Fed up, Back to Barnes

[rugerbh103]

Been using the Harvester Scorpion PT Gold 300 grain bullet over 100 grains of T7 FFG out of an MK-85. I have killed about 7 deer with the combination. Shot a medium size doe today. The shot was about 35 yards. Hit her right behind the shoulder. She was quartering pretty heavily towards me. The round took the lungs and cut the liver, it did not exit. I found her about 60 yards away in a thicket. Now the issues. The blood trails have been very limited. This one had a small, but identifiable, spot at the shot site. It very quickly moved to just single spaced drops. Persistence led me to the deer. I understand 7 deer isn't a scientific study, but all of the results have been similar.

In the past I shot the Barnes 250 Expanders, and always had good blood trails. I switched to a pointed bullet in order to hunt over fields where shots are longer. I have some of the Expanders left and some of the 290 grain T-EZ FB pointed bullets in the blue sabots. Anyone have any experience with them. How to they compare to the old Expanders.

 

[Steelheader323]

Can’t say I can compare
To the expanders but I have some 250 and also some 290 tez in supplied sabots. Both shoot well from my omega, the 250 shoots better but I haven’t messed with different loads with the 290 tez, but with the 250 I got 3 holes touching at 100 yards. If I mess with the 290s more I plan to up the charges to see if groups tighten up as I would like a good 200 yard bullet, the 250s open up great anywhere from 15 yards to 120 yards so far for me in deer and leave good blood trails all pass throughs except on 3 occasions where I found the Bullets under the opposite side hide. Perfect flowered Bullets. The pass throughs all had ragged exit holes


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[rugerbh103]

Good to hear. Thanks.

 

[HC]

You can’t go wrong with the 290 TEZ, blood trails guaranteed.


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[BuckDoeHunter]

Some may say the Expanders will expand better at lower velocity's but I haven't had any expansion problems with the 250 or 290gr TEZ's.

 

[WV Hunter]

Barnes are great. You might consider Lehigh/Bloodlines as well. Outstanding terminal performance.

 

[Dougs136Schwartz]

I have and have shot both . Both Epander and TMZ/TEZs have performed excellent . If you can not find Barnes Expanders Barnes XPB .45 line of bullets are basically the same thing as a Epander . My experiences have been exceptional at reasonable distances .(200 yards and less more at 100 yards and under to be completely honest ) Beyond 200 yards some have claimed the tipped Barnes such as the TMZ and TEZs do not expand like they should .

The reason I am a Barnes fan is because of the good blood trail Barnes bullets normally leave . I am a shoot through the vitals and let them run hunter. Barnes are developed to normally pass through with a good blood trails . The pedals cut vitals leaving a blood trail much like a bow hit deer.

Other bullets are designed to dump all their energy into the chest cavity. Or bust shoulders . Both work equally well it's just personal preference.

 

[Squeeze]

I have seen many times where a high lung shot, even with an exit can leave a poor blood trail. The holes will clog with fat and the bleeding is mostly internal. A lower heart shot will usually spill out better, or a shot from en elevated position, where at least one hole is lower will usually bleed externally better. This is not a rule, or will happen every time, but there are many reasons beyond bullet to explain a random poor blood trail.

 

[sabotloader]

I have and have shot both . Both Epander and TMZ/TEZs have performed excellent . If you can not find Barnes Expanders Barnes XPB .45 line of bullets are basically the same thing as a Epander.

Doug, I am not thinking this is quite right. I have shot XPB's and have not got them to open when the velocity drops into and under the 1500fps. On the other side the Expander seems to work to a lower velocity offering a longer range hunting bullet. Take a look at these pictures... I am trying to show the differences of the hollow point in both bullets. If you look at the Expander on the left you can see the internal nose cuts on the petals is much more pronounced than the XPB on the right. Looking farther into the nose of the Expander you can see the petal cut continues into the bevel at the bottom of the hollow point - not as big a cut in the XPB's

These are 50 cal. bullets. I do have 451x250gr. XPB's and the nose is the same as the 50 XPB

My experiences have been exceptional at reasonable distances .(200 yards and less more at 100 yards and under to be completely honest ) Beyond 200 yards some have claimed the tipped Barnes such as the TMZ and TEZs do not expand like they should .

The reason I am a Barnes fan is because of the good blood trail Barnes bullets normally leave . I am a shoot through the vitals and let them run hunter. Barnes are developed to normally pass through with a good blood trails . The pedals cut vitals leaving a blood trail much like a bow hit deer.

Other bullets are designed to dump all their energy into the chest cavity. Or bust shoulders . Both work equally well it's just personal preference.

 

[rugerbh103]

Probably should have never got away from the Expanders. I got it into my head I needed a tipped bullet. I keep thinking I need long range performance, but would most likley be fine without the tip.

 

[Dougs136Schwartz]

I'm sure you are correct . I see what you are talking about . I shot a decent 10 ptr about 3 years ago with a 200 grain XPB at 160 yards . My starting velocity was right around 2000fps. I'm not sure on impact velocity but the bullets seem to work very at that distance . I was testing those bullets at the time for Light loads for my daughters and Nephew . I thought the XPB line was designed to preform at lower pistol velosities .It sure wont be the first time I was wrong and I'm positive it wont be the last !

I am very impressed with the terminal damage you guys are getting with the Liegh bullets . Just not sure I like the idea of the pedals flying off. Lots and lots of good bullets out there. I'm gonna try something completely different this year

 

[sabotloader]

I'm sure you are correct . I see what you are talking about . I shot a decent 10 ptr about 3 years ago with a 200 grain XPB at 160 yards . My starting velocity was right around 2000fps. I'm not sure on impact velocity but the bullets seem to work very at that distance . I was testing those bullets at the time for Light loads for my daughters and Nephew . I thought the XPB line was designed to preform at lower pistol velosities .It sure wont be the first time I was wrong and I'm positive it wont be the last !

See, that is what I thought also but form what I have done - not looking that way. Somewhere??? I read that Barnes said the low end velocity was 1600fps for the XPB's - But I can not find the information any longer. Wish Barnes would post that that information with their bullets. The only thing that I can think of is that these are not expected to be shot at ranges much over 75-100 yds (if that much) from the 500 S&W Mag. They list the Muzzle velocity @ 1990.

Still when you compare the hollow point construction of the XPB and the Expander - I think the difference is easy to see...

I am very impressed with the terminal damage you guys are getting with the Liegh bullets . Just not sure I like the idea of the pedals flying off. Lots and lots of good bullets out there. I'm gonna try something completely different this year

That is a very difficult concept for American hunters to grab on yet in Europe, Germany specifically, they are more the norm. Of course the Europeans in general use much smalle caliber hunting rifes than we do. So they gravitate to the best Terminal Ballistic bullets.

I can say whem I first started using the Lehigh concept but in all those years and all of those animals I have never had a problem - well I should say the commercial butcher that I use has not had a petal problem at all.

For whatever that is worth!????

 

[Dougs136Schwartz]

Thanks sabot as always your post make sense .

 

[rugerbh103]

Thanks for all the quality replies.

 

[Kraig]

Been thinking about buying some more PT Gold to try for hunting. Do these have a reputation for poor results?


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[HC]

Read post #1.


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[Kraig]

Read post #1.


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I did.

Based on his results, do these bullets have a reputation for these types of results?


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