Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 120 grain Barnes Matchburners in my 260

I ordered 3 boxes of these to test and Powdervalley would only give me two. I wanted a mild recoiling load for the Grandson to shoot and I wanted them to fit the mag box. I had heard the Matchburners like a bit of "jump". The first 21 I loaded up I ran into the donut issue using necked up PPU 243 brass, something not an issue with the 90-100 grain bullets. Still it shot OK just had some sticky extraction I tried to fix by reducing the powder charge and then figuring out the problem. So I switched to some necked up Winchester 243 brass and all was well finishing up at 32.5 grains of 3031 and getting some ridiculously small three shot groups. One measured .296. Velocity averaged very close to 2650 fps. The obligatory jug test yielded pretty good results. Seems the bullet breaks up into chunks and shards of jacket material. Utterly destroyed the first two water filled gallon milk jugs, made a big hole through the third and a couple pieces of lead went through the fourth jug with a piece remaining in it. Jugs were shot at 100 yards. I say for good hits on feral hogs and deer this would work fine other than being messy. Getting through 4 jugs of water is pretty good. Being near the end of summer and it hasn't rained good in a while I guess I could go stake out the waterhole on the grass lease, maybe put some used cooking oil and corn out for bait and test the bullet on a hog. Or a raccoon.

I have loaded a ton of the 120 matchburners for my 6.5 swede. They are super accurate, but i would only shoot them at something like a varmint, and only if i didnt have anything else. Target bullets are great for targets. I simply cannot see the wisdom of using a target bullet for hunting. I loaded 120 grain nosler bt for the same rifle and they are every bit as accurate, plus im sure they will do what they are supposed to when used on an animal.

You mean like the wisdom of actual use? https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...83/deceased-via-scenar-bullet-pix-please

“For curiosity's sake I shot a roe deer doe in the lungs at 300 yds and I could only recover it with the help of my Bavarian Mountain Bloodhound. Maybe it was just bad luck because the bullet slipped in and out the thorax barely grazing a rib, but the fact is that the doe run for 300-350 yds like unscathed. I knew the exact spot where it was standing and could only find a few hairs and a speck of blood a couple of yards behind and nothing else.

I never argue with success, but that was the only scenar I shot at an animal.”

I took this from the scenar thread , page 31. This is the exact reason that proves my point. If you like tracking, or just wounding animals, then by all means, use the target bullet.
Use what you like. I’ll stick with hunting bullets.

Well a feral hog on my grass lease is far from a welcome addition. I feel no remorse in testing a bullet to prove or disprove that this particular bullet will kill a feral hog I am only mildly interested in recovering. That said a head or neck shot will most likely do the deed. I have some 120 grain Ballistic Tips and 140 grain Sierra Gamekings but not many of them and it seems they are a bit expensive lately to be shooting at vermin. I also have some 90 grain Speer TNT and 100 grain Partitions. I already know what they are capable of thanks to the feral hogs ability to provide test material.

Shot 18 more today and best three shot group is .281. None were over .480 Pretty good average for 6 3 shot groups. Lighting was just right.

I load the 120 grain TTSX for my Creedmoors and a 6.5-06. They kill the devil out of hogs. Dead right there, killed a 200 lb Aoudad with one, he went 20 yards. The 120 Ballistic tips are great also, a bit cheaper. I shoot the 140 Ballistic tips in my 264’s and a 26 Nosler. My son in law tried some target bullets once. He soon switched back after losing a couple of nice bucks.

Using the target bullets on feral hogs, raccoons and coyotes is just because they are accurate and cheap. My favorite hunting bullets are the 140 grain Sierra Gameking and the 120 grain Ballistic Tip. The 100 grain Nosler Partition is a good bullet also.