09-15-2011, 10:38 AM
A buddy of mine started loading the Barnes X a few years ago for his Ar15 in 5.56mm, he heard they got good penetration and had excellent expansion. Well, he found out at least the first one was true. I want to say he was using a 70 grain and he had moly coated it. Don't know the powder load. He shot a young 4x4 from about 75 yards in the mid-chest, head-on. We found the exit hole in the right buttock. We found that after it had traversed the high chest cavity it had travelled up and followed the spinal column (lost a loin damnit). It cut about a half inch wide trench along the spine right up to the exit hole. I was impressed with a head-on through and through with a .224 diameter bullet that looked like it doubled in diameter with expansion. We didn't find the bullet obviously but we also didn't find any copper frag during the processing.
I was very impressed and have wanted to load them for years. Now that I've built a Grendel, I'm thinking of trying them out.
I was very impressed and have wanted to load them for years. Now that I've built a Grendel, I'm thinking of trying them out.