Testing New Harvest Collection Hunting Ammo from Barnes, Sierra

If you’ve had a hard time keeping track of the Barnes and Sierra bullet companies the last few years, don’t feel bad. Admittedly, even I am fuzzy on the details of the recent ownership changes and affiliations. Although both companies have experienced turbulent administrative fluctuations, the duo has remained committed to excellence, delivering new products and approaches through it all.

This is evident by Hook & Barrel Editor-In-Chief John Radzwilla’s success in South Texas, brought about with Barnes’ new Harvest Collection of ammunition. The cartridges are a celebration of the union of both entities that combines Sierra’s hard-hitting Tipped GameKing bullet with Barnes’ precision loading techniques.

Since both companies make excellent projectiles, it is my belief that a Sierra pill was chosen over a Barnes bullet solely to demonstrate that the two companies are now related. Working together is rather ingenious, if you think about it, as both make uniquely different products. Barnes is known the world over for its turned monolithic copper projectiles, while Sierra is most recognized as a master of the cup-in-core process. 

Instead of either company investing millions to attempt to compete with the other, joining forces hedges this expense while spring-boarding each’s development. For hunters and shooters, this means lower costs and better products, like the new line of Harvest Collection hunting ammunition.

In its early days, if you wanted to shoot a Sierra bullet you had to pick between its dead nuts MatchKing and its extraordinarily lethal GameKing. The problem was that rifle shooting seldom fits into one of these two boxes. As polymer technology advanced, tipped designs started to take center stage and, not to be outdone, found their way onto the drawing board in Sierra’s engineering lab. 

The result was a bullet that blends much of the MatchKing’s form factor with the jacket profile of the GameKing. To help improve its flight characteristics, or ballistic coefficient, a polymer tip seals the deal and sits neatly above a hollow cavity. This configuration creates near-immediate expansion, making it ideal for thin-skinned game.

Initially offered in nine loadings, I zeroed in on the .308 Winchester for this evaluation. My reasoning was sound: who among us doesn’t have experience with that cartridge? When my sample arrived, the first thing I did was deconstruct a few rounds. 

To my surprise, a ball propellant was used to build these. I say surprised because this line of ammunition is billed as temperature stable, which that style of powder typically isn’t. Although the company doesn’t disclose what type of propellant it is, I have strong suspicions, and if I’m right, good on Barnes for selecting it. Time and testing will tell. 

While temperature instability is ball powder’s Achilles heel, it meters prolifically through the measuring devices associated with high-speed loaders, so it’s certainly the best choice as far as consistency goes. My sample of 10 cartridges only varied +/- 0.1 grains, which is stellar for factory ammo, and about what I can do with handloads that are rolled off a progressive press.

While a letter may be written to perfection, it’ll arrive deformed if not placed within a proper envelope. That brings us to the case. Much pride is apparent in this ammunition’s brass; not only does it have a highly polished sheen, but each piece I tested was nearly identical in length. This is an indicator of consistent neck tension, which plays a deciding role in the standard deviation and extreme spread of velocity. 

Similarly, primers were set to the same depth, assuring each cartridge gets struck the same way by the firing pin. Overall, these cartridges were built like a premium product, so I prepared for the range expecting appropriate performance.

As the .308 Win is easily the most popular cartridge within the Harvest Collection, I decided to pick a pair of firearms that were different enough to help encompass the wide breadth of gun owners who hunt with something chambered in .308. 

Springfield Armory’s 2020 Waypoint rose to the top of the list, as its 20-inch barrel is far more realistic than the 24- to 30-inch tubes used for manufacturer’s testing. It also speaks to the sea of AR-10 owners out there, as most of those rifles don a barrel of this length. 

I topped it with a Sightmark Core TX 2.0, as its light weight complemented the rifle, and the 16x maximum magnification would provide a repeatable sight picture.

On the other end of the spectrum was my Aero Precision Solus pistol with its 10.5-inch barrel. As shorties are becoming more prevalent in the field, I felt it was an appropriate inclusion. I topped the Aero with a Sightmark Presidio 1-6x low-power variable optic to put together a package that would be perfect for deep-woods pursuit.

Lastly, to make the neighbors happy, I configured a SilencerCo Hybrid 46m for these guns by removing the foremost baffles and choking it down to .30 caliber.

I began my testing with the Aero pistol at 50 yards and was excited with the initial five-shot groups. Reaching an average of 1.28 inches, my best of five groups came in at 0.94 inches. This is certainly minute-of-deer in these conditions, and with a good zero, I’d be confident about placing a neck shot. 

More importantly, the average velocity was 2,332.5 fps, which gives up less than I expected to the dwarfed barrel. Lastly, the recoil was considerably mild, as indicated by the fact that I didn’t eat the ocular lens of that Presidio.

Moving onto something more conventional, the 100-yard consistency of the Harvest Collection .308 when fired through the Waypoint was outstanding. My five-group average measured 1.11 inches, with my best group coming in at 1.07 inches.

Take note of how close the best was to the average; this speaks volumes to the load’s repeatability. A standard deviation of 10.5 affirms this statement, while an average velocity of 2,626 fps aligns closely with the manufacturer’s advertised velocity. This shows me that Barnes is loading these for modern firearms and thus, keeping pace with the industry.

With firearms zeroed, it was time to test a few of the claims made on the ammo-maker’s website. First up was the temperature stability, which is a rather bold claim for a ball powder. Having velocity data from my 80-degree conditions, I compared them with rounds that I had in a cooler full of ice for the entire range session. Approximately 35 degrees when I fired them, I only noticed around a 1% change in velocity in either firearm, which is downright impressive and good news for those who like to sight in during summer, even though they hunt during winter. 

As for the expansion and penetration claims, let’s just say that at 100 yards, I couldn’t catch a bullet, even with 32 inches of Clear Ballistics 10% FBI Gelatin. The gel did, however, show that the tip departs within two inches of travel and expansion begins at no more than 3.5 inches. As if John’s Axis deer wasn’t proof enough, we can back up his freezer’s contents with this transparent test.

Packing up the range, I confirmed that Barnes and Sierra were able to combine their independent strengths to put together a product that is going to serve hunters well. Historically reserved for the handloader, it’s refreshing to see more Sierra products in a ready-to-fire state, and I suspect that Barnes’ favorite pills won’t be too far behind. Loading up with the Harvest Collection is a sure bet for a knockdown, drag-out hunt, with the only additional pairing to consider being the best wine to enjoy with freshly seared venison.