Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only .358 225 gr Trophy Bonded Bear Claw expansion

I've shot a few pigs with these out of my Whelen--the front end seems to be relatively soft because they open well even on 50 lb animals, even when no bone is struck. Wondering if these will expand at as low a velocity as partitions will, i.e. the 1800 fps range? That's probably about 400 yards for most rifles. Anyone shot anything out that far with these particular bullets?

Probably no help for the distance you're curious about, but my wife shoots Federal Premium 225 gr. TBBC out of her 35 Whelen for Elk hunting. Her last was a cow Elk at 252 yds. Dropped her right where she stood. Bullet was a textbook mushroom.

Your velocity should be down around 1650 at 400 yards. It might be a little chancy on expansion at that velocity.

I find it to be a pretty hard bullet. I shot a medium size deer at about 225 yards through the ribs and heart. It killed it but it ran about 40 yards spraying blood out both sides. I use a Sierra for deer now.

All of the above is helpful, thanks. When I'm hunting deer/pigs I also use softer bullets--just about any 200 grain bullet, basically. Primary use for this load is black bear, elk, caribou, etc. I realize that at 400 yards the Sierra 225 GK is a better choice, just trying to figure out if the TBBC would get any expansion down to the low end of partition velocities, i.e. 1800 fps. It's one of the easier to find factory loads.

I would like to know why you quit shooting a bullet that made two holes, let the blood out, and let the air in? If it was good enough for Elmer Keith it is good enough for me. 40 yards is a short run as far as I can figure. Be Well, Rustyzipper.

The 225 grain NPT allways works in the Whelen.MB

Would love to see Nosler do a run of 225 NPT; my 35 Whelen loves them and my current stash is getting critically low.

StarchedCover

Exactly, lung shot deer can run no matter what they are shot with. Sounded to me like the bullet did its job just fine

Well Rusty opinions vary don't they? I agree a 40 yard run isn't terrible but I would prefer four feet in the air. I guess I am still looking for that.

Actually, I went to the Sierras more because I wanted to than any other reason, they are very accurate in my old Whelen. I also have some 225 grain Nosler Partitions and may use them next.

A CNS shot won't give it to you? RZ.

My experience with 35 caliber cartridges is in 2 categories. #1 Kills I have made and #2 kills I have seen made.

I have used only 2 cartridges myself. 357 magnum and 35 Remington

In category #1
357 Magnum mostly from 6 and 6.5 inch barreled revolvers but a few from 18.5" carbines too. All my kills with the 357 magnum have been with either 158 grain cast SWCs of cast 187 Gr LBT wide-flat nose bullets. All (as in every single one) have been 1 shot kills and all have been shot at 125 yards and closer. Velocity from the carbine with the 187 grain have been measured at 1845 FPS and in the handguns have measured about 1175 to 1240. From the revolvers the 158 grain cast bullets have chronographed from 1410 to 1468 FPS. The longest shot I ever made with a 357 revolver was the one above at 125 yards and the longest shot I ever made with the carbine was about 90 yards. No deer or antelope ever went farther then about 20 yards after the hit. None of those were expanding bullets.

My 35 Remington kills were in Nevada and Idaho on deer, 7 total. Every one was killed with a Speer 220 grain flat nose, and all from the same gun. Muzzle velocity was just under 2000 FPS but I failed to write it down, so I can only remember it was in the mid 1900 FPS range. Closest kills were in the 35 yard range and the longest was probably just a bit over 100.

In category #2 I have seen 35 caliber kills on elk, deer, moose,antelope and a few bears too, with four 357 magnums, two 358 Winchesters, one 350 Rem mag and four 35 Whelens, with various bullets, at ranges from 10 yards to about 400. All good hits were good killers and the few gut shots and the one leg shot were just as bad as any others with any caliber, so those can't be said to have a dang thing to do with bullets or cartridge cases.

Now, the reason I say all of the above is to point out that a 35 caliber bullet is pretty big in diameter. If you shoot clear through, and the bullets don't open up all that much ----it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference on deer. If I were to hunt elk I would be a bit more picky, but still not very critical. I have not killed an elk with a 35 Remington but I did hunt them once with that old lever action and in the woods of Idaho, I was (and still am) 100% confident I could kill any elk I got a reasonable shot on. I would not trust a hard round nose, but anything flat is good and opening up to a mushroom is better I am sure.

If the Bonded bullet expands I am 100% certain it's going to make a killing wound if you shoot well, and if it doesn't expand much but only becomes a "flat nose" it's still going to be at least as effective as anything I personally ever used, and all my shots were one shot kills. None of my deer went far, with about 1/3 of them dropping within 1 second after the shots. I loaned my rifle to an old friend and he killed a good sized black bear with it at about 60 yards also with one shot. No problem at all.

My opinion:
Go use some of them on game and then tell us about the results, instead of asking. At that point, after you kill several animals, YOU will be giving answers, not asking for them.
Go become the "answer-man". It's educational ----------and a lot of fun.
Good luck and happy hunting.

I used to shoot them in my Whelen until I couldn't find them during the Obama years. They flattened deer but didn't destroy the meat where they hit. I never caught one in a deer even in full length body shots so I can't say what the bullet looked like. I would handload them if I had a source. When I couldn't find them in a factory loading I started reloading for most everything I have. I swtched to 225 gn. SGK for the Whelen. They don't stop deer like the Trophy Bonded did but they kill them and are accurate.