American Shooting Journal – August 2019

72 American Shooting Journal // August 2019

to the depth of the lead core, which

would change how much and how fast

the bullets would expand – but his

choice of a pure lead core and a pure

copper jacket made for a sound design.

Carter’s bullet wasn’t cheap, but those

serious about safari happily paid the

price for his product.

Carter sold his company as he got on

in years (staying on as a consultant) and

the investors licensed the design to the

folks at Federal Premium Ammunition.

With the volume of ammunition that

Federal produces, there was no way

that the orders could be met on the

machines Carter used, so production

moved to the Federal facility. The pure

copper/pure lead formula didn’t stand

up well to the high-speed machines

Federal was using, so a bit of zinc was

added to the jacket. The result was

a bullet that had different terminal

properties than the original design;

the jacket fragmented and premature

breakup and poor penetration was an

issue. The bullet went through some

redesigning – being produced at the

Speer facility – and actually left us for

a while, but it is back now, strong and

consistent as it ever was.

ONE OF THE BEST features of the Trophy

Bonded Bear Claw is the lead core’s

position: it is located in the front of the

bullet, with the rear of the bullet being

homogenous gilding metal. This does a

couple of things, both of which are equal

parts of the success of the Bear Claw.

First, it limits the amount of

expansion possible, because the core

only runs so deep; the solid shank

behind the lead core will not expand.

Secondly – and this is something I

greatly appreciate in a bullet to be used

for dangerous game animals – it keeps

the bullet on a straight course once it

strikes hide, bone or flesh by keeping

the weight forward. Historically, the

round-nose bullets from a century

ago earned their reputation by giving

straight-line penetration; the center of

gravity was located midbullet, and the

wound channel was – more often than

bullet bulletin

The modern Trophy Bonded

Bear Claw, shown in profile,

cutaway and in upset form.

Note the forward position of

the lead core, as well as the

copper shank.

The previous

Trophy Bonded

Bear Claw design,

before the grooves

and nickel plating

were added.