The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post

myfriendis410 · April 24, 2014, 09:14 AM

You have to go with what your rifle likes. It may prefer a 168 gr. over a 180, or vice versa. Both would be good choices on elk, but I prefer the lighter loading. Like Brian said: light and fast. The reasoning behind light in a solid copper bullet is that it does indeed retain 100 percent of it's weight. That 180 gr. Partition, at 70% ends up at 125 gr. or so. The Barnes remains at 168 gr. when it's done it's job.

I prefer the Barnes over the E-tip simply because it expands more readily, being ductile copper instead of gilding metal and because the Barnes can be run WAY fast. You simply can't achieve similar velocities with the E-tip.

I've shot elk out of my .300 win mag using the 168 gr. Barnes and I'll never use anything else.

April 24, 2014, 09:14 AM	#10
myfriendis410 Senior Member Join Date: March 30, 2011 Location: Lompoc California Posts: 274	You have to go with what your rifle likes. It may prefer a 168 gr. over a 180, or vice versa. Both would be good choices on elk, but I prefer the lighter loading. Like Brian said: light and fast. The reasoning behind light in a solid copper bullet is that it does indeed retain 100 percent of it's weight. That 180 gr. Partition, at 70% ends up at 125 gr. or so. The Barnes remains at 168 gr. when it's done it's job. I prefer the Barnes over the E-tip simply because it expands more readily, being ductile copper instead of gilding metal and because the Barnes can be run WAY fast. You simply can't achieve similar velocities with the E-tip. I've shot elk out of my .300 win mag using the 168 gr. Barnes and I'll never use anything else.