BARNES BULLET'S WEIGHT WARNING

[Seng'sCustom]

Now, this is more of a "look out" warning I ran into with Barnes banded solid bullets. It's not a huge problem in reality, quality is great there a extremely constant bullet. the issue I ran into is I bought a box of 375 cal 300 grn Banded solid bullets from MidwayUSA (which this is not MidWay's fault) and when I recived them and weighed them the barnes BND SLD weighed in at 350 grn and NOT 300 grn like the box says. This is just a warning to be 100% positive on what your loading, As Im very new to hand loading and have only reloaded for 9.3x62 mauser and 375 h&h using the same bullet design in both rounds (Barnes TSX and Barnes Banded Solid's) I've not ran into this issue with any other box, just this one particular box, But I know its a popular option and it could be more wide spread than just 1 single box that I recived.

I've been hunting and shooting muzzleloaders since I was 7 so I know how much consistently matters in shooting. So Reloaders please check your weights i think it would be hard to over charge a 350 grn brass solid in a 375 h&h but again I'm new and don't know much so I just want to put that out there.


Be safe everyone.

 

[baxterb]

Damn.. I hope you have contacted Barnes so they can lot-control that problem. That could be a serious issue.

 

[Seng'sCustom]

Damn.. I hope you have contacted Barnes so they can lot-control that problem. That could be a serious issue.

Currently typing out the email now to notify them.

 

[Seng'sCustom]

Currently typing out the email now to notify them.

Barnes has been warned and I provided them with the same 3 photos I posted here. I will post a update on what I hear back from Barnes.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Now, this is more of a "look out" warning I ran into with Barnes banded solid bullets. It's not a huge problem in reality, quality is great there a extremely constant bullet. the issue I ran into is I bought a box of 375 cal 300 grn Banded solid bullets from MidwayUSA (which this is not MidWay's fault) and when I recived them and weighed them the barnes BND SLD weighed in at 350 grn and NOT 300 grn like the box says. This is just a warning to be 100% positive on what your loading, As Im very new to hand loading and have only reloaded for 9.3x62 mauser and 375 h&h using the same bullet design in both rounds (Barnes TSX and Barnes Banded Solid's) I've not ran into this issue with any other box, just this one particular box, But I know its a popular option and it could be more wide spread than just 1 single box that I recived.

I've been hunting and shooting muzzleloaders since I was 7 so I know how much consistently matters in shooting. So Reloaders please check your weights i think it would be hard to over charge a 350 grn brass solid in a 375 h&h but again I'm new and don't know much so I just want to put that out there.


Be safe everyone.

Wow, good on ya for the warning. I don't know just how difficult it would be to over charge. Lots of folks use RL15 and/or Varget for their .375HH. These faster burning powders will use considerably less charge weight than say IMR4350 which I use for the .375HH.

 

[JimP]

It just goes to show that you need to check everything when you are loading your own rounds.

A number of years ago I came across a loading in a Barnes manual that could of caused problems if a loader followed it without checking for pressure signs after the first shot.

I sent a email off to Barnes and all they did was to send me the corrected loads for that bullet and cartridge.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Now, this is more of a "look out" warning I ran into with Barnes banded solid bullets. It's not a huge problem in reality, quality is great there a extremely constant bullet. the issue I ran into is I bought a box of 375 cal 300 grn Banded solid bullets from MidwayUSA (which this is not MidWay's fault) and when I recived them and weighed them the barnes BND SLD weighed in at 350 grn and NOT 300 grn like the box says. This is just a warning to be 100% positive on what your loading, As Im very new to hand loading and have only reloaded for 9.3x62 mauser and 375 h&h using the same bullet design in both rounds (Barnes TSX and Barnes Banded Solid's) I've not ran into this issue with any other box, just this one particular box, But I know its a popular option and it could be more wide spread than just 1 single box that I recived.

I've been hunting and shooting muzzleloaders since I was 7 so I know how much consistently matters in shooting. So Reloaders please check your weights i think it would be hard to over charge a 350 grn brass solid in a 375 h&h but again I'm new and don't know much so I just want to put that out there.


Be safe everyone.

LOT NUMBER????

 

[30.06king]

Whenever I open a new pack of bullets, regardless of calibre, I check weigh at least a few to ensure correct fit to specs.
The only issue ever encountered was opening a pack of Hornady Interbond 30 cal bullets that were actually SST bullets that were the same as the labelled weight.

 

[Seng'sCustom]

LOT NUMBER????

30785 i believe is the lot number i did post a picture of the box so you can compare numbers with your box if you have any.

 

[Seng'sCustom]

No offense intended towards you at all, just trying to troubleshoot and isolate this issue. After 50 years of hand loading, I still use a beam type scale to double check electronic scales, especially RCBS's electronic scales, and have caught more than a few errors through the years. Some were caused by me during the calibration process, and then many are caused by the scale "drifting" over the course of a loading session. Would you please mind doing a few things here to double check as RCBS electronic scale in particular can create some unseen errors, especially if the calibration process has a hiccup.

1. Unplug the scale and leave it unplugged for at least ten seconds.

2. Plug it back in, turn it on, and do not attempt to calibrate it, just turn it on.

3. Make sure the scale is set grains and not grams.

4. Put a known 300 grain bullet on it. What weight is shown?

5. Put a bullet from the suspect box of 300 grain solids on the scale. What weight is shown?

6. If the suspect bullet is still showing 350, please post a photo of a known 300 grain solid next to the 350 grain solid. The difference in length should be very noticeable to the naked eye.

Hope this is an easy issue to sort out for you. If they really have an issue with the wrong bullet in the box, then glad you caught it. This exact issue happened to me long ago with some Sierra Match Kings (190's in a box marked for 175 SMK's). The good thing is that the different weight bullets usually are so noticeably different in length that it is an easy catch.

fwiw - I strongly recommend everyone use a beam type scale as a quality control check. For myself, every charge thrown on an electronic scale is then weighed on a beam. RCBS' Chargemaster is notorious for "drifting" over a loading session and can be off by several grains. The beam is always an easy and quick QC to avoid a mistake.

Thanks for sharing this, it is a good safety reminder.

No offense taken I know electronic scales can be wrong the one I have is a battery powered one that i got in the same order with the bullets in question unfortunately those are the only 375 cal and "300" grain solids I have but I do have 286 grn solid for said 9.3x62 same bullet barnes banded solid. Now for the scale it haves a 50 gram weight which in gns is reading 771.7 which is off by 0.082 of a gn so id say that's close but even so it's been consistent. My 9.3x63 solid weights exactly 286.0 gn and the suspect bullet weights 350.2 now if the scale was wrong my 286 gn 9.3 would be weighing around 336 gn but it's not it weights exactly as advertised and being theres only a 14 gn difference between 286 and 300 they should be fairly the same hight granted the 375 is slightly larger than the 9.3 (.366) it should still be close right? But there not the 9.3 is 1.425 inches long while the 375 measures 1.640 which is .215 longer. Unfortunately I don't have a beam scale that goes high enough to weight the bullets to confirm everything but I'd say the scale is probably accurate since the 9.3 solid weighed exactly as advertised and the 300 grn tsx in 375 also weights in at 299.6 gn and the tsx in 9.3 comes in at 285.5 gn from a advertised 286 gn and to throw in a heavier projectile a 1 oz federal 12 gauge rifled slug weighted in at 437.5 exactly 1 oz so unfortunately I don't think my scale is incorrect. I have attached photos of the calibration weight as well as the mentioned "300"(350.2) gn bnd sld 375 cal, a 300 gn barnes tsx 375 cal, a 286 gn barnes tsx and bnd sld 9.3 (.366), and the federal 1 oz rifled slug.