450Bushmaster.net

Gona go hog hunting soon in Texas, so I loaded up some Barnes XPB 200gr and 275gr to test. I loaded the 200s with the intention of using them for deer here in Michigan, the 275s were planned for hogs.

With a little help from the Hornady and Lyman manuals and a lot of help from Hoot's entries on the XPBs, I decided on my recipes. I used once fired factory brass, cci 450 primers, and of course - Lil Gun powder. I used a light taper crimp and a modified 45/70 side crimp on all rounds.

My loads were particularly important to me because I have an 11.5" barreled SBR. I haven't seen much data for the shorter than 16" barrels. I didn't load up many for each charge. The bullets are about a dollar a piece after all.

I shot from a rest at 50yds - my rifle was wearing a 1-4 trijicon accupoint - so 100yds wasn't necessary and might not have produced what I was looking for with the low power scope. I also chronoed one shot from three separate loads from the 16" 450B I built for my father.

200gr XPB 41gr LG 2.183 COL
2455, 2247, 2249

200gr XPB 43.5gr LG 2.183 COL
2326, 2255, 2281 - 2616-16"barrel

Sorta all over the map, but good accuracy. Really glad with the results of the 275s.

275gr XPB 33gr LG 2.26COL
1962, 1820, 1806

275gr XPB 36gr LG 2.26 COL
2011, 1900, 1975 - - 2042-16"barrel

275gr XPB 40gr LG 2.26COL
2146, 2120, 2133 - - 2187-16"barrel

Keeping in mind that factory ammo chronos at about 2030fps in my 11.5" barrel, the 275s going an average of 2133 is a great and powerful round.

Inspired by Hoot's work, I had to do a water shot. The 275gr shot at 50yds from the 16" barrel going 2187fps did some damage.

The video of a few shots, targets, and the water shot can be seen here - http://youtu.be/TDz-J7UkVC8
Poor audio, but you get the idea.

now that's a purdy bullet for sure!!!!

Nice rigs to boot!

Al in Mi wrote:now that's a purdy bullet for sure!!!!

Nice rigs to boot!

Ditto. Text book expansion.

Which of the loads for the 275 patterned the best for you?

Awesome video. Subscribed.

GerryU wrote:Which of the loads for the 275 patterned the best for you?

Surprisingly, the lower charge patterned better. I believe Hoot's testing showed them doing better with speed, but we have different guns. The 200s grouped better as they went faster. But with my 1-4 power scope and pace of fire, I was mainly making sure there wasn't anything unacceptable about performance. All these loads met my standards for knocking down deer in MI, and knocking down hogs in Texas. With the 275gr going 2133fps, that will be my round of choice for hogs.

Here's the general breakdown incase the tags aren't clear enough to read. Left targets top to bottom 250gr - 39gr, then 200gr at 41gr, 43.5gr LG - top to bottom right targets all 275gr 33gr, 36gr, 40gr LG. - 1-4 power scope, 50yds, steady rate of fire. The circled shots are from a separate gun.

There are these too

Excellent follow up. We really appreciate the work you've done. That is a beautiful picture of that mushroomed bullet. I am looking forward to testing my own copper bullets here in the near future soon as I can find time. What a stroke of luck that that bullet caught on the edge of one of those milk cartons... made it really easy to find.

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:Excellent follow up. We really appreciate the work you've done. That is a beautiful picture of that mushroomed bullet. I am looking forward to testing my own copper bullets here in the near future soon as I can find time. What a stroke of luck that that bullet caught on the edge of one of those milk cartons... made it really easy to find.

Thanks a lot. Ya, it ending on the edge of that jug was nice. When I got to it I thought, maybe I should have left more than one round for this, but it turned out well. I may play some more, but these will be solid for hunting rounds.

This pretty much goes without saying, but it's entertaining to see.

LOL! Perfect! Could you show a pic of your crimped/LSC crimped round for me and detail the specs of how you crimped it? The bullets I have are not Barnes. They are .452" 200 grain solid copper bullets made by General Bullet Company. They have slightly different dimensions than the Barnes 200 grain.