Bought 300 huntacts 6.5 124 grn for 6.5 prc as I have had good use in my 308.
Well the ogive measurements of the 280 remaining bullets is not consistent at all. Have 5-6 different measurements. Emailed balistix (chris and partner from web) and they have not bothered to even respond to my email. Sad to say the least...
SA manufacturers want support but the customer service is terrible and quality even worse.
Anybody else experience the same issue.
Seems I now need to find a new bullet supplier for my 308, 6.5 prc, 303, 25-06 rifles..
Balistix huntact bullets
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Arnold
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Re: Balistix huntact bullets
I did not measure the ogives but found the same on the meplats being different dimensions.
I only bought a 100 of each in .30 cal and .243, but I will not buy them again.
Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk
I only bought a 100 of each in .30 cal and .243, but I will not buy them again.
Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk
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tripodmvr
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Re: Balistix huntact bullets
Hoe skiet die koeëls? Kyk eers voor jy dit as swak afskryf.
.22 Krico, Howa 223 Varminter, 243 AI Musgrave RSA, Ruger RPR 243, P14 - 7 x 64, BSA 303 Sporter, 375 H&H Musgrave, 30-06 Ruger No. 1A, Khan O/U 12br, Norinco O/U 12br
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OosKaapJagter
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Re: Balistix huntact bullets
Ek stem heeltemal saam. Somtyds is 'n mens geneig om obsessief te wees oor dinge wat geen noemenswaardige verskille maak nie.tripodmvr wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 11:15 am Hoe skiet die koeëls? Kyk eers voor jy dit as swak afskryf.
Verder word mono koeëls as 'n reël op CNC masjiene vervaardig. Die kans is goed dat die CNC masjiene meer konsekwent en akkuraat is as die meeste tuis meetapparate.
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tripodmvr
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Re: Balistix huntact bullets
Balistix Bullets Review and interesting observations.
I have been using 7mm Barnes TTSX 120gr in my 7x64 for many years on everything from springbok to Eland, and have found them to be accurate and mushroom perfectly every time. I regard them somewhat of a gold standard against which a hunting bullet should be judged. So with the supply issues that we have in South Africa, I went looking for a replacement. I considered the GMX, Peregrine and Frontier, but in the end, the only thing I could get my hands on in George through a local agent were the Balistix 7mm Huntac 140g. They look pretty cool and remind me of the GS Customs in that they have thin drive bands, rather than the grooves seen in other monos. They are also unique in that they differ in having a rebated boat tail. I’m not sure if this is a gimmick, or if it does anything, but it does look kind of cool. They are also covered in a white hexaboron nitrate powder which seems to help lubricate the seating which make reloading them a bit easier. I weighed the bullets, and found them quite consistent in weight.
The load data suggested I start at around 51 grains of Norma URP and can go to a max of 53grains, so I loaded four test loads at 0.4g intervals: 51.2g, 51.6g, 52g and 52.4g and headed to the range. Under far from ideal circumstances, (I forgot my chair and bean bags at home), I still managed a sub MOA group with the 51.6g load. There were no signs of pressure with any of these loads, which suggests that I could be tempted to go a bit faster to get the next node, but what the hell, I didn’t have any time to play around before my next trip, and the 51.6 load shot very comfortably, without any extra grunt. I loaded up the remaining bullets, adjusted my scope and headed off to the Eastern Cape. While sighting in at the lodge, the load was bang on from the start at 1.5’ above at zero at 100m and I was able to hit a tiny gong at 200m every time, so I was happy with the load accuracy and consistency.
The next day we went out looking for a Kudu, specifically, a massive bull to make lots of biltong, but with <40’ horns so I don’t have to fork out for a trophy. The Kudu where onto us from the start, and never let us get within 550m, so we tried a few different valleys and then we found a small herd led by a nice fat bull with smallish horns. His body size seemed about dowble that of the surrounding cows. After a lot of stalking and maneuvering, I peered over a ridge and found the bull standing on the crest of the next ridge, looking down toward us. I ranged the bushes around him, and got values between 350m and 380m. “Shit” I thought, there was no cover or way to get any closer. I stared at him for a while through the scope whilst some cows browsed around him. I looked at the tables I carry printed on my rifle stock. The bullet drop at that distance would be about 50cm, but fortunately, there was no wind. I decided it was now or never, and I was not likely to get a better shot at him, so I aimed about a hand height above the shoulder and pulled the trigger.
The shot felt like I was playing golf, you know when you have enough time to speak to the ball whilst it’s still in the air. Despite the distance, the shot sounded good and I saw the characteristic tail flick and body flinch of a good hit. The bull ran about 50m down the slope towards us, , and then spun around and around for about 30 seconds before it dropped dead. On examining the animal, the shot was perfect for a kudu quartering slightly towards me. It went through the thick muscle that runs in front of the shoulder blade, near the joint, and out through the ribs just behind the opposite shoulder. A lot of lung blood and lung bits had pumped through the exit hole. I couldn’t have been happier with the placement of a boiler room shot.
On examining the animal, I could not find the entrance wound, but the exit hole was very pronounced, a good finger in diameter, which suggests that even though the bullet had slowed from about 2750ft/sec to less than 2000ft/sec before impact, it still expanded properly, and had enough penetration to go right through.
Below are three pictures showing:
The entrance wound to the shoulder muscle (note how little actual meat damage there is where the bullet entered.
https://ibb.co/0KvpdJz
The exit from the same muscle (about 5cm thick), through which one can see that the bullet expanded to about twice its initial diameter.
https://ibb.co/sKL88n5
The exit hole through the rib section on the other side after going through the vitals, leaving a nice exit hole.
https://ibb.co/4f9jDV8
So I was happy with two things: The bullet expanded successfully at a low velocity, and it exited through a decent size hole to leave a blood trail.
What was interesting, probably a different discussion is that there was a massive amount of jelly blood infiltrate running between the muscle layers of the thorax, which made the shoulders and rib sections of the carcass very difficult to work because of all the congealed blood trapped between the layers. I didn’t think this was from the bullet, or hydrostatic shock, as the impact velocity was very low, and the surrounding muscle was not badly affected. I discussed this with my medically trained friends, and we figured that the animal gets what you call surgical emphysema from the bullet hole, where basically the breathing activity of the chest muscles pumps air into the inter-muscular spaces where you find that fluffy connective tissue. The spaces then fill with blood and leave that congealed mass between the layers which is difficult to get rid of. The meat surrounding these blood clots was perfect, with no blood infiltrate in the muscle tissue. An experienced friend of mine also finds this on kudu that are shot from a distance, and that take a bit longer to die, that the meat damage around the bullet hole is minimal, but the blood clots between the muscle layers gets worse the longer the animal takes to expire, suggesting that the meat “damage” is secondary to the bullet damage.
The second animal shot on the trip was by my daughter, a nice size blesbok bull at about 150m. I did not allow for the wind (Dad error), and the bullet drifted about 20 cm back from where she was aiming, to hit the animal just behind the diaphragm. I heard the characteristic thump of a gut shot, and felt oooo noo. Fortunately the animal weakened and then dropped after a minute or two. An examination of the internals showed that bullet went through the stomach and the liver was turned to mush by the bullet, and the animal blead out. Again, there was a tiny entrance hole and a good size exit wound.
So although my sample size is small, it appears that the Ballistix bullets load fairly easily, and are accurate. They also expand well, even at low velocity, and have good penetration. Overall, I think I’m happy to use these as locally made substitute for Barnes Bullets.
I have been using 7mm Barnes TTSX 120gr in my 7x64 for many years on everything from springbok to Eland, and have found them to be accurate and mushroom perfectly every time. I regard them somewhat of a gold standard against which a hunting bullet should be judged. So with the supply issues that we have in South Africa, I went looking for a replacement. I considered the GMX, Peregrine and Frontier, but in the end, the only thing I could get my hands on in George through a local agent were the Balistix 7mm Huntac 140g. They look pretty cool and remind me of the GS Customs in that they have thin drive bands, rather than the grooves seen in other monos. They are also unique in that they differ in having a rebated boat tail. I’m not sure if this is a gimmick, or if it does anything, but it does look kind of cool. They are also covered in a white hexaboron nitrate powder which seems to help lubricate the seating which make reloading them a bit easier. I weighed the bullets, and found them quite consistent in weight.
The load data suggested I start at around 51 grains of Norma URP and can go to a max of 53grains, so I loaded four test loads at 0.4g intervals: 51.2g, 51.6g, 52g and 52.4g and headed to the range. Under far from ideal circumstances, (I forgot my chair and bean bags at home), I still managed a sub MOA group with the 51.6g load. There were no signs of pressure with any of these loads, which suggests that I could be tempted to go a bit faster to get the next node, but what the hell, I didn’t have any time to play around before my next trip, and the 51.6 load shot very comfortably, without any extra grunt. I loaded up the remaining bullets, adjusted my scope and headed off to the Eastern Cape. While sighting in at the lodge, the load was bang on from the start at 1.5’ above at zero at 100m and I was able to hit a tiny gong at 200m every time, so I was happy with the load accuracy and consistency.
The next day we went out looking for a Kudu, specifically, a massive bull to make lots of biltong, but with <40’ horns so I don’t have to fork out for a trophy. The Kudu where onto us from the start, and never let us get within 550m, so we tried a few different valleys and then we found a small herd led by a nice fat bull with smallish horns. His body size seemed about dowble that of the surrounding cows. After a lot of stalking and maneuvering, I peered over a ridge and found the bull standing on the crest of the next ridge, looking down toward us. I ranged the bushes around him, and got values between 350m and 380m. “Shit” I thought, there was no cover or way to get any closer. I stared at him for a while through the scope whilst some cows browsed around him. I looked at the tables I carry printed on my rifle stock. The bullet drop at that distance would be about 50cm, but fortunately, there was no wind. I decided it was now or never, and I was not likely to get a better shot at him, so I aimed about a hand height above the shoulder and pulled the trigger.
The shot felt like I was playing golf, you know when you have enough time to speak to the ball whilst it’s still in the air. Despite the distance, the shot sounded good and I saw the characteristic tail flick and body flinch of a good hit. The bull ran about 50m down the slope towards us, , and then spun around and around for about 30 seconds before it dropped dead. On examining the animal, the shot was perfect for a kudu quartering slightly towards me. It went through the thick muscle that runs in front of the shoulder blade, near the joint, and out through the ribs just behind the opposite shoulder. A lot of lung blood and lung bits had pumped through the exit hole. I couldn’t have been happier with the placement of a boiler room shot.
On examining the animal, I could not find the entrance wound, but the exit hole was very pronounced, a good finger in diameter, which suggests that even though the bullet had slowed from about 2750ft/sec to less than 2000ft/sec before impact, it still expanded properly, and had enough penetration to go right through.
Below are three pictures showing:
The entrance wound to the shoulder muscle (note how little actual meat damage there is where the bullet entered.
https://ibb.co/0KvpdJz
The exit from the same muscle (about 5cm thick), through which one can see that the bullet expanded to about twice its initial diameter.
https://ibb.co/sKL88n5
The exit hole through the rib section on the other side after going through the vitals, leaving a nice exit hole.
https://ibb.co/4f9jDV8
So I was happy with two things: The bullet expanded successfully at a low velocity, and it exited through a decent size hole to leave a blood trail.
What was interesting, probably a different discussion is that there was a massive amount of jelly blood infiltrate running between the muscle layers of the thorax, which made the shoulders and rib sections of the carcass very difficult to work because of all the congealed blood trapped between the layers. I didn’t think this was from the bullet, or hydrostatic shock, as the impact velocity was very low, and the surrounding muscle was not badly affected. I discussed this with my medically trained friends, and we figured that the animal gets what you call surgical emphysema from the bullet hole, where basically the breathing activity of the chest muscles pumps air into the inter-muscular spaces where you find that fluffy connective tissue. The spaces then fill with blood and leave that congealed mass between the layers which is difficult to get rid of. The meat surrounding these blood clots was perfect, with no blood infiltrate in the muscle tissue. An experienced friend of mine also finds this on kudu that are shot from a distance, and that take a bit longer to die, that the meat damage around the bullet hole is minimal, but the blood clots between the muscle layers gets worse the longer the animal takes to expire, suggesting that the meat “damage” is secondary to the bullet damage.
The second animal shot on the trip was by my daughter, a nice size blesbok bull at about 150m. I did not allow for the wind (Dad error), and the bullet drifted about 20 cm back from where she was aiming, to hit the animal just behind the diaphragm. I heard the characteristic thump of a gut shot, and felt oooo noo. Fortunately the animal weakened and then dropped after a minute or two. An examination of the internals showed that bullet went through the stomach and the liver was turned to mush by the bullet, and the animal blead out. Again, there was a tiny entrance hole and a good size exit wound.
So although my sample size is small, it appears that the Ballistix bullets load fairly easily, and are accurate. They also expand well, even at low velocity, and have good penetration. Overall, I think I’m happy to use these as locally made substitute for Barnes Bullets.
.22 Krico, Howa 223 Varminter, 243 AI Musgrave RSA, Ruger RPR 243, P14 - 7 x 64, BSA 303 Sporter, 375 H&H Musgrave, 30-06 Ruger No. 1A, Khan O/U 12br, Norinco O/U 12br
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Ds J
- Hero Member
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Re: Balistix huntact bullets
Please take them to the range, and let us know what happened?Odvoulety wrote: Tue Jul 11, 2023 10:09 pm Bought 300 huntacts 6.5 124 grn for 6.5 prc as I have had good use in my 308.
Well the ogive measurements of the 280 remaining bullets is not consistent at all. Have 5-6 different measurements. Emailed balistix (chris and partner from web) and they have not bothered to even respond to my email. Sad to say the least...
SA manufacturers want support but the customer service is terrible and quality even worse.
Anybody else experience the same issue.
Seems I now need to find a new bullet supplier for my 308, 6.5 prc, 303, 25-06 rifles..
Call Oom Chris, and have a chat. There might be a good reason why he didn't or couldn't answer your email. +27824427261
Lastly, Balistix work very well. Several of my fellow shooters use them.
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Odvoulety
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- Posts: 12
- Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 9:48 am
Re: Balistix huntact bullets
as mentioned used them exclusively in my 308 - 165 huntact that i hunted with last year, wanted to stick to local. will use the 280 but i have measured everyone and put them in individual packets as per size and will have to readjust my seating die everytime i change packets. six different sizes
measurements are 30-40 thousands different from base of bullet to ogive using a bullet comparator. if these are run on a CNC, maybe a 0.001 - 0.002 difference but not that large or should not be.
as for no reply, i mailed them more than a week ago to give them a chance to respond before asking on the forums. as i have paid my monies yes i will use them but in future will not look at this product again.
as far as promoting the product i have done that with my 308 numerous times at the range etc as i have used them. and was looking at switching all bullets over, granted chris mentioned last year they don't do 25-06 (have 500 SST currently) so will double cross that bridge when it comes.
thanks for the feedback , will shoot the batches out and then hunt for new supplier......
measurements are 30-40 thousands different from base of bullet to ogive using a bullet comparator. if these are run on a CNC, maybe a 0.001 - 0.002 difference but not that large or should not be.
as for no reply, i mailed them more than a week ago to give them a chance to respond before asking on the forums. as i have paid my monies yes i will use them but in future will not look at this product again.
as far as promoting the product i have done that with my 308 numerous times at the range etc as i have used them. and was looking at switching all bullets over, granted chris mentioned last year they don't do 25-06 (have 500 SST currently) so will double cross that bridge when it comes.
thanks for the feedback , will shoot the batches out and then hunt for new supplier......
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Ds J
- Hero Member
- Posts: 2139
- Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 1:25 pm
Re: Balistix huntact bullets
Vir kennisname: O Chris het kontak gemaak met die klaer en die saak is uitsorteer. Dit klink of hy verkeerd gemeet het. Ek hoop dat sy goeie vertroue herstel is.
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Lategan1
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- Posts: 2943
- Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:12 am
Re: Balistix huntact bullets
Ek is bly hier is ‘n redelike einde, ongeag wie verkeerd gemeet het.
Tog is hier ‘n klippie in my skoen. Die boodskapper het ‘n redelike waarneming gehuldig met ‘n spesifieke vraag wie het soortgelyke ervaring. (vir objektiwiteit)
Verder hiertoe weet enige een wat Arnold se skiet aktiwiteite en sy presiesheid ken, dat hy verder as 50m skiet met spesiale gewere. Ek vir een neem kennis van sy algemene ervaring, dit mag wel dalk relatief wees met hierdie koeëls soos hier uitgelig.
Feit bly, ene “oom Chris” het nie op die vraesteller se e-pos reageer nie. Ons moet nie emosioneel raak en die ooglopende ignoreer deur middelmatigheid as die norm te wil vestig nie. Konsekwent wees in oordeel op die forum is belangrik, so laat ons die ruimte vir ander om soortgelyke vrae te stel.
‘n Produk is net so goed soos die diens.
Dankie Ds J vir jou fasilitering.
Beste.
Tog is hier ‘n klippie in my skoen. Die boodskapper het ‘n redelike waarneming gehuldig met ‘n spesifieke vraag wie het soortgelyke ervaring. (vir objektiwiteit)
Verder hiertoe weet enige een wat Arnold se skiet aktiwiteite en sy presiesheid ken, dat hy verder as 50m skiet met spesiale gewere. Ek vir een neem kennis van sy algemene ervaring, dit mag wel dalk relatief wees met hierdie koeëls soos hier uitgelig.
Feit bly, ene “oom Chris” het nie op die vraesteller se e-pos reageer nie. Ons moet nie emosioneel raak en die ooglopende ignoreer deur middelmatigheid as die norm te wil vestig nie. Konsekwent wees in oordeel op die forum is belangrik, so laat ons die ruimte vir ander om soortgelyke vrae te stel.
‘n Produk is net so goed soos die diens.
Dankie Ds J vir jou fasilitering.
Beste.
Jaggewere, haelgewere, rewolwers, jakkelskyk 
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Odvoulety
- Newbie
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Re: Balistix huntact bullets
Hi allDs J wrote:Vir kennisname: O Chris het kontak gemaak met die klaer en die saak is uitsorteer. Dit klink of hy verkeerd gemeet het. Ek hoop dat sy goeie vertroue herstel is.
Just some feedback on my post, was in contact with Chris and he recommended I use a 6mm comparator to measure and not the 6.5mm one, after doing that was getting better consistency in the measurements
Loaded my rounds and am getting very good grouping running at 3060fps. Went on my hunt in August and all animals shot were recovered. Only managed to recover one of the bullets from a blesbuck shot at 360m in the back leg.
So happy with the results and performance of the bullet.
The original post was to ask a question that is all.
Thanks....
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