Barnes XPB 200

[teddy_d]

Just letting you folks know I was able to shoot 2 larger than average doe in southeast Michigan (Jackson county).
Both were broad side for the most part.
The first doe was 203 yards via Vortex Bino range finder. The bullet missed all bones and passed through, the lungs were soup, tiny entrance hole, the exit hole wasn't much bigger than a quarter (coin shortage be damned).
The second doe was 243 yards... The bullet entered between ribs and blew out a rib on the opposite side leaving a gaping wound from bone fragments etc...

Conditions were variable SW winds 7-15mph, coming at a 45* angle. Aiming almost due south, Adjusted point of aim by approximately 6" to the right to account for potential wind drift calculated to be approximately 10"max at 200 yards using Bison Ballistics online calculator. Both doe were moving generally west to east.

200 grain XPB
LilGun 38 grains
Used brass
OAL 2.185
Bushmaster AR, 20 inch barrel.
Diamondback 3x9x40
Zeroed for 200 yards, shoots 4"-5" high at 100 yards, second tick mark with the BDC reticle is a ringer at 300 yards.

Maybe this helps someone out.

I assume the velocities were not high enough for maximum expansion.
It would be nice to try the 250 grain poly tipped boat tails but alas none to be found in the days of The Great Reset.....

This load may not work for you or your firearm, don't blow yourself up.

[Al in Mi]

Sounds like they opened up just fine with those exits and you sure have that gun dialed in, congrats on the kills !!

Hoot might have some 200gr data in his archives but with 38gr Lilgun load, you might be leaving a little on the table.

Here are a couple of 200gr Barnes I've recovered over the last couple years, so your exits sure sound like they expanded near fully.

[teddy_d]

Al at 39 grains the primers get squashed kinda flat, a sign of excessive pressure? Just my experience.

Barnes/Sierra would be wise to have these in a factory load imho.
Recoil is low, accuracy is very acceptable, for thin skinned medium game they work great, lead free.

Sounds like they opened up just fine with those exits and you sure have that gun dialed in, congrats on the kills !!

Hoot might have some 200gr data in his archives but with 38gr Lilgun load, you might be leaving a little on the table.

Here are a couple of 200gr Barnes I've recovered over the last couple years, so your exits sure sound like they expanded near fully.

[teddy_d]

Al in Mi

Last year I did work loads upto 41 grains of LilGun but the pressure signs were kinda scary and the 38 grain load was the most accurate.

[plant_one]

Al at 39 grains the primers get squashed kinda flat, a sign of excessive pressure? Just my experience.

Barnes/Sierra would be wise to have these in a factory load imho.
Recoil is low, accuracy is very acceptable, for thin skinned medium game they work great, lead free.

out of curiosity, which primer were you using? it really can make a difference to how you see pressure signs in your primers

just as an example - you'll see pressure signs on a cci 400 well before you will on a cci 450, or rem 7½

[Bmt85]

What exactly were you seeing that were pressure signs? You should be able to go higher, but maybe something is limiting you. That or something it making it look like you hit the pressure limit, but really your not. The 200 XPB has a pretty high minimum velocity, on top of having a very low ballistic coefficient, so if you plan on trying to reach out past about 150yds with it, you really want to get all the velocity you can out of it.

I used to have a 16" Bushmaster upper, and one of the loads I was shooting in it was the Barnes 200 XPB, 43.5gr of Lilgun, taper and stab crimp, hornady brass, and rem 7.5 primers. Still had a little room to go up, but was an accurate round and only needed it for 100yds and under. IIRC, the Lee AR manual lists the 200 XPB at a max charge of 43.5gr of Lilgun.