SmallCaliberCentral

I see Barnes has come out with a 26 gr (seems kind of light) varmint grenade for the 20 cal's. It is a fairly long, flat based bullet which should have a pretty good BC. I hope the 20 cal's perform better than the 22 cals. Heard a lot of bad reports with these bullets with the 223's.


http://www.barnesbullets.com/products/c ... t-grenade/

Yep...

They will be available in 2008.

There is another thread about them here someplace.

I wrote to Barnes and asked when they'd be available since MidwayUSA said they'd be available on Nov 12 and this is what I got back fromthem.

Hi Bob,

We are still working on that bullet. Sorry for the delay. I hope to have them in the next month or so.

Please feel free to check back.

Thanks, Ty




We Aim to please, reloading is a great hobby, enjoy it.

Ty Herring
Barnes Bullets
Customer Service Director
P.O. Box 215 American Fork Utah 84003
Tel 801-756-4222
1-800-574-9200
Fax 801-756-2465

They better work on it. If their 20 cal. bullets have a BC similar to their .22 cal VG bullets I don't expect much. Currently their .22 cal VGs are getting bashed all over the gun forums. They have a crappy BC, over priced, not nearly as accurate as the Vmax/BK s and generally haven't fared well.

I'm on the Barnes Advisory Staff, and as such have just received some of their .22 caliber 36 grain Varmint Grenades. I'll be testing them in my .223's, 223 Improved, and Swift soon, so will report my findings here. They ought to go Light Speed in the Swift! I'm also wanting to try the 20 cal offerings in my 204 to see if I can bust the myths spreading around.

No sage rats to test them on, so we'll have to see how they perform on paper. If accurate enough, I'll request some for fun with Skippy in the spring. I've seen the same reports mentioned above, so am anxious to see how these heavier offerings perform.

Film at 11:00

Point of fact, no myth, the ballistic coifficient is poor at best.
.149 is not condusive to 'long range' and doesn't compare well with BCs running closer to .250.
No matter how fast they start they still drop quickly. You can launch a mattress at 4000 fps but it won't go far.
I tried the .22 cal VGs (actually on two different forums guys offered to give them away for postage) and was less than impressed. In a Shilen barrel 1-12 twist, .221 they shot 1.5" five shot groups with regularity......as a long time prairie dog shooter I have learned to expect much better than that. I get much better than that from Vmaxs, BKs, TNTs and a host of cheaper bullets.

Hummm, that said SKB, they may end up in my 22 K-Hornet then, and not waste more powder in my 223's or Swift. Thos comments mirror what I've heard so far too. Thanks for the input.

Rick - I am sure others have had much better luck with them than I and as with all bullets they can be picky about how they are launched. I thought about trying some of my remaining VGs in my 22-250 AI ....no doubt it will send them out in a hurry. My problem with the VGs I tried on a pd shoot was that I got comfortable with my range and trajectory using the .221 and 40 gr. Vmaxs. Once I ran out I got to the VGs, dialed them in as well as possible and immediately noticed the huge drop. (I shoot pds on my sisters private land where we have yardage markers in the pasture and can shoot any distance we care to)I probably did not give them a fair accessment for accuracy but remember that loading data for the .221 is not all that extensive anyway.
I can go out to shoot pretty much anytime I feel the urge to, if however I were traveling a thousand miles, spending hundreds of dollars, going with friends/family I would not base the success of the trip on those bullets.

A guy at my local gunstore tried to convince me that I should use the Varmint Grenades when I said I was using the Sierra 39gr Blitzkings. He also said that I should be using the 35gr Berger as it was a much more accurate and much better projectile than the Sierra!

I am the kind of guy that once I've found a load that shoots really well, I stay with it. Never been much for playing around with different loads - though I did develop a 165gr and 180gr load for my 300 WSM, one for light game and the other for heavier game.

I did my homework on the Barnes VG's and was less than impressed at the BC, same with the Bergers. True, these projectiles should do over 4000 fps in my rifle, as the 39gr Sierra BKs average 3873 fps, but the thing that attracted me to the Sierra was its BC of .287. So while it starts out a little less than 4000 fps its higher BC should see it perform better at long range than either the Berger and especially the Barnes.

Regards,

Michael.