Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Barnes bullets

Im looking to switch up my bullet this year,looking to shoot something else.I've been shooting 350gr hornady FPB very well,1in groups at 100yds all day long,been shooting those since they came out and they have not let me down yet,but I long for something new! So I even ditched the old triple 7 pellets for the blackhorn 209 powder and bought some TC shockwaves on clerance at walmart,with 100grs of blackhorn and 1 250gr shockwave in the easy slide sabot,I am getting pretty good groups. As you can see in the pic below..


But I am reading mixed reviews on the shockwaves,so I turned my attention elseware,and have come to the Barnes spitfire bullet,gonna go with 290gr but not sure which sabot to get them in,do I get the T-EZ bullet for easy loading or do I go with the regular sabot? Im confused,Im shooting a CVA Kodiak 50cal.All of barnes talk about bore diamiter has me confused. And let me say that Blackhorn 209 powder is awesome!I shot 15 TC shockwaves in the plastic sabots before I ran a brush through the barrel,and even then I didn't need to,i just felt the need,didn't feel right,and clean up is a breeze..

I have no experience with your rifle but I've shot Barnes exclusively for the past 5 years. I like the 285gr Spitfire MZ best and after taking lot of different sized animals it's never failed.

The Barnes bullets are never a misstake for hunting but neither is an accurate "Shock-wave" bullet. Not sure what "stories" you have either read or heard about but the Hornady manufactured T/C shock wave kills more deer every year than any other bullet.

Doc

I have a hard time loading the barnes spitfires in my Knight. Must be the bore is to tight.

I have a TC Omega that shoots very well using a Hornady 250 gr SST and the low drag red sabots. I decided to try the Barnes 250 gr TEZ with the blue sabot since my rifle seems to like 250 gr bullets.

What I found is that it won't shoot worth a hoot using the 250 gr Barnes and the TEZ blue sabots, but it will using the red Hornady low drag sabots or a black MMP HPH 3-P EZ (same sabot). Both 250 gr projectiles are basically identical in accuracy and shoot very close to the same POI with the same powder charge and sabot.

FWIW, my rifle does not like the Barnes blue TEZ sabots or the black TC SW sabot (same thing) and the TC SW super glide sabots. Groups open up dramaticaly with both of these.

Talked to the foks at Barnes and they said they would try the 290gr barnes TEZ bullet,and said if they fit to loose in my rifle then I could always order the regular sabots and use the bullets.

The TEZ blue sabots are slighly larger in dia and take a little more effort to load in my rifle than the Hornady low drag red sabots or the TC yellow SW sabot. They might just work out OK for you, but ????

TC Omega's are known for having tight bores and that probably isn't the case with your rifle. What I was trying to point out in my previous post is that I've found that using the right sabot in my rifle makes all the difference in the world when it comes to accuracy. It definitely likes the easier loading sabots. Whether or not this holds true with other rifles - I dunno.

Ceceil.....

I hope I am not too late in giving my expereinces and opinion. I shoot a T/C Prohunter. I live in Iowa where it HAS to be my trophy whitetail gun. We dont use rifles in this state and so I have years of expereince with many different types of rifles and powders and bullets. So from my many, many, many headaches and dealings, my brother and I have some strong opinions.

I agree...accuracy is probably a #1 priority. So YOUR guns has to shoot them well. As for poweder....good job on the blackhorn, it is great stuff and IMO is the best out there on the markert for consistentcy and cleanup. As for bullet, we do use the Barnes bullet. I personally use the 245gr spitfire while my brother uses the 290gr. I have only recovered one 245g outta having shot over 20+ whitetails with it. Its waaaay more then enough and the one i recovered went thru 38 inches of deer before stopping and it was perfectly "flowered petaled" back. Some people that hunt with us have used "other" bullets and we have seen pancaked, lack of penetration from some of them. I am NOT saying other bullets wont work, but the Barnes should give you allll the confidence of lack of failure and to be able to take angles shots. Its a premium bullet for a reason! The only time i can remember an opps, is a year my brother tried the lighter barnex bullets (180-200g) and they did not do their job very well. Stay at 245 to 290.... you should never have a problem. And by the way, we have shot deer from point blank to 239 yards. (yes, we practice and shoot a lot with our smokepoles....remember, we are in Iowa and we trophy hunt so we spend loooooots of time behind these guns).

As for sabots.... the ones we shoot do have the yellow sabot. What we have found, is in "cheaper" guns who may not have tolerecnes as well measured they do load tuff, especially the first shot. In the pro-hunters, they load , stiff (not too bad tho) for shot one and then very easy after that! You can foul the bbl a lil before first load and get easy load for that too. The triumph form T/C tend to load hard every time with this, but they do shoot it well in the 2 we have though.

Well....hope this helps some. Good luck and hope your smokepole adverntures go great!

The 290 gr Barnes with Yellow sabots ....you need a sledge hammer to load them in my Omega...in my Knight they loaded just fine were accurate and deadly on critters....I use the 250gr Hornady SST with black sabots and 209 BH powder in my Omega with great accuracy and have taken mamny deer with the 250 gr SST with out a problem

If you have and like the Hornandy FPB's and your interested in the Barnes bullet, you should look into Thor bullets. They use the barnes full 50 caliber bullets and hollow out the base much like the FPB's. get on their page and look for the right size for your gun. I have yet to hear anything bad about them.


http://thorbullets.com/Home_Page.html

+1

I have been shooting the Barnes EZ bullets in my CVA .50 cal, they are super easy to load and are more accurate than anything else I have tried!

They are accurate. You'll probably want the .501 size. Thor was rumored to be coming out with the Thor II (think cross between Barnes and Powerbelts), but its not on their website. I believe someone on this form has tested them.

Sabots are fine, I prefer the bullet-to-bore setup of a conical bullet. Parker also makes some nice undersize conicals (Traditional Hunter and Hydro-cons). If you call to order some, tell them you have a ML with a tighter barrel.

Good luck

HaYen

I run the 250 grain TEZ's right out of the box in my Apex. I really see no difference in loading either them or the TC shockwave 250 in the Harvester short sabot. They load very easily and not sure how much if any difference there is on "actual" kills vs marketing ad performance. I am trying to go green now and don't want any lead deposited in game meat that's why I use them............sarcasm

Thor's may not fit the bore of the Kodiak. A lot of these had the smaller .499" bores and it'd be a very tight fit that most likely would require a mallet in order to get the thor seated.

I was shooting Barnes Spitfires outta my TC until I did some checking on Blackhorn 209 powder...and Harvester PT Gold bullets...this is what I came up with..and will stay with..

All Day, Any Day........