Barnes .308 130 grain TTSX

[JimIsland]

I'm not a handloader but I thought this might be of interest to any of us old school hunters that still shoot a .308.

I went to the woods yesterday to try some factory Barnes copper bullets. I've heard great things about them, so I bought a few boxes and gave them a run. Rifle is a Savage Timberline that I actually bought from a member on the Forum here. After getting it zero'd at 200, I pushed out to 300, 400 and then 460 yards which is as far as I've got. After putting all the data into a ballistic calculator (True Data) I was able to make impact shots very accurately. The 460 yard was an 8" steel plate I had just bought. I'm no dialer but the MOA data provided from the Ap was very accurate. My 10-shot velocity avg was 3065 fps out of a 22" barrel. Box velo is 3125. I'm guessing with a 24" barrel you would get closer to box velocity. Groups were easily <MOA. I'm 61 and not as steady as I used to be so I'm sure someone else could do much better. Also, the scope was a Trijicon Credo HX 2.5-10X56.

I'm no LR hunter so 460 is nothing for a lot of guys, but I was pretty happy with the results from this ammo and the data that True Date provided.

For you hand loaders, what kind of velocity are getting with these projectiles?

 

[shmtastic]

About the same. If I had to guess I'd be close to your factory velocity with a case full of TAC. I loaded it up in my 18" and was getting 3000 fps,

 

[Thegman]

I loaded them (130 TSX) to about 3,100 fps in a 22" barrel 308, so you're right on with those.

FWIW, I used them for about a year on deer, black bear, caribou, grizzly and moose and they worked really well. They produced some very large wound paths on the deer and the best blood trail I've ever seen from a bear, on the grizzly.

 

[JimIsland]

That's good to hear. My son reloads and was so impressed with my velo and accuracy, he's going to roll some up with TAC powder. He also has a Bergara .308 in an 18" configuration and he's hoping to get north of 2900. Doesn't sound like that should be a problem. Thanks for the info.