Norma Bondstike Ammo - 24hourcampfire

A year or so ago there was a thread pertaining to reloading with the Norma Bondstrike bullets. As I recall the OP loaded the 143gr Bondstrike and compared it to a similar reload with the 143gr ELD-X. Grouping and velocity were pretty much the same.

That said, has anyone had experience with Norma's ammo loaded from the factory with Bondstrikes? Wondering how the bullet performed on game, accuracy, and whether or not their advertised muzzle velocity is close to that listed, or just hype.

Originally Posted by WiFowler

A year or so ago there was a thread pertaining to reloading with the Norma Bondstrike bullets. As I recall the OP loaded the 143gr Bondstrike and compared it to a similar reload with the 143gr ELD-X. Grouping and velocity were pretty much the same.

That said, has anyone had experience with Norma's ammo loaded from the factory with Bondstrikes? Wondering how the bullet performed on game, accuracy, and whether or not their advertised muzzle velocity is close to that listed, or just hype.

Great topic WF. I was wondering myself.

These sure look a lot like Nosler long range accubond, specially with the high bc they have. I wonder if Nosler makes the bullets for Norma.

Originally Posted by WiFowler

A year or so ago there was a thread pertaining to reloading with the Norma Bondstrike bullets. As I recall the OP loaded the 143gr Bondstrike and compared it to a similar reload with the 143gr ELD-X. Grouping and velocity were pretty much the same.

That said, has anyone had experience with Norma's ammo loaded from the factory with Bondstrikes? Wondering how the bullet performed on game, accuracy, and whether or not their advertised muzzle velocity is close to that listed, or just hype.

They don't even resemble the ELDX. Way different ogive. More closely resembles the Nosler LR accubond, but with a higher BC that seems overly optimistic to me. IE: .615 bc for the Norma 30 cal 180gr vs. Nosler's LR accubond 190 @ .597?? I'd likely call bs on Norma's bc rating.. Should be a great bullet though. I'll keep my eye out for them to be in stock. Prices are better than Nosler as well.

BSA,

I don't think the original OP was inferring, nor am I, that the Bondstrike was similar in construction and/or on-game performance to the ELD-X. As I recall, the original OP was interested in comparing the accuracy/velocity of the Bondstrike to the ELD-X after tweeking a reload recipe he/she had using the 143gr ELD-X, and going on from there. From a reloading perspective, aside from a narrowly different COAL, comparing the 143 ELD-X to the 143 Bondstrike, is pretty much as close as you're gonna get to an apples to apples comparision.

I've tested the ELD-X and BondStrike side-by-side in handloads, and as mentioned grouping and velocities are pretty much the same. That's generally what happens when you use the same powder charge of H4350.

With the factory ammo version I did not run them through the chrony, I simply put 2 5-shot groups on paper, and the results looked to me like the nominal MV was based on a 26" barrel.

Groups? Pretty hard these days to get bad groups out of factory 6.5 CM C-n-C or bonded bullet ammo. From my 22" barrel the 2 groups hovered right at 1-inch, but I've learned that my barrel doesn't like so much any 140 gr. - 143 gr. bullet going faster than ~2,700 fps.

Next up is StaBALL 6.5. I'm curious if this ever-so-slightly slower powder than H4350 will perform for 143 gr. + bullet weights. I have the ELD-X & BondStrike 143's, the 156 gr. Oryx, and the 160 gr. Weldcore.

That’s a good mix of bullets Puddle. Pretty fun to me to try the different stuff and see what shakes out.

SB6.5 is very good in my 6 CM

17 and 26 were great in my old 6.5 Creed as well with 139-147’s.

FWIW, I got a notification from Norma yesterday, saying they had the 6.5PRC, 143gr Bondstrike's in stock - $47.99/bx. Took a chance and ordered 2 boxes. We'll see how they perk when they get here.