Handloading Barnes X Bullet

[2000Z-71]

Well I just put together a batch of Barnes Triple Shock 175gr. X Bullets in 7mm Rem Mag. to try out at the range. I'm not so sure I'm liking the looks of them. The new Triple Shock design has a series of grooves and "collars" along the shaft of the bullet. I've seated to 3.300 COL, most of my manuals call for a max COL of 3.290. The first collar and groove are totally exposed above the case mouth and the case mouth is crimped very low on the second collar.

With the short neck of the 7 Mag case, I'm just worried if there's enough surface area of the bullet in contact with the case neck to prevent bullet setback during recoil. I'll be loading a full magazine when I test them at the range and checking COL as I fire.

I've used Barnes' manual and incrementally increased the powder charge up to their indicated max of 60.0 grains RL-22. Even at max load there seems to be airspace in the case.

Anyone else have experience with the Barnes Triple Shock? Am I being a little overly concerned?

 

[2000Z-71]

Well I just put together a batch of Barnes Triple Shock 175gr. X Bullets in 7mm Rem Mag. to try out at the range. I'm not so sure I'm liking the looks of them. The new Triple Shock design has a series of grooves and "collars" along the shaft of the bullet. I've seated to 3.300 COL, most of my manuals call for a max COL of 3.290. The first collar and groove are totally exposed above the case mouth and the case mouth is crimped very low on the second collar.

With the short neck of the 7 Mag case, I'm just worried if there's enough surface area of the bullet in contact with the case neck to prevent bullet setback during recoil. I'll be loading a full magazine when I test them at the range and checking COL as I fire.

I've used Barnes' manual and incrementally increased the powder charge up to their indicated max of 60.0 grains RL-22. Even at max load there seems to be airspace in the case.

Anyone else have experience with the Barnes Triple Shock? Am I being a little overly concerned?

 

[jsd30]

I load the 180 gr Barnes TS in 300 Win Mag. The Win Mag has a very short neck. I have measured the set-back and only about 20% of the time have I had set-back, and never more than 0.001. I did not see any effect on accuracy with this small amount of set-back. I had been shooting the Hornady 180 gr spitzer flat-base until I tried the Barnes TS. The Barnes was actually more accurate than the Hornady in my rifle, and with the same powder charge (75.5 gr RL-22) I gained 70 fps due to less bearing surface of the TS bullet. I was worried about excessive copper fouling, but the TS did not foul any more than the Hornady bullets, which was a pleasant surprise. I had tried the X bullet years before and it fouled so badly I wouldn't use them. The TS with the grooves allows the copper to move back into the grooves and really does reduce the fouling. You may find that you will need to experiment with bullet seating depth to get your best accuracy. Barnes recommends something like 0.02+ off the lands, but I got my best accuracy at 0.008 off. Best of luck with your project, and if the TS shoots accurately in your rifle, you will like the terminal performance on game.

 

[Homie]

Just a heads up on TSX's OAL- Barnes recommends
.050" off the lands. Your 7 mm OAL seems a little long.

Had good luck and sucess with the 100 Gr. .25s and the 150 Gr. .30s.

Good shooting.

 

[JD 500]

Yup. What Homie said. shorter is better with the TSX. I'm loading them in 300wm also. I load to sammi spec length. It's the most accurate load I have and it works equally well in my bolt and BAR. And I'm also using re22.

 

[2000Z-71]

My Model 70 has a very long throat, if I loaded to .050 off the lands, I'd have a round that's too long for the magazine. It doesn't seem to affect accuracy. I was shooting 1" groups last week with my handloads using the Hornady 175gr. spire point. I'm curious to see how the X bullet does.