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TerryBlauwkamp
.224 member


Reged: 28/02/04
Posts: 18
Loc: Michigan
Barnes X bullet report
      #10727 - 03/03/04 08:16 AM

A friend of mine just called me to report on his trip to the CAR where he took Roan, Buffalo, Eland etc.

He used 300 gr Barnes X bullets in his 375 H&H, and the new 225 gr TSX in the 338 Win mag .

He just could not sing the praises enough of the performance of these bullets.

He recovered a couple of them, and said they were as perfect as the ones pictured in the Barnes catalog.

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MayI be half the man my dog thinks I am.

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Will
.333 member


Reged: 04/02/03
Posts: 303
Loc: Kansas
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: TerryBlauwkamp]
      #10733 - 03/03/04 09:09 AM

Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn.

I do not know of anyone that claims Barnes X are anything but great.

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_________________________________________________
Bill Stewart

Once you have been amongst them, there is no such thing as too much gun.

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ChuckWagon
.275 member


Reged: 09/02/04
Posts: 90
Loc: USA
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: TerryBlauwkamp]
      #10738 - 03/03/04 09:57 AM

I have heard good things about the TSX. The others I could never get to group and I know a lot of other guys that dumped them and went back to Nosler. I might try the TSX but the Nosler works so well I always wonder why bother.

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Life is more like a jar of Jalapeno's than a box of chocolates. What you do today might burn your butt tomorrow !

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DPhillips
.375 member


Reged: 09/10/03
Posts: 819
Loc: Alaska
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: TerryBlauwkamp]
      #10741 - 03/03/04 10:02 AM

Terry,
Was that the Forest Buffalo or Cape? Lordy Derby Eland, I suppose?

Sure would like to see some of the pictures, if he doesn't mind you sharing them with us. I'd love to try for Bongo in CAR.

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mickey
.416 member


Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: Will]
      #10747 - 03/03/04 11:13 AM

Will

The Barnes that I have used sucked. I used them on one trip in a 9.3x74R and a 300 H&H. My partner used thme in his 300WBY Mag. I would not use a Barnes bullet on game if they paid me. (well if they paid enough maybe) When I want a solid I will use one. I don't want a bullet that does not open up no matter how far it goes after it goes through the animal.

All of the good things I have heard about Barnes have one thing in common, they were well placed. Out of 48 or so Zebra we shot one day with the 9.3 and the 300 WB only two were recovered, niether opened up and there is no evidence that the others did either. These were all 1 shot kills, through the neck, with a caliber size entrance and exit dispite hitting bone.


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Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.

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atkinson6
.375 member


Reged: 26/01/04
Posts: 678
Loc: Idaho
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: mickey]
      #10753 - 03/03/04 11:43 AM

They seem to work well on Buffalo, and the 75 gr. Barnes X in my 6x45 has worked out well on big game without any failures so far but they discontinued that bullet on me, but I have quit a few ratholed away.. However, I have had some real failures with them on several ocassions and in several calibers...I have come to the conclusion that when they work they work great and kill well, but when they fail they fail miserably...

Consistency is the problem with BarnesX IMO..I'm basing this on my personal experience and some instances of friends haveing failures..I have shot a lot of game with them, but not in the last couple of years..I started using GS Customs and now Bridger is going to make some monolithic hollow points...

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Will
.333 member


Reged: 04/02/03
Posts: 303
Loc: Kansas
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: mickey]
      #10758 - 03/03/04 12:36 PM

Mickey,

Sucky X bullets?

Does shooting skill have anything to do with this?

How about the wrong applications?

All I know is what others have said on the big stuff, not on little stuff like zebra. But then I've never seen the need for anything other than Noslers and Swifts.

One has to keep repeating the idea behind the Nosler Partitions.....when the front half of that bullet lets go it is hell in a hand basket. That's why little shits die on the spot (like zebra).

P.S. - Since you have no e-mail address I sent you a PM about shit happening.

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_________________________________________________
Bill Stewart

Once you have been amongst them, there is no such thing as too much gun.

Edited by Will (03/03/04 12:44 PM)

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mickey
.416 member


Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: Will]
      #10768 - 03/03/04 01:34 PM

Will

That is my point. Everyone who brags up the Barnes makes good shots. Comments like, 'I shot him through the Heart and it killed him dead. Wow those Barnes bullets sure are great.' Like Ray says When they work they work well, when they fail there shit.

Why would someone take a bullet that has a reputation for occasional failure over a bullet that has a reputation for being near perfect? I agree on the Noslers. It was my stupid fault for Fu!#&ng with the bullets when I should have known better.

Got your PM, I didn't realize I had no email addy here. What is the address for African Hunter Forum. My computer crapped out and I lost all of that info.

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Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.

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luv2safari
.400 member


Reged: 09/11/03
Posts: 1413
Loc: United States
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: mickey]
      #10778 - 03/03/04 01:59 PM

'X" bullets take crazier turns through the "target" than the Kenneday assasination bullet...

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Hunt with Class and Classics

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Will
.333 member


Reged: 04/02/03
Posts: 303
Loc: Kansas
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: mickey]
      #10779 - 03/03/04 02:12 PM

Mickey,

AH forum:

http://209.221.146.133/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

--------------------
_________________________________________________
Bill Stewart

Once you have been amongst them, there is no such thing as too much gun.

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mickey
.416 member


Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: Will]
      #10780 - 03/03/04 02:30 PM

Thank you Sir. You are a Gentleman, even if you are an Easterner.

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Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.

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shakari
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Reged: 09/02/03
Posts: 1107
Loc: South Africa
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: mickey]
      #10794 - 03/03/04 03:43 PM

Looks like I'm going to be the voice in the wilderness here. I've seen a lot of Barnes X used and have been very impressed with them. The only failures I've seen are when they have been loaded to travel faster than recommended.

Having said that, there's no such thing as a single bullet that will do everything and my personal preference is the Woodleigh range...... but again, only at the right speeds.

--------------------
Steve "Shakari" Robinson
Kuduland Safaris (Africa) Ltd
info@kuduland.com
www.kuduland.com



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Boghossian
.275 member


Reged: 23/01/04
Posts: 93
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: mickey]
      #10805 - 03/03/04 08:25 PM

Wow Mickey, that is a hell of a lot of zebra!! I assume you were doing some pretty intensive culling, which country?
By the way, what speed were you sending those X bullets at? Saeed at accuratereloading always uses them but always at very high speeds, which must cause more expansion. I do not doubt that when fired from a non-magnum at distance, they will only give half the wound channel of a traditional lead cored bullet.

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luv2safari
.400 member


Reged: 09/11/03
Posts: 1413
Loc: United States
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: Boghossian]
      #10820 - 04/03/04 02:19 AM

That would make them worthless for long shots, IMHO.

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Hunt with Class and Classics

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SafariHunt
.333 member


Reged: 02/01/03
Posts: 468
Loc: Pretoria RSA
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: TerryBlauwkamp]
      #10832 - 04/03/04 05:30 AM

My experience with X bullets is limited it is both good and bad. A client of mine cameoverin 2002 with 300 RUM on his list wasEland as well and we hunted in the easterb Cape long shots needed as well. Now a 180 grain bullet at 3200 fps is a terrifiying idea for me what would hold together well I told him to load X Except for the eland a high lung shot no expansion showed on the exit holes of all the other animals. He had to down a gemsbuck with 3 shots all vital before it dropped and died.

I on the other hand picked upo a box of 210 grainers for me 375 to test out and loaded it at 2950 fps in warm weather. It was very cold and with our local powder wihch is very sensitiove to heat Iwouldn't be surprized if they only clocked 2800 fps in that weather. I shot an old black wildebeest bull at 120 meters almost on a full frontal shot but he was standing at an anglke I broke his left shoulder and it completely destroyed the left lung. Perfect mushroom with weight retention of 99%. That is the only animal I have shot with that loadso far

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"Sleeping under the African sky I can see nothing wrong with this world!"

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mickey
.416 member


Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: Boghossian]
      #10854 - 04/03/04 09:44 AM

In reply to:

Poster: Boghossian
Subject: Re: Barnes X bullet report

Wow Mickey, that is a hell of a lot of zebra!! I assume you were doing some pretty intensive culling, which country?
By the way, what speed were you sending those X bullets at? Saeed at accuratereloading always uses them but always at very high speeds, which must cause more expansion. I do not doubt that when fired from a non-magnum at distance, they will only give half the wound channel of a traditional lead cored bullet.




It was on a Game Farm in the Western Transvaal, not a Hunting Farm. We were culling them for meat, thus the neck shots. Each Kilo was, at that time, worth about 7 Rand. The guys I was with were tired of shooting things so I and another fellow did that while they loaded them up and processed them. We shot them all in one day, from the vehicle.

I don't know about velocity making a differance. I think a lot of the people who sing their praises are good shots but a kill shot is a kill shot. I have never heard anything about them blowing up, only not expanding at all. How would you know if it expanded or not when it passes through? Other than the damage inside and the exit hole?





--------------------
Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.

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mickey
.416 member


Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: mickey]
      #10855 - 04/03/04 09:50 AM

Here are two recovered bullets. The one on the left was from a Warthog and the one on the right was a pass through on one of the Zebras and hit one behind in the knee and stayed their. Both from the 9.3. I don't think that either was very good but opinions may vary.




--------------------
Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.

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4seventy
Sponsor


Reged: 07/05/03
Posts: 2210
Loc: Queensland Australia
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: mickey]
      #10865 - 04/03/04 11:40 AM

Mick,
The photos are not working on my computer so can't comment on their performance.
What weight X bullets were you using in the 9.3/74?

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Boghossian
.275 member


Reged: 23/01/04
Posts: 93
Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: mickey]
      #10886 - 05/03/04 12:36 AM

I was assuming you could look at the wound channel and be able to see a difference in the amount of "jellied lung" rather than when you see a hole punched through....
I see what you mean about it being difficult to tell if the X bullet did the killing when a shot is placed in the heart, as even a solid in the heart will kill the animal...

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4seventy
Sponsor


Reged: 07/05/03
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Re: Barnes X bullet report [Re: mickey]
      #10891 - 05/03/04 01:22 AM

Mick,
The photos are coming up now.
Yeah, they don't look too good I'll admit but my opinion is that their impact velocity was too low.
I've done a fair amount of shooting with X bullets in various calibers and impact velocity DOES affect their ability to fully expand and also to hold together.
At velocities of around 2000 fps they often show very little expansion like those in your photos.
My experience is that they give their best performance at an impact velocity of between about 2300 to 2800 fps where they will expand nicely to about double the diameter, retain all 4 petals and almost 100% weight.
At impact velocity around 3000 fps they will often break off one or more petals and at velocities above 3000 they often break off all 4 petals and this is the reason that if they do exit it looks like they have not expanded at all as they only leave a small exit hole.
Exit holes IMO are not a reliable way of evaluating bullet expansion or lack of.
The X bullet really needs muzzel velocities of 2600 and upwards to perform properly IMO, and they are capable of killing really well.
Are those 286 grainers in the photo?

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