Choosing the right long range deer bullet....

[Big Jack]

Haha no not really. The 358 I sold was capable of that. Is this result regular and consistently repeatable? - unlikely....

Would be satisfied with consistent MOA performance at 300. My whole objective was to achieve this and I got there. Now which bullet to use for this deer season? That's the big question.

I've shot several 2 inch or better groups at 300 with this ml and guys in the US seem to achieve this and better quite regularly.

[skypilot]

I'll send you a PM Jack.

[smokeeter]

Here is the lineup;





From rom left to right;

Barnes 300 grain original, .291 BC



Barnes 300 grain .458 Socom TTSX, .236 BC



310 APB from ASG, .430 BC




I've done a bit of shooting with the 310 and 300 socom. The velocity shown is actual and the 310 shoots considerably flatter and slightly faster than the lighter socom. I tried annealing the socom to get better obturation but that was to no avail. I think that less bearing surface to the lands may account fo the difference in speed but that's just a guess. Accuracy was good though at just over an inch on the 300 yard target and single hole at 100.

I am am hoping I'll see 2750 with the Original.

I intend to set up three targets at 1,2,300 yards and put three shots into each to compare trajectories and groups. I will post results.

I believe you're mistaken with the first bullet, the barnes originals in .458 are a spire pt. the one in the pic resembles the hornady .458 300 grainers.
Great shooting though.. keep it up.

[Big Jack]

I believe you're mistaken with the first bullet, the barnes originals in .458 are a spire pt. the one in the pic resembles the hornady .458 300 grainers.
Great shooting though.. keep it up.

Thank you for pointing that out. I checked and they are 300 originals in .458 but FP so part 30612 instead of what I thought I had ordered 30611. I had no idea there were two originals in 300 grain....

BC is .227 on the FP

I will still go ahead with the test anyway. I reached out to the supplier to see if he can send me the right ones!

[rf2]

Thank you for pointing that out. I checked and they are 300 originals in .458 but FP so part 30612 instead of what I thought I had ordered 30611. I had no idea there were two originals in 300 grain....

BC is .227 on the FP

I will still go ahead with the test anyway. I reached out to the supplier to see if he can send me the right ones!

Now the BCs are starting to make more sense.

[smokeeter]

I also had no idea there were two versions of the 300 gr barnes originals, I've only used the spire point. It's a very good bullet with a heavy jacket , and holds together very well for big bodied animals. Because of that it doesn't obturate as easily as the ASG's or Parkers which is why they get fantastic groups, their downside is they tend to be more fragile.

I feel your pain in searching for the best hunting bullet, especially since we have a limited variety of .458 dia. bullets available. Which is why I resorted into tweaking and modifying bullets to suit my needs.
I've found that the construction of the standard ( not the mag.) XTP is a very good bullet for both accuracy (obturation) and terminal performance on game.

[Big Jack]

But how do you modify them?

I've seen pics of your xtp modified and they look awesome!

I think I remember that you made a die.... or was it some other way....

[smokeeter]

yes I have custom forming dies. the .458 bumps up standard .452 dia bullets to .458 and a nose punch forms a spire pt.
I've had very good results with using .452 dia bullets and smooth sized to fit the barrel, just need to use a veggie or fiber wad between the bullet and powder.
The only reason I bumped the bullets to .458 is to use the full forming die.
I really don't know if the spire pt. affects accuracy out to 300 yrds. I feel it will make a noticeable improvement beyond that distance,I think the reformed tip does help with controlling expansion on game. Plus they just look better and with that help gain confidence in your equipment which should be an overall improvement.

for those that haven't seen the mod.

[Big Jack]

Thanks for sharing. They look like a great bullet.

Have you ever tried forming a spire point on a Hornady 300 HP bullet?

[smokeeter]

Thanks for sharing. They look like a great bullet.

Have you ever tried forming a spire point on a Hornady 300 HP bullet?

yes, I started reforming the hollow pts. I was actually trying to make bullets similar to the barnes originals ( spire pt) . I can reform any lead core bullet. I'm using a 4 ton hydraulic press with my dies.