Barnes Spitfire T-EZ

[GeoHunter]

Hey all,

I got my first muzzle loader bull elk tag this year. I like using copper bullets for my big game, and have heard good things about the Barnes Spitfire T-EZ in 290 grains. Just wondering if anyone has any first hand experience with these. How did they perform? Did they mushroom as expected?

I have also heard some horror stories of tipped copper bullets not mushrooming and just punching a hole through an animal without doing much damage.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Marine4life]

Hey all,

I got my first muzzle loader bull elk tag this year. I like using copper bullets for my big game, and have heard good things about the Barnes Spitfire T-EZ in 290 grains. Just wondering if anyone has any first hand experience with these. How did they perform? Did they mushroom as expected?

I have also heard some horror stories of tipped copper bullets not mushrooming and just punching a hole through an animal without doing much damage.

Thanks for any help.

This doesn’t answer your question but I have been really happy with Thor bullets. I like the option to get different diameter to fit a specific rifle. Accuracy is top notch and they are made by Barnes.


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[Jimss]

I spent a couple months shooting my TC hunter prior to my last UT elk hunt. It took time but I got so I could hit a pie pan every shot at 200 yards with spitfires at 200 yards with a red dot 1x scope. I ended up shooting a great bull at 218 yards twice before he went around 70 yards down a hill and died. They worked well for me but may take time to figure out the powder, drop, etc. The load I used didn't drop many inches at 200 yards which was pretty amazing! I can't remember the exact grain bullet or amount of powder I used...sorry!

 

[PathFinder]

Haven't shot an elk with one, but my dad's bull only went maybe 80 yards after his shot. I've shot three deer with them and been very impressed. I was only shooting 90 grains of loose T7, so maybe 1700 fps or so. I killed one small buck at 80 (spined and dropped), another at 80 (in through the hip, broke offside shoulder and exited) and one at 189 (high lung shot, fully expanded, deer went 15 yards). They are a fairly soft bullet, and have a very low expansion threshold. I wouldn't worry one bit about them opening up. I recovered one bullet, a finishing shot down through the shoulders of the first buck. It was clear down in his ankle, with all petals intact after going through his back, chest cavity, and splintering the entire leg.

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[BG775]

I used the TMZ in 290 grains 3 years ago on a bull. I was using blackhorn powder at about 95 grains. I double lunged my bull at 200 yds. That bull didn’t move 3 feet and flopped over feet in the air. Those were great bullets for me. They shot well and mushroomed just like it was supposed to. It was in the hide on the opposite side he was hit.

 

[GeoHunter]

Thanks for the help guys. Makes me feel better about the bullet selection. Now to get the load dialed in.

 

[mtnrunner260]

I've got the 250s to work up a load with for deer this year. Glad to hear positive reports

 

[mfllood3800]

I shot the 250 gr T-ez
With 120 powder

Plenty of damage done

This was a great load set up out of my T/C out to 400

The below pic is entry hole
Tracking as 20 yards
Blood everywhere

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[PAhunter58]

View attachment 73578

Hopefully this loaded. Here's a Barnes 290gr pulled from a 260LB South Dakota Whitetail @ 228YDS.
Pushed by 95 Grains by Volume Blackhorn 209 out of my CA Accura MR.

 

[mtnrunner260]

I shot the 250 gr T-ez
With 120 powder

Plenty of damage done

This was a great load set up out of my T/C out to 400

The below pic is entry hole
Tracking as 20 yards
Blood everywhere

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What powder are you using?

 

[mfllood3800]

Black horn 209

What powder are you using?

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[Shraggs]

I have been using that bullet for a number of years for whitetail. I’ve taken a lot of big deer and a few does from 30 yards to 246 yards I have nothing but praise for it terminal performance, even on one I got a little back on. He went 100 yards. Good placement at all those ranges above were drt to 50 paces. According to Barnes, 1050 FPS is lowest threshold to open. In my omega I’m using 100 volume of Bh 209, 1965 FPS and 1.5” groups. It’s a 300 yard gun for sure. I tied 8 different sabots before this one worked for my gun. Certainly pleased my gun likes them.

Side note - been equally please with the Remington copper solids for 12 gauge shotgun. Again, according to Barnes that is their same design with some tweaking by Remington.

 

[Versydus]

I've been very happy with their performance. I shoot the 250 grain with 120 grains triple 7 out of a Knight Bighorn. Super accurate, and have yet to have anything go more than 50 yards. Shot my bull last year @24 yards right in chest. Prefect expansion and first time I've ever recovered a bullet from an animal. Shot my buck at 247 yards with the same load and he dropped where he was standing found the slug in the opposite shoulder. Didn't weight them to see if there is a big weight difference from new but still super impressed by them. Need to figure out the right sabots to use as it's a bitch to load.

Bullet on left is from the bull @24 yards.

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[Rdog]

I don't know what gun you're shooting, each one will handle bullets differently. I would look at what parker bullets have to offer. The parker ballistic extreme will do a lot of damage and have pretty good trajectory and the parker match hunter has exceptional trajectory, it may not mushroom quite as much but it would have a better chance of making it past a shoulder blade if it were to hit there. I have a remington ultimate muzzleloader and the 300 grain parkers with 95 grains by weight of BH209 behind them shoot by far the most accurately based on my own experience and some online articles.

Keep in mind, you're shooting a .45 or .50 caliber bullet. While expansion is a good thing, it's not as important as it is when you're shooting a .30 caliber rifle.

 

[GeoHunter]

Nice looking bull! Looks that bullet really got hammered/did some hammering at that range in the elk. Really good expansion in the deer, too. Thanks for the reply.

 

[sagebucks]

I killed a bull in Nevada using the 290 grn barns t-mz 150 grains of triple7. The first shot broadside at 52 yard was a pass through and the second shot was at 148 yards quartering away hit him behind the last rib and the bullet was lodged in the offside shoulder. I figure the bullet went through 36 to 40 inches of elk body before it stopped in the shoulder. The bullet expanded as designed and the bull went 20 yards after the second shot. The best advice I can give is find the bullet that shoots out of your gun all of my hunting partners shoot different bullets and loads because that’s what works for them and they all have had good success with their own loads.

 

[DEEF]

I shot the 250 gr T-ez
With 120 powder

Plenty of damage done

This was a great load set up out of my T/C out to 400

The below pic is entry hole
Tracking as 20 yards
Blood everywhere

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Nice work. Congrats on your harvest.

 

[DEEF]

I've been very happy with their performance. I shoot the 250 grain with 120 grains triple 7 out of a Knight Bighorn. Super accurate, and have yet to have anything go more than 50 yards. Shot my bull last year @24 yards right in chest. Prefect expansion and first time I've ever recovered a bullet from an animal. Shot my buck at 247 yards with the same load and he dropped where he was standing found the slug in the opposite shoulder. Didn't weight them to see if there is a big weight difference from new but still super impressed by them. Need to figure out the right sabots to use as it's a bitch to load.

Bullet on left is from the bull @24 yards.

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Cool Bull. Nice work.