savage.308

Just tried out some 150 gr. Barnes XLC bullets in my .308 and I' m impressed. These were reloads using 45.5 grains of Varget powder seated at OAL of 2.860. They shot very accurately at 100 yards, just over a half inch, and formed a perfect mushroom. Has anyone tried these on whitetail deer and how did they perform? Thanks for any info., I might have to use these this season if they perform as well on deer as they do at the range.

halcon

I only use Barnes bullets for hunting and have always had good results with them as far as accuracy and bullet performance goes . I got tired of some of the other bullet manufacturers premium bullets not preforming but about half the time . There are some others that will preform as well but I' m looking at the price as well as peformance as my bottom line .

LARRY338

x bullets do what I have always thought hunting bullets are supposed to do. They expand, and stay in one piece. Occasionally one of the petals will shed inside an animal but they retain weight and penetrate on a straight line through. I have seen x bullets kill deer so fast its uncanny too. Last fall I shot a buck which was walking and at the shot he fell towards me dead before he hit the ground. I like that and its something I have seldom seen from bullets that turn inside out upon impact. Any bullet will kill a deer, x bullets just do it like I think they should.

handloader1

Barnes X is the only bullet I hunt with for center fire rifle. Good luck.

losthwy

Barnes is my choice of big game ammo as well. Last couple of years I' ve used the XLC but this year I' m going with the triple shock.

Rangerlab

Sorry to butt in on this topic, but I have a question about XCL bullets. I will be going on a guided mule deer/antelope hunt in Montana this year. I will be shooting a 7mm Rem Mag. I was wondering if this bullet is to tough for antelope. Will it give me enough expansion on a 100lb animal if I happen to get a close shot? Or will it just punch a pencil hole through the chest? I have never hunted Antelope before, so I don' t really have any experience with choosing bullets for them.

eldeguello

They work fine, but are unnecessarily tough for deer-sized game. But hey' ll certainly kill' em, though you probably won' t find any inside a deer!!

noway

I have shot a few animals with the x bullet.
Took a heavy buck antelope with a 7mag and a 140gr x bullet at appx. 400 yards.
One shot flipped it over and that was it. Maybe a little to much power but it was very dead. Pencil hole going in and golf ball hole going out.

Large bodied muley buck at 30 yards with 130gr x bullet in a .280, pencil sized hole going in and golf ball hole going out. Deer traveled 20 yards.

5 point bull 7mag, 175 gr x bullet, shot facing me through the neck and spine and back between the shoulders and upper chest and exited in front of the rear quarter, he did not take another step. Pencil hole in pencil hole out. He needed a coup de grace from a couple feet, went in through the lower chest and out through the upper chest on the other side, pencil in pencil out.

I won' t bore you with details of any more but you get the idea, I have seen very consistent performance with the x bullet.
At 308 velocities it would be hard to beat for big whitetails. On smaller variety whitetails I would choose something with more expansion.

Rangerlab,
One bullet I would not recommend for antelope is the ballistic tip in 7mag. It will ruin the whole front of the animal, been there done that.
You don' t need much penetration on an antelope but you don' t want to blow it up either. The 140 x bullet sure worked well for me in 7mag.
More important with antelope is to find the most accurate bullet and practice with it at long ranges.

Rangerlab

Thanks for the info noway. I think i' m going to give the X bullets a try and see if my rifle likes them. Those ballistic tips are really confusing, some people think they' re the greatest thing ever for deer sized animals, others(sounds like yourself included) think the opposite. I guess it' s probably best to just stay away from them.

RedAllison

I WORSHIP the Xbullet. And I am firing it in about as tough a condition as it can get. I shoot the 130gn 30cal Xbullet at near 4k fps (308 Lazzeroni Warbird). I have killed deer from 45yds to over 300 ranging from broadside " picture book" poses to one straight up the " rump" at 311 laser ranged yards. I have yet to loose an animal and only 2 of over 10 have not dropped where they stood. Even the one shot at 311 drove lengthwise and exited. I have yet to recover a bullet from any of the deer, but the bullet is performing awesomely. Surprisingly there is no bloodshot or bruised meat just entrance holes and a slightly larger exit hole. With that kind of velocity, any bone contacted becomes instant shrapnel.
I have purposefully shot many at different angles and different places to see what kind the Xbullet would or would not do. It even goes thru both shoulders at velocities over 3500fps. I wouldnt' ve believed it until I saw for myself. I have used Xbullets in my muzzleloader for several years and knew they were awesome but wasnt prepared for their performance in the big Warbird.
Typically that lighter bullet fired at that velocity has only grouped in the 1.5" -2" range. After 3 boxes of ammo, my Sako' s groups tightened up to an even 1" . John Lazzeroni told me on the phone that it was rare for that bullet to group like that, but it just does from my gun. The new " Lazerheads" from Barnes is REALLY interesting to me. They are supposed to tighten up the group by half and will still perform as a Xbullet is supposed to. I might try them in 150s this year. Anyone else in here tried the Lazerheads yet?

I have shot some deer with a 140 Failsafe in my 7mag as well. It performs similar to the Xbullets. I shot a buck facing me at 300yds in south TX in 99 and he went down like a sack of rocks. I hit him just under the spine and it exited above his shoulder on the other side!

The solid copper bullets are just AWESOME if you ask me. IMO magnums are just to fast for bullets like the Nosler Partition. Ive shot to many deer with them in various calibers and always found the shank of the bullet, sans the lead nose. That was with calibers like 06, 270 etc. If you are gonna shoot a fast gun or want your regular gun to penetrate without having to go to heavier bullets...

GIVEM A TRY!
RA