Barnes Bullets

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chicagojoe

New member
Are these solid copper hollow point bullets the best for self defense, their claim is that they penetrate deeper and retain their weight. Some ammo companies that use Barnes Bullets are Cor-Bon DPX and another that i have not heard of before is Double Tap, are they American made?:rolleyes:
 
The Barnes rounds are good stuff within minor limits. Because the copper rounds are larger by weight than lead, you get a bit less case capacity which in turn limits your peak power some. It's not huge but if you're looking for max raw energy the Gold Dots or other really good JHPs have 'em beat.

But if you're NOT looking for peak power, the Barnes are unmatched.

DoubleTap Ammo is a small ammo house that uses other people's projectiles, similar to Buffalo Bore. Considered a slight step down from Buffalo Bore but still a lot hotter than the larger ammo houses. I carry DoubleTaps right this second in fact, full-house 357s with 125gr high speed Gold Dot slugs. Wouldn't surprise me if they're loading some Barnes slugs.
 
Oh yes it is!

Go pull up the specs on the 357Mag 125gr version. The stuff is rated at less than 1,300fps. Even Federal loads 125s hotter than that...as does Cor-Bon in real JHPs. Across all calibers the Cor-Bon DPX are loaded moderate to light.

Less case capacity is the Barnes downside.

Mind you, in some guns this may be exactly what you want. If you have, say, a classic S&W 66 3" K-frame, the Cor-Bon DPX 357 may be exactly what the doctor ordered. But in MY gun, much tougher and weighing in at 42oz? No, I'll take the full-tilt-boogie stuff, with a Gold Dot slug.
 
The all copper bullets are usually lighter than the typical lead .For example the DPX .40 is 140 gr rather than 155-180 lead. Lead and copper are two different things ,you can't use lead thinking for copper ! But the copper bullets work very well.They're a proven product.
 
But Corbon has done extensive development work with the Barnes bullets and picked the best for the cartridges. IIRC Corbon picked the 140 for .40 and now Barnes sells that weight. That works great on 'chucks .From what I've heard it works very well on two legged varmints too.
 
chicagojoe said:
According to Barnes web-site that the DPX does in fact use Barnes Bullets.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

If this is in response to "Not the DPX they don't!!!" I'm pretty sure he meant that Cor-Bon didn't load DPX hot, not that they didn't use Barnes bullets.

Anyway, the bullet certainly seems to be an effective design, and even more resilient than bonded JHPs when penetrating barriers or otherwise encountering tough media. I tend to prefer heavy-for-caliber bullets for various reasons, however, and I'm not convinced that DPX's advantages outweigh its disadvantages, at least for my personal usage. I've recommended it for those who desire relatively light recoil for the caliber, although I would feel better about it if I had more complete terminal ballistics test data for it.
 
Right. They are effective, but Cor-Bon doesn't load 'em very hot.

If you want an effective, lower-power-than-average-by-a-bit round, the DPX is worth looking at. Esp. for smaller/lighter guns. If you want to load balls-out though, they're not the place to go.
 
I want the hardest hitting ammo, balls out in my 380,357, and 45ACP, my line of work, i insist on having the ammo that will do the job intended to do, any particular manufacturer's in mind? Thanks!:rolleyes:
 
Buffalo Bore - or if you can't afford those, Doubletap Ammo. You want the ones loaded with Gold Dot projectiles. Sometimes you have to call 'em and ask which ones that is.

Gold Dots hold up better than most other slugs because the copper jacket is a thick electroplate over the lead core. That makes the copper stick to the lead better than average...as it spreads out it still holds together. So when Buffalo Bore loads a given slug 300fps or more faster than Speer loads the same thing, it'll still work :).
 
Thanks to everyone, all of your advice is important to me and is very much appreciated!:rolleyes: I am going to seek the Buffalo Bores!
 
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