E-Tip Success & Cautions please

[Guy Miner]

Time to time there is talk about making much or all of Washington a lead-free bullet area. Most of my bird hunting is already in a large area for non-toxic/lead-free shot, and I can see this becoming the norm for big game in Washington as well, as it is for large areas of California.

So as a hedge, and out of curiosity, I picked up four boxes of .30 cal, 168 grain E-Tips a while back. I've not loaded them yet, not even one, but DANG, that is a long, sleek bullet! Primarily considering them for my .30-06, though there are a couple of other .30 cal rifles around the place.

People who've used them - please relate your successes or failures on big game (deer & up) and any loading tips for good accuracy and velocity. I'm trying to learn more about these bullets before I actually start working with them. I have worked with Barnes TSX bullets in the past, but I believe the E-Tip is considerably different from the Barnes bullet.

Thanks!

Guy

 

[SJB358]

Guy, I've got 0 game killing to talk about but like the Barnes I've seen them shoot their best at .050 to over .1 from the rifling. I have seen good accuracy from them I have shot in a few rifles though. Out of all the mono bullets the ETips have the best looking expanded front end I've seen.

 

[Tjay]

In my use of them I have found several things.
1. Start low on the powder charges, they build more pressure than Barnes bullets.
2. They like a good run to the lands like the Barnes.
3. Accuracy was very good but a little harder to find.

These findings were with a 300 SAUM and a 300 RUM. I used 150, 168, 180 and 182 gr. bullets.
Results were one elk with the 168 at 75 yards or so, neck shot drt.

 

[Charlie-NY]

I haven't had much luck getting the E-Tip bullets to shoot in my rifles. I think the lack of relief grooves is a big issue. I wonder if Barnes has some kind of patent rights on the grooving of monometal bullets.

 

[Alderman]

Here is a 150 grain E-tip recovered from this year's deer. Took out a good chunk of the spine from behind. Load is not hot out of the 280, but I haven't chronographed it to check the speed. Weight after recovery is 149.2 grains.
Not a tack driver but shoots okay for a hunting rifle.

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[PJGunner]

I haven't used the E-tips but have done some work with the Barnes TSX bullets in .257 Robt. (100 gr.), 7x57 Mauser )120 and 140 gr.) and .35 Whelen 225 gr.).
Best I've gotten from the .257 is 1.5" and so far 2" with both bullets from the 7x57. The .35 Whelen took to the TSX and groups run from .50" to .75" depending on how well I'm doing on any particular day. They kill elk very nicely too. Have never recovered a bullet as all were complete pass throughs.
I haven't had the time to do any load work with the Bob and Mauser lately so I can only hope for a free day. :roll:
Paul B.

 

[JD338]

Guy,

I have zero on game experience with the E-Tip. I've shot the .257 100 gr in the Roberts, 7mm 150 gr in the 280AI and the .338 200 gr in the 338 RUM. For all three, .100" off the lands and they shot .5 MOA or less.

Impressive performance and penetration.

JD338

 

[salmonchaser]

This was a pretty good size white tail from last year. Taken with a .257 bee and 120 grain Barnes. About 100 yards if I remember correctly. In any event no major bone, shot thru the heart. Very little tissue damage. He ran like a scalded cat for at least 100 yards, my finger is in the exit hole.
I'm used to seeing ballistic tip damage on deer. This left me wondering how hard he would have been to find if the cover had been heavy.
I've only shot one elk with a tsx, bang flop, both shoulders and an exit. One of my buddies uses them in a 7 mag another in an o6. Very satisfied with the results. I guess from my very limited experience I'd go light for caliber for deer, more traditional weights for elk.
A good buddy of mine guides Grizz and moose on the Alaska peninsula. He hates Barnes bullets on Grizz. His experience has been good bonded bullets do a better job of creating massive tissue damage.


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[whit]

I have killed 3 deer using etips in my 7mm Rem mag. First was a buck at 150 yards quartering to me. Bullet entered in front of the near shoulder and was recovered in opposite ham. Bullet looked like one posted above. On next two deer, a doe and a buck on Monday, the bullets passed through so no recovery. My loads are shooting moa. Might be a little hot.

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[Billyram]

I won't be trying the E-Tip. On this side of the country we won't be lead free in my life time. I did try the Barnes bullets in a few calibers. 30-06, .270 Wby and a wildcat .284 HESAM. All rifles got good hunting accuracy with the .270 Wby being the least accurate at around 1-1/4"-1-1/2". They would coat the barrel with copper that was a chore to remove and it seemed to take a while for the accuracy to come back after shooting them. I don't like subjecting a good barrel to this kind of abuse. These bullets may be good for larger game than deer but every deer I shot ran way farther than I like. Didn't matter what the range was. I have hunted with a 6mm Rem loaded with Speer HotCores that did much better.
Billy

 

[DrMike]

My "go to" load for my 270 WSM is built around the 130 grain E-Tip. So far, it has accounted for several moose and elk--all one-shot kills. The load is scary accurate, despite not being a full-throttle load. It has also account for at least one whitetail. I have worked up loads for my .284 Win, .30-06 and .300 WSM with E-Tips, though I've taken nothing with any of these cartridges. I like the bullet. My standard jump to the lands is 0.1 inches.

 

[30-338]

I wanted a rifle to hunt cow elk here in Co and I gunsmith rebarrel one of my 30-06 with a Shilen Super Match @ 25". First two bullets I test was 150gr E-Tip and 165gr AB.

I drew 2 yrs late season cow tags and their down in winter range so not real hard to get good shot and filled my tags with 150gr E-Tip. I got both in the heart exit off side never recover bullets but not that much damage.

Last year I switch over to the 165gr AB for cow tag and use same load this year. Not too often get couple good hunting loads same rifle and that's only reason I switched. The 150gr E-Tip is almost same length as 165gr AB.

Well good luck

 

[baltz526]

I have been thinking about trying the .30 150gr Etip in my 300 weatherby-Ackley. It has a 26" 1-12" barrel And I have not found a very accurate bullet for it yet. The test I have sitting on the bench is the VLD hunting 168gr. If that is not showing promise the 150 Etip is next. On past Etip tests in the 243 and 300 win mag both shot best .030 off the lands.

 

[Guy Miner]

Thanks all. Appreciate the info. Looks like a good project to keep me busy in the loading room for a while this winter.

 

[desertcj]

I found a decent load for the 90 grain in my .243. Still need to do some tweaking. I moly my bullets and have found that let's me use normal charge weights. Of course moly coated cup/core bullets are taking over book max to achieve listed velocity.

 

[6mm Remington]

Guy as you know my son Jeff has taken deer, antelope, and one elk with his 6mm and a 90 gr. E-tip and it has performed perfectly. We have not been able to recover one yet but expansion tests in water jugs from 25-500 yards show that they are expanding nicely and penetrate like crazy.

I might have to give them a try in my own 30-06 just for fun but those dang Accubonds and Partitions shoot so nicely that I don't have any reason to do it! Doesn't mean that I shouldn't! Right?

 

[EOD Diver]

Guy,
No firsthand account from me on this one I'm afraid, but I know they've sure worked well for David and his boy! Eastman's did a neat bullet test that included the E-tip that was pretty cool. Surprisingly, they expanded faster than any other bullet in the test, if I remember correctly. It really balanced penetration with expansion/frontal diameter and combined with 98% weight retention seemed like a solid performer. They also seeem to have a great bc. Below is a link from 2012 when the article was written:

viewtopic.php?t=19478&p=178019

Take Care,

Joe

 

[geo]

I have loaded the 150 grain e-tip form my 280AI and found it to be extremely accurate,( maybe the most accurate bullet for that gun). I seated the bullet about .090 from the lands for best accuracy. I end up abandoning the bullet because of my inability to find why I would get an occasional pressure spike. At random intervals I would get one round that would fly outside my group and clock up to 200fps faster than others. I was very careful with powder charges and double weighed all rounds. I even began to weigh the finish cartridge but I never could find the cause.
I have never used my this load for hunting because of this problem but I have used Nosler factory round and they worked perfect. I have not shot enough factory round to say if they presented the same problem that I hand with my handloads but I' sure they do not. Also as expected the factory loads were not as accurate but only by a very small margin. They have always provided an instant kill from 50 yards out to 500yards on whitetail.