use a little eye dropper type bottle. let sit 30 minutes and then I scrub it and patch till clean, and repeat till all the grean comes out. I've not had any buildup issues

 

[j2crows]

I remember when Barnes bullets first hit the market. Man they used to foul the barrel of my elk rifle. At one point I scrubbed the inside of the barrel with Flitz metal polish and it seemed to help some. I must have pushed that cleaning rod and patches 300-400 times through the barrel. The fouling never completely went away but, I think that's just the nature of a Barnes bullet.

 

[BADUNAME37]

Barnes does state that, before you shoot their X bullets you must first clean your barrel extremely thoroughly, I read somewhere where, if you don't clean your barrel ahead of time, you will end up with the X bullet leaving lots of copper fouling.

I believe it was even after you shoot regular bullets at the range and you decide to switch to shooting some X bullets - COMPLETELY clean the barrel first, even if it is only a few rounds!

 

[Horsemany]

The TSX's I've used foul about the same as most other conventional cup and core bullets. I have no experience with the Hornady but have used the TSX's in 3 cals now.