Another interesting set I've thought about using:
Role: Bulk-up sweeper
Barbaracle
Tough claws/Sniper
Adamant or Careful
Held item: Leftovers
EV's: 252hp, 8def, 248spdef or 248hp, 8atk, 252spdef
Bulk up - Boost your attack and defense
Razor Shell - STAB, chance to lower your opponent's defense
Brick Break/Cross Chop - coverage, choose between screen-breaking and reliable accuracy or higher base power, a higher crit chance, and lower accuracy
Stone Edge - STAB, higher crit chance
Sniper is an option here because you have significant bulk, especially with sand support and a bulk up behind your belt, and you should be dealing enough hits for it to be viable. Tough Claws is only suggested if you run more contact moves. After a bulk up, barbaracle will have the following defenses without sand support: Adamant: 405atk, 402def, 270spdef. Careful: 372atk, 399def, 298spdef. With sand, your spdef becomes 405 or 447 respectively.
The pokemon that will give this set the most trouble will be Tangrowth and Toxicroak. That said, a suitable counter for both would be a good idea, although these "counters" to barbaracle fare poorly in the sand. A cleric/clerics with heal bell and/or wish passing capability are much appreciated. The last thing that would probably help is paralysis/burn support and taunt support (Prankster Whimsicott is my preferred teammate for Stun spore, taunt, and tailwind, although Klefki and Sableye make good teammates as well with their respective status moves). You could also run Earthquake instead of a fighting move and retain your excellent coverage while eliminating Toxicroak. Should you choose to do this, Gale Wings Talonflame is an excellent teammate to check Breloom, Chesnaught, and Virizion. Sap-sippers such as Sawsbuck make great allies to switch in on an expected grass move. Sawsbuck is particularly good for this, as it can choose to hit back extremely hard with +1 megahorn or baton pass his boost away to a teammate. That said, screen support is also extremely helpful to barbaracle to help him set up. On top of sand, he will be very hard to stop with light screen up. These are all options, of course.
You could also run substitute, bulk up, brick break, and shadow claw for perfect coverage, protection from status/taunt/flinch, and the ability to build your defense up to phenomenal levels. This setup would check Jellicent and other stallers, with the one major exception being tangrowth because of the 4x weakness to Giga Drain, but as mentioned above, a special attacker that can outrun tangrowth (not difficult if he runs as a physical wall) can come in for the OHKO. You could also try to PP stall away the plant's Giga drains with substitute, as you naturally outrun it, potentially rendering it a liability on your opponent's team and vulnerable to being easily killed by a strong special attacker. As mentioned above, sap sipper is another option to keep your opponent from throwing grass moves out so hastily or take advantage of it.
