Copper monolithic bullets, like barnes (i tried some)

mtshtr

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2023
Messages
73
Location
Mt
I had never used them really. I thought I had heard they aren't that accurate.

But I bought a box of barnes 168 lrx in
.284" caliber for my 7prc.


I just picked a load and .050 jump based on measurement with hornady oal Guage with casing and bullet and caliper.

20240519_153734.jpg


First group was pretty good at 100 yds.

Good stats.
Screenshot_20240520_202023_ShotView.jpg


And saved one for 500 yard to shoot at 8 inch plate. Strelok dial up was spot on and I aimed .25mil to the right into the wind.




I think this will be my elk bullet. What are your experiences with these bullets?

In terms of accuracy/fouling/terminal performance?

Thanks
 
Top shot was cold bore? Anyway, looks promising to me. I was watching a video the other day about switching from "standard" bullets to Copper bullets and the guy was saying that it is important to get clean the bore to bare metal when switching from one to the other. I'm not sure if it was from standard boolits to the cooper ones or versa-vicea. I use a Tipped TSX in one of my Crudmores and man does it punch a hole in whitetail. knocks them right over. I had switched to the Barnes from a 130 Accubond, which was no slouch either. Let us know how they look when you stretch it out.
 
I was shooting some 180 eldm prior to that. Then took a brief moment to shoot a mag of .22lr through 10/22.
I think that was the first of the barnes.

Bore definitely wasn't clean. Had 30 rounds through it. Will try to clean it well with solvent and follow up.
 
I was shooting some 180 eldm prior to that. Then took a brief moment to shoot a mag of .22lr through 10/22.
I think that was the first of the barnes.

Bore definitely wasn't clean. Had 30 rounds through it. Will try to clean it well with solvent and follow up.
Oh, OK. Yes, that would be interesting.
 
I have taken 3 elk with the .284 145 gr LRX bullets - all one shot kills and and 4 with .308 168 TTSX bullets - all one shot kills. Have only recovered one and that was the 168 TTSX after it traveled diagonally from top of hip to opposite front shoulder where it lodged in the shoulder socket. This was a bull that was wounded by another in our party and I had to try to stop it before it left the country. I have also taken one bull with a .284 140 gr tsx bullet and he was able to run 50 yds before piling up right in front of me. I have used Hammers on 3 other cow elk and they performed equally as well. The Barnes bullets have performed well for me and are some of the most accurate bullets I've used in my rifles. Personally I like to keep impact velocity above 2200 FPS and will limit my shots to achieve that and I've gotten good results with them. I load for 3 other hunters and they have used these bullets successfully also. My accuracy requirement for a hunting rifle is 3/4 MOA for a 5 shot group and I use calibers that start these bullets at 3100 FPS or more.
 
We've been exclusively Barnes since the early '90's. At this point I wouldn't consider anything other than Barnes …..except perhaps Hammer's!

I've never done any loading in .30 calibers…..but would expect great performance from them as well.

I developed a new load last summer using LRX's for my rifle, but never got to draw blood with them yet! Maybe this year. 🤞

Perhaps the easiest load developed with the least amount of components used in my near 55+ years of hand loading. Fast and accurate…..not much more to ask of a bullet!

We've taken animals from coyotes to moose using the "original" X Bullet, to the TSX's, TTSX's and now the LRX. I firmly believe that the LRX will work just as effectively as the previous Barnes Bullets, plus having better BC's!

If Barnes would make something around 225 grains in an LRX…..I'd build a load with them for my wife's rifle. Though, the 225 TTSX's have done great for many years!

Good Luck using yours this next hunting season! memtb
 
We've been exclusively Barnes since the early '90's. At this point I wouldn't consider anything other than Barnes …..except perhaps Hammer's!

I've never done any loading in .30 calibers…..but would expect great performance from them as well.

I developed a new load last summer using LRX's for my rifle, but never got to draw blood with them yet! Maybe this year. 🤞

Perhaps the easiest load developed with the least amount of components used in my near 55+ years of hand loading. Fast and accurate…..not much more to ask of a bullet!

We've taken animals from coyotes to moose using the "original" X Bullet, to the TSX's, TTSX's and now the LRX. I firmly believe that the LRX will work just as effectively as the previous Barnes Bullets, plus having better BC's!

If Barnes would make something around 225 grains in an LRX…..I'd build a load with them for my wife's rifle. Though, the 225 TTSX's have done great for many years!

Good Luck using yours this next hunting season! memtb
In the mid 90's I had problems with seating depths with a certain lot of barnes soft point bullets. I called their customer service dept and they offered to replace the bullets I had left of that lot # because of Olgive issues. I only had a few left so I used them up as practice bullets. then the TSX bullets came out and their (Barnes) tooling issues seemed to disappear. Did you ever encounter this with any of your calibers? Mine was .284
 
I shoot the 140 ttsx thru my 7-08 at 3060 and if I do my part a 5 shot string is all touching at 100yds . They have worked on two hogs and two javalina so far no tracking required.
Just started with the 145 lrx in my 280ai but it's way early in the barrel break in yet to get a good read . Only 20 rounds down the pipe.
I've got some 180 gr ttsx I'm going to test in my 300 rum in the next few days and see where they go.
 
Looks like your gun is shooting them just fine. I'd shoot again to confirm that it's repeatable then go to the longest range your comfy shooting to see that the accuracy holds.

Few years back some of Barnes bullets would shed their petals, resulting in some critters taking a bit of a run after being hit. And or them appearing to of just penciled thru sort of like a wadcutter.

But, when they held their petals for a bigger frontal area and cutting area they are more than effective on taking down game.
 
I'am not a long range shooter much rather get blood spatter on my boots from a bullet impact....haven't shot a animal with a copper clad bullet in over 16 years other than varmint shooting....
After discovering the benefits of copper and especially brass bullets like Cutting Edge Bullets I will not dirty my barrel with anything else....they dispatch an animal so much better and don't pollute my game meat with toxic lead....
 
Copper can group and shoot great. Problem is distance shooting will be less with most brands due to velocity needed to function of 2000 fps. As long as you can live with the reduced range they work great. If you want to maximize your potential range and you can accurately shoot to that range, you need high BC soft lead. For me, I can not currently shoot with enough consistency past 600yds. I wish I could, but target at perfect conditions (bench) says I can't. So with most my calibers coppers are good to go.
 

Recent Posts

Top