Hello Everyone,

I have some questions about these bullets. I am going to be cooking up an elk load in my 7mm in the near future and I would like to hear your experiences with the A-Frames, Trphy Bnded Bear Clws and Northforks.

I have a 300 win that I shoot 200 gr. partitions out of and I am very satisfied with that combo, but my brother will most likely be using that setup this fall. So I am putting together a load for the 7mm which is normally my dedicated "deer" rifle. My 7 doesn't like partitions so those are not an option, and my current load (Sciroccos) are not an option either. (I had one grenade on a 100 yard broadside lung shot on a muley buck) (It killed it, but I found 4 pieces of my bullet and would not trust that performance on a bull.

I am of the "school" that penetration is best and I would ideally prefer to have two holes in any animal I shoot.

I don't know if Barnes X's will shoot in my 7 or not, but I am fairly aware of their capabilities. I don't know much about the other three. I have shot A-frames in my 300 but not on game, and the partitions shoot better in that rifle.

So...I would like to hear your experiences with the three that I mentioned. I don't mind spending the "premium" price for any of them, I just want the best that I can equip myself with in that caliber for elk.

Where I hunt, I could get a 30yd timber shot or 300 yard open clearing shot or anything in between.

Of course, accuracy is a must and any bullet will have to perform on the target before it will ever be given a chance to perform in the field. On the flip side, just because a certain bullet will shoot excellent groups on paper, does not mean it will be selected to shoot in the field.

If you have a fair bit of experience with either the trophy bnded Clw or the Northfork on game, I would really like to hear about it.

Thanks for your input.

Autumn Pulse

[ 12-02-2003, 00:33: Message edited by: Autumn Pulse ]

We've used all three on game, all with very similar results. The North Fork bullets have proven to be the most accurate of the three mentioned...by a considerable margin in most of the rifles they were tried in.
Just this past month my son took a nice 5pt elk at a lazered 310yds with a 180gr North Fork. This came out of his 30/06 at 2800fps and penetrated completely on the broadside shot he used. The exit hole was over twice the size of the entrance, the elk ran 50yds and keeled over. I'm sold on them!

My 7mm STW liked the 160 grain Barnes XLC to the exclusion of all other bullets, until I tried the 160 grain North Forks, now that is my go to bullet for that rifle. The North Forks seat like no other bullet, are as tough as the monolithics, yet mushroom beautifully, and are the most accurate premium bullet I have every shot. On this years Colorado Elk hunt my son using North Forks with one of my .358 STA's shot through the shoulders of a Bull Elk, and penetrated the head of a bedded down Cow Elk 20 yards behind the Bull, completely out of his sight. He filled both his tags with one shot. When he dug the North Fork bullet out of the Cow's head, the mushroomed bullet fit perfectly through the entrance hole of the cow, revealing a complete mushroom before reaching the Cow, still penetrating the Cows head and embedding on the far side of the scull. Everyone in camp was impressed by the North Forks performance. Good shooting.

phurley, would you happen to have a picture of that bullet that you could post?
Bill

i havent shot any game with the Bear Claw. the load that i have is a gooder. moly coated 160gr BC on top of 63grs of RL 22 loaded in a R-P nickel case set off by a fed primer. they shot in to 3/4 inches.

I killed one Muley with a .270 130gr TBBC. They shot very accurately out of my rifle. No complaints there. The shot landed high on his shoulder(I was uphill)from about 70 yards, and exited in one piece low on the other side just in front of the off shoulder. The deer never knew what hit him. He dropped on the spot. The exit was a nice uniform hole about the size of a quarter.

I know you didn't ask, but my 7mag only likes 175gr bullets, especially the Hornadys. It sprays anything else into 1 1/2 to 2" while the Hornadys go into under 1/2". Go figure. I have yet to use it on an elk, but I would be confident in that bullet to do the job.

Good luck - Gib

The Northforks penetrate very well, shoot faster, and foul less than the Barnes "X". I have no personal experience with the swifts, but a friend shot an Eland in Africa with them. The animal was quartered away and he shot twice, both rounds impacting the left flank and stopped in or near the far shoulder. Both bullets had lost all frontal mass with nothing remaining but the shank behind the partition. Granted the animal died, but I myself would prefer it hold together better than that. I had a pic of the bullets and I'll post it here if I find it again. As far as the TBBC goes, I loaded my father a bunch of 160gr for elk. He was shooting a 7mm stw and shot a big old bull broadside at 180 yards. The bullets shot through and left a 2 inch exit hole. The elk did not take a step. I will say that they were tough to get decent groups out of. My 338-378 hates them but it is a very very finicky rifle. hope this helps in someway.

I have shot a considerable amount of game with the 7mm 175 TBBC with absulute success.

I have not used the Northfork, and have used Swift A-Frames in my 300 Win, and they work just as well as TBBC.

Mr. Bill ---- I promised Mike Brady if I ever recovered a North Fork I would send it to him. I have already done that, on the promise he would return it after his research. I suspect the picture of it may turn up on his website in the future. When I get it back I will post it here, if I can get help with with the posting. I am a computor "babe in the woods". Mike has posted one of my reloaded 200 grain .30 caliber bullets from a .300 Ultra Mag in the past. It appears on his website under .30 cal and explains the Bull Elk was shot at 418 yards in New Mexico. A buddy I reloaded ammo for shot that Elk, recovered two bullets, which we then sent to Mike for his research. After going to the following website, click on bullets, then .30 cal. www.northforkbullets.com Good shooting.

[ 12-04-2003, 19:43: Message edited by: phurley ]