Barnes Bullets

[Rocky Raab]

Some rifles, particularly those with loose or rough bores, will never shoot them well. All-copper bullets don't obturate like standard bullets, so they don't fit the bore or rifling. Awful accuracy and heavy fouling result.

You also should completely clean - and I mean CLEAN - a bore before you try Barnes bullets, and then shoot only Barnes during your trials. If you alternate between Barnes and regular bullets, you'll get awful fouling due to difference in hardness of the jacket metal.

But in most rifles, the new TSX design helps both the fit and the fouling issue. My guess is that they do obturate a bit better, and the grooves reduce bearing surface, which reduces fouling.

I'd try a box and see. Remember that you can drop one to two bullet weights and get similar results with higher velocity when you use Barnes. So if you use a 180-gr regular bullet, try a Barnes 165 or even 150. The lighter bullet will be about the same length as the heavier core/jacket bullet. Thus the same stability and usually the same accuracy as the heavier bullet but higher velocity and BC.