Barnes 200gr XPB: Water Shots

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Barnes 200gr XPB: Water Shots

Postby Hoot » Wed Aug 17, 2011 9:09 pm

I finally got around to fixing the broken image links caused when I changed ISP a few years ago.

Well, as promised, here's some expansion examples and the velocities they occurred at. Plug them into your favorite ballistics calculator, for a given muzzle velocity and see at what distances they occur. This is the one I use.

Here is an example screen shot:

Image

If you're looking for reliable expansion in soft tissue without bone hits, figure on less than 200 yards of operational range because here's what you get in milk jugs of water:

Image

Wish I had better news. I you're considering conditions that present you with longer shots and prefer a jacketed bullet that expands, then consider one of the Hornady FTX bullets. They expand down to at least 1000 fps and they cost less than half as much as the Barnes XPB's do. Otherwise, there's always the 160gr XPB. Also, the world is not lost if you don't get any expansion. Even the slowest load split open the first couple of jugs. If it was me and I was looking through the scope at a once in a lifetime trophy buck, I'd rather have a copper claw going through them than a pointy solid copper behaving round. To each his own...

Hoot

Edit: They'll be going even slower (=shorter expansion range) if it's 30 degrees out and at sea level. :|
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Re: Barnes 200gr XPB: Water Shots

Postby wildcatter » Thu Aug 18, 2011 2:35 am

Hoot wrote:Well, as promised, here's some expansion examples and the velocities they occurred at. Plug them into your favorite ballistics calculator, for a given muzzle velocity and see at what distances they occur. This is the one I use.

Here is an example screen shot:

[ http://i55.tinypic.com/2el8nsg.jpg ]

If you're looking for reliable expansion in soft tissue without bone hits, figure on less than 200 yards of operational range because here's what you get in milk jugs of water:

[ http://i51.tinypic.com/10i8300.jpg ]

Wish I had better news. I you're considering conditions that present you with longer shots and prefer a jacketed bullet that expands, then consider one of the Hornady FTX bullets. They expand down to at least 1000 fps and they cost less than half as much as the Barnes XPB's do. Otherwise, there's always the 160gr XPB. Also, the world is not lost if you don't get any expansion. Even the slowest load split open the first couple of jugs. If it was me and I was looking through the scope at a once in a lifetime trophy buck, I'd rather have a copper claw going through them than a pointy solid copper behaving round. To each his own...

Hoot

Edit: They'll be going even slower (=shorter expansion range) if it's 30 degrees out and at sea level. :|



I myself, don't really care so much about expansion, as I have written, our 45cal is already larger in diameter than a 30cal gets after expansion and as Hoot so amply shows, eight jugs is a ton of penetration and water is far more difficult a barrier than tissue. That's a true statement, even though it seemingly flies in the face of conventional wisdom. These bullets will penetrate much more tissue than water, because there are far different tissue types, over the total path OAL of the bullet, in say a moose, whereas, water stays constant for the length of the path, for the most part.

For you newer guys, notice the Hoots work shows that as expansion increases, penetration goes down. If the bullet doesn't get into or better yet through the Boiler-Room, chances are the animal most likely will get away. What the Hoots work is showing here, relative to my suggestion, is that there is going to be much more tissue disruption and penetration, with this 200gr Barnes, than a 180gr 300mag will do, that is in my experience anyways.

I've seen lung shot deer, with our cartridge and non-expanding bullets, that spit out tons of lung material on the far side 15-20 feet and some 10 feet into the surrounding trees.


In other words, I dig all that Penetration, in this caliber!

Great, Great Work, 'Ol Man..

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Re: Barnes 200gr XPB: Water Shots

Postby bushmeister » Sat Aug 20, 2011 12:51 pm

Nice tie tacks!
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Re: Barnes 200gr XPB: Water Shots

Postby Hoot » Wed Jul 15, 2015 7:47 pm

Last of the XPB threads to get their broken image links repaired. I lost many file links when I changed my ISP several years ago. Thank goodness, I had backed them up on a thumb drive.

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Re: Barnes 200gr XPB: Water Shots

Postby Gifters » Tue Dec 04, 2018 11:23 am

I think its surprising given that 275 grain 460 S&W loads only push out at 1900 fps. That said, using the Lyman AR cartridge reloading book I was able to get 2600 fps out of my 18" barrel. I did use CCIs #41 primers :o but didn't have out of spec Case Head Expansion. Accuracy is 1.5 moa with my red dot at 100 yards with shots being touching... so I'm guessing that extra 1moa is more due to me than the load. Tops 30 fps variation instead of the 200 fps I was seeing from factory Hornady ammo. I am running suppressed, but to combat over pressure I'm running an H2 buffer and have a superalitve arms bleed off gas block thats open all the way, and it still runs like a champ suppressed or suppressed. That gets me out to 160 yards with good expansion, so I'll take that. Most shots are well within that anyway.

The only deer I've taken long shots on are wounded ones and I've connected at 230 yards with Remington 1oz copper solids. Being more than a hope and a prayer it was a neck shot, I'm sure there was no expansion but the deer dropped where it stood. I'd love to do gel testing but don't have the range where I can shoot gel, the gel, or a starting point to load out velocities. Thanks for the data point, I still like the bullet, never been a huge fan of lead fragments, even with generous trimming.
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