Barnes Bullets

[Hunter8282]

I am trying to decide which load to try in my Optima first. Which would you try first?

http://www.barnesbullets.com/products/m ... pander-mz/

http://www.barnesbullets.com/products/m ... %E2%84%A2/

I was thinking the T-EZ since they supposedly load easier, but I am not sure if the MZ will be tight in my Optima since I never loaded anything before. Also planning to try the 250gr in which ever I end trying first.

I'd really like to give these Barnes bullets a whirl.

Thanks!

 

[frontier gander]

I'd choose the expander. The new optima barrel isnt tight, around .500-.501 The .500 Thor in my Optima is a slip fit. Luckily though with the Thor II it helps keep it in place firmly. I shot some of the Thor II's today. Dang nice. Check out the Thors while you are at it, They basically are a barnes.

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

I think both would work good. I've never shot the expanders, but from what I've read, they perform great. Personally, I like the tipped bullets because we have shots at deer at 150+ yards. The most accurate load I've shot so far, is with the 250/290 grain TEZ with a MMP HPH-12 sabot pushed with 110 grains of BH209 powder. The supplied blue sabot with the TEZ was just a little too loose for our guns.

100 yards

The Barnes TMZ are also a good choice. They fit tight with the supplied yellow sabot. They are a boat tail bullet so if you want to try different sabots with this bullet, you don't have many choices (I think only one or two), where the TEZ flat base bullet gives you as many choices as with any other bullet.

 

[GM54-120]

Ive had great success with both flat based Barnes and Boat tails but i may be just lucky. The flat bases group a little bit tighter and you do have a much larger selection of sabots as mentioned.

The nice thing about the Expander MZ series, they expand at almost any velocity and range. I prefer the 250gr class for 50cal MLs unless its some tough game. The 45cal 300gr Expanders are very long for caliber. Even in my GMB54 using 50cal bullets i choose the 275gr Expander MZ and its just plain deadly. Expander MZs fly much flatter than you may think and upto 200yard kills are very possible even with the 250s. Accuracy is excellent too.

Ive never used the poly tipped Barnes but i do use the Spitfire 285gr HPBTs and for me they shoot great. They do like to be driven hard (see my pics). Driving them hard with 110gr BH209 (or more) they are plenty accurate and expand very well. Penetration is about as good as it gets and wound channels are very good.

If i can ever get some of the tipped TMzs ON SALE, i will give them a try but for the same price i can get the good old Barnes Originals .458 300gr Semi Spitzer that have never failed me. They are a BANG FLOP bullet. Ive never seen them fail to make a clean kill and ive never seen them lose more than 50grs of the 300...Ive tried my best to make them fail too.

IMO the best deal right now are the 44 and 45 cal Partitions at Wideners. They simply dont fail and the 260gr HPs expand great at a wide range of speeds.

Its damn hard to beat 50 Premium class bullets for only $23 and they will put down almost any NA game with ease. I would bet my life on them in bear country.

Scott

 

[Just Mike]

Last year I used a 250 expander on a 6pt whitetail with complete penetration at 93 yards. I loaded it with 100 gr of BH 209. Knight packages this bullet with EZ load sabots.

 

[black powder]

use BARNES EXPANDER MZ 250 gr. for hunting .....

hornady sst 250 gr. on the range for practice ..

 

[Hunter8282]

I ordered up the the Thor sample pack to see how the sizes fit. Also ordered some the Barnes Expander MZ in 250gr. Can't wait till they get here!