Seeing the writing on the wall regarding the future of lead ammo for deer hunting in Minnesota, anyone have a recommendation on non-lead rifle bullets. I reload so just need bullet info. Have shot Sierra Gamekings for 30 plus years. Hate to change.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions on what to start looking at.

barnes. drop about 20 grains of weight from your lead bullets, The'll work just as good !

Barnes TSX or TTSX is what I use from .223 up to .30 cal

Please fight them to the bitter end.

Barnes. Happy trapping! ScottW

Barnes or Hammers!

Barnes make a good bullet. I personally have never gotten them to shoot out of anything. Neither has my son. Some people do and are very happy with them. I gave up on monolith bullets. My son has gotten Hornady GMX (now discontinued and replaced by CX) and Nosler E-Tip to shoot in his 300 WM. We both found the Barnes to leave an inordinate amount of copper fouling. The Hornady and Nosler no where as much. At some point in the future I will have to make the transition I guess. It will just take more time, primers, and powder. All of which is in somewhat of a short supply at the present time.

Best bullet out there, all copper. Been loading and shooting them for years. Perfect mushroom, great penetration, and bullet retains all its weight.

They actually make a cleaner that removes the copper fouling. It does a good job.

I'm using a very good copper solvent, Patch Out and its accelerator, recommended by several benchresters in my area. I'm presently using 165 Berger's in my 300 WM getting a consistant 1/2 inch, Swift Scirroco 150's in my 7mm RM getting 5/8 inch, and Sierra 165 SBT getting 5/8 inch in my 308. All shot at 200 yards. The 300 is used for ringing steel out to 800. It's too dang heavy to try and lug around at my age. The 7mm is for out west hunts where I might have to stretch its legs a bit. The 308 is for whacking NY whitetails out to 200 or 250. The 7 and the 308 are pretty light. The 7 sports a 26 inch carbon fiber barrel. The 308 is a 20 inch carbon barrel.

I use Barnes TTSX 120gr in my 264 win mag and 210gr in 338 win mag. They have been fantastic bullets so far. I will continue to buy and reload them.

This is the bullet recovered from my bull elk this year. 208.9 grs of the 210 I started with.

Looks like the one I took out of an elk I shot several years ago in CO. It was a Barnes TTSX 165 grain bullet out of my 300 WSM.
I didn't weigh it, but it didn't look like it lost much of anything.

arcticotter, What kind of (how much) bullet jump in the 338. I'm working with one at the present time. I've got a box of 210 TTSX on the shelf that I should try. Maybe I can get them to work in my 700. I'm getting just about an inch at 200 using a Speer 225 BT. I believe it will do better with a better bullet. I love the gun, it's a real thumper.

Sorry what do you mean by bullet jump??

I use the Barnes Triple Shock in my 375H&H and my 300WM. They expand and hold together just like they look it the advertisements (and the phot above).

The only thing to keep in mind is that for all practical purposes don't expand well once your velocity drops under 1800fps, so if you like to reach out on long shots look at a ballistic calculator first.

I'm with hippie. Don't close up shop yet. Keep on doing what you're doing.

Having said that, I like trying new stuff. The last 2 years have been rough. It wasn't really possible to go buy a list of proven performance components, roll them up, and shoot. I had to wander off the beaten path and use components that weren't as sought after... And I learned.

Things are starting to get better with availability (not price wise yet) so I plan to stock up on my preferred components. But I have load data for stuff that a lot of people pass up.

Get a box or 2 of Barnes or another popular mono and find something that works for you and hold on to the data.

Don't switch over completely yet. Make them fight the fight and force you.

Mike

Arcticotter, bullet jump is the distance off the rifling the bullet has to move from the rest position in the chamber. It is the distance from the bullet ogive to the lands (rifling). My 22-250 and 223 the bullet is actually touching the lands. My 300 WM is .020 off. They get loaded one at a time as a single shot. The others are constrained by what will fit in the magazine. I can make them shorter but not longer if I want to feed from the magazine. Berger recomends touching the rifling. Barnes recomends starting at .050 off and more if necessary to get better grouping. I've gone as far as .150 and said poop on this as pressure was going up with the decreased case volume.

Ok I gotcha never heard it as bullet jump. I’m seated at max length of the box magazine. Both of these rifles are Rugers and seem to like Barnes bullets. I honestly would have to measure how far off the lands they are. They are extremely accurate in both. I’m not a target or competition shooter just a hunter. Copper fowling hasn’t been a issue with the few rounds and cleaning I do a year. I don't shoot these because of any on lead rules just like them because things die when you hit them.

Barnes and Cutting Edge all the way for me. I'm mostly a 30 caliber guy. But before the boat accident I had a 30-378 Wby, several 308, a 30-06, a 300 WM, a 35 wheelen, a 375-358 ultra, a 45-70 and a 45-120 that all shoot, I mean shot lights out with Barnes. Been paying with Cutting Edge and am definitely impressed.