I ended up, through some trades, with a couple of boxes of 30-30 Remington Hog Hammer ammo loaded with Barnes 150gr bullets. It printed a perfect 3/4 inch triangle at 100yds. Not bad for a Marlin 336 and factory ammo.
Those who must raise their voice to get their point across are generally not intelligent enough to do so in any other way.
I have a 338wm and can’t beat the TTSX factory loads with my handloads.
Me too. But I also have other rifles that won’t shoot Barnes factory ammo worth a darn. And I’ve seen bad QC issues with it too. Horrible disparity lot to lot. Even bullets so loose in the neck you can spin with your fingers and gigantic differences in seating depths.
It hurts my ego but I have had trouble trying to best Barnes factory loads with my reloads.
This.
Things are getting to the point where I use Barnes on game and handloads for practice. I also find that Barnes ammo runs at least as fast as advertised, and sometimes a little faster.
Okie John
Last edited by okie john; 10/01/23.
Originally Posted by Brad
If Montana had a standing army, a 270 Win with Federal Blue Box 130's would be the standard issue.
I've had good results with Barnes factory ammunition in 5.56 NATO, .300 Blackout, and .308 Winchester. I haven't tried the 130s yet, but may pick up a box to load myself.
"Full time night woman? I never could find no tracks on a woman's heart. I packed me a squaw for ten year, Pilgrim. Cheyenne, she were, and the meanest bitch that ever balled for beads."
I have had great accuracy in my .30-06 with both 168 gr TTSX and 180 gr TTSX factory ammo. Now other cartridges, well they sucked and 270 WSM with 130 gr TSX was the worst of all.
Hudge - your 270 WSM and mine must be on the same wavelength. The 130 TSX loads are the only thing I’ve ever run through that rifle that weren’t hunting accurate.
Like many others have stated, accuracy in the TTSX loads across various calibers has been excellent.
I made a conscious decision about 25 years ago to forego handloading in preference to premium factory loads so that I would have more time for hunting and all sorts of other pursuits which at the time had captured my attention. I’ve reconsidered a few times but always came to the conclusion that factory loads worked best for me. I’m not a competitive shooter and don’t spend much time at the range. As luck would have it I have settled on the 150 gr Barnes as my preferred 308 win load. Mostly because my primary hunting rig gets incredible grouping with it.
I know most that post here really enjoy handloading but for me it’s factory loads from here on out.
I’ve got 3 friends going elk hunting next week, all are using Barnes ammo loaded with TTSX bullets. One in 30/06, another with 300Wby and last with 300Win. Every one shoots an inch or a bit less at 100yds, and all have been using this ammo for several years now on various hunts. None of these guys reload and I can’t blame them for not having an interest in getting into it.
That rifle is a keeper, go back a buy about 10 more boxes of that ammo if it has the same lot number. I let my wife shoot a rifle once. I set a bucket 50 yards away and when she fired the bullet hit about 400 yards out in one of my wheat fields. Dang good shooting by your wife too. Dang.