JOE PA

I am finally getting back into guns a bit (my youngest son has the bug, and I have to try to keep up with technology.) A few years back, I bought some Barnes X bullets (95 gr. 6mm), (165 gr. 30 cal) figuring they were the future and a good basis for a true all round load for our .243, .308 and 06. I know they don't shoot all that well out of the .243, haven't tried them out of the .30s. Now I see that the Barnes all coppers are running grooves to lessen pressure. Have the older Xs been a problem? Looking at the newer bullets, the Hornady SSTs look good and reviews seem excellent. Currently loading 100 gr. Sierras for the .243 and 150 Hornady spire points for the .30s. Any suggestions to maximize performance? I know by developing loads and chronographing that I can get right around 3000 fps. with 165s in the /06, so I think that should be my all round bullet weight for that, maybe 150s for the .308. Any ideas, suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

JOE PA

Seeing some of your posts, I know that you must be very particular about bullets, so I appreciate the feedback. Ballistic tips are kinda explosive when it comes to expansion aren't they?

jeepkid

I ran the original X for a while, decent accuracy but good on game. I've done the TSX thing for a while and they are a great bullet, just expensive and not that great of BC. Now I'm running Bergers, AccuBonds, and those cheap PowerMax Bonded (which are proven to be an excellent cheap round)...

Never shot SST's, but had a friend shoot them for a while. Great accuracy, but horrible results on deer. Didn't penetrate at all! One blew up on the front shoulder, the other blew up on the neck, neither penetrated at all! Out of a 30-06 so not a high velocity round either...this was coming from him, I never saw the deer, but have no reason not to believe him.

fritz1

I have found Ballistic Tips a little to explosive for me, years ago I almost lost a deer that I shot with a 25-06 using 120gr. B.T.'s. The bullet pretty much blew up, left a huge hole on the intrance side of the deer. I was very disappointed with the bullets performance, needless to say I have not used them since. My brother did however use them with alot of sucsess in a 7x57 Mauser. So I would say as long as you are not pushing a lot of velocity they are probably a good bullet, but get up arround 3000 fps, use something else. JMO.

fritz1

My bad, it was a 115gr. BT. like I said it was years ago.

midminnesota

shoot what ever your rifle likes, Hornady,speer, nosler,barnes.

I have shot at least one type of bullet from the above mentioned manufacturers and have had good and bad results dependent on what my gun likes. One of my guns love the hornady and hate the nosler and visa versa. if you are just going after deer the cup and core as well as the bonded hornadys work great.

fritz1

I have used the 154gr. Hornady SST Interlocks in my 280 for the last two years, they shoot great and are absolutely devastating on deer.

JOE PA

Good to hear the feedback so far. Best bullet I have used so far for the 06 is the old school Hornady 165 spbt interlock. They always worked about right for the 06, but seemed a bit hard for our short barreled .308. Just figured there had to be something more advanced now.