I just got one of those monthly e-mail updates from Barnes Bullets. They are announcing a new 350 grain .458 caliber bullet that should give the .458 Win Mag some additional velocity with a toughly constructed bullet. Odessa
"This is a 10-shot target featuring one of our new bullet introductions for 2008. Would you believe it�s our .458 caliber 350-grain TSX? This is a 1/2″ group! We frequently see extraordinary accuracy with our big caliber bullets."
"This is an interesting story. When Fred Barnes was mentoring my father in the early years, one day he noticed a target hanging on Fred�s wall with five .458 caliber 500-grain Barnes FMJ�s strung through a wire hanger in a crude sort of necklace fashion. The target had a 100 yard 5-shot group that measured 1 1/4″. Randy remarked �What�s the big deal? This isn�t a great group.� Fred explained he shot this target with the original .458 Winchester Magnum proto-type rifle he had sent to Winchester. According to Fred, Winchester sent the rifle back, and introduced the cartridge a few years later with some slight variations. Anyway, he pulled the rifle out of the corner one day and fired a bullet at a clean target. Then each year for the next four consecutive years he fired one 500-grain Barnes FMJ at this target, from this rifle, on the anniversary date of the first firing and recovered the bullets. Incidentally, Fred built this rifle on a Mauser 98 action and we have it here at the factory today. I crack a smile every time I see it and think about the history behind that old gun.
My dad was re-telling this story to me not that long ago and chuckled �Fred was always doing off-the-wall things like that or coming up with a new something or other he wanted to test.� Well dad, I guess that�s what STILL makes our company great, isn�t it! You always say �Ten ideas in the hopper�� And Barnes is STILL the innovator.
-Jessica Brooks"
