I've bought some .458 Lott rounds of unknown origin and 10 of them have a "T" on the nose of the bullet. They look a little more bronze than copper and I'm thinking they may be AGST's (African Grand Slam Tungsten). I have had these before and even cut one apart to find the core. I do not remember the "T" being there. Now that they are unavailable I'm not going to cut one up to find out. Anyone with info?



As always "thanks in advance"!

'

Trophy Bonded as I recall.

I have some original Jack Carter Trophy Bonded Sledge Hammer solids and I do believe Will is correct.

The original Speer African Grand Slam bullets with the tungsten core had a much smoother surface finish, no "T" on the nose, and the base of the bullet has a headstamp-like inscription encircling the open hole in the base, that spells out "Speer African Grand Slam."

For five bucks per bullet, we would expect nothing less.

Five bucks each was probably a deal. I had a rack of them but never shot any animules so couldn't vouch for their performance. Speer stopped making them and Midway blew out their inventory of .458's at $45.00 per box. They were made from something in the aluminum bronze family with a swaged in tungsten rod core.

They nailed a poacher in Zim a few years ago ...

I had shot this elephant a few years ago with a Speer 416 AGS solid, that the tracker claimed had made off. We couldn't find it, though as we later found out it was only about 75 yards away from where I had given it a lung shot, but hidden by the heavy bush.

Well, a poacher didn't have much trouble finding it. At sometime later that day or the next he shot another elephant nearby and along with the one I had shot, burned what remained of the two elephant after taking all the meat, to keep the vultures and the smell from alerting any authorities.

They found a bullet in the poacher's house. Indeed it was a 416 caliber Speer AGS solid, with its signature on the back:

AFRICAN GRAND SLAM

That is definitely a Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solid.

Crap,
I've been hauling around one of these as second shot - top of the magazine - just in case I ran into a Tyrannosaurus rex.

KB

They are not extinct as I bought some recently to shoot in the .458 Lott. They would not group with the NorthForks (always shot 4-5 inches to the left ) so I didn't use them in Africa this year. They are for fact Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solids. Dr.C

Yes, they are Trophy Bonded Sledgehammers.

JPK

And best used for target practice -(or back up on buff, never ele)

Yep, that's less than the cost of the bullets themselves as I recall.

Never use on ele? Seriously? You're kidding, right? I'd shoot these in a heartbeat at an ele. These are terrific bullets. I'd go so far as to say they've killed plenty ele.

Got it, explains why they are not magnetic in any way...
Thanks to all

Collins

Showbart

Speer AGS= Fantastic .458 cal Bullets.

Have only seen trophy bonded fired from regular .458 and was NOT impressed.

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej: Speer stopped making them and Midway blew out their inventory of .458's at $45.00 per box.

Chit!! And to think I paid full boat for my "Last Stock" I believe $125 per 25!! I been robed I tell ya!

The TBSH is what got all these FN solids started. It is a dense core of lead in a thick brass/bronze jacket as made by Jack carter.

The AGS was copied after the TBSH, substituting tungsten for lead. Just made the bullet a little shorter.

Fact is, Speer quit the AGS (probably strictly due to poor profit margin and limited sales) and took over the TBSH and changed it a bit.

Rumor is, they muffed the new TBSH by using an inferior alloy encapsulation.

Fact is, sometimes the AGS would fail by having the tungsten core penetrate through the nose of the AGS when it encountered heavy bone.

The old Jack Carter original TBSH had a faultless reputation as far as I have heard.

I see that the Nose of that TBSH pictured in the first post has been battered long and hard in the magazine box. Jack never made them that ugly when they were new.

Nothing is as good as a GSC FN, North Fork FP, or S&H FN, or Bridger FN.

FN monometals is where it is at.

I'm still not sure I'll ever shoot mono solids out of my double and then only North Fork, maybe GS, but Mike at NF is out and not sure how long it'll be before he makes more. I'll likely settle for old Woodleigh solids. I am gald I didn't buy a box of these TBSS and I had my cursor on the BUY button. Hell they're expensive too, more that Aussie made Woodleighs. I sure have shot a few but all at the range. Guess I won't buy any more loaded either.