If you peruse enough of these threads you'll notice some common themes and common choices for types and brands of bullets from many sources, some more experienced than others. Commonly recommended bullets would include such as A Frames and TSXs both of which I have tested and used a lot and would recommend.
In addition, another I forgot to mention in my earlier post is the TBBC or Trophy Bonded Bear Claw. I have used this bullet but not to the extent of the A Frame or TSX. Currently there seems to be some sources of loaded ammunition with this bullet but it is hit or miss and has been even harder in the past to come by on a regular basis as a reloading component. The TBBC is a design that seems to perform very well over a wide range of impact velocities. Unfortunately, there are/have only been a total three similarly designed bonded bullets- The TBBC, the Rhino Softpoint and the North Fork Softpoint.... and none are easy to come by! One is currently available but primarily in RSA- the Rhino bonded soft point. The second WAS available here in US until recently when the company shut down- The North Fork Bonded Softpoint. It is currently being considered for production and importing back into the US by another company. And lastly the earliest design of the three- the TBBC. The availability of the TBBC as a component bullet was/has been so inconsistent that I never bothered with it except for a few factory rounds so loaded.
As I stated earlier in another post- there are quite a few bonded lead core bullets on the market, with many, IMO, simply designed for catching a share of the market hype surrounding the "bonded" bullet. If they have a thin, conventionally designed copper cup bonded to a standard lead core... they are better than a frangible old style cup and core but not by much! They will fail on tough tissue or bone and may not stand up well even on soft tissue if impact velocity is beyond a narrow range. So buyer/user beware! Such examples would include: the Federal Fusion and the Remington Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded. Even the Norma Oryx, which is a popular bonded bullet is NOT a particularly tough bullet- possibly slightly better than the other two mentioned.
Here's a pic of a 175 gr 7 mm TBBC out of a Rem Mag recovered from an impala. Quite a bit of loss of nose mass but very controlled expansion as the jacket thickens near the solid base. In addition to the basic bonding of the jacket to the core, the jacket tapered-to-solid base is
THE design feature common to the group of three mentioned- TBBC, North Fork Softpoint and Rhino Softpoint. It is not a perfect mushroom and a little lop sided but did the job well.
