Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Well ****! Xs Discontinued?

There was a lot of talk about Barnes discontinuing the XLC line after the TSXs came out,but it looks like its the X thats gonna come to screeching halt! I was just looking at the Barnes store and 7 of them are dicontinued for 05. The Xs have shot well enough with minimal copper fouling for me and haven't seen any need to make the switch. With all the recent backlash re the TSXs spotty performance,I'm not sure if I want to. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

http://www.theextremehunter.com/site/448423/page/314163/site

If you have some funds ... start looking around at the big movers of Barnes bullets and you may catch them moving the discontinued X's out of thier inventory at 'move em out' prices.

A couple years ago Barnes discontinued the 25 cal 75 and 85g X bullets that one of my 257 Rbts likes. So I found them at a good price and bought 500 (10 boxes) of them.

Once you have a good hunting load worked up for a rifle, even with some practice I will at most go through 20 to 30 rounds a year. I have cheap, easier on the shoulder traget / practice loads.

Do not dispair ... Shop around for what is still out there in the pipeline and buy a bunch. By the time you run out the issue with TSX will have been reworked many a time. Who knows, we may have something even better come the next decade.

I feel your pain! I felt the same way when Nosler discontined the solid base bullet in favor of the Ballistic Tips.....still mad at them!

Go to Noslers shopping site and you can buy all the solid bases you want. (And cheap)

http://www.shootersproshop.com/factory2ndsheader.html

The TSX's are no more erratic in their performance than the standard X's. I've shot a bunch of them into game, in all sorts of sizes and various velocities, and have found them to act exactly like plain X's of similar size.

There will always be people who either misinterpret smaller exit holes as evidence of non-expansion--as well as others who shoots things around the edges and blame the bullet. This still happens with the Nosler Partition, let alone X-bullets and all the other whiz-bang new bullets.

MD

Come on Mule Deer-----you know any "good" bullet that hits anywhere in the mainbody of a game animal will kill it like lightening!!!!!!

Now yer talkin'! A big ol' gun,a good boolit and ya got yerself some of thet KNOCKDOWN POWER!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
Now that I'v calmed down, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> I guess the complaints do sound much like whats been said about the Xs. I guess I'll have to try them and see what all the fuss is about.
Jeff

No more x's come on! my 6mm loves those 85 gners. I had better buy all I can find.

Ya'll can have them---I went back today after trading in the TSX's for my good old' Ballistic Tips and painted the woods red with a nice 175# 7 point....

There will always be people who either misinterpret smaller exit holes as evidence of non-expansion--as well as others who shoots things around the edges and blame the bullet.

I have seen the same results with the .338WM's 230-grain FS. I recovered one from the moose killed with it, and then realized that they expand, but not with a classic mushroom. Since they don't expand as much, these bullets usually pass through. On the recovered FS, the petals had peeled back all the way around the nose, and only a very small portion had separated from one of the petals, retaining over 95% or its weight.

I have killed most of my moose with lung/heart shots, from 100 yards to 250 (or so) with the FS, and one with a shoulder shot at 200 yards. This one broke both shoulder bones and exited. I have stopped using FS bullets, only because the new ones are moly-coated.

I remember a moose I shot high through the lungs with a FS. The bullet hits the moose at 100 yards, and while I am reloading the chamber for a followup shot, the moose drops dead. I stand there for a few minutes, walk to it, and there is blood all over the vegetation at the far side of the moose, like it had been sprayed as a mist from a hose, but the hole on the far side was perhaps a little larger than a pencil's diameter. I imagine the 3-Shock bullets work similarly to the FS.

The 2 mule deer and 2 antelope I shot with my 6mm acted just as described by Ray. None went anywhere but down.

JScott--

My wife and I have taken about a dozen animals with the TSX's, from coyotes to elk. The only difference I can see between them and the plain X's is that they're less fussy about grouping nicely.

Ray--Yeah, the Triple Shocks' work just like the Fail Safes--except again, they're far less fussy about grouping, and there ain't no moly on 'em.

MD

I've been buying the XLC's at a bulk price from Midway when they go on special. They come in a plastic Midway box but look fine, I thought they might be beat up a little. If the X's go down, you will be able to buy them bulk sooner or later. BM

Bill

I picked up a box of the 140 gr .277s to try in the WSM,they were all out of the 30 cal 180s so I had to settle for a box of the antiquated <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> XLCs. Might have to order some as they told me they can't seem to keep any on the shelf. I'd forgotten,I did try a few of the 130s right after they hit the market. Alongside the same X bullet load they ran about what I guesstimated to be 1- 1 1/2 grs slower. Now if I can find the rest of the box. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
I picked up 8 boxs of the Frankford Arsenal/Midway 257 XLCs when they were on sale. I guess the ogive is a little diferent from the regulars and they have a cannelure,but at that price a bargain. Theres a few clearing houses that Barnes sells their close outs to. I picked up what should be(if I quit plinking with them) a lifetime supply of the discontinued 100 gr .277s,at less than 1/2 the original price.

My guess (and it is admittedly only that, somewhat of an eductated one) is that eventually all X's will be Triple Shocks--and we'll probably see the wider variety of bullet weights we've been used to for all these years.

The big problem right now, as I understand it, is that Barnes is having trouble keeping up with the demand for TSX's. Once they start to catch up, they'll convert more of the older diameters/weights to TS. Actually, this process has obviously already started.

The reason for all this is, of course, that the Triple Shocks have solved the accuracy/fouling problems the old X's (even the blue ones) showed in some rifles. I know a pile of people who had given up on X's that are now using TSX's. In fact, I know several such shooters who now believe TSX's are the ONLY bullet.

With success like that, it's no wonder Barnes is phasing out the older designs in favor of the new. I have several rifles that liked the older X's just fine, but I also have no worries that they won't shoot the Triple Shocks, either.

MD