Barnes TSX?

C

Clay34

New member
I have some 70 grain and some 62 gr Barnes TSX bullets with which I want to start doing load development. The local reloading supply guy tells me that Barnes bullets don't like any other fouling in the bore but Barnes. He tells me about another customer who couldn't get the Barnes to shoot until he really got aggressive with old copper fouling removable. Then after refouling the bore with Barnes TSX projectiles the gun shot fine.

I'm call BS on this one, but wanted to get your opinion on the concept. I really think that the guy just didn't clean his bore and it wasn't going to shoot any bullet well until he clean it thoroughly.

What do you think? Has anyone noticed anything special about the TSX bullet? This is going to be reloaded in a 5.56 chamber.
 
I think a bullet is an inanimate object and doesn't know what bullet you shot before. I switched to tsx and ttsx in 3 calibers now, none of which have seen that bullet until recently. All shoot very well. And I very rarely clean.
 
I shoot everything from Barnes to Sierra to Nosler and Hornady through mine. All of them shoot great. I bet that good cleaning he gave the rifle helped more than the barrel somehow identifying the brand of bullet passing through it.
 
If you read Barnes website or reloading manual they will tell you the same exact thing. Remove all traces of copper fouling from your rifle's bore before shooting their bullets. This was especially critical with their older X bullet and XLC bullet designs. I don't know if the newer TSX or TTSX is as temperamental as the older bullets or not. All I know is I still scrub my rifle's bore really well with a good copper solvent prior to shooting the Barnes. As much as the bullets cost it is a good thing to not have to shoot through a box to try and find accuracy.
 
A couple of years ago I was shooting some groups with my 223 AI and I shot Barnes 55 gr MPG bullets and Barnes 55 gr TSX bullets.

When I switched from one bullet to the other the first shot and sometimes the second shot were flyers, about 4" to the left.

The 3rd shot with the 55 gr TSX bullets would be back much closer to where I was aiming.

The 223 AI barrel was pretty clean and I had this combination of bullets do this three times that day.
 

Normal cleaning is all I do to my rifles when shooting the TSX. I haven't noticed any problems. Accuracy has been great in the three rifles I have fired them from.
 
Thanks for the responses so far. I found it interesting that the Barnes manual suggests such a thing.

I remember watching one of those shooting programs that interviewed an instructor at the Marine sniper school. He was talking about their cleaning regiment and said that they don't clean as often as they use to because it took a while for the bore to get coated enough to get back to it's best groups. I wish that I remembered how many shots before they expected the best accuracy. I'm sure it's dependent upon how smoothly or roughly your bore is finished.

So what do most of you do after complete barrel copper removal? How many rounds do you shoot before you start seriously considering your group sizes and how many rounds do you shoot before the next big cleaning?
 
I have limited experience with the Barnes TSX in the 62 gr. .223 Remington and the 85 gr. .243 Winchester and neither would shoot worth a darn until I cleaned the barrel and had a few TSX rounds fired in the bore. Afterward they shot like a house afire, printing nice little clover leaf like groups when I did my part on the trigger. In my little experience what Barnes recommended was spot on.
 
I have not used the lighter weight tsx but have used them alot in 300 weatherby and 375 h&h mag. and have had very little copper fowling. They have been very accurate in my rifles and worked well on all game taken.
 
The TSX's are great and the tipped TSX's are even better. I would just shoot them and see what happens. If they don't meet your expectations then clean away and see if it changes. A dirty barrel from other manufacturers never made a difference in my expirences.

Barnes also suggests seating @ 0.050" off the lands to start. I don't believe that is necessary and always start touching the lands if you are not limited by a mag (only one way to go after that).
 
I used Dyna Bore Coat in a couple of the barrels I shoot TSXs in most. Works great and they shoot extremely well...........
 
My Model 70 is one of those snooty, stuck up rifles that really only shows it best when fed Barnes TTSXs. That being said, I've never "mixed fouling" in it so to speak, just because Barnes's web sight said not to. I will say this much though, if you start with a clean barrel when shooting Barnes bullets, it seems to stay that way. I also used UBC on this particular rifle. If I shoot a conventional bullet, I can see copper streaks at the muzzle with a flash light after a few rounds, with TTSXs, it doesn't seem like it ever shows up.
 


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