Any love for the federal terminal ascent?

[1dirthawker]

i bought 3 boxes for my 300 win. have not shot anything with that rifle yet, but they look like a fantastic bullet (200 gr).

i agree that the penetration should be excellent, and still make a nice wound channel. i think they are a good choice for factory ammo.

 

[Sabre]

Yes this is pretty common. I have seen it the 300wm and 7 rem mag on plains game and 7 prc with deer. I would guess 1/4 of the. 100% of the time TA makes impressive entry and exit. Here's another entry wound on a BlesbokView attachment 673481

That is wild. I have not seen entrance wounds like that so far in non-magnum rounds. However, I did have a somewhat similar effect when using Barnes TSX/TTSX in .308, only in that case the entrance wounds were large and the exit wounds were small.

I believe it was expanding quickly and making a large entrance, and then the petals were shearing off and leaving just the shank of the bullet on exit making a smaller exit wound. But that is just a guess as I never retrieved any of the bullets.

Friends of mine weren't believing me which side was entrance vs. exit until a trail cam caught an animal right before I shot which showed definitively that I wasn't crazy

 

[CBeck]

Had a chance to evaluate accuracy of the Federal terminal ascent today.

I’m saying it’s a keeper for me… My Hawkeye African 280 Ackley improved seems to like them.

A legitimate three shot .6 inch group at 110 yards.

They shoot just a touch higher than the Nosler 140 Accu bond which averages .75-1 inch groups at 110 yards.

All factory loaded.

 

[Sabre]

Had a chance to evaluate accuracy of the Federal terminal ascent today.

I’m saying it’s a keeper for me… My Hawkeye African 280 Ackley improved seems to like them.

A legitimate three shot .6 inch group at 110 yards.

They shoot just a touch higher than the Nosler 140 Accu bond which averages .75-1 inch groups at 110 yards.

All factory loaded.

View attachment 679085

Was waiting to see how they worked out for you. Glad they do so well in your gun. I hope you have fantastic luck with them when hunting. They have been great for me so far. Hopefully that continues.

 

[longrangehunterII]

TA is the most accurate ammo I have shot through my 6.5prc.

That said, I was not impressed with the terminal ballistics on 4 deer I shot with it. Small entrance and small exit. If you prefer a very stout bullet that penetrates then TA is your huckleberry. I just prefer more trauma from my bullets.

Try the Norma TipStrike if that’s what you’re after. The factory stuff tends to be loaded down with that bullet compared to the BondStrike ammunition. I’ve seen a bunch of it lately, even the Federal TA at my LGS in both flavors.

I have the Norma TipStrike as a component for my 280AI. I just didn’t get around to testing it since I developed two loads with 160 BT’s and Partitions.

As much as I love developing loads I want my hunting guns with as little as possible down the pipe so I can just get to practicing with the rifle and be 100% confident in what I’m using out to 600 yards.

If I can’t get closer than that then I’ll just pass even though I’ve completed in LRP for many years. Hitting steel with two first round impacts is impressive at 1,200 yards….. A Animal isn’t that important to my ego to a hunt. I’d rather shoot it from less than 25’ feet away to be honest. Stalking is about as cool as it gets!!

 

[TarletonJake]

My wife shoots the TA exclusively in her .308 and we won’t be changing anytime soon. Her Eland took one step after the shot before dropping.

 

[JG26Irish_2]

I just tried some Fed Trophy Bonded Tipped ammo in a new 338wm rifle using the 200g bullet weight. It shot reasonably well and chrono'ed an average of 2977 fps which is a bit faster than the claimed speed on the box. I am not planning on hunting with it as I like the 225g bullets better for this caliber and have found that it likes the Barnes TTSX ammo which chronos almost as fast even with the heavier bullet. I do plan to try some 225g accubond as well.