Barnes has been in to the "mushrooming" copper alloy bullet for a while. I suspect as the market develops, others will enter. Probably develop all sorts of non-toxic alloy bullets that approach lead like densities. Much like have been developed for shooitng migratory ducks/geese.

I do not use Barnes bullets. It is still OK down here to use jacketed lead core bullets. I think I am right about this .... for a given grain weight, the Barnes' bullets are longer than typical copper jacketed lead bullets because they are less dense. They do not actually "mushroom" but rather they "expand" by folding back pre-formed "petals". You may already be aware but the 308 Win. case is fairly short. The longer the bullet, the less the "powder" space. If you have to go with a less dense bullet, I suspect that 165 gr. +/- is about as heavy as you might want to try.

I know two guys that use the Barnes bullet are avid hand loaders. One for a 270 Win. and the other for a 7mm STW. Both love this bullet and both have taken white tail, feral hog, mule deer, elk and black bear with their setups.

Thank you all for your wisdom! Very happy to have such a great resource.

I have used Barnes X's.Probably more bullet than what you need for a deer,I originally began to use the for north western whitetails but they aren't necessary.They are such a rugged bullet that unless you hit bone sometimes they don't tip the animal over fast enough.I have never lost a buck using them,but I have had two through the lungs kills where the buck didn't go down in a manner I would have liked.

good 'ol California! maybe we need biodegradable bullets?

I concur with others in that Barnes with their X bullets have been making them and have most experience. From what I understand, they and now some other manufacturers have the technology to make the "pettles" open up that takes the place of the mushroom shaped expansion of many traditional jacketed lead core bullets.
http://www.barnesbullets.com/products/rifle/mrx-bullet/

Barnes has some alloy mixture in this MRX their newest version of the X bullets.

The only thing that I've read that in the early designs of solid copper or similar non-lead alloy bullets is that because the metal was less pliable than lead, they tended to cause more copper fouling in the rifling of the barrel. As I understand it, this has been minimized by the groove beltsthey now have in the bullet. So that less of the surface of the sides of the bullet press into the rifling leaving less copper fouling.

wouldn't less projectile contact with the barrel's rifling cause an accuracy issue?

"wouldn't less projectile contact with the barrel's rifling cause an accuracy issue?"

No, the TSX and the newT-TSX are the most accurate bullets out of 4 of 5 of my rifles. They shoot sub-moa out to 400yds in 3 of these guns. The only adverse affect the grooves have is in the way of ballistic coefficient. This is why the new Noz Etip might be the best of both worlds.

Brett

thanks for answering my question. i'm by far a ballistic guru so i wasn't sure.