Trophy Bonded Bear Claw bullets for 300 H & H

[chukardogs]

 Would like some opinions. I'm reloading for a Ruger #1 in 300 H & H. While digging around in the reloading box, I came across a box of (25) in 308- 200 gr. Trophy Bonded Bear Claw bullets. I want to have a variety of bullets so I can start getting familiar with this gun.
 I went though all of my books and the internet and found no data specifically related to the TBBC bullets. I contacted Federal (who was absolutely no help) because they've been selling the bullets, Their exact response was,

Waren, 

Thank you for contacting us. We do not have any reloading data for those projectiles and no longer offer them as components.  

Thanks
Federal

Lots of help, they were!

 Anywhoo, I looked at the 200 gr. bullets I do have information on and imo the nearest bullet is the Speer Grand Slam in 200 gr.  I used the middle of the range out of the Speer book because I'm not a big fan of black eyes. If anyone has another opinion on how to look at this, please let me know. Thanks

[JWBINX]

200 grains is 200 grains.
Use the data from the speer manual or go online and see who has a load
for 300 H&H 200 grains.
Hodgdon powder has a lot of load data online.
 

[chukardogs]

That was my belief also but, physics is physics also. If the bullet going down the barrel has more or less contact with the barrel thus friction, there must be a difference. It might be slight but it's there.

[Magnum_Willys]

Imo those were the best bullets ever made for big game.  Maybe not ballistically great but from point blank to 400 yards amazing mushroom everytime.   I did kill shots at point blank range and still had perfect mushrooms.   

[chukardogs]

I bought a box of Federal 115 TBBCs for my 25-06 in the 90s. I used three of them to verify and check my center against my other Federal shells and reloads. Then I used them only for hunting and last I checked, I'm down to 1 or 2 left. Every animal that I connected with went down in a heap. The one tree I hit, damn near went down.
You can't buy them in any sizes except the larger bore .375x300 gr. anymore so I guess those days are over. I've found the Speer Grand Slam is also a sledge hammer. Pretty much all I reload for my 25-06 these days. 120 gr. Grand Slam dropped a Caribou at 375 in it's tracks.

[JWBINX]

Imo those were the best bullets ever made for big game.  Maybe not ballistically great but from point blank to 400 yards amazing mushroom everytime.   I did kill shots at point blank range and still had perfect mushrooms.

I agree!!
I was hunting Caribou with my Federal rep in the 90s and he wounded a Caribou late in the day.
As it ran towards some timber I anchored it with a .338 225 gr Trophy bonded original from Jack Carter.
The bullet travelled nearly the length of it's body (Texas Heart shot) and retained 98% of it weight.
Good times.

[Magnum_Willys]

Yep - 338 wm with 225 TB took many many elk for me and they almost never took a second step.  Great combo and with synthetic stock no muzzle breaks needed. 

[chukardogs]

As far as TBBCs possibly being balistically inferior; Years ago I worked up a couple loads for my 25-06 built on a 1903 Springfield. I started by purchasing a few boxes of Federal, Winchester and Remington ammo for it and out of the those, I found the standard Federal 117 gr. (not Premium) gave me tightest groups. This gave me some basic information and food for thought when I started working up a load. For my long range (200-400 yds) bullet, the 100 gr. Barnes TSX got the call and for the 0 to 200 yard shot, after trying some of the available bullets at the time, I found that the Speer Grand Slam gave me the best grouping from a well respected hunting bullet. I've used these two loads with solid results for 25 years. Over the last few years, I've read a couple articles that questioned the benefit from a boat tail bullet from 0-200 yards. When I look at the difference in my group size between the Barnes 100gr. (BT) TSX (.625/.750)  and the Speer 120 gr. (FB) Grand Slam (.750/.875) I don't see enough difference to even consider it worth worrying about. Recently, I decided to see if there was much difference in POI and group size between the Speer GS load and the Hornady 117 gr. RN. With everything else identical to the 120 GS load except the bullet, the difference in group size (.750/.875 to .875/1.125) was minimal.
 I guess my point in all this is, we as shooters put a lot of stock in the numbers in the data like the ballistic coefficients of the different bullets but for the average shooter at reasonable hunting yardage, their affect on the bottom line are negligible. Once I get these 300 H&H loads finished and get some rounds down the barrel, I may be singing a completely different tune but for now, I think these TBBCs will fly just fine.
Hey just a FWIW, I'm not saying there aren't other brands of bullets out there that could have given as good or better results but with what I had readily available in the outlets around me, this was what I found. In no means am I saying these bullets are better than others.

[theunseenvw]

It looks like federal does offer load data for a 200gr terminal ascent bullet in the .300 H&H. I would not be hesitant to start with load data for the TA and apply it to the TBBC.

[huntnnw]

Imo those were the best bullets ever made for big game.  Maybe not ballistically great but from point blank to 400 yards amazing mushroom everytime.   I did kill shots at point blank range and still had perfect mushrooms.

Not me! I quit using them after a failure on a bear. I shot a bear at 400 yards shooting almost straight down. Bear dropped and never found it. 2 days later sitting 600 yards over from where I shot bear a bear that looked the same came by with a slight gimp. I shot bear and got down to it and noticed immediately a huge hole in back the bullet exploded I could see into it’s chest and lungs from the hole. Bullet never even made it into the lungs. Bullet woulda stayed together it was placed perfectly woulda hit lungs and been dead in seconds . Fragments all over in hole and never used them again.

[chukardogs]

I'll look into that. Thanks

[Magnum_Willys]

Imo those were the best bullets ever made for big game.  Maybe not ballistically great but from point blank to 400 yards amazing mushroom everytime.   I did kill shots at point blank range and still had perfect mushrooms.

Not me! I quit using them after a failure on a bear. I shot a bear at 400 yards shooting almost straight down. Bear dropped and never found it. 2 days later sitting 600 yards over from where I shot bear a bear that looked the same came by with a slight gimp. I shot bear and got down to it and noticed immediately a huge hole in back the bullet exploded I could see into it’s chest and lungs from the hole. Bullet never even made it into the lungs. Bullet woulda stayed together it was placed perfectly woulda hit lungs and been dead in seconds . Fragments all over in hole and never used them again.

Wow! Straight thru backbone and it shrugged it off?  Cocaine Bear? Lol

[chukardogs]

Bears are tough, no denying that! I just have to say, after one bad experience with a bullet, I wouldn't even have thought to question the bullet make up. Isn't it possible that any bullet on any given Sunday can have a bad day? To me, that's like sighting in a rifle by shooting one bullet, making an adjustment, shooting another and making another adjustment and so on....