Favorite .257 bullet

Buckmastr said:
Chinchaga bullets made a 25 cal, rebated I think, boat tail bullet. A friend of mine shot a WT with one from a 250 savage ai and it died. The jacket separated iirc. These bullets were last being made by a guy from central AB, Ponoka.
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Horrible when then animal dies yet you think you didn’t get the performance or weight retention you think you should have. Horrible when the bullet did what it was supposed to yet failed your expectations, yet killed. As long as I get enough penetration I am happy with shrapnel enlarging the wound channel and the bullet fragmenting. Recovering a bullet, even partial, is success. If it wasn’t how would I recover such, you don’t recover off live animals.
 
I wasn’t complaining. And made no mention of bullet failure either then as we dragged it out of the woods, or more importantly, on here.
 
I do not think there is anything wrong with having certain expectations regarding bullet performance.

I use as a basic comparison, the venerable Nosler Partition. Reliable, predictable, and lethal.

Other bullets that I have seen live up to expectations include: Nosler Accubonds, Hornady Interbonds,
Swift Scirocco IIs, Swift A-Frames, & Norma Oryxs,

I really dislike long tracking exercises, and bullet failures create these exercises. Enough said! Dave.

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That isn’t very good performance. How were they recovered given the assumed pencil like non expansion. Tumbled? We’re these the X, TSX or TTSX?
 
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Buckmastr said:
That isn’t very good performance. How were they recovered given the assumed pencil like non expansion. Tumbled? We’re these the X, TSX or TTSX?
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Top is a 338 250 grain TSX, bottom is a 165 grain 30-06 TTSX. Both these animals were shot again with backup rifles and Partitions/Scirocco IIs.
Seems likely they tumbled. In any case, poor performance, IMHO.
 
I have a .257 Roberts that is the rifle that I use most often. I started out using 120 gr. Remington Core-Lokts. When I could no longer get them, I went to 120 gr. Speer Grand Slams. I've been using them since. I've no complaints about their performance. Everything that I've shot to date has taken a single shot and includes black bear, white-tail and a moose calf. Every shot exited no matter the angle of the shot.
 
I like hearing all the bullet reviews. I have had nothing but amazing luck/results/bullet performance with Barnes tsx and ttsx in many different cartridges including 100g ttsx in 257wby! Not knocking any other bullets (which I use aswell), but Barnes has served me very well on pretty much all species BC has to offer!
 
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Speaking of bullet failures and recovered bullets. 180gr tipped trophy bonded bear claw .308 fired from a 300wm into a whitetail bucks shoulder at about 50 yards. It spun and ran not well but was crossing a field in a hurry. 117gr .257 sst hit the other shoulder at about 200 yards. It went thru both shoulders and was against the hide on the far side. The ttbbc was laying against hide on the entrance side. The sst put the deer on its face and it summersaulted. Anything can happen but I expected the ttbbc to blow thru a mid size whitetail not stop on the near shoulder. I was pleased with the sst from my 2506
 

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brybenn said:
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Speaking of bullet failures and recovered bullets. 180gr tipped trophy bonded bear claw .308 fired from a 300wm into a whitetail bucks shoulder at about 50 yards. It spun and ran not well but was crossing a field in a hurry. 117gr .257 sst hit the other shoulder at about 200 yards. It went thru both shoulders and was against the hide on the far side. The ttbbc was laying against hide on the entrance side. The sst put the deer on its face and it summersaulted. Anything can happen but I expected the ttbbc to blow thru a mid size whitetail not stop on the near shoulder. I was pleased with the sst from my 2506
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I experienced three Trophy Bonded BC's blow through a good sized Grizzly at 250 yards with 180's in a .300 WM... one slightly quartering pass through, and two through the shoulders and found under the off-side hide... bear was anchored right there.
 
brybenn said:
View attachment 645022

Speaking of bullet failures and recovered bullets. 180gr tipped trophy bonded bear claw .308 fired from a 300wm into a whitetail bucks shoulder at about 50 yards. It spun and ran not well but was crossing a field in a hurry. 117gr .257 sst hit the other shoulder at about 200 yards. It went thru both shoulders and was against the hide on the far side. The ttbbc was laying against hide on the entrance side. The sst put the deer on its face and it summersaulted. Anything can happen but I expected the ttbbc to blow thru a mid size whitetail not stop on the near shoulder. I was pleased with the sst from my 2506
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Perhaps the bullet hit some brush or branches along the way and caused the bullet to tumble??? I have a hard time believing a bullet that intact didn't penetrate unless the above scenario. I've had bullets fail to penetrate but the bullet blew up and all that was left was fragments of lead and jacket.
 
dgradinaru said:
Perhaps the bullet hit some brush or branches along the way and caused the bullet to tumble??? I have a hard time believing a bullet that intact didn't penetrate unless the above scenario. I've had bullets fail to penetrate but the bullet blew up and all that was left was fragments of lead and jacket.
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Shot in an open field
 
hoytcanon said:
I experienced three Trophy Bonded BC's blow through a good sized Grizzly at 250 yards with 180's in a .300 WM... one slightly quartering pass through, and two through the shoulders and found under the off-side hide... bear was anchored right there.
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I always thought the tbbc was a great bullet. Still do. I tried the tipped version in my 300wm but it didn't group well and I was getting pressure signs with anything above starting loads so I never used them on game myself. I've since sold my 300wm

Maybe it was a dud sounded like a 300 going off. Maybe that bullet was just a product of mass production maybe it just hit at the perfect angle? All I know is if it wasn't shot a 2nd time we would not have gotten that deer
 
brybenn said:
I always thought the tbbc was a great bullet. Still do. I tried the tipped version in my 300wm but it didn't group well and I was getting pressure signs with anything above starting loads so I never used them on game myself. I've since sold my 300wm

Maybe it was a dud sounded like a 300 going off. Maybe that bullet was just a product of mass production maybe it just hit at the perfect angle? All I know is if it wasn't shot a 2nd time we would not have gotten that deer
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That is a head scratcher for sure... my only experience with the TBBC was on that grizzly, but I thought they performed perfectly, with nice even mushrooms and high weight retention.
 
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