Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only The great 458 Winchester. Everyone should own one at least once

Most have read the heavy promotion here for a Barnes 400gn (TSX) bullet which for once, is based on first hand experiences and observations.

I would ask anyone with first hand experience that can be reported in details as to rifle, load, game and circumstances/range etc where a negative experience occurred using this bullet. Those that never had this experience would welcome a counter argument.

This being the "innernet", its not possible to not have dissenters is it?

Edited: let me justify this question........
It is very common to find opinions on bullets, with Sectional Density being tossed around in the argument favoring one bullet over another. This level of interest in a 400gn bullet where existing bullets go up another 200 grain in weight for caliber also stretches SD's from .272 to.409 which is a staggering range for a single caliber.

Where general hunting bullets are concerned, Gary Sitton once wrote that he felt a SD or around .240 was a good baseline. I used to agree with that until I proved it wrong by killing animals with sectional densities as low as .151 and at some very long ranges requiring Kentucky windage. But that was a world where cup and core bullets were the most common for all game including large and dangerous game. In today's world, the reality is, that Sectional Density was originally used as a reference point where non expanding full metal case bullets were used for dangerous game. The theory being, that non expanding bullets retained that SD during penetration which is why the discussions were had where bullet riveting occurred as it firstly, interfered with penetration and secondly, changed the SD after it occurred (technically at least as it could never be measured after deforming).

What this means is that a theorist commonly argued that the higher the SD the more superior the penetration which is not true. I have gained 5 plus feet penetration with the 400gn Barnes X bullet and less than a foot with a 500gn Hornady on the same sized game. How can a SD of .272 out penetrate a SD of .341?

Bullet construction always was the answer. It also answered the problem of 500 grain FMJ's riveting inside elephant and reducing penetration or deviating straight line penetration or both. Homogeneous bullet design is unlikely to be improved upon in a rifle projectile for penetration. An expanding version only make sense where penetration assists a quick kill or the anchoring of larger game quickly.