IA Born Report post Posted August 6, 2019 A hometown friend called me yesterday asking about load data for either Barnes TSX-FN or Hornady MonoFlex bullets in his Marlin 336. He's going to be hunting the thick brush of northern Minnesota, so he wants to find a good load for either of these bullets. He told me he's had poor luck with 175 gr bullets of other manufacturers, but he really wants to use non-lead. I don't load for the 30-30, and I've given him all of the advice I can, with regards to looking in Barnes' manual and online data. Hornady doesn't have online data for any of their loads and my manual at home doesn't include data for the 140gr MonoFlex bullet. I've also given him the information on Hornady's two lines of loaded ammunition that has the 140gr MonoFlex and Barnes' VOR-TX with the 150 gr TSX-FN. I figured someone here has worked up loads for either of these two bullets (all he is interested in) and can offer some insight that I can pass along. Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
merwin Report post Posted August 15, 2019 Just joined, saw your post. My brief experience FWIW: Working up loads for my son's Marlin 336 XLR, I found the Barnes max load with Ramshot TAC to be the most accurate (about 32 gr IIRC). It was giving 3 shots under 1" off the concrete benches at Ben Avery. Repeated that for a couple of groups so I kinda stopped development at that point. The Hornady 140 gummy tipped monos were about 2.5" but I didn't spend much time with them. Regular Federal blue box and Winchester silver box 150s were still decent at 1.5" - 2" for comparison. The Factory Hornady LEVERolution were the worst for some reason with 3"- 4" groups (stringing) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IA Born Report post Posted August 15, 2019 18 minutes ago, merwin said: Just joined, saw your post. My brief experience FWIW: Working up loads for my son's Marlin 336 XLR, I found the Barnes max load with Ramshot TAC to be the most accurate (about 32 gr IIRC). It was giving 3 shots under 1" off the concrete benches at Ben Avery. Repeated that for a couple of groups so I kinda stopped development at that point. The Hornady 140 gummy tipped monos were about 2.5" but I didn't spend much time with them. Regular Federal blue box and Winchester silver box 150s were still decent at 1.5" - 2" for comparison. The Factory Hornady LEVERolution were the worst for some reason with 3"- 4" groups (stringing) Thanks! To be clear to pass on to my friend, that's the Barnes 150 gr TSX FN, correct? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThomC Report post Posted August 15, 2019 Silver bullets are good. Leftists from MN probably like gold bullets especially if they can get them from the rich people. Paint some lead green mark AOC and tell him it is a green new deal. 😁 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IA Born Report post Posted August 15, 2019 5 minutes ago, ThomC said: Silver bullets are good. Leftists from MN probably like gold bullets especially if they can get them from the rich people. Paint some lead green mark AOC and tell him it is a green new deal. 😁 My friend is far from a leftist. He's quite the opposite, actually. He simply believes in the performance of Barnes bullets based on other rifles he has, understands the conservation benefit, and wants to load his rifle with them. I have no desire to turn this political, so lets all just keep this about the requested information, please. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
forepaw Report post Posted August 15, 2019 On 8/6/2019 at 11:08 AM, IA Born said: A hometown friend called me yesterday asking about load data for either Barnes TSX-FN or Hornady MonoFlex bullets in his Marlin 336. He's going to be hunting the thick brush of northern Minnesota, so he wants to find a good load for either of these bullets. He told me he's had poor luck with 175 gr bullets of other manufacturers, but he really wants to use non-lead. I don't load for the 30-30, and I've given him all of the advice I can, with regards to looking in Barnes' manual and online data. Hornady doesn't have online data for any of their loads and my manual at home doesn't include data for the 140gr MonoFlex bullet. I've also given him the information on Hornady's two lines of loaded ammunition that has the 140gr MonoFlex and Barnes' VOR-TX with the 150 gr TSX-FN. I figured someone here has worked up loads for either of these two bullets (all he is interested in) and can offer some insight that I can pass along. Thanks! I use the following loads in both my pre-64 M94 and Marlin 336: 34.2 Varget/150 Barnes TSX H.P. and 32.5/AA2520, same bullet. Seat to cannelure. I mostly use W-W primers, and either R-P, W-W, or Federal brass, depending what I most recently picked up off the desert. forepaw 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IA Born Report post Posted August 15, 2019 14 minutes ago, forepaw said: I use the following loads in both my pre-64 M94 and Marlin 336: 34.2 Varget/150 Barnes TSX H.P. and 32.5/AA2520, same bullet. Seat to cannelure. I mostly use W-W primers, and either R-P, W-W, or Federal brass, depending what I most recently picked up off the desert. forepaw Thank you, sir! Greatly appreciated and I will pass it along! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
merwin Report post Posted August 16, 2019 IA Born, Yes, 150 TSX FN for the 30-30 with the big hollow point. Just went to the Barnes website and they show TAC at 32.4 gr max. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
