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Modern hunters have the privilege of choosing from some of the best premium bullets ever created.
BONDED-CORE VS. MONOMETAL BULLETS Comparing and contrasting two great designs for traveling and stay-at-home hunters. STORY BY PHIL MASSARO • PHOTOS BY MASSARO MEDIA GROUP
W
ith less than 30 minutes of shooting light remaining, we decided to take our chances and hold our position in order to let the eland herd feed toward us. There was a bull in there with a good head, and rather than risk a stalk, we gambled that he’d come clear and offer a shot.
Good fortune was with us, and when the bull turned at 340 yards, I sent a 180-grain Federal Trophy Bonded Tip bullet – handloaded for my .300 Holland & Holland – and saw the bull pile up within 30 yards. Upon examination, we discovered that even at that distance, the bullet had penetrated the entire width of the eland and exited to who knows where. Projectile technology has inarguably improved over the last three or four decades, to the point that
it has enhanced the capabilities and performance of even our most common cartridges. The .30-06 Springfield and .270 Winchester were excellent designs with the cup-and-core softpoint bullets of their day, but load them with a bonded-core or monometal softpoint and you have a different experience altogether. But which of the two designs is preferable? A standard cup-and-core bullet – using a lead core inside of a copper jacket to reduce lead fouling and overamericanshootingjournal.com 63