Guys, this goes along with the barrel cleaning post I had earlier. I’m going to work up some loads for my brother’s .280s.
I truly believe that lead bullets will go the way of the dinosaur. I’ve used the Barnes XXX bullets in my 8MM Mag but I wasn’t terribly happy with them.
Have any of you used any of the new lead free bullets on the market? Any opinions on them? Thanks.
Ruger,
I shoot a Browning BAR 7mm and shoot the Barnes XXX and have had great results from them.
My brothers and Dad shoot the Winchester E-tips and have had a lot of good results from them and shoot very accurate. Plus I was looking at the bullistics of the e-tips VS the Barnes and they are a little better I believe. Next time I need to buy a box I am going to try them out.
My Brother tried the Hornady Superformance GMX and could not pattern them worth anything and went back to the Winchester e-tips.
I do agree with you Ruger, since I have switched to the all copper bullets, they do devastating reults on whitetails and will never go back to lead. 
I shoot Barnes XXX out of my Ruger M77 25.06 and I can cover a 3 shot group at 150 yds with a nickel consistantly. When I squeeze the trigger on a whitetail… its face in the dirt with barely a twitch 
I gave an honest try with the Hornady GMX 130gr in my .270. After comparing the bullets I dug out to my expanded Barnes TSX bullets, it was a no brainer for me. Went back to Barnes!
What were you not hqappy with in the performance of the barnes bullets? was it getting the load dialed in; or bullet penetration/expansion?
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I gave an honest try with the Hornady GMX 130gr in my .270. After comparing the bullets I dug out to my expanded Barnes TSX bullets, it was a no brainer for me. Went back to Barnes!
What were you not hqappy with in the performance of the barnes bullets? was it getting the load dialed in; or bullet penetration/expansion?
Shooting a consistently tight group. I just couldn’t get them to settle down. These were 220 grain bullets for the 8MM Mag.
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Quote:
I gave an honest try with the Hornady GMX 130gr in my .270. After comparing the bullets I dug out to my expanded Barnes TSX bullets, it was a no brainer for me. Went back to Barnes!
What were you not hqappy with in the performance of the barnes bullets? was it getting the load dialed in; or bullet penetration/expansion?
Shooting a consistently tight group. I just couldn’t get them to settle down. These were 220 grain bullets for the 8MM Mag.
Just curious if you’re shooting irons or optics? This is not always the case but I’ve been busted blaming bullets for a scope that just won’t stay zeroed. I too have seen where some ammo just doesn’t care for the barrel I’m shooting through but I’m curious if after you realized you didn’t like your Barnes groupings, you tried your regular ammo?
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Just curious if you’re shooting irons or optics? This is not always the case but I’ve been busted blaming bullets for a scope that just won’t stay zeroed. I too have seen where some ammo just doesn’t care for the barrel I’m shooting through but I’m curious if after you realized you didn’t like your Barnes groupings, you tried your regular ammo?
Optics on all weapons
I was reading a few tech sheets on the 8mm as I don’t own one. Looks as if more guys are having more success with the 180 and 160 gr bullets.
RW
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I was reading a few tech sheets on the 8mm as I don’t own one. Looks as if more guys are having more success with the 180 and 160 gr bullets.
RW
Is that the 8MM Mag or 8MM Mauser? That seems like a really short bullet for the 8MM Mag. The BC could be really bad.
I’m thinking off the top of my head as I don’t have the numbers in front of me at this time.
Wade,
I talked to a buddy of mine today that is a reloading genius (in my humble opinion). I brought up your 8mm rem mag question, and got a 20 minute lecture on how Remington screwed the pooch with that cartridge. Interesting…. His thoughts had some validity; I thought…
The 8mm was originally designed for much larger game, however the bullet engineering didn’t offer the strength performance for load/pressure. Confusing to me when looking at the load data that produces 3000fps + loads. Anyways, that lead to lack of popularity. Smaller grn bullets were actually breaking apart. Most re-loaders find that the heavier bullets (200 + grn) handled the charge well, but don’t offer the balanced flight and produce a lot of 1-1/2″ and greater groups at 100 yrds. His recommendation was solid copper bullets such as the Barnes TSX in 180 grn, Fed GM215M primers, Hodgdon H4831 for its moderate burn rate. Start about 74.5 gr and work up to under 80 gr. The few Rems in the 8mm mag that he has made loads for all preferred the higher density charges…but every gun is different. He suggested staying away from composite or lead jacketed bullets because they aren’t as stable with that size charge.
Good Luck – RW
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