Is there a difference besides color between the sabots of the 290 TMZ and 300 MZ?
The listed velocity of the Barnes 300 is faster than the 290 gr.
I wonder what the 290 gr. would do if the tip was pulled.

Guy's,
Ron's test is very week in comparison to bone. You shoot this same bullet threw bone it will mushroom like any other bullet. You miss bone, this is exactly what you get. Barnes knows this, and anyone who has shot much game with Barnes really should know this as well. If not your just not paying attention.

hawgslayer shoots a great deal of these 290s during hunting season. He hasnt had any complaints.

Here is a thread using the 250g T-EZ.

Actually Grouse, I was told by a few here "in the know" that both the Lehigh CF's and these Barnes depend on hydraulic force rather than impact to open up. They said that aids in penetration and less likelyhood of "blow ups". The Hide and Bone knock the tip back and BEGIN the opening but the hydraulic force is what "flowers" it.

Not 100% sure what i shot the bloodline into but it was dry sand and did not fully open like the others.

Sure seems that going through 5 jugs of water would be the equivalent of "hydraulic force"?

Exactly why I was questioning the velocity because it takes a certain amount of hydraulic force to open these up. Ron may have gotten a "bad lot" that could have been too hard or something. According to his velocity scale that bullet should have had more than enough velocity to open up. They are supposed to open as low as 1000fps I believe.

Don't know if I agree with this thought much.

Before changing my entire program, I shot Barnes for years and have taken over 300 whitetail with Expanders, TMZ and T-EZ bullets. EVERY bullet ever recovered indicated it performed perfectly. Even those found after passing through and found in the dirt.

I like everyone else, appreciate all of Ron's bullet testing. However.... one also has to understand that shooting into 1/2 gallon water jugs, is not shooting into an animal. Those water jugs, immediately upon impact explode because of the pressures, with no hide or muscle holding them intact. When the pressure lowers, the bullets may continue to pass through other jugs, slowing the bullet further. Water is also less dense than internal organs or fluids (lung shot). Yes, each bottle slows the bullet more, yet each bottle explodes until the velocity is low enough that the bullet merely passes though and into the phone book.

Uhhh Barnes, nope. Dispersal inside an animal will reduce pressures just as fast, if not faster, than those water jugs. It's the "water on the nose" that matters in the hydraulic force though. While yes the pressure waves are dispersing water from the jugs, that bullet is still encountering surface tension (and water has a little higher surface tension than blood) and resistance as well as pressure to open the bullet up.