1.) Wild Bob - 02/13/2015

So in the spirit of Swampy's 'Nosler vs. Barnes' thread, and in follow up to my initial thread related to reloading for the .416 Taylor...I thought I'd combine the two topics and kill two birds with one stone. (Mainly just because there are a couple of points / interesting considerations that tie to Swampy's thread.) :-)

So, taking my initial thread a step further; here I've used the resized brass that I produced previously to complete reloading a couple of different types of .416 Taylor loads:

First, here is a loaded cast bullet (300 gr.) for target practice and general shooting. No sense wasting more expensive hunting bullets with heavier powder loads for getting used to the gun and general target practice.



Second, here is a hunting load with Speer Hot-Cor 350 gr. bullet. This bullet is fairly similar to Nosler Partitions (i.e. Speer's answer to the Partition).


* By way of comparison - note the other calibers; (left to right) 25-06 Rem Ballistic tip, .308 Win Partition, .300 Win Mag Partition, and lastly .416 Taylor Speer Hot-Cor.

Third, here is a picture of two different .416 Taylor caliber bullets, (left to right) a Speer Hot-Cor 350 gr. bullet and a Barnes 350 gr. TSX bullet. The point I wanted to present here is that obviously - note the different length of each bullet despite the fact that they are both 350 gr. bullets... Taking that a step further; I'm trying to show that any debate over bullets requires a full analysis of the bullets, the caliber, the bullets cross sectional densities/loads vs. powder capacity of the case for that caliber. (As this picture shows; the longer Barnes bullet is going to have to be seated deeper into the casing which will have an effect on powder capacity and the type of powder used.) And the thing is, all these variables are going to vary from caliber to caliber...


Lastly, i.e. in the .308 Win bullets pictured below; (left to right) the first bullet is a Sierra Pro-Hunter (again, very similar to Partitions) 150 gr. and the second is a Barnes TSX 150 gr. As you can see there is also a difference in length.


So, as Chris mentioned, all this can easily be a Chevy/Ford or Mathews/Hoyt shoot out! In my experience and humble opinion; experiment at the range as much as possible, hunt within your capabilities, and find what works for you - then stick with it! Just because one hunter swears on his mother's grave on bullet X, it doesn't mean that bullet X is going to perform stellar for another hunter's needs; [U]especially[/U] if they are shooting different calibers. We owe it to the game we hunt to be efficient and lethal. :tu:

2.) Swamp Fox - 02/13/2015

Great post.

I only saw a very brief mention of this when I was surfing the net for info for that thread, and it wasn't even as on-point as you are here. :tu:

[I](As this picture shows; the longer Barnes bullet is going to have to be seated deeper into the casing which will have an effect on powder capacity and the type of powder used.)
[/I]
---Wild Bob