K9 Stalker
New member
I love them! Best bullet on the market IMHO.
barnes bullets????
- Thread starter cowpoke
- Start date
Personally I do not know what Barnes did or did not do in CA. However I can easily believe that a company would do things to make their products seem to be the better product in certain environments. I believe we all do that in our own way. So I would not blame Barnes for trying to pick up greater market share. I would actually expect them too. Good or bad for my pocket book-I am sure they are more concerned about their pocket book-not mine.
As far as the OP's question. I have bought probably 9 or 10 diffeent Boxes of Barnes bullets over the past 25 or so years. Personally I have not had very good luck with their bullets.
I also can't possibly see where their bullets demand such a higher price.
The only thing good about Barnes is that they will allow you to shoot a smaller caliber and get better results because they do a good job in expansion. However you pay dearly for that. IMO it is not worth it.
Rather than pay $1 a piece for a bullet I will just shoot my cheap 30-06 bullets and kill all the deer in the world-and every bit as effectively as a 24 or 25 caliber Barnes bullets.
I like to shoot alot. So expensive bullets simply are not in my shooting budget. And a 30-06 simply does not need that expensive bullet to kill anything I would ever shoot at. Including elk. Tom.
As far as the OP's question. I have bought probably 9 or 10 diffeent Boxes of Barnes bullets over the past 25 or so years. Personally I have not had very good luck with their bullets.
I also can't possibly see where their bullets demand such a higher price.
The only thing good about Barnes is that they will allow you to shoot a smaller caliber and get better results because they do a good job in expansion. However you pay dearly for that. IMO it is not worth it.
Rather than pay $1 a piece for a bullet I will just shoot my cheap 30-06 bullets and kill all the deer in the world-and every bit as effectively as a 24 or 25 caliber Barnes bullets.
I like to shoot alot. So expensive bullets simply are not in my shooting budget. And a 30-06 simply does not need that expensive bullet to kill anything I would ever shoot at. Including elk. Tom.
Last edited:
K-22hornet.
New member
I've used Barnes since 1992 starting with the X, moving on to the XLC and now the TSX and T-TSX. I use them in a 22Hornet (45grXLC), 222mag (45gr XLC), 4 different 243's (85gr TSX and 80gr T_TSX), 2 different 270's (130gr T-TSX), 30-06 (168gr T-TSX), 2 different 300Winmags (168gr TSX and 175gr LRX), 300WSM (168gr TSX) and, finally a 300 Weatherby (180 TSX).
You could say I have a little experience with them.
As has been said, start with a copper free barrel and start at .050 off the lands, then push them hard. In each and every rifle, MOA, or better, is the norm, using the TSX ot T-TSX.
I always start a load at published COL, and, so far, have only had to deviate 2-3 times, most recently with my 30-06 when I switched from the 168gr TSX to the 168gr T-TSX. I had to seat them .010 deeper than the TSX to get sub-MOA.
TheTSX and T-TSX are the easiest to get to shoot well. The early X and XLC's were difficult to get to MOA.
I've seen a noticeable improvement in DRT on big game, (and coyotes using my Hornet), compared to other bullets, and I was a Nosler Partition user since my first big game hunt in 1971. Never had a complaint with a Partition, but the barnes hit harder and are more accurate.
I would expect the GMX from Hornaday and the E-Tip from Nosler to work the same on game as the Barnes.
You could say I have a little experience with them.
As has been said, start with a copper free barrel and start at .050 off the lands, then push them hard. In each and every rifle, MOA, or better, is the norm, using the TSX ot T-TSX.
I always start a load at published COL, and, so far, have only had to deviate 2-3 times, most recently with my 30-06 when I switched from the 168gr TSX to the 168gr T-TSX. I had to seat them .010 deeper than the TSX to get sub-MOA.
TheTSX and T-TSX are the easiest to get to shoot well. The early X and XLC's were difficult to get to MOA.
I've seen a noticeable improvement in DRT on big game, (and coyotes using my Hornet), compared to other bullets, and I was a Nosler Partition user since my first big game hunt in 1971. Never had a complaint with a Partition, but the barnes hit harder and are more accurate.
I would expect the GMX from Hornaday and the E-Tip from Nosler to work the same on game as the Barnes.