Bridger Bullets FFL was long ago approved. Website still not up? Well, it is supposed to be in the works now. John McMorrow has lots of matters to attend to, I guess, but he is turning out some bullets.

Noting that no one in the entire world is producing a 300 grain FN monometal bullet in .375 caliber, he has come up with two! One in copper and one in bronze! As well as a 270 grain bronze FN .375 solid. And there is the reproduction of Saeed's Walterhog, along with a 300 grain bronze point soft in .375 caliber as well.

L-R, by Bridger Bullets:
Walterhog
300 grain bronze FN
300 grain copper FN
270 grain bronze FN

And at extreme right, Groove 265 grain copper FN, called the "MI," to illustrate the difference between "grooves" and driving bands.

With my preliminary test firing of the "grooved" bullets and the Bridger "banded" bullets, there is no practical difference in accuracy, nor in the crimping and gripping of bullet in the case neck on hunting loads. Both type bullets can be sub 1/2 MOA shooters with minimum fuss, but I like the heavier weight options available from Bridger in monometals. Barnes has been doing 300 grain copper and bronze softs and solids with good results for many shooters, like me with a .375 H&H on plains game in Botswana, .375 Wby on Kodiak blacktail deer, and .375 RUM on Kentucky whitetail deer.

Or, like Saeed with a .375/404 on hundreds of critters all over Africa, from hyena at 300 yards to buffalo coming at him at 20 yards (head shot), and elephant with the Barnes 300 grain solid. All 300 grain bullets, Original Walterhog soft, or Barnes X and solids.

I have to use the Walterhog in a 3.8" magazine, so it will have to wait for loads, as I have started off with the .375 Weatherby, my old/new pet that has a 3.625" box:


But these FN solids will surely outdo the Barnes round nose solids for staying straight on course in any .375, from .375/.338 Taylor to .378 Weatherby:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid93/pedf56201dd44f629f799feb163b9e83f/fa46f6d0.jpg

So what is the best monometal for an FN, bronze or copper? The copper is softer and will mushroom a bit, like the GSC FN (may GSC RIP), but the bronze is harder and will likely penetrate deeper, but is more brittle and runs the risk of fracture on really heavy bone.

My thinking is that I need both:

Copper FN for the extra wound trauma on buffalo, and they will surely penetrate straight, and all the way through a buffalo.

Bronze FN for the brain and body shots on the elephant.

However, the copper FN might do the trick there too, as it has in the past with some GSC (may they RIP) 570 grain copper FN 500 NE elephant bullets.

I would like to hear what forum members think about copper versus bronze for an FN solid? Also any thoughts on 270 grains versus 300 grains for the weight of the solid?

Which Bridger FN solid would be most useful in a .375 rifle?

My penetration testing awaits a little more paper punching with handloads. I shall post some load data with velocity and accuracy results for the pet .375 Weatherby first.

RIP,

The Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer solid is very heavily bronze-jacketed with a bonded lead core and a fairly wide, flat nose, and it penetrates as well as anything out there, in my experience and according to anecdotal evidence I've heard. No brittleness problems whatsoever. I gave a box of Federal Premiums in .375 H&H Mag. loaded with the 300 grain Sledgehammers to my PH last summer and he was so happy you'd have thought I'd given him a new car.

In a solid, I'd be worried about the softness of an all copper slug. Some expansion, especially if heavy bone is struck, would seem to be inevitable and would hinder penetration. I think I'd go with bronze over copper.

Rip,

I just got done posting some pictures of the bronze tip in the Africa forum but here they are again.

















The actual material we use is not bronze and it is not as brittle as you think. Hopefully Ray will jump in here as he has some experience on Cape Buffalo and the 370 gr 416 cal in the harder version. Penetration and bullet break up have not been a factor. After trying to stop one he eventually gave up when one went through the skull down the length of spine and exited out the arse. I also think he shot some antelope with the 270gr .375 and commented that the damage was similar to that of a tough premium bullet but I will let Ray comment further should he chose.



John

MR,
Can the TBSH bullets in .375 caliber be had as components now that Federal owns them and uses them in their factory loads?

John,
Thanks for the input on your babies. I assumed they were bronze. I am aware that the alloying of copper, zinc, lead, etc., into various bronze and brass types is kind of free floating in the recipe department. Are you at liberty to reveal the composition or a better name for the harder material in your FN monometal solids?

Any metallurgists or engineers have any pointers on these materials?

Anyway, I see the copper FN as a sort of fail-safe bullet lying between soft and solid for close range work on anything, in appropriate caliber and weight and velocity of bullet.

The ultimate triad of bullets in one-rifle versatility: a .375/300 grain soft point, a copper FN, and a "bronze" FN all in the neighborhood of 2700 fps MV.

That means .375 Wby or .375 RUM, and you can shoot .375 H&H ammo in the .375 Wby with only about 100 fps loss of velocity, and excellent accuracy, assuming the rifle is accurate with full power .375 Wby loads.

So that means the .375 Wby is the ultimate KISS Principle rifle, and would be better than the RUM or Saeed's .375/404 for the globetrotting hunter who might lose his ammo along the way. Saeed has conceded this previously.

The length of freebore on the new .375 Wby chamber is 0.375", BTW.

And, for the ultimate .375 Weatherby KISS rifle to use the ultimate KISS triad of bullets in .375cal./300grains the box ought to be 3.8" long to make use of Walterhogs and Bridger bronze points, or you are stuck with loading the softs straight into the chamber only, which I will go ahead and do until I get a longer box on my rifle than the current 3.625".

I'll report back on velocities and accuracy. Hope to hear any comments on ballistics and metallurgy as relates here.

I shot 7 Buffalo this year with the 400 gr. 416 and the 300 gr. 375 using the Bridger FN solid bullets in the bronze mode and they will not shatter IMO, and I did not recover a single one and shot through a couple of bulls lengthwise, I broke both shoulders on one bull and got an exit hole....I have shot quit a few buffalo with the GS FN solid and the copper bullet John makes is the same mixture and it will not expand at all is my experience...I also shot a few bullets into the bulls after they were dead and still did not recover a bullet. I did recover two Noslers and 3 Woodleigh softs...

Saeed shot a small herd of buffalo with the Walter hog bullets and I have some nice pictures of his expanded bullets and they worked well indeed and thats Johns other bullet, its a copy of the Walter Hogg bullet...

I took Pierre a couple of boxes of Johns 510 FN solids for his 500 Jefferys and he loads them to 2200 FPS, they penitrated two elephants, a hippo, a village of Masai, two pakestani gay teenagers in the Sudan and were last heard whining over Moscow looking for a bottle of Vodka!

If I shot a double and I do, then the copper FN solid is the way to go and it will penitrate anything that lives on this planet..In fact I think the copper bullet is the way to go..It should serve every need...I know that GS claimed expansion, but it didn't expand, not one bit, at least not at 2400 in the 416 and 2500 in the 375..

John,
They are beautiful bullets, but that bronze point will not allow a crimp anywhere to keep COL less than 3.800". They will have to be seated deeper than the leading edge of the first full diameter band and without a crimp to fit in the longest commonly available box (.416 Rigby and 460 Weatherby length).

Could the bands be moved forward even if this means decreasing the ogive number slightly?

I like the flat base and sharp nose, and am curious as to how the ballistic coefficients of the Walterhog and Bridger bronze point will compare. Walterhog has a boat tail ...

Ray,
Thanks for the field reports! I hope John can keep up with the demand, or at least won't take any money until he can ship. May GSC RIP.

I would like to stoke all my rifles with the FN solids, either pure copper FN or bronze-alloy FN, in the bolt actions, and copper FN in the 470 NE S/S double (500 grain), and .338 Win Mag O/U double (250 grain). And same weight appropriate softs to go with them.

Eventually I will be needing some .423 softs and FN solids for a petite little FN Mauser.

Rip,

You are dead on. Brass and bronze are only copper with various amounts of other elements added to achieve a desired hardness, toughness, conductivity etc.



The copper we use is 110 untempered oxygen free copper. It is relatively soft compared to the harder material we use for the brass solids. It is actually a brass not bronze that we use for those bullets.



Ok, here is my opinion on the various bullets.



The hard solid is the one to use in a good bolt action DG rifle. Accuracy seems to be the best of all bullets on average. It is my choice for all DG .375 or more.



The copper solid is close in accuracy to the above but will expand if velocities are pushed high enough (2550 or more). You will still get exits on buff at almost any angle except front on or Texas heart shots. These bullets were designed for the double rifle shooter, as the force to engrave the rifling is less than the brass solid. There is one customer who uses a custom .510 in his Searcy in the brass form and has had very good results but I would advise against using the brass bullets in any vintage double or any double who's manufacture does not expressly OK the use of all monometal bullets.



The Bronze tip (actually brass) is designed for positive controlled expansion with good reliable penetration. The tip will drive back 1/3 of the bullet length in a mushroom (no peddles to break off) then expansion will stop. The remaining shank portion will drive the expanded bullet deep. I have shot these into water at 1200 fps to over 3000fps and although there is a bit more material rub-off at the high velocity weight retention in the worst case was 262.6gr (originally 300). I also wanted to make a good longer range bullet for plains game hunting and the BC for these bullets is excellent.



Saeed's Walterhog bullet has a shallow hollow point and may be a bit too shallow to expand well on smaller animals but should work well on the big stuff. I have not shot any of these yet so my comments are based solely on experience with other bullets and my best guess and should be looked upon with skepticism until I and others prove it accurate or not. I would suggest adding a small diameter hole of 1/16� diameter .300 deep for a bit better expansion. JMO. I have watched Saeed�s video and it does seem that on buffalo he has a winner. Also, I have to add that he sure as hell can shoot very well which is actually most of the battle.



Everyone has a philosophy on bullet shape and function. I like two holes and the FNs with a cutting shoulder punches out a hole and does a lot of internal damage due to tissue displacement from a fast moving cavity created by the FN. The two caliber size holes don�t close up and bleed very well.



I am in the mists if putting together a 21 day Tanzania hunt for July 04 and will be trying out a few things mostly the brass solids and the brass tipped copper bullets. Until then the testing and turning continue.



For those asking about the website. I have agreed to give the two nerds that already took my money until Monday to have a working site. After that I will take the loss and get another outfit to get something up and running ASAP.



John



Oh, Although I will be taking credit card numbers at time of order they WILL NOT be charged until the product leaves the shop. My business finances itself or it is not to be. Simple.

Hi Brother Ron,

Looks exciting to me. Looks like I might have to shoot a elephant or buffalo in 04 with one of these. Happy Holidays.

I have shot Bridger FN brass solids in the following calibers:



.366

.375

.416

.458

.474

.510

.585



They are without a doubt both the most accurate and the most consistently accurate bullet I have shot in any of my big bores. Pressures are noticeably less with the Bridger brass solid than with a Woodleigh solid due to the driving band construction of the bullets.



I have only used the Bridger FN solids on game once so far. I shot a bison with a .510 550 grain Bridger FN brass solid. The bullet hit the top of the heart and the lungs. The bison took a step and a half forward, flopped over and died. I was hoping to get in another shot, but the bison fell down before I could even recover from the recoil and aim again, so this ended up being a one shot kill. The performance of the Bridger FN solid was interesting. It exited, of course, but as it went through the heart and lungs, there was substantial tearing of tissue, especially in the lungs. I wonder if the tearing that I saw made the bison drop quickly.



I have not used a Bridger copper solid yet, but I did shoot a downed elephant with a GS .474 500 grain copper solid at 2350 fps as an experiment. The solid went through the elephant's shoulder bone and penetrated a total of about 6.5 feet. The bullet was not deformed at all. When I get around to buying a digital camera, I will post a pic of it. I suspect that the Bridger pure copper will perform at least as well and probably better.



On my next dangerous game hunt I will use Bridger FN solids exclusively. I am even going to use them on plains game because it simplifies life to just take one kind of ammo.

500 grains,

Since I have not yet found a way to get a high-speed camera into an animal before shooting it this is all speculation but to my mind this is what is going on.

The cavity created by the FN displaces tissue. This displacement occurs at the same velocity as the bullet and cavity as it passes through the animal.

The cavity forces the tissue to move but it can't move fast enough without experiencing trauma. As with all things under too much stress, the tissue fails (ruptures) at the weakest point. From then on it tears, as you described, along the muscle tissue in line with the grain of the muscle. All of this is why the FNs IMHO are so effective. Excellent penetration (Straight), bullet holes that don't readily close up and tissue disruption.

John

RIP,

Nope. For some reason, Federal is selling the Bear Claw soft points but not the Sledgehammer solids as components.

With other excellent solids like the Bridgers available, I doubt many will miss the Sledgehammers too much--although I'm sure Federal could sell boatloads of them if they'd bother to try.

John,
All that you said makes utter good sense to me. The proper brass is not brittle, and is as tough as you would want a material to be for an FN solid.

The wounding dynamics of the FN solids has been well documented and discussed by Norbert Hansen, on this site and on his own.

Calling your soft point bullet the Bridger Brass Tip (BBT) would be a nice play on words and avoid confusion with the Remington BronzePoint.

Bridger Brass FN: BBFN
Bridger Copper FN: BCFN

The too-long-for-box problem could be addressed by just omitting the brass tip and leaving a proper hollowpoint (Bridger Hollow Point: BHP), but of course offer the Bridger Brass Tip also for maximum long range performance by single loading into the chamber. That would be an excellent bullet for the .375/50 BMG nuts.

I agree that Saeed got such good results from his Walterhog because he must have driven them at 2900 fps and placed them precisely, and usually on targets that offered a lot of resistance to open them.

I agree that the Walterhog could use a deeper hollowpoint, but also more driving band contact to be sure to stabilize it in a 12" twist barrel at lower velocities than what Saeed uses.

As for my first order, make that the 300 grain BBT, and I want to be able to yank the Brass Tip off of them to reveal a generous hollow point. I would like to use them without the Brass Tip in the box, and with the Brass Tip for single loading directly into the chamber of a .375 Wby or .375 RUM with 3.8" box length. The BBT with the Brass Tip removed would serve me better as a Walterhog equivalent.

Wow! Love those Bridger bullets.

Long Lost Bro' Eric,
I am sure you could make good use of some Bridger .375 bullets. Considering your previous mega bags with .375's, I hope you don't drain off all the production before the rest of us can get to them!

Thanks for the holiday greetings and same to you and yours.
Hope your Mom is well.

500grains,
My, you have been busy! I hope to follow in your footsteps. I am getting some good Bridger .375 Wby results so far on paper targets and over the chronograph. I'll be posting them later, all at once and soon I hope, weather and work permitting.

Thanks, MR.

John,
Forget any of my disparaging remarks about the Walterhog's miniscule driving bands, though I do agree the hollowpoint depth may be an issue for concern.

I just had the best shooting day of my life!

Three of the Walterhogs at 2717 fps went into one hole at 100 yards.

After firing over 200 rounds of various old and new bullets in recent days (nice holiday I am having) I have found an extremely accurate Walterhog load for my rifle.

All the Bridger Bullets that I have (Walterhog and three of your FN's, all in .375 caliber) are doing great, but as destiny would have it, I found a most accurate Walterhog load first.

I have not tried your Bridger Brass Tip yet, but it will be hard to top the Walterhog in the accuracy department. In fact, I just can't wait to try!

My load may be on the warm side, so anyone else should "start 10% below and work up," and "do this at your own risk, not mine," etc.

"My Load":

bullet: Bridger 300 grain Walterhog

cartridge case: Hornady basic sized, annealed, trimmed to 2.850" and fireformed. Factory Weatherby/Norma brass (in .375 Wby headstamp) has about 3 grains more water volume and weighs about 20 grains less in brass weight than my Hornady brass.

Primer: Federal GM215M.

Powder: RL-15, 78.0 grains.

Velocity at 15 feet from muzzle: 2717 fps.

3-shot center-to-center group size at 100 yards: 0.138"

This may just be my compensating errors coming together with a lucky 3-shot, but when you see such lightning flash as this, the thunder is not long off.

This may seem like a fast powder for such a combo, but the long bullet with low bore friction seems to like it.

I have been using RL-15, IMR 4350, H4831SC, and Norma MRP, with bullets from 250 grains to 350 grains, and would like to get this .375 Weatherby data congealed into a reloading page.

FWIW, the .375 Weatherby factory load using a 300 grain Nosler Partition, straight from the Weatherby cardboard box, produces 2734 fps at fifteen feet from the muzzle of my 24" barrel.

This would be very close to the 2800 fps they claim in a 26" barrel. That load's 3-shot 100 yard accuracy in my rifle is in the 1 to 1.5 MOA ballpark.

I just noticed ejector marks on the case head of the fluke micro-group load. It was fine at one grain less powder than that, in my rifle-brass-primer-bullet-temperature combo test, and shot about 1/2 MOA for 3 shots with the Walterhog 300 grainer. I will gather up the good data for bullets from 260 to 350 grains and post in a separate .375 Wby thread. I do not recommend the load in the reply above this one.

Ron,
I would moly those bullets. That should take care of the pressure problems. Do you see any excess fouling? My guess is that it is not bad but a bit of molly goes along way and the spray on stuff works great just get an even coat.
John

RIP,
Just went out and looked at my bullets and in both the 375, and 416 I have the Bridger FN solids crimped behind the first ring at 3.360 OAL for the 375 adn behind the 3rd ring at 3.550 for the 416 Rem and they function fine in my rifles.

John,
I would rather not mess with moly, for now, but that is a thought, and the original Walterhogs were moly coated by Saeed. Also there has been little fouling with your bullets. One 20 minute soak with Wipe-Out after every 30 rounds gets the barrel clean as a whistle. Then I foul it with three factory cartridges before before serious shooting commences (making brass).

Ray,
I crimp all the Bridger FN .375's (270 Brass, 300 Brass, and 300 Copper) just behind the third driving band, with 3 driving bands showing. That gives a COL of about 3.610". These all work fine in the 3.625" box of my rifle or any .375 H&H box. No moly needed for velocity or accuracy with these either.

However, the Walterhog with its great overall length and especially with the long nose/high ogive (and even more so with the Bridger bronze point soft) as well as the location of the crimping point (just behind the first band), the walterhog has to be seated and crimped at ~3.725" COL minimum, and that is the only way I would want to seat and crimp this bullet. There is still a lot of bullet below the case neck too. Needs a 3.75-3.80" magazine box to feed through the magazine.

Happy holidays, y'all.

I'll type up my loads in a Word document and see if Saeed will post them on the Reloading pages, as a .375 Weatherby entry. Saeed, incoming Word!

Saeed has agreed to post a .375 Weatherby page on the Reloading Pages. He has even added a mud covered dagaboy photo and placed the loading data in his usual sort of table.