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Posted: 2/19/2021 5:13:07 PM EDT
Federal 62 Grain Trophy Bonded Tip Federal introduced their 62 grain Trophy Bonded Tip ammunition, for 223 Remington, in 2015 (part # P223TT3). As the name implies, this ammunition features a 62 grain bullet that has a bonded construction and a "high-performance polymer tip".  This version of the Trophy Bonded Tip projectile does closely resemble the construction of the standard 62 grain Trophy Bonded Bear claw bullet. Federal claims that the Trophy Bonded Tip bullet has a G1 ballistic coefficient of 0.255; which gives it a slight bump over the 0.224 BC of the standard 62 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw bullet. The projectile, as well as the case, for this load are nickel plated. The bullet has a cannelure and the signature “T” stamped on the base of the bullet. The case mouth is crimped, but there is no case mouth sealant on the lot of this ammunition that I tested. This ammunition is primed with Federal's Gold Medal primer and the primer pocket is crimped and sealed. The case has a head-stamp that read "FC 15 223 REM".  TBBC on the left, Trophy Bonded Tip on the right.   This ammunition is charged with a flattened “ball” powder. Federal states that this powder is a “specially formulated propellant with copper-reducing additives.” That quote strikes me as rather odd, since the Trophy Bonded Tip projectile is nickel-plated.  Velocity I chronographed the Federal 62 grain Trophy Bonded Tip ammunition from a semi-automatic AR-15 with a chrome-lined, NATO chambered, 20” Colt M16A2 barrel with a 1:7” twist.  Chronographing was conducted using an Oehler 35-P chronograph with “proof screen” technology. The Oehler 35P chronograph is actually two chronographs in one package that takes two separate chronograph readings for each shot and then has its onboard computer analyze the data to determine if there is any statistically significant difference between the two readings. If there is a statistically significant difference in the readings, the chronograph “flags” the shot to let you know that the data is invalid. There was no invalid data flagged during this testing. The velocity stated below is the muzzle velocity as calculated from the instrumental velocity using Oehler’s Ballistic Explorer software program. The string of fire consisted of 10 rounds over the chronograph.   Each round was single-loaded and cycled into the chamber from a magazine fitted with a single-load follower. The bolt locked-back after each shot allowing the chamber to cool in between each shot. This technique was used to mitigate the possible influence of “chamber-soak” on velocity data. Each new shot was fired in a consistent manner after hitting the bolt release. Atmospheric conditions were monitored and recorded using a Kestrel 4000 Pocket Weather Tracker.  Atmospheric conditions Temperature: 75 degrees F Humidity: 33% Barometric pressure: 30.05 inches of Hg Elevation: 950 feet above sea level The muzzle velocity for the 10-shot string of the Federal 62 grain Trophy Bonded Tip ammunition fired from the 20” Colt barrel was 2882 FPS with a standard deviation of 18 FPS and a coefficient of variation of 0.63%. For those of you who might not be familiar with the coefficient of variation (CV), it is the standard deviation, divided by the mean (average) muzzle velocity and then multiplied by 100 and expressed as a percentage. It allows for the comparison of the uniformity of velocity between loads in different velocity spectrums; e.g. 77 grain loads running around 2,650 fps compared to 55 grain loads running around 3,250 fps. For comparison, the mil-spec for M193 allows for a coefficient of variation of approximately 1.2%, while one of my best 77 grain OTM hand-loads, with a muzzle velocity of 2639 PFS and a standard deviation of 4 FPS, has a coefficient of variation of 0.15%.  Accuracy I conducted an accuracy (technically, precision) evaluation of the Federal 62 grain Tropjy Bonded Tip ammunition following my usual protocol. This accuracy evaluation used statistically significant shot-group sizes and every single shot in a fired group was included in the measurements. There was absolutely no use of any group-reduction techniques (e.g. fliers, target movement, butterfly shots). The shooting set-up will be described in detail below. As many of the significant variables as was practicable were controlled for. Also, a control group was fired from the test-rifle used in the evaluation using match-grade, hand-loaded ammunition; in order to demonstrate the capability of the barrel. Pictures of shot-groups are posted for documentation. All shooting was conducted from a concrete bench-rest from a distance of 100 yards (confirmed with a laser rangefinder.) The barrel used in the evaluation was free-floated. The free-float handguards of the rifle rested in a Sinclair Windage Benchrest using a Sinclair benchrest forend adaptor, while the stock of the rifle rested in a Protektor bunny-ear rear bag. Sighting was accomplished via a Leupold VAR-X III set at a magnification of 25X and adjusted to be parallax-free at 100 yards. A mirage shade was attached to the free-float handguard. Wind conditions on the shooting range were continuously monitored using a Wind Probe. The set-up was very similar to that pictured below.  The Wind Probe.  The test vehicle for this evaluation was one of my semi-automatic precision AR-15s with a 20” stainless-steel Lothar Walther barrel. The barrel has a 223 Wylde chamber with a 1:8” twist. Prior to firing the Federal 62 grain Trophy Bonded Tip ammunition, I fired a 10-shot control group using match-grade hand-loads topped with a 62 grain OTM bullet. That group had an extreme spread of 0.81". Prior to firing the groups of record, several "seasoning rounds" of the Trophy Bonded Tip ammunition were fired.     Three, 10-shot groups of the 62 grain Trophy Bonded Tip ammunition were fired in a row with the resulting extreme spreads: 1.42" 1.79" 1.63" for a 10-shot group average extreme spread of 1.61”. The three, 10-shot groups were over-layed on each other using RSI Shooting Lab to form a 30-shot composite group. The mean radius for the 30-shot composite group was 0.44”. The smallest 10-shot group . . .  The 30-shot composite group . . .  No canines were harmed during the testing of this ammunition.  .... |
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Holly cow, we lost Rush but Molon is back?! Excellent post as usual and this new loading seems accurate (enough). The Fed load using TBBC that I tried had terrible accuracy, maybe 4-5MOA iirc so this seems an improvement although I doubt I could match OP's groups. I read the article about these bullets in Guns and Ammo or American Rifleman recently but never thought I here would ever see any in .223. |
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Appreciate the data as always. Structurally, this seems very similar to TBBC but with a polymer tip. Presuming the toughness of the jacket is retained, this could be a truly exceptional all-purpose defensive bullet. Presumably superior/more reliable expansion with the outstanding barrier defeat capabilities of TBBC, plus better accuracy to boot (TBBC is a monster bullet but goodness is it inaccurate). |
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Quoted: Interesting choice to nickel plate the projectile. Im wondering if it wears the barrel more than a traditional copper jacket or the nickel fouling is more difficult to remove. Were you able to bore scope the barrel after shooting these? No they don't foul more and you're not gonna be able to afford enough of them to notice any increased barrel wear |
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Quoted: Interesting choice to nickel plate the projectile. Im wondering if it wears the barrel more than a traditional copper jacket or the nickel fouling is more difficult to remove. Were you able to bore scope the barrel after shooting these? I doubt the nickle will foul more, the whole point of nickle ammo is for it to be smoother feeding. I also doubt it will wear the barrel more. Steel jacketed ammo like the wolf, bear, and tula stuff is what will wear the barrel more. You get ~ 2x the wear from a steel jacket round compared to a non. Even then, you would still have to shoot thousands of rounds of it to wear the barrel to a significant degree. |
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It seems that nickel plated projectiles are becoming more common i.e. the Mk318 mod 1. The first thing I thought also was will fouling or barrel wear be increased/reduced by the nickel. Is there ANY practical benefit from the nickel plating or is it just cosmetics and a marketing gimmick? How will cleaning solvents designed to battle copper fouling work on nickel? Yes I know I will never shoot enough to see a difference but I am still curious of the pro's vs. cons of nickel plating. |
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Quoted: It seems that nickel plated projectiles are becoming more common i.e. the Mk318 mod 1. The first thing I thought also was will fouling or barrel wear be increased/reduced by the nickel. Is there ANY practical benefit from the nickel plating or is it just cosmetics and a marketing gimmick? How will cleaning solvents designed to battle copper fouling work on nickel? Yes I know I will never shoot enough to see a difference but I am still curious of the pro's vs. cons of nickel plating. Federal says that the electroplated nickel coating prevents corrosion in adverse conditions, but I personally think it's more marketing hype. Nickel has a lower friction coefficient than copper, so theoretically it decreases friction and lowers pressure and increases accuracy, but I'm not sure how much of an effect it actually has. Federal says to clean like regular copper jacketed ammo, with normal solvents and a brush. I think its more an aesthetic gimmick than anything else. But they sure look distinctive |
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Quoted: Source or data please. Well a chrome lined 556 barrel can last 15-20K rounds. The trophy bonded tip ammo, if you can even find it, is around 2.00-2.50 dollars per round, if not more. So being generous, would you spend 30k dollars + worth of one particular type of ammo through one singular barrel? |
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Quoted: Well a chrome lined 556 barrel can last 15-20K rounds. The trophy bonded tip ammo, if you can even find it, is around 2.00-2.50 dollars per round, if not more. So being generous, would you spend 30k dollars + worth of one particular type of ammo through one singular barrel? Just stop being poor I guess? TBBT isnt the only nickel plated bullet out there either. |
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Quoted: I didn't scope the barrel after testing the Trophy Bonded Tip. I might do that after testing these loads . . . https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/28568/winchester_64_grain_defense_tip_molon_00-1864499.jpg https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/28568/mk318_mod_1_002-1864497.jpg .... I'm really looking forward to your Mk318 Mod 1 results. For me it groups much better than the Mod 0 |
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