7mm Backcountry
Experience the world’s most advanced 7mm rifle cartridge.
30 Super Carry
Hits like a 9mm Luger. Carries like a 380 Auto. Designed exclusively for defense.
Raptor Steel
Built in collaboration with Rob Roberts Custom Gunworks, these loads put more pellets on target through Raptor Series chokes.
FireStick
There’s never been a muzzleloading system like this. See all the benefits that set FireStick apart to provide the most convenient, safe and consistent performance ever.
Hydra-Shok® Component Bullets
The bullet that’s defined self-defense for a generation is now available as a component.
Federal X Duluth Pack
Check out the all-new lineup of Federal-branded Duluth Pack apparel and gear.
Model 2020 Waypoint Special Edition
We worked with engineers from Springfield Armory to create Custom Shop loads specifically designed for the utmost performance from the new Model 2020 Waypoint rifle.
When hunters need to make hard shots on tough game at anywhere from spitting distance to moderately long ranges, Federal Premium Trophy Bonded Tip has been the bullet of choice for the better part of two decades. It’s not hard to understand why. It’s accurate, expands reliably and penetrates deep thanks to its high weight retaining design. And though its effective range, precision and terminal performance has been surpassed by one of its progeny, Federal Premium Terminal Ascent, Trophy Bonded Tip still gets the call from hunters targeting elk, moose, bears and more out to moderate and long distances.
But the Trophy Bonded Tip story started long before its introduction. Let’s look at how the bullet came to be and learn why it still rules over so many.
It began with a buffalo. In the early 1980s, entrepreneur Jack Carter headed to Africa and tangled with a seemingly immortal Cape buffalo that took seven hits with conventional cup-and-core bullets fired from a 375 H&H and several from another big bore before finally admitting death.
It made a profound impression on Carter. Back home, he went to work on a tougher, deep-penetrating expanding bullet design. His creation, proved in action a few years later when he returned to Africa in 1988, featured a rear half made of pure copper, with a lead-filled cavity in the front half.
The bonded lead frontal core ensured immediate expansion. Because of the bonding, it couldn’t separate from the copper shank; as a result, weight retention averaged 90 percent or more. Combined with the all-metal shank, these features meant the aptly named “Bear Claw” couldn’t fragment, couldn’t pancake on impact, and always drove deep.
Purchased not long after by Federal, the design went on to become one of the best dangerous game projectiles of all time, Trophy Bonded Bear Claw.
In the years that followed came another breakthrough that built on the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw concept. Federal rebuilt the nose and incorporated a resilient, heat-resistant polymer tip, increasing the ballistic coefficient and giving the classic bullet a modern ogive—all while retaining the hard-hitting, deep-penetrating qualities of the original. The resulting bullet was the legendary Trophy Bonded Tip.
Now available in a vast spectrum of big-game cartridges, Trophy Bonded Tip is one of history’s all-time great hunting bullets, and it’s still notching tags long after its introduction.