Copper bullet

gman1

Active Member
Nov 29, 2011
166
5
North Dakota
Hi to all the members and hope all of your hunts go well.
I have a question for the members that I need your assistance with. I shoot a 300 Win Mag and use factory load 180 grain shells. I find that Federal no longer makes the Barnes Triple Shok and they have now gone to the Trophy Copper bullet. I like the performance of the copper bullet so I purchased the Trophy Copper shells for elk hunting. Okay, long intro for my question.

Will I see much of a change in ballistics between the two shells/bullets? Has anyone tried the Trophy Copper shell? I will be heading to the range to check the Trophy as I have the 300 sighted in using the Barnes and see what happens but wanted to know what I might experience at the range as these 70 year old eyes are not what they used to be.

Thanks in advance for all the help you have given me in the past and look forward to the members responses!!

Gman
 

JimP

Administrator
Mar 28, 2016
7,316
8,696
72
Gypsum, Co
The only way to determine that is to know all the particulars of the Federal/Barnes loading to compare it to the Trophy Copper.

But I doubt that you will see much difference. One nice thing about factory load is that the manufactures try to keep everything constant.

On the performance of the Trophy Copper, a friend used them out of a 7mm Rem mag on a African safari last year and just about all his kills were one shot kills from a kudu down to a springbuck. He did however have some problems hitting his mark which was his problem and not the rounds that he was shooting.
 

gman1

Active Member
Nov 29, 2011
166
5
North Dakota
Thanks JimP. I hope I don't have to go to a lot of work on the range with any major changes in sighting in the rifle. From what I read and supported by your comments, the copper bullets are very good at bringing down game.
 

Tim McCoy

Veteran member
Dec 15, 2014
1,855
4
Oregon
If the new Federal load won't shoot well for you, Barnes Vor-TX Factory ammo may be worth a try. Their 180 TTSX works great, for accuracy and on game, in my 30-06. They offer the same bullet in 300 WM. Good luck.
 

gman1

Active Member
Nov 29, 2011
166
5
North Dakota
Tim,

I think that might be the route to go rather than the Trophy Copper. Thank you. I will see how it looks on the range. Am looking at an elk hunt next year. Nothing like planning ahead :)
Gman
 

hunter25

Very Active Member
Sep 8, 2016
535
395
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
Federal stopped loading mine also for the 7mag. If I don't get back to handloading I'll simply switch to the Barnes Vor-tx as mentioned.

Excellent in everything I've used them in. But I currently have around 20 boxes of Federal so It'll be a little while anyway.
 

Colorado Cowboy

Super Moderator
Jun 8, 2011
8,348
4,741
83
Dolores, Colorado
I'm sure glad I won't have to change all my loads for all copper. By the time the states I hunt get around to enacting that kind of legislation, I'll probably be to damn old to hunt.
 

JimP

Administrator
Mar 28, 2016
7,316
8,696
72
Gypsum, Co
I started reloading all copper Barnes bullets around 20 years ago for my 7mm Rem mag and .340 Weatherby mag and have never looked back. That is all I shoot now out of all my rifles.

I had a hard time buying some Nosler Partitions a year ago to reload for a friend. For some reason it just didn't seam right to buy something for a rifle that has lead in it.
 

JimP

Administrator
Mar 28, 2016
7,316
8,696
72
Gypsum, Co
Well, if I had a pre 1900 Whinchester in 45-70 or 44-40 all I would shoot out of it would be lead bullets but since the oldest rifle that I currently own was manufactured in 1935 I'll stick to the solid copper.

Now for my handguns that is a different story. All I shoot out of them is lead except for my hunting ones and then I'll use the cup and core.