1980 Era Barnes Bullets

RCrosby

Yes, I've contacted Barnes. Haven't heard back yet.
I have some 125 grain .284 Semi-Spitzer S.P.'s that I want to load in my 7-08 Ruger Hawkeye.
Has anyone had experience with this pill or knowledge of it's construction?
Wondering if they'd make good bullets for eastern whitetail?
Thanks,
Rob

RCrosby

Time to put this thread to bed!
Just got the following response from Barnes.

Yes those sound like the bullets we were making during that time period. We used copper tubing as the jacket material and the base had to be folded inward to close the base of the bullet - and that is why you are seeing the small point of extruded lead in the center of the base. These were made with a .032" thick jacket and are great deer and elk bullets.



Happy hunting!



Thanks, Ty

bpost

I have some 180 30 cal Barnes from that era, same type of construction. I shot some moose and caribou with them, they did fine, dead is dead.

The pure copper jacket will foul a bit more than the standard guilding metal but a good soaking with Montana Extreme will make short work of it.

RCrosby

Thanks, bpost,
I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one who'd been around long enough to even know about those things.
As for the Montana Extreme, it's new to me.
Will check it out.
Thanks again,
Rob

Ray B

I haven't used the .284 barnes; but back in the day I did use .308 bullets of 180, 225 & 250 gr; working up loads for a 300 Wby. The jackets were the .032" rather than the stiffer .049. I never used them on game because my testing on water jugs showed the 180s shed their cores and the heavier ones were at their best at less than 200 yards- At the time I could get Bitterroot Bonded Cores, so I went with 180 gr BBCs and no problem.

bpost

I found one of the boxes of them.



This shows the pinched base where the copper tube was sealed, leaving a little hole.

Ray B

Here are some Barnes .032" Jacket.308" in 180, 225 & 250 gr. The 250 didn't need a quicker spin to stabilize because it wasn't much longer than a standard 220 gr. Boxes are from the pre-plastic era.

bpost

I used to take 30-06 LC match ammo and pull the 174 grain BT government match bullets seating the 180 Barnes in its place and go kill caribou and moose. They shot fine.

I went to Nosler Partions because they left less fouling in the barrel from the dead-soft copper tubing Barnes used at the time. Both bullets killed everything I ever shot with them. IIRC the Nosler's were a bit more accurate too.