I knew that many folks had problems with the original X Bullets ……but damn, you guys are “snake bit”!
I had a friend that tried the original X in his new Remington 700 SS in 25-06. He had similar results as you guys. I talked him into hand lapping his bore. It cut the groups in half, but were still pretty bad. Although in his only opportunity to elk hunt in Wyoming, he went out and killed the largest bodied bull elk that I’ve ever seen. He shot it on the run, broadside…..the elk continued for about 50 or 60 yards and pilled-up!
I also hand lapped the bore on my wife’s SS Model 70, it helped it’s groups a bit also.
Since the advent of the grooved X Bullets, getting 1” or better groups hasn’t been an issue! memtb
Should one have to hand lap barrel to get bullets to shoot?
That is crazy IMO
The TSX and TTSX are totally different. Example of a bullet manufacturer working until they got it right.
"X" bullet,
XLC, TSX
, TTSX
Some factory barrels are not as good as you would hope for. My friends 25-06 would load up with cooper in just a few rounds. Hand Lapping improved it considerably. My rifle had a SS match grade Douglas Supreme…..fouling was never an issue, even with the original X Bullet which was notorious for fouling!
I see it as no different than some people, that go to pretty extreme lengths when working with their firearms/hand loading, I don’t think that Hand Lapping is anymore extreme. In fact, I Hand Lap every new firearm I get, the exception being a match/target grade barrel. I see it as a few minutes well spent! I guess that it’s, to each their own!
FWIW, We too have followed Barnes through their bullet evolutions. Just this past summer worked up a darn good load using 270 gr. LRX’s for my .375 AI. 1/2” +/- 3 shot groups @ 100 yrds @ just under 3100 mv was pretty pleasing performance. memtb
