are bonded bullets BETTER?

burkecountydeer

Senior Member
For those of you that have shot both can you give me your opinion on bonded vs non bonded bullets ? And why they are better? The bullets that are really expensive like the Barnes and nosler are all these bonded bullets ?
 

Powerline

Senior Member
Barnes is not bonded it's solid Copper. The Nosler Accubond is bonded. Both will give better penetration on larger animals. I also like the Barnes in smaller caliber rounds I.E. .243 for whitetail
 

Jim Boyd

Senior Member
I am not a gun hunter but the Barnes bullet is the most devastating deer bullet I have ever seen.

It is an absolute death ray on deer.
 

deers2ward

Senior Member
For whitetails you should be using soft points....the exception IMO would be if you are using light for caliber bullets in a marginal caliber.
 

burkecountydeer

Senior Member
From what I have camee up with is if you hit the deer behind the shoulder you are better of you have a fast expanding bullet like a core lokt soft point. If you hit bone you want a bonded bullet to punch threw ? So which bullet is a better all around bullet for performance on any shot ?
 

furtaker

Senior Member
They are not necessarily better but you will get better penetration with a bonded soft point vs. a standard soft point because the jacket is bonded to the core so the bullet loses less weight as it penetrates. But it's also been my experience that you usually get more runners with a bonded bullet too. Both kill deer just fine.
 

deast1988

Senior Member
I shoot premium bonded or monolithic bullets (TTSX/Accubond/ Trophy bonded Tip/ Etip/ GMX/ partition).

You do your homework, what you will find is you pay for predictability. Meaning when you pull the trigger the bullet should do what it does every time from a non scientific stand point whether it's drive deep, retain weight so on...

Deer are not tough, cheap bullets kill them well. Me I shoot high grade (Tough) bullets. Basically when I see a shot I wanna take I can. Quartering toward (Hard) or quartering away hard or head on or Texas heart. I think like a bow hunter pick my exit hole. Might be wrong train of thought but deer are unpredictable especially during the rut when bucks are around does.

I've seen a 165gr TSX break a femur center mass an still exit the chest. From a .300wsm

I've seen a 140ttsx center the chest an exit the rump with a 7RUM.

But I do shoot them in lighter calibers aswell for already stated reasons. I like a 100gr Nosler Etip in 25/06. A few years ago I solely toted it the entire season. I recovered 1 bullet the mushroom was text book. I hit a quartering towards doe point of shoulder recover led the tip in the flank behind ribs on far side. Weight was 94grs. If I see a deer An can get an angle on the vitals with a gun loaded with bonded/monolithic bullets I won't hesitate to give it a free ride home.

Some pros aswell for these are light for caliber tips. Two falls ago we reloaded some mid range 120gr ttsx for a recovering shoulder surgery in 7mm/08. That fall 6shots 6 deer no recovered tips all passthrough with splendid blood trails hardly any recoil.

I've been shooting 130tsx in 30/06 a few years now aswell. I've yet to recover a bullet that round has accounted for around 12deer so far between me An my buddy's who wanted to try a light hollow point in the 30/06. That round is smoking fast, but there are An can folks that chase extreme speed because they tend not to blow up. Example would be 130/120gr bullets loaded in (.300Rum/7RUM)(.300wby/.30-378wby/7wby) you can most likely break 4000fps An some bonded ammo could still hold up An be acceptable for medium to large game.
 

C.Killmaster

Georgia Deer Biologist
I am not a gun hunter but the Barnes bullet is the most devastating deer bullet I have ever seen.

It is an absolute death ray on deer.

I've had a much different experience with Barnes, I had 4 major issues out of about 15 deer I shot with them. First time I've ever seen a deer shot dead through the shoulder run over 100 yards and hardly bleed.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
It's hard to beat regular softpoints for deer-sized critters, especially if you are like me and usually shoot for lungs instead of shoulder bone. I've shot quite a few deer with Barnes bullets, and they usually perform well. Too well sometimes, if you hit both shoulders, and you like deer meat.

But I shot a buck a couple years ago with a Barnes from a .300 Winmag right behind the shoulder. There was a small piece of lung lying on the ground where the deer was standing, but a very sparse blood trail. The deer went about 200 yards. The exit wound looked the same size as the entrance. It hit both lungs/soft tissue, no bone, and it never really expanded, just penciled through. It killed the deer, but not very quickly or effectively. And it took me some work to find it. Never had that happen with a Powerpoint, Core-lokt, Hot Core, or other non-bonded bullets.
 
federal fusion

are hard to beat. You need to buy a box, kill a few deer with them and draw your own opinion.

Folks on here are getting the idea these bullets do not expand. This could not be further from the truth. These bullets expand just as well as any Remington core-loc bullet. The difference is in weight retention.

I'm not going to argue here, just try them before you cast an opinion.

I really like the American Whitetail Hornady Interlock ammo. Great performance and about $22 a box.

$10 a box cheaper than the federal Fusion.

s&r
 

Browning Slayer

Official Voice Of The Dawgs !
Here is an interesting article comparing them all...

http://www.rifleshootermag.com/ammo/bonded-vs-non-bonded-bullets/

I personally shoot and reload Hornady SST's.. They are very accurate and I can safely shoot 1,000 yards. They have brought down Deer and Elk. I've shot Deer from all angles out of my 300 and nothing has taken more than a couple steps before piling up.

At the end of the day, shoot whatever bullet works in your gun the best and pay more attention to bullet placement.
 

catch22

Senior Member
I'll throw my 2 cents in. I shot the accubonds out of my 270wsm for years and killed a bunch of deer with them. Great penetration, but lack of good blood trails if shot behind the shoulder. However they were super accurate.

They quit making the particular bullet I was shooting so I switched to the Fed. Fusion. Frankly, I was skeptical, but I have been super impressed with them. I have killed several deer with them and had great blood trails when they werent DRT. Killed about 12 hogs with them last year and all were DRT. Even killed 2 with one shot (accident, but worked out).
 

DYI hunting

Senior Member
With lighter bullets like 6.8 SPC, I've had great luck with bonded bullets retaining their jackets and weight. I wouldn't worry about which I shot if I was shooting bigger, faster bullets on whitetail. But anything under 120 grains, I always shoot bonded or an all copper like TSX.
 

lampern

Senior Member
For smaller deer species I don't think they are necessary.

For elk and the moose bonded bullets are generally superior
 

Louie270WSM

Member
It depends on what caliber you are shooting. With my 270 wsm I use Barnes TSX because of the speed of the bullet. Calibers that shoot over 3000 fps do well with bonded bullets in my experience. Regular cup and core bullets are fine in faster calibers if you shoot behind the shoulder. If you hit shoulder bones (I shoot high shoulder shots for DRT performance most of the time) a cup and core bullet can have a grenade effect and fail to penetrate to the vitals. I had this happen with an unbonded ballistic tip. Almost lost the deer.

In my slower calibers < 3000 fps the unbonded bullets work better. For me it just depends on what caliber I'm shooting as to what bullet I use.
 

SCDieselDawg

Senior Member
I have shot deer with standard cup n core lead and barnes style bullets. In most calibers I saw little benefit from the barnes. But in the .243 the barnes really impressed me. But not enough to warrant the price.
 

Lead Poison

Senior Member
Yes, for deer hunting, I'm one who prefers an Accubond, Interbond or Barnes TSX over the standard cup and core bullets.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Square in the shoulder with Barnes without a doubt the best!

Except for the ten pounds of wasted burger. Last one I shot dead through both shoulders with a Barnes, it ruined both of them. It definitely put the deer down, though.
 
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