For Sale 50 Trophy Bonded Bear Claws, 50 TBSledgehammers & 25 Bitterroot Bullets In 375 H&H

[ocgvictoria]

I am selling 50 original 375HH Trophy Bonded Bear Claws and 50 Trophy Bonded Sledgehammers, both in 300gr. $500 gets the bullets plus 60 brass and 40 nickel factory cases that have been fired once. I will also throw in an unused RCBS Die Set for .375 with the proper shell holder too. Buyer pays shipping costs via his preferred carrier.

I also have 25 of Bitterroots excellent 300gr, 375HH bonded softpoint for $120, plus shipping.

 

[Ray B]

If you get $5 each for those bullets, PM me as I have an ammo can of various calibers for BBCs and Jack Carter's TBs that someone could twist my arm to sell.

 

[ocgvictoria]

If you get $5 each for those bullets, PM me as I have an ammo can of various calibers for BBCs and Jack Carter's TBs that someone could twist my arm to sell.

Post a pic of the cans!

If I remember correctly $5 is less than what I paid for them when I was reloading 375HH. It was always my favorite bullet for some of the hogs we have down here in So Texas that are a lot tougher than they seem. They never got up after an encounter with a Bear Claw I was going to take it to Africa but my dad got sick and I never did go. Anyway, I am hoping that someone who is as much of a fan of these bullets as I am is interested. If not, maybe I’ll get a decent offer. I notice the current Federal Bear Claws are $6 each at Midway, if they ever get them back in stock.

 

[Ray B]

Some of them

 

[ocgvictoria]

You seem to have a nice supply I saw on the Bitterroot tag for the .375 300gr I have that they were charging $6 per bullet and that had to have been at least 12 years ago! I also have some BBC in 270WIn and 7mm because I bought them at the Burnham Brothers store in Marble Falls Texas that was going out of business. I never did reload any of the BBC but my understanding is they pioneered the bonded bullet. One of the bags I bought that day had this cut away in it of a 270WIN 140grain. Amazing how the bullet was bonded together and why it was deadly on game.

 

[Ray B]

I was unable to locate it in a quick search, maybe later, but I have a price sheet and order of mfg for the BBC. They were sold in packets of 20 and seems to me the small ones such as .277 went for about $16 and the larger ones went up to about $30, but I'll need to get back with actual numbers after I find it. Keep in mind, those prices are from 40 (gasp) years ago). I lived a few miles from Bill Steigers and visited him often in the 1980s. Bill previously worked for Speer bullets and tried to interest them in a sturdy bonded bullet but to no avail. Speer opted for the Grand Slam which was neither sturdy nor bonded. So Bill started his own company BBC and pioneered the bonding of lead to copper mechanically rather than chemically. About 1982 Jack Carter started calling him asking for specifics on the process, which Bill gladly provided. This led to Carter making the first iteration of the Bear Claw bullet. The first was a virtual copy of the Bitterroot, the third was about what you would have if the Swift A-Frame had a solid rear core and the second was partway inbetween the two. Nosler also contacted Bill about purchasing rights to BBC but in the course of discussions Bill, who was painfully honest told them that soldering lead to copper was a process available to anyone, Nosler saw no need to purchase the rights to BBC and started making their own bonded bullets, as did several other bullet companies. After Bill retired from making BBCs he would recommend North Fork as what he considered the best bullet available for hunting purposes but that has been discontinued (but I understand a Swedish company has purchased the rights and is in process of making them again). The nearest presently produced bullet that I have seen that comes close to the BBC is the Woodleigh Weldcore. Fortunately they make a bullet in .475" which is my most recent bore size of interest. So the BBCs in the photo will likely get sold as part of my estate which hopefully won't be any time soon.

 

[ocgvictoria]

I worked with Jack Carter’s son Randy on several projects and he turned me on to the TBB and TBSledgehammers. That was before Federal bought them. I was already handloading .270WIn for Texas deer with the Trophy Bonded Bear Claws and even this broken tine 10-point dropped like a sack of potatoes. This deer was taken just a few weeks ago just before shooting light ended and rather than have to track it in the dark, it fell exactly where it was shot. My son refuses to use his rifle for deer hunting because the Colt Sauer in 270 shoots the 140gr TBBC perfectly. I took some huge hogs at the Fennessey Ranch near Refugio, Texas and at Coleto Creek with the 375 and 300gr Bear Claws. It is easily the best bullet I ever loaded and shot. And of course I am talking about Carter’s design, pre Federal. I spoke with Randy just before Federal bought the company and he said stock up so I did.

 

[Ray B]

A copy of Bill's price list from 1981

 

[Ridgewalker]

JMO, but I believe the TBBC are one of the best designs out there. Just like the NorthFork bullets. I still have a few Northforks in 300 SS, Pp, and 350 PP. I plan to try the 350s out on my next Cape buffalo.
I still have a couple hundred rounds of 375 H&H Federals loaded with the 300 TBBC. They don’t shoot as accurately as the NorthForks in my MRC, but 1 3/4” @ 100m is still plenty good for buff in my experience.

Best of luck selling yours, but if I were you, I’d load them up and get to Africa at the first opportunity and use them on a nice Cape buffalo!

 

[ocgvictoria]

Ridge walker - I don’t reload anymore or have any reloading equipment. Maybe I need to find a reloader that can reload 375 for me! Hmmmmmm....

Ray b: If you look at the tag in the photo below, the price was $6 per bullet at Burnham Brothers by the late 90s (IIRC). But the Burnham Brothers were famous for opening bags/boxes of bullets for a reloader that only wanted a few to load up. Different times back then!

 

[ocgvictoria]

A copy of Bill's price list from 1981

View attachment 380597

Ray
Did a quick ammo search on Guns America and the Bitterroots I saw listed there were $100/bag. They were 308s and sold.

 

[Ray B]

WOW !! Those look to be 180 gr .308s. 20 bullet packs for $100 is $5/each. Bill would certainly be impressed.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Everything is ridiculous right now on GunBroker! I’m actually thinking of selling 1,000 rounds of FMJ 223 because it would pay for a flight to Africa! CRAZY!

 

[ocgvictoria]

Everything is ridiculous right now on GunBroker! I’m actually thinking of selling 1,000 rounds of FMJ 223 because it would pay for a flight to Africa! CRAZY!

Wow! For 223!!?? Hmmm, maybe I am underpriced

Actually if anyone who loads the Trophy Bonded bullets puts in an offer, I will certainly consider it..

 

[MooseD63]

If you have some Bitterroot bullets for sale I would be interested.

 

[ocgvictoria]

If you have some Bitterroot bullets for sale I would be interested.

Will contact you a bit later today with an inventory of Bitterroots I have left. Thanks for the inquiry.

 

[ocgvictoria]

SOLD