Barnes-X Spitzers in the .45-70??

[Smokey]

I'm wondering if anyone has experience loading/using the Barnes XFB spitzer, in .45-70, in a Ruger #1, Shiloh and/or Browning 1885, in any bullet weight.  The Barnes manual lists this as a bullet for the .458 Winchester but I'm wondering if it's appropriate for the .45-70. The Barnes manual specifies a flat nose X Bullet for the .45-70.

Thanks, in advance, for your help.

[Smokin Joe]

I tried them in my NEF, but because of the recommendation to seat them .050 off the lands, I had to throat my barrel an additional .250".
 You have to push them at max to get any reasonable expansion.

[Bill,SC]

Smokey,

You know why Barnes says to use the flat nose.  They can't afford to recomend the spitzer and then have somebody use it in a tube mag.

I have used the Barnes X for my contender for several years.  In sand at 100yds I got text book expansion.  It is tough to say what happens on game.  I have never recovered a bullet.  I will tell you that nothing has moved after being hit with the X.

I use reloader 7 with a large rifle mag. primer.

[Smokey]

How fast are you pushin' that X, and how heavy is it?

[Smokin Joe]

I'm shoving mine to almost 2000.

By the way, if you open the existing hollow point on the X bullet with an 1/8" or 3/32" drill bit, to the normal depth, you can get 'em to work at much lower velocity.

[Joel]

There's an interesting thread over at Beartooth Bullets Rifle and Cartridges forum on the Barnes 300 gr X spitzer and flatnose.  To quickly summarize, one of the more experimentally minded guys did a lot of testing with a chrono and wet newsprint on the X spitzer and found that it needs a minimum of 1600 fps to reliabably expand.  The flat nose will expand down to around 1100 fps if I remember right.  Someone else did some ballistic work on those two styles and found out that if started at 2260 fps(which ain't all that fast for a #1 or stronger) and sighted for a 6" MPBR(+/- 3") you could hold dead on out to 217 yds.  You ended up with a 185 yd zero.  The flatnose at the same velocity had an MPBR of 207 yds with 175 yd zero.  The x spitzer still had enough velocity at 300 yds(1700 fps)to expand, but the drop was gettin serious.  The flat nose was acting like a mortar at 300.  With those sight settings.

[Smokey]

...reveals that, consistent with the guy you referenced Joel, the "X" spitzer opens at 1600 fps.  The Barnes folks also told me that the XFN is supposed to open at 1000 fps.  The Barnes manual has the Barnes Original 300 grain semi-spitzer leaving the muzzle at anywhere between 2284 and 2077 fps.  Question is, if was an X spitzer instead of the Original, in the same weight, would it would be moving faster than that 1600 fps threshold? The 400 grain Original SSSP leaves the muzzle at between 1796 and 1906 fps, which suggests it would likely be slower than 1600 fps at 200 yds.  Perhaps the ballistic advantages of the X spitzer are only apparent in the lighter weights, and at the faster speeds required for it to expand properly.