Barnes Spit-Fire MZ bullets

[PNWsportsman]

I have finally decided to trade in my lead powerbelts for Barnes Spit-Fire MZ bullets.  My question is how will they shoot out of my Winchester X-150 compared to 405 grain powerbelts with 110 grains of loose Pyrodex FFG.  What is the best powder charge to use with the Barnes bullets?  I sure hope they kick less! Any recommendations or pointers are welcome.   Do I need to lube the sabots or do I just slide them down the barrel like they are?

[carpsniperg2]

You will just have to play with the powder charge and your gun to see what it likes best. I shoot them tmz's and I am going to be trying the tez's this next year.

[bigpaw 77]

Im looking for a new bullet after seeing what powerbelts do this year. My dad shot a doe at 130 yards the powerbelts went through both lungs, but left a small exit hole and didn't do much damage. She hardly bled at all.

[PNWsportsman]

I have had good performance from powerbelts on both deer and elk, however I am looking for better bullet performance beyond 100 yards. 

[Chukarhead]

We've had great performance with the Barnes TMZ and T-EZ bullets over the last two seasons  We've never recovered one from a deer, but none of the deer made it much more than 30 yards with heart/lung shots.  Here are a couple of bullets recovered from elk this year:



The bullet on the left was shot at a hard angle and glanced off a rib, hence the bent-in petals.  It was a through-shot, but found a week later by my hunting buddy, sitting on a closed spur where I shot the bull.  The bullet on the right was a broadside shot that missed bone, but lodged half out of the hide on the far side.  Both were 70-yard shots backed with 140gr T7 FFG and 130gr T7 FFFG, respectively.

No, don't lube the sabots.  If you have a tight bore, go with the T-EZ.

Kick is a function of bullet weight and charge, by the way.  The Barnes are lighter bullets, so if you stick with the same charge, felt recoil will reduce.  I tend to up the powder a bit with copper slugs because I want to be SURE that they expand and cut a big hole.  Besides, when there's a critter behind my bead, the gun doesn't kick.  For practice, we shoot cheap bullets or balls with 50gr loads--very comfortable!

[WonkyWapiti]

Of the three Barnes TMZ's I've put into mule deer they all have looked exactly like the above pictured bullet on the right.

[one shot kill]

120 grains of triple 7 ffg is the best load I have found for my knight bighorn.

[huntnnw]

KICK is determined by powder charge and the weight of bullet u shoot

[top pin1]

Those look good but I'm stuck with my power belts in Idaho (all Lead rule)

What did they weigh recovered weight?

This power belt was a 348 gr HP. It was 260gr recovered on the off side of a elk.

Top

[coyotewallace]

here is the spent 250g TEZ from the Ohio whitetail buck I shot last week at 254 yards


247.34g on spent slug

[Chukarhead]

Those look good but I'm stuck with my power belts in Idaho (all Lead rule)

What did they weigh recovered weight?

This power belt was a 348 gr HP. It was 260gr recovered on the off side of a elk.

Top

I didn't weigh the bullets, but I'd guess they weighed 290gr (original weight) minus the weight of the goofy plastic tip.  Copper holds together fantastically well, at the risk of poor expansion (though I've never experienced a "bullet failure").  We quit shooting Powerbelts when Washington abandoned its all-lead rule.  I was tired of finding lead flakes in our chuck roasts and rib meat.  They have a nasty habit of hiding in otherwise good-looking meat.

[Morse_FJ40]

This is a pic of my 250gr TMZ Barnes recovered from my blacktail last year. Dead on heart shot.

[Big Horn]

250 gr TMZ  is the best bullet I have shot though my black diamond xr.

[greatnw]

Hi All, Love the forum, don't know that I've posted before. I was leery of PB's after having a 444gr one fall out of the barrel!! BUT, they shoot so well from my rifle and I had a ton of them that I thought I'd go again. Shot a muley at about 80 yards on a bad angle shot. Broke the rear hip and exited out the far rib cage leaving a rib poking out the quarter sized exit wound. .348gr .54cal in front of two 60gr Pyrodex pellets. Impressive.
Don't know how I could expect better from anything else.
I bought some Barnes and look forward to seeing how accurate they are. The big hole doesn't seem very aerodynamic to me!