Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game What happened to Barnes XLC bullets

Did the XLC's get phased out? do the Triple Shock bullets do the same with the relief grooves as the coating did by reducing pressure and increasing velocity?

Yes and Yes...


And the TSXs do it better, with more accuracy...a LOT easier to work with in most guns....


Ingwe

Good to know. I don't have the latest and greatest Barnes manual as I haven't warmed up to Barnes bullets quite yet. I have shot some 150 XLC boat tails out of my 300 WSM and they have done well as far as accuracy is concerned. I was planning on using the rest in my 06" and planned on buying more but couldn't find them. I guess I'll try the TSX's. What weight, style would be the best out of an 06' on deer at distances from 30 yards to 200? I know you can usually go down in weight with Barnes bullets due to their longer length, etc.

You can run the 150's. I'm running 130's in a 300 Savage and 308 and actually running 165's in the 06.

130s,150s, 165s....

Whatever your rifle likes, and yes, I would be inclined to go towards the lighter boolits...especially if ranges are shorter, as you say....

They are a radical and better departure from the old Xs and XLCs... you'll like 'em..


Ingwe

i really like the 168's.... they kill stuff good...

I still like the XLC's better. I honestly believe they were made out of a softer copper/metal and expanded MUCH better at longer ranges and on softer tissue. I have found the TSX's don't perform/expand NEARLY as well at lower velocities. I think they had to harden up the TSX's to get them to quit fouling. I had wonderful luck with the XLC's and stocked up on them right before they disappeared. I really liked the added 100 fps. or so the XLC's offered over TSX's. Flinch

I believe the XLC's were softer, due to the heat used to adhere the coating.

Many bonded bullets are "softer" for the same reasons.

I have about 10 boxes of the 100gr 257 XLC's squirreled away. They are the skookum in the 257 Roy.

I could not get 180 grain XLCs in 300 win mag to group out three different rifles I tried them in. They seemed to always throw a wild shot way out of an otherwise good group.

Then I tried the TSXs and was amazed. The federal premiums shot tight as my handloads. Got lazy and just started shooting factory loads because they shot so great. Now that the prices are bordering on obscene, have to back to hand loading them.

The TTSX and MRX are the best of the 'X' line IMHO.

I'll never shoot another animal with XLC's, took two good chest hits and a third that hit the top of the heart to finish a buck antelope. I've never been so disgusted with a bullet in my life.

The TTSX and MRX have yet to disappoint.

Never had any XLC's shoot well except the 270 gr at 3200 fps from a custom 378 WBY.

Everything else was a complete failure, accuracy wise. The ttsx and tsx are classes above in the accuracy department.

Got a few too!!!!! They work fine in the 25-284 also!!!!!!




George

evolution

I have a few hundred 100 grain XLC's squirreled away. Love that bullet in the .25-284 that GeorgeS stole from me. ;o) Flinch

What happened to the XLC? In a word... "TSX".

Never could get the XLC to shoot well. The TSX changed all that.

I don't know about 'best', but I used the 130 TSX from my 30-06 during the '08 hunting season. I loaded them to about 3,150 with IMR 3031 and took about eight big game animals with them; from whitetail to moose. To date, they're the best killing bullet I've used on medium game (still not my first choice for moose). If I were strictly hunting deer with a 30 cal at the ranges you're talking about, I'd opt for 130 (either TSX or TTSX). Less recoil, less noise and faster kills.