RE: Barnes bullet performance,, Outstanding!!!
 

The price isn't too bad when you buy them in bulk. Knight used to sell them in a 30 pack for 22/23 dollars. The 1 bad thing about these bullets, is they are tough as hell to get them down the barrel of an T/C Omega, but the little bit of stuggle is worth it. They go down relatively easy in my old Knight Disc.

Here's a pic of a doe i shot during ML season with my T/C Omega using the 250 grain Spit-Fire TMZ (polymer tipped). Shot her at 115 yards and the wound channel those bullets produce is unbelievable. I had shot a doe last year with a Hornady SST (non bonded) and was very displeased with its performance. It fragmented into6 pieces and started to shed its jacket. This clearly told me that the bullet lost so much energy and was the reason it had not exited!

RE: Barnes bullet performance,, Outstanding!!!
 

I harvested a button buck first season and a good doe second season in Illinois. I shoot the Barnes Expander MZ's. The 250gr and 300gr both shoot excellent out of my CVA. I tested quite a few bulletsthis past summer and the Barnes was a clear choice. They may be pricey but when I'm in the stand that $1 a pop doesn't make a darn bit of difference to me. I just wished I could have recovered my 2 bullets. Complete pass throughs on both deer and the internal damage to heart and lungs on both was amazing.

RE: Barnes bullet performance,, Outstanding!!!
 

The reason why I switched over to Barnes, was because of the poor preformance of the Hornadys. I've shot plenty of deer in my day, I first started using Hornady XTP's which repeatedly shed their jackets (have pic's of them) and poor penetration. Then went to 260 grain jacketed bullets by Knight, then to Shockwave/Hornady SST's. The lastSST I shot was at 60 yards and the bullet never passed through. I recovered it and it retained only 162 grains of its original 250 grains, and it had fragmented severly.

RE: Barnes bullet performance,, Outstanding!!!
 

Here's a picture of the SST and its fragmented parts (what I could find).

RE: Barnes bullet performance,, Outstanding!!!
 

whitetailcrazy

Just a suggestion but you might try a Nosler Partition .451/260. You can buy them in a bulk reloaders box then get the sabot that best fits your barrel.

Down-side they are expensive, when I run out I will be shooting Speer Gold Dots... 250's for deer - 300's for elk. They are a bonded bullet and do stay together...

The 300's have a BC of .233 which is really good for a .452 bullet.

Just a thought....

RE: Barnes bullet performance,, Outstanding!!!
 

Cayugad, When you say terrible on small game, how small are you talking about? The reason I ask is because I personally had terrible luck with 300 grain XTP's and their performance on deer. I suspect it was due to poor expansion at my ML velocities.What type of animals are you saying to avoid shooting with these bullets? Thanks, Greg

RE: Barnes bullet performance,, Outstanding!!!
 

gt2003 - what charge were you shooting with the XTP's? How long were the shots where the bullet performed poorly? Did you figure you had poor expansion because the bullets passed thru the animal with similar size entry and exit holes? I'm very interested in what you experienced because I'm using the 44 cal 300 XTP's in front of 90 Pyrodex this year.

RE: Barnes bullet performance,, Outstanding!!!
 

yeoman, I almost hate to respond because I know there are so many people that use the XTP's and love them. First off I shoot a knight wolverine with the #11 cap. I was shooting the 300 grain XTP and 90 grains of pyrodex RS. I would site in at 50 yards cuz all my shots are quite close. These bullets were tack drivers out of my gun. I frequently had 2-3 bullets touching at 50 yards. I can't tell you about entrance/exit holes because I lost 2 or 3 deer with them then got rid of them because I was just sick. The shots were anywhere from 15-30 yards. These deer would put their heads down and run forever and ever. We looked for them for 2-3 hours each time and simply couldn't find sign past about 20 yards or so. I hear a lot of people here saying "just make a good shot", well, in my case itdidn't cut it. Obviously I don't know exactly where I shot them but the 4 or5 deer I have shot with the precision rifle deadcenters I am shooting now fell in their tracks or went less than30-40 yards. If you are going to use them, I would recommend you shoot through the shoulder or something. I don't know, maybe others can give better advice. My hunting partner had pretty good luck with them, they just didn't perform well on game for me. Good luck, Greg

RE: Barnes bullet performance,, Outstanding!!!
 

gt2003 - that does not sound good. I wish you'd said you were shooting 150 grains or just about anything other than what you did. Sounds like a jacket shedding problem. What sabot did you use? From a treestand? If so, how high do you go? Were they behind the shoulder shots? I am sorry you weren't able to recover them. I have felt your pain and would like never to feel that again.

RE: Barnes bullet performance,, Outstanding!!!
 

If I remember correctly it was a green sabot, guy at the gun shop set me up with them. It's been a couple of years and I don't recall the exact name of it. All were shot from a treestand probably 15 feet, maybe a little higher. All were broadside shots tucked in right behind the shoulder. Same thing I'm doing now, just a different bullet. Like I said, lots of people like them but they didn't do well for me.