BULLET
All 3 are made of monolithic solid copper. The TSX started it off when we started cutting "pressure relief grooves" in the shank of the bullet. In general, a bullet designed for approximaelty 300 yds and closer. The TTSX: the extra T in front means it has the blue plastic tip. The tip increases the BC (ballistic coeficient) so the bullet maintains it's velocity and energy further down range and deflects less due to wind. In general terms a bullet good for about 500 yds and closer. The LRX is built for decerning shooters who wish or need to take longer shots yet it will still work in close as well. The "LR" stands for Long as in Long Range.
If wanting to use a powder/bullet we do not have load data listed, you can use "other" (jacketed lead core or monolithic) bullet load data when loading a Barnes Bullet of equal (or close to) weight. Using data from HodgdonReloading.com or other sources/powder/bullet manufacturers. JUST BE SURE TO START AT THE MINIMUM STARTING LOAD and work up from there in half grain increments watching for signs of high pressure such as, a sticky (hard) bolt lift when ejecting the fired case, ejector mark on the case head stamp or flattened/leaky primers. Once you notice any of the high pressure signs then you will want to lower the charge about half a grain or so to where no high pressure signs are present, and that would technically be "YOUR" rifle's max load. The load data published by all of the companies is just a reference point/guideline to safely start out at the minimum charges. The MAX charge solely depends on your rifle's chamber, barrel length, powder lot #, brass case capacity/manufacturer and your environmental conditions. Using a website, loaddata.com’s “THE ULTIMATE RELOADING MANUAL” for the sole purpose of finding specific load data can be a huge time saver.
There are many good to great powders available for each cartridge and bullet combination. The powders we publish in our load data gave us the best consistent pressures and velocities in our barrels. We’re a bullet company and we want our bullets to give you, the reloader, the best possible accuracy and velocity possible. For the best chance at accuracy, see DOL (Distance Off Lands). Both methods are critical, yet separate methods to find the fastest velocity, consistent velocity and pressure as well as accuracy. They need to be treated separately.
An all copper bullet performs differently than a traditional, cup and core, jacketed bullet. Our all copper, monolithic bullets are designed to use fluid from the animal; fluid from hide, bone, flesh and organs. When the bullet impacts, the fluid enters the hollow cavity, forcing the petals to open quickly. Like SUPER fast....almost immediately. Our bullets hit full expansion, usually within the first 1". This means the bullet is allowed to dump all it's hydrostatic shock earlier than traditional cup and core bullets which must impede their expansion so as not to come apart on the animals surface and not achieve full expansion. An all copper bullet, by it's very design, open quick, dumps it's hydrostatic shock immediately and then, since it's of monolithic copper, retainls it's weight, thus momentum and continues to drive deep into, often exiting the animal. The lighter weight versions mean faster muzzle velocity which means faster impact velocity and thus more hydrostatic shock dumped into the animal....... ie., quicker death.
Next is Seating Depth or DOL (Distance Off Lands) testing. Your barrel, when the bullet is traveling down the bore, whips or has a harmonic, like a Sine Wave. Google Sine Wave. You will see it goes up and down. At the top the motion nearly stops, as does the bottom. Your barrel’s muzzle is following a similar pattern. In between the top and bottom your muzzle is traveling…. A lot! The intent is to have your bullet release or leave the end of the muzzle when the muzzle is at, or near, the top or bottom of the wave. By changing the DOL you are changing the timing of the bullets release from the muzzle. When loading a Barnes TSX, Tipped TSX or LRX bullet, your rifle may prefer a bullet jump of anywhere between .050” up to .250” or more. This distance off the lands (rifling), aka “jump” may be limited to the rifle’s throat length, magazine length and bullet length. When selecting the cartridge overall length (COAL) or Distance Off Land (DOL) we recommend starting with a minimum “jump” of .050” off the lands. All copper bullets want a BIG JUMP! This is the point where your load development should begin. You can then later test different seating depths and find a “sweet spot” that your particular firearm prefers. We suggest working in at least .025” increments as follows seating the bullet deeper to allow a further jump. Your test plan could look something like this:
- 1st group- .050” jump
- 2nd group- .075” jump
- 3rd group- .100” jump
- 4th group- .125” jump
- 5th group- .150“ jump
- 6th group- * see below
AMMO
An all copper bullet performs differently than a traditional, cup and core, jacketed bullet. Our all copper, monolithic bullets are designed to use fluid from the animal; fluid from hide, bone, flesh and organs. When the bullet impacts, the fluid enters the hollow cavity, forcing the petals to open quickly. Like SUPER fast....almost immediately. Our bullets hit full expansion, usually within the first 1". This means the bullet is allowed to dump all it's hydrostatic shock earlier than traditional cup and core bullets which must impede their expansion so as not to come apart on the animals surface and not achieve full expansion. An all copper bullet, by it's very design, open quick, dumps it's hydrostatic shock immediately and then, since it's of monolithic copper, retainls it's weight, thus momentum and continues to drive deep into, often exiting the animal. The lighter weight versions mean faster muzzle velocity which means faster impact velocity and thus more hydrostatic shock dumped into the animal....... ie., quicker death.
The issue we are having with the WSM is obtaining the brass. We are constantly on the search to find some. Every time we think we have some lined up, it falls through. Before we go into production the brass has to pass our rigorous quality control tests before moving to manufacture the loaded cartridges. We won’t give any time frame predictions until the point it’s in the building and passed our quality control. We absolutely intend to keep making that ammo.
We repackaged our ammo in a newer, more pleasing box. That is all. The ammo is the same.
One needs to understand that a Barnes Bullets all copper bullet is not only different from traditional cup and core, lead core bullets but also a bit different than other copper bullets which have Gilding metal in the basic metallurgical make up. First, cup and core bullets and other brand “copper” bullets can have Gilding metal mixed into the copper jacket or copper bullet. Gilding metal is harder than our all copper. Before moving to our bullet’s the shooter needs to clean their barrels of any trace of Gilding metal. Typically, a solvent with ammonia such as Sweet’s 7.62 or our CR-10 solvent is the trick needed to accomplish this. Simply following the instructions on the bottle is sufficient. Scrubbing and waiting long periods of time is not necessary. Once that is accomplished it is best to fire 3-5 rounds down the clean bore to properly foul it. This gives a Barnes Bullets bullet the best opportunity to show you, the consumer, how accurately they can shoot.
MUZZLELOADING
CVA and TC (Thompson Center) brand muzzleloading rifles are sometimes known to have tighter, smaller bore diameters to improve on accuracy. Some muzzle loading bullet can be very hart to push down the bore; almost bending/breaking ram rods. We came up with the T-EZ with it's slightly smaller diamerter blue sabot which also has thinner petals. This makes it "EaZier" to push the bullet down those pesky tight barrels.
Many of us here at Barnes Bullets prefer the heavier 250 gr for faster MV, faster impact velocity and thus, again, more hydrostatic shock delivered to the animal; Even elk! The 290 is still a great bullet for those wishing a heavier bullet.
We have a good amount of load data in the Muzzleloading portion on the LOAD DATA page of our website. For Blackhorn 209 (BH209) load data look to the Hodgdon powder website http://wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Blackhorn_209_b209muzzleloaderdata-1.pdf.
