Thanks, that was my first guess but wasn't sure. I've used Federal High Energy TBBC ammo in my .270 for the last few years and can't think of a better bullet other than hand made re-loads. They perform beautifully on the deer I've taken and the accuracy is amazing. My .270 Rem BDL likes max loads and I'm getting close to 7mm mag performance with them. The few bullets I was able to recover show picture perfect expansions and most go right through the animal with impressive wound channels
Quote: Why would you waste your money on a bullet like that for a mangie deer? There is a place for them but on a deer?
Getting what you pay for is one thing, filling your gas tank with Don Perringon (sp?) is another.
What's wrong with using the best when I'm taking deer out to 560 yards? I want the best performance I can get. When I pay $1000 for a deer hunt doesn't it make sense to use a two dollar and thirty cent bullet?
i love them also. ive killed brown bear, 2 black bear, 1 bison, 1 goat and recovered a few bullets. ive got more than i think but cant remember for sure. (.375 and .300 cal) and all were picture perfect mushrooms and they shoot well
Posts: 111 | Location: eagle river ak | Registered: 01 December 2002
in one of the latest issues of either rifle or handloader magazine (sorry, but I can't remember which) there was an article on Speer bullets and they specifically mentioned that TBBCs were not made by Speer, only packaged and distributed by them.
HunterFisher,
TBBC's performance is superb and out of the question but I am not sure a picture perfect recovered bullet fully describes a picture perfect performance in terms of wound channel and lethality.
I have recovered a number of bullets which showed a far less than picture perfect appearence and that nevertheless produced effective kills, product of good expansion and good penetration. Sometimes much better than the beautiful mushroom with a smooth, round, large frontal diameter that tends to penalize penetration and whose wounds do not tend to bleed much.
montero
Posts: 874 | Location: Madrid-Spain | Registered: 03 July 2000
I used Trophy Bonded bullets in Africa last year on several animals and they all performed well. We recovered three of them from antelope species. We also recovered one Barnes X bullet from a cape buffalo. Picture follows:
Of course if you are spending thousands of dollars on a mule deer hunt it makes sense to save money by using the cheapest bullets possible? I think not. I will use what shoots well out of my rifle and what I can depend upon to do the job. Having said that, my favorite deer rifle is a Browning A-bolt hunter in .257 Roberts. I shoot 117 Sierra Game King Boattails from it, and have never lost a whitetail. I usually take my .300 Weatherby out west because the shots can be really long. Those Game King Boattails would not be appropriate for the .300 because of the higher velocities, so I handload either Barnes X or Trophy Bonded bullets for the Weatherby.
In short, you should use a bullet that is appropriate to the velocity at which you are shooting it. On a box of twenty, I can save less than $20 by loading cheaper bullets. I spend more than that taking my wife out to dinner. It only makes sense to hunt with the best quality equipment you can get. Don't try to save money on the bullets you use. It is penny wise and pound foolish.
Posts: 853 | Location: St. Thomas, Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: 08 January 2004
in one of the latest issues of either rifle or handloader magazine (sorry, but I can't remember which) there was an article on Speer bullets and they specifically mentioned that TBBCs were not made by Speer, only packaged and distributed by them. .............<snip>.......... montero
Yep. I believe the article stated that Federal makes the TBBCs and ships them to Speer for packaging and shipping for the handloading market. Remember that Speer, RCBS, Federal (and some others) are all owned by the same parent company, Alliant Techsystems Inc. The article also said that Speer may take over production of the TBBCs from Federal.
IIRC, Trophy Bonded (the late Jack Carter) made bullets, and he also licensed the technology to Federal. When ATK bought both Federal and Speer, the production was moved to Speer, and they were made available as component bullets. About the same time Jack passed on, so a box on the shelf could conceivably still be some of Jack's production. HTH, Dutch.
Posts: 4564 | Location: Idaho Falls, ID, USA | Registered: 21 September 2000
Quote: Of course if you are spending thousands of dollars on a mule deer hunt it makes sense to save money by using the cheapest bullets possible? I think not.
Don't try to save money on the bullets you use. It is penny wise and pound foolish.
Oh! I see now. So deer get tougher and less expensive bullets loose their credibility as the cost of a hunt goes up. Thank you for pointing that out to me. Very enlightening. That also explains all of the one shot kills Ive had on mulies with those cheap ass Speer hot cores at magnum velocities as well as standard. They were unguided and on public grounds. Now I see that had those hunts costed considerably more that the deer would have probably have shrugged off the shots and came over and gored me out of spite.
Partitions are half the cost of TBBC's. I suppose using them on a big tough $5000.00 deer would be penny wise and pound foolish as well?
What a lot of egotistical bullshit. Bullets dont care how much your hunt costed you.
Posts: 10182 | Location: Tooele, Ut | Registered: 27 September 2001
The picture shows how beautifully TBBC's expand. When you get a bullet that expands 2.5 times it's diameter and retains that much weight it's a darn good bullet.
No, not really intended to inflame. Just tired of being refered to as rude things like cheap and foolish by assholes like you when in fact THAT is unnessecary, friend.
Posts: 10182 | Location: Tooele, Ut | Registered: 27 September 2001
If you didn't intend to inflame, why did you start name calling? It seems to me you have identified yourself as a jerk who has a thin skin, westernhunter. I had no intent to call you anything, and my original post was not directed at you. If you don't like what I post, ignore me. From now on, I will ignore you, since you have nothing to offer of a positive nature. Goodbye.
Posts: 853 | Location: St. Thomas, Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: 08 January 2004
