300wm federal trophy bonded tip
 

anyone used these on elk? i shot a great 5 shot group with them this weekend and was thinking about changing from nosler partition to these. both are in the 180 size but the TT shot a group of 5 at 100 yds that was all touching in a 4 leaf clover (one enter the same hole as a previous shot) the partitions tend to be in the 1 to 1 1/2" grouping. if the expansion and retention is any good they are the answer to my long range shooting. i've read their advertisement but i would like to have some personal input.

you will not have a problem with the trophy bonded bear claw on elk
RR

i switched from the noslers to these on my .300 winmag as i was finding whenever i would eject an unshot cartridge my tikka would clip the tip of the bullet off. while i'm not even sure it would effect anything i saw the polymer tipped federals and found they shot exactly the same but don't suffer the same snip the lead tips did.
no change in grouping and while they don't have the nosler handle i assume expansion and penetration shouldn't be a problem being they're still premium ammunition.

One of our elk camp members brought these with him a couple of years ago (180-gr, in .300 WSM). Their performance was somewhat clouded by his poor marksmanship, so I don't want to say it's entirely the fault of the bullet.

Most of us still shoot some version of the old cup-and-core bullet in .284 and .308. Those that we recover generally look much like you would expect. We saw something different with those trophy bondeds, however. The one we were able to recover didn't seem to open up like the cup-and-core do. That shot was a textbook broadside through the boiler room at a little over 200 yards. We found the bullet under the hide of the off-side shoulder, it had "mushroomed" very little compared to what we would have expected from a cup-and-core bullet.

I'm not fan enough of some of these newer bullets yet that I'll use them myself. However, I wonder if the jackets might be that much "tougher" that they need more velocity to upset them? Or, if they're simply more suited to game that demand greater penetration?

Our elk camp member lost two animals prior to downing that third one. One of those we did pick up later the same day and another hunter knocked it down, the other we found about a week later and we weren't able to salvage. I don't believe the animal that we picked up would have survived the night, but we've had a few "bad hits" with cup-and-core bullets under similar conditions where the animal was recovered in minutes rather than hours. Needless to say, our elk camp member was given an ultimatum. Get your shooting together or pick up a new camp title - "Cook"

So, bottom line - I agree with RR. You SHOULDN'T have a problem with them. They WILL work. And although my experience is decidedly limited otherwise, I'll caveat that with my suspicion that they may make marginal hits worse in terms of recovering wounded animals.

bonded bullets have one difference from the cup core bullets, the inside of the jacket is fluxed, much like a plumber fluxes a copper pipe joint before soldering, so the solder or lead in the case of a bullet (remember solder used to be made with lead) sticks to the copper.
I've shot a lot of bonded bullets, no they don't expand as violently as a standard cup/core bullet, but they are nice to have for those high velocity shoulder impacts.
actually on a high velocity impact they hold up better than a partition. if you have enough horsepower to rupture the partition, they stop...NOW! a bonded bullet may become a twisted mass of copper and lead but it holds togather, retains weight and keeps penetrating.
RR

I typically avoid shoulder shots when I can. There are a lot of variables here, and a lot of personal preference as well.

There seem to be two camps regarding bullet performance anymore. Those who want a pass-through (often citing that they're easier to trail then), and those who want an animal DRT. I fall into the latter.

If I were hunting big bears again, I'd want a tough bullet that would crush bones and continue on through to the vitals. Using that same bullet on an elk (which I have), made a .375 hole going in, a .375 hole going out, a very heavy blood trail, but a trailing job nonetheless. Had it been a lighter bullet, or a one-lung-only hit, I don't know that I'd have recovered that animal? Again, I prefer DRT.

I shoot .30-06 and .300 Wby for elk today. My shots are usually less than 200 yards. My preference is not a pass-through. Cup-and-core work well for me. Just one hunter's opinion.

Hopefully the OP has enough information to go out and start building his own library of experience. There's only so much readers can get from reading about our opinions and experiences before they just need to go and do it and see for themselves.

Not sure what your idea of long range shooting is, but some years ago about 2009-ish I was shooting some Federal high end bonded ammo (forget the exact bullet at the moment) and it shot tight as heck at 100. It would shoot sub MOA groups all day long that would measure 1/2 to 3/4 MOA. However it would not hold minute of truck at 500.

In other words shoot it at distance and ensure it is still good to go for your accuracy standards. About a year ago I had a talk with a rep. from ATK (parent company of Federal) and he said they have changed their bonding process and the accuracy issue has been resolved as a result. Not I have not had the opportunity to put that to the test, as of yet.

if your bullet is matched well to your rifle as far a stabilization, and your shooting 1/2 moa at 100, you got something else going on if accuracy just goes to nothing. this is a fact!
RR

Fact yes but a hard fast 100% absolute rule, no. I guess I should have elaborated, my fault I hate typing. When I was shooting this bonded ammo at distance that particular day I was also shooting my standard Hornady 168g TAP that gives me sub-MOA at 500 yards with no issues. When I started to shoot the bonded and my spotter was calling all 5 of the shots all over the place I instantly thought what the heck happened to my gun. I thought some thing had come loose. So I got my tools out and did a quick check everything was still set to the proper specs. So I tried again with same results the rounds staying consistent of minuet of truck. So I grabbed a box of my TAP and put 5 in the X. Don’t think it was gun or me and the bonded was also a 168g pill.

So as a result any bullet I shoot for hunting purposes I not only shoot for accuracy at 100 yards but at the maximum distance I believe I will need to shoot at in the field just to verify the accuracy. I think those are the actions of a responsible and ethical hunter. Wouldn’t you agree?

what cartridge what twist?
RR