Barnes Bullets

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Barnes Bullets

Postby STXThumper » Tue Mar 23, 2010 10:54 pm

Hey guys, somewhat of a newby here (although I've been lurking for about 6 months) with a question. To bring you up to speed I have a 16" Bushmaster .450 with Mega Machine billet lower, Magpul ACS stock, Ergo Sure Grip and Sig magazines. For optics I have a Leupold Ultimate Slam 3-9X40 and a Yukon 2.5X50 Night Vision scope (perfectly legal for hunting hogs at night in TX) with an additional 2.5X adapter and IR illuminator, both scopes mounted using Larue Tactical QD mounts.

Now for the question... I was wondering if anyone here had any loading info on or used the Barnes 250 grain .451 caliber muzzleloading bullets (Spit-Fire TMZ). I'm a big fan of the Barnes TSX bullets and would like something comparable for my "Thumper". I figured this would be a good choice since they seem similar to the Hornady factory loads (polymer tipped, 250 gr, muzzleloader bullets, etc.) and still have the same qualities I'm looking for from Barnes bullets.

I've already contacted Barnes and here's what they have to say:

Hello,

Our .451 muzzleloader bullets work great in the 450 Bushmaster. We have had customers experiment with great results. The only bad thing is that we don’t yet have any load data. We are planning on shooting some, but it could be 6 months or more before we can squeeze it in. We will get it done as soon as we can. Thank you for your patronage.


Sincerely,
Ryan Keele | Tech Support/Customer Service

Barnes Bullets, LLC

I've tried doing a search on the forum for similar threads but didn't find any. I apologize if there are, though. I love the forum so far and want to thank everyone for all the valuable info. As soon as I can I'll get photos posted of my setup. Again, any information is welcomed and appreciated.

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Re: Barnes Bullets

Postby MudBug » Wed Mar 24, 2010 12:31 am

If it was me I would start with the Hornady 250 grn FTX load data and just start low and work my way up.

If you check THIS PAGE in our Knowledge Base you will find the factory drawing, and below that two reload sheets from Hornady. One is the older sheet they gave out at first with several different bullets, and the second is the newest sheet with info on the 250 grn FTX bullets. I can tell you that it seems most people here seem to have gravitated towards Lil Gun for their general 450b reloading, but there are other powders being used depending on lighter or heavier bullets.

Good Luck and please share what you find.

BTW Welcome to our little forum.
Eric

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Re: Barnes Bullets

Postby Siringo » Wed Mar 24, 2010 6:57 pm

I tried them early on. Posts may be over in the Calguns thread. The diameters on the ones I used were .4505. So, don't bother using the expander die. Just seat after sizing. Copper fouling was very heavy, just the like the original Barnes coppers a few years ago. When they put the grooves in the bullet, that seems to really minimize the fouling.

An alternative is to use the Barnes 460 S&W 275 grain TSX. The load was 35.0 grains of Lil'Gun, WSR Primer. Velocity is around 2050 fps out of a 16 inch. Shoots pretty good. These measure .451. Slash came up with this!
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Re: Barnes Bullets

Postby STXThumper » Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:16 am

Thanks for the info guys. I really appreciate it. I'll probably try loading several of each, see how they do and work them up from there. Thanks again.
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Re: Barnes Bullets

Postby MOUNTIN DU » Wed Dec 01, 2010 8:28 am

:? it's been kinda slow huntin' lately :| so i decided to work on some 500 s&w 325 & 375 xpb's for my 500 s&w handi-rifle. i'm seriously thinkin' about tryin' the .451" 200 xpb's over the same recipe for my 200 ftx's in the 450b. the 500's are on thier 3rd tour of duty so they needed trimming this time and the remmy 9.5 sparkplugs are a change from the cci's. :? i need a .50 cal pilot for my trimmer next time too! :|
here's a pic of the two for comparison. 8-)

Image
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Re: Barnes Bullets

Postby Hoot » Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:46 am

MOUNTIN DU wrote::? it's been kinda slow huntin' lately :| so i decided to work on some 500 s&w 325 & 375 xpb's for my 500 s&w handi-rifle... snip...


Bet you don't go through too many rounds in a sitting with that one! Image

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Re: Barnes Bullets

Postby MOUNTIN DU » Wed Dec 01, 2010 2:43 pm

:shock: the "hurt" is with the gun mostly :roll: i replaced the original hardwood furniture for some buffalo classic walnut that i ordered from h&r. :? that steel cresent buttplate puts the "hurt" in that mule's hoof :lol: i have a piece of that split black foam pipe insulation cut to fit the butt during shooting sessions :P i still like the look & feel of the "classic" wood... heavier than the buffalo classic 45lc and not as barrel heavy as my buffalo classic 45-70 8-)

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