Barnes Bullets

[WHITEY338]

Most people either love them or hate them. I like them in everything I shoot, the 375 H&H is torn between the 250 grain XFB's and Nosler's 260 grain Accu-Bond. But the 257 Roberts, 270 WSM, 260 Rem, and the 30-06 all love the TSX's and group them sub-moa consistently. I think most people that don't like them are handloading them incorrectly and/or not choosing bullet weight wisely. Opinions, facts and general commentary?

 

[redneck2]

IIRC, the biggest "dilemma" is that they are solid copper. They don't "squish down" (technical term) nearly as easily as lead and are also physically longer. This can tend to raise pressure because it reduces case capacity and has more friction in the bore

I believe some of the first ones had problems with expansion.

If they're ok pressure, accuracy, and performance-wise, go for it

 

[rbernie]

I don't like their cost, and don't use 'em much as a result. I've also had issues with the TSX grooves being in the wrong place for my desired OAL.

Other than that, they're just dandy.

 

[snuffy]

Barnes and other "all copper" bullets will hasten the banning of lead for use in any type of firearm. California has already tried to ban led in rifle shells used to hunt deer. The poor california condor gets lead from unrecovered carcasses of deer, or gut piles, it MIGHT get sick from it! It's a damned buzzard, eater of carrion!

Don't think it could happen here? In europe, it has been tried but failed also. It'll be tried again and succeed.

People jumping on the barnes bandwagon helps the antis think we wouldn't mind loosing the ability to use lead in bullets. But you see, copper is also toxic,(though not AS toxic), so then what do we shoot out of our rifles?

Add to that, nobody needs an all copper bullet to kill anything! With the advent of bonded bullets from Swift, Hornady, and Nosler, bullets will penetrate as deep as needed with reliable expansion and weight retention.

I will NEVER use a barnes bullet in any of my rifles! When lead is banned, I will quit shooting. Hopefully I'll be too old by that time, but it could be next year!

 

[The Bushmaster]

The california Condor...Was going extinct long before we white guys came upon the scene here in california. It's a prehistoric hold over from a bygone era. And I doubt that the condor would survive if the "ecofreaks" were to stop feeding them. They require large animals to die in abundance and that is not happening anymore in modern times. Yes you heard me...We have people that kill other animals so the condor will have a meal. They are, shall we say, an obsolete bird (buzzard) . Dieing because of lead poisoning? I really doubt it. There just isn't enough lead for them to injest. Most game animals in california hit with a modern bullet have a hole in and a hole out. The deer here are about the size of a great dane. They are just thinking about opening tule elk hunting. So the deer are about the biggest game animal here...

We won't mention the area in central california (northeast of Stockton) where the lead ore is right on the surface. You can see it where ever they have graded road beds, poor quality that is it still is lead ore...

Give me a break.@#$%^&*

 

[Ky Larry]

I haven't shot any. As was mentioned above, they cost too much for paper punching and I don't hunt, except for varmints. I doubt the Barnes bullets would shoot any better than the Nosler Ballistic Tips I shoot in my .223 and .22-250 so what's the point?

 

[dakotasin]

i use barnes xlc's in my 300 win mag. other than that one, they all get regular ol' sierra or hornady, and have all worked just fine.

i don't like the cost of barnes - which is the reason i don't shoot them in more rifles. i don't like how fast they foul out a barrel and lose any semblence of accuracy.

i like their accuracy.

their performance, from what i can see, is a wash between hornady, sierra, barnes... in one side, out the other, deer tips over. about what you'd expect from any bullet.