I saw sample bullets in .458 500grs. Trophy Bonded Solids at SCI Reno. Spoke with Speer rep and he said they were going to manufacture and release to the reloading trade in bigbore calibers. Release date in March. Does anyone know the status of these bullets? I have heard these are a very good design and would like to try them. Woodleighs are good, Barnes banded flatnose are ok, but just too long. I perfered their old roundnose solids.

Are you talking about the Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Bullets? If so, Midwayusa lists they are expected to be in stock March 22.

I would expect the TBSH solid to be good, even made by Speer instead of Jack Carter.

Is it Terry Wieland and AR's own Andy who have said that the TB Bear Claw soft by Speer is inferior to the old Jack Carter originals, due to the alloy used in the jackets, gilding metal instead of copper?

Surely a bonded lead core in a brass/bronze jacketed solid with a thick and flat nose would be hard to mess up, regarding the Trophy Bonded Sledge Hammer, no matter how hard Speer's bean counters try.

The shape of their meplat may change. A while ago, I posted a lot about reloading a Lott (couldn't resist) -- asking for info on whether anyone else had trouble with TBBC in .458 500 gr loading .458 Lotts. For the life of me, I couldn't get the things to feed in my M77. Eventually, I asked Speer (duh!) who forwarded it to Federal (the ones who actually own the TBBC), who said they had a similar problem, and were still trying to figure out what to do about it, seeing as they had already announced the load. They were kind enough to send a check for the bullets I ended up pulling. In the end, I'm sure they will have a good solution to the problem. Question is, how will it shoot in my gun?

Dan

I know this is gonna be controversial, but IMO:-

The new one can't be any worse than than the old TBBC solid...... I've seen more of them fail than all the other FMJ solids put together....

Thanks for the reply. Will check with Midway at the end of the month. Shakari, Fail? How? Bending, riviting, failure to penetrate

Shakari,

Are you talking about the Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer? If so, would you mind sharing some of your experiences with failed TBSH's. I am planning on using them for an upcoming buff/ele hunt and have not seen any negative comments but yours. Any information would be helpful.

Doug

I've seen an awful lot of them fail over the years..... but the worst failure I've seen was a client who was using a .375 H&H. He shot an eland in the Selous a few years ago...... It killed the animal so I guess one could argue it wasn't a failure..... but this TBBC FMJ solid hit the animal, entering through a rib and we found it in the chest cavity. It hadn't even made it to the other side of the ribcage, let alone exited. The bullet wasn't quite bent at right angles but it wasn't far off a right angle. (guess I should have photographed it really). Had that bullet been fired at a charging Buff or an Elephant I reckon we would have been in very deep doo-doos.... and I've never forgotten it!

Dougaboy,

You don't say if you're using a bolt or a double rifle. If you're using a bolt action, I'd suggest you use a good quality mono solid such as a GS Custom or Stewart etc. If you're using a double rifle and have to use a FMJ solid then use something like a Woodleigh.... in fact, IMO ANYTHING except a TBBC.

I reckon I've seen occasional failures on virtually all makes of FMJ over the years..... but I've NEVER seen a known brand mono solid fail on any animal.

Shakari,

Thanks for the reply.

Doug

Well, they have come out with their new .458 TBBC's to handle the .458 Lott feeding problem. You can see pictures clearly enough on Midway's website: http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=162544

The diameter of the front has been reduced, but the meplat is still pretty much cylindrical. The rear still has a band wide enough to engage the rifling and seal in the grooves. All-in-all, it now looks very much like the A-square triad profile. They want > $100 for a box of 20 ($120 for their solids).

Dan

Yes, and at $5.50 per round, why bother to reload? Thanks again Midway...

Some of the M77 RSMs do not feed flat nose from the left side well. Mine dont. Needs some
slicking up.

Feeding isn't exactly the right word... The rounds would not chamber when loaded with the old TBBC profile. Even if you seated the bullets very deeply (leaving case capacities closer to .458 win), they would not chamber. Federal was very kind to refund me my $'s I spent on my TBBC bullets because they had found the same problem after their public release that they were marketing .458 Lott with TBBC. So it was interesting that they were willing to re-shape the bullet to be able to chamber for .458 Lott. The Midway pictures of the loads tell the whole story.

Dan