Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Barnes Factory Ammo

The last couple of months have been jammed with work, leaving no time for loading. We ran out of my wife’s favorite .308 Win load with 130 TTSX’s.

So grabbed some boxes of Barnes factory ammo. I have not bought factory ammo in many years. Count me as shocked.

There is a cold clean bore at 2 o’clock, a second followed by a correction on the scope.

Then she shot a five shot group shown below.

The rifle is a GAP with a Surgeon receiver in .308 Win.

Wow……she, rifle, and loads all shot well. I am impressed. Thank you for sharing.

I don’t think I would waste time loading for that rifle. I’ve had the 168 TTSX load shoot real good in a few 30-06’s.

Sometimes we make it more complicated (because that's half the fun), but looks like you're all set with that one.

Barnes factory 120's in my .260 go about 5", 5 shots , all 20 of them. So much for that!

All factory 140's I have tried to date hover around MOA or better. Barrel is a 700TI on a 725 action, so I'm guessing it's the twist.

I can live with it.

It hurts my ego but I have had trouble trying to best Barnes factory loads with my reloads.

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.

I have a 338wm and can’t beat the TTSX factory loads with my handloads.

I’ve had the same results as you with their ammo. My 30-06 (24” mod 70) is getting 3100fps @60*) from factory 150TTSX….box says 3000fps.

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.

Some nice shooting there!

When you crunch the figures (brass, powder, bullets, primers) you’re not getting too far below that $47 reloading.

I tried a bit of it. While not knock your socks off, it was plenty decent for hunting for the rifle I tried it in.

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

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.

Converted from factory loaded Federal blue box 150 grain, to factory Barnes 130 grain.

This 3-shot group was 100 yards through my .308 Win stainless Model 70 featherweight and a dirty barrel.

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.