Has anyone tried the federal trophy cooper bullets

[Thunder Elk Hunter]

A friend of mine wanted to know if the Federal Trophy Cooper bullets work well on moose size game. He says that they shoot well out of gun but has not had a chance yet to see how they work on moose and elk size game.

He ask me and I told him that I don't know as I reload. I said are they not Barnes bullets and he said no federal is loading their own bullets now.

So are they Barnes's bullets or Federals own?

Second question is how do they work on game?

Thanks

TEH

[catnthehat]

Federal uses several different brands of bullets, Barnes, Sierra , Nosler and Speer .
Trophy bonded bullets are made by Speer IIRC
Cat

[waterhaulerhunter]

I shoot them out of the better halfs 243 win and from what I can tell they look like the nosler e-tip which is noslers copper bullet. I have nothing to back this up with though. The green tip on them looks exactly like noslers. They perform like every other all copper bullet though. I wouldn't worry about performance at all. If they shoot good then fire away.

[toddjler]

i just butcher my buddies moose, dug the federal trophy copper out of the neck, it didn't open up was bent over to one side, don't know wether it hit a branch or a tree before the moose but a 180 grain 300 wsm should have pushed through and not been recovered, its defiantly not a barnes,and not something I would buy just my two cents

[Pathfinder76]

Aren't they reincarnated Trophy Bonded Bearclaws?

[DCse7en]

Originally Posted by chuck

Aren't they reincarnated Trophy Bonded Bearclaws?

No. They are similar to a tipped x bullet. They are solid copper with a polymer tip. P and D still has trophy bonded bear claws....aren't they still making those? I don't think the trophy copper bullets are available to reloaders.

[arctic hunter]

I used them last year on a cow elk. I was not impressed, 200 yd broadside shot and it did not open up, small hole and in small hole out. Second shot did the same thing. Solid copper like a TTSX but I got no petal-ling out of it, performed more like an FMJ. Third shot in the head once it was laying down ended it. I thought boiler room shot was good, if I had known I would have gone for a shoulder shot, may have better expansion hitting something denser that a rib and some lung.

[Pathfinder76]

Originally Posted by DCse7en

No. They are similar to a tipped x bullet. They are solid copper with a polymer tip. P and D still has trophy bonded bear claws....aren't they still making those? I don't think the trophy copper bullets are available to reloaders.

This isn't it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6knBn0OG4B8

TBBC's are not available anymore. Jack Carter sold them to Federal.

[Pathfinder76]

This must be them then?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfcqP3VGKyI

[Dudes2010]

I have not used the Federal Trophy Copper bullet.

To be honest Im not sure if i need to. Im completly sold on The Federal Trophy Bonded Tip (orange tipped Bullets). They are a fantastic design and they hold together perfect. I only shoot factory loaded ammo, but they work great. That is, I shoot those out of my 7mm-08 and my 270 win.

I shoot the barnes TSX out of my 7mag, proven design and they are accurate as can be.
When you get the performance out of a TSX or TTSX copper bullet, not sure why to look elsewhere. Unless there are no TSX available, which certainly could be the case nowadays.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers, Dudes2010

[gtita]

I currently use them with great satisfaction. I actually started a thread on their ballistic performance on my .30-06 Tikka T3 (180 gr bullets):

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=224840

I may add to the latter one more issue. Because of the lower specific gravity of solid copper (8.9) as compared to lead-alloy (10.9), copper bullets are longer than lead-alloy bullets for equal weight. This feature requires a faster barrel twist rate to stabilize them.

For instance, Tikka T3 (.30-06) has a twist rate of 1:11 that provides a Miler’s stability (SG) value of ~1.25 to 180-gr copper bullets, which is relatively too low, and of ~1.53 to 165-gr bullets, which is perfect. For a 1:10 twist rate, this figures would be of ~1.5 (180 gr) and ~1.85 (165 gr), respectively, which are perfect.

Conclusion, if you are planning to hunt large game requiring 180 gr bullets at relatively long range (250+ yds), then you may wish using a rifle with a 1:10 twist rate. But if you usually hunt game requiring 165 gr bullets or less, twist rate is not an issue.

This being said, with my Tikka T3 (twist rate 1:11), I hunt moose with 180 gr bullets with success, within 200 yds. Beyond this range, as groupings tend to spread too much with the 180 gr copper bullets, I prefer not shooting at an animal that I may otherwise wound but not kill.

[Thunder Elk Hunter]

Thanks for the replies and from what I see he will have to try them to see if they work for him. Federal is no longer is loading Barnes from what I can find.

TEH

[Thunder Elk Hunter]

He is shooting a 300wsm with a 1 in 10 twist so he should be ok out past 250 yards if I understand what you have here. He is shooting 180 gr copper bullets.

Very interesting the test you did on that other thread.

Let us know if you do any more of these tests.

TEH

Originally Posted by gtita

I currently use them with great satisfaction. I actually started a thread on their ballistic performance on my .30-06 Tikka T3 (180 gr bullets):

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=224840

I may add to the latter one more issue. Because of the lower specific gravity of solid copper (8.9) as compared to lead-alloy (10.9), copper bullets are longer than lead-alloy bullets for equal weight. This feature requires a faster barrel twist rate to stabilize them.

For instance, Tikka T3 (.30-06) has a twist rate of 1:11 that provides a Miler’s stability (SG) value of ~1.25 to 180-gr copper bullets, which is relatively too low, and of ~1.53 to 165-gr bullets, which is perfect. For a 1:10 twist rate, this figures would be of ~1.5 (180 gr) and ~1.85 (165 gr), respectively, which are perfect.

Conclusion, if you are planning to hunt large game requiring 180 gr bullets at relatively long range (250+ yds), then you may wish using a rifle with a 1:10 twist rate. But if you usually hunt game requiring 165 gr bullets or less, twist rate is not an issue.

This being said, with my Tikka T3 (twist rate 1:11), I hunt moose with 180 gr bullets with success, within 200 yds. Beyond this range, as groupings tend to spread too much with the 180 gr copper bullets, I prefer not shooting at an animal that I may otherwise wound but not kill.

[gtita]

Indeed, a 300 wsm with a twist rate of 1:10 provides muzzle gyroscopic stability (SG) to copper bullets as below:

180 gr, SG = 1.54
165 gr, SG = 1.74

These are SG values safely above the minimal recommended level of 1.4 (better if >1.5).

The main reason why I personally prefer copper bullets is associated with their significantly lower environmental impact compared to lead bullets. Moreover, lead raises health concerns in game meat consumption that are inexistent when using copper bullets.

However, once every 60-100 shots it's good to clean off copper fouling from the barrel in order to not loosing the rifle's accuracy.

Cheers!