Looking at hunting bullets for my 7mm-08 and I really like Fderal's Terminal Ascent and Trophy Bonded Tip bullets.

However, I've never used a nickel-plated bullet before. Does this leave nickel fouling and is it bad for rifle barrels?

I appreciate the help!

Back over 100 years ago, the original rifle bullet jackets were made of cupro nickel (a nickel alloy). According to Hatcher's Notebook the industry could not wait to switch to something closer to the guilding metal (copper alloy) we mostly use today. It was said the cupro nickel would leave large deposits in the barrel and make a real mess. It was better than plain cast bullets but still far behind guilding metal. But that was back in the dark ages. No doubt Federal has a very good nickel alloy for their bullets. I don't see the point of it and Federal is not hyping it as something special. I would suggest you get what you want. Federal rarely makes a mistake.

Nickel plated bullets or cases? Bullets no cases yes.

Federal's website mentions the nickle plating on the bullet, but doesn't say what the advantages are. My guess is it's cosmetic. 7mm-08 isn't a speedy round. Any decent hunting bullet should do well. Sst, ballistic tip, game king, etc. It'll be more important that your rifle shoots the load well.

Thanks for the feedback! I reached out to Federal and they responded quickly which was nice to see.

Question to Federal support:

"Hello, for nickel-plated bullets like the Terminal Ascent and Trophy Bonded bullet, how do you clean out the nickel fouling? Is there a solvent that you recommend? I want to try those bullets but I'm concerned about damaging my barrel. Thank you!"

Here's their response:

"Clean with and standard bore cleaner you normally would. There is no increased fouling and certainly no increased concern for wear or damage from these projectiles. We have shot 100s of thousands of these projectiles through various firearms and test barrels with no notable adverse effects. All cleaning of in house firearms and test barrels are done with common cleaning solvents used to remove copper/lead/ or carbon fouling."


I'm guessing the nickel plating is more cosmetic than anything.

I will say Terminal Ascent/Trophy Bonded is about a good design as you can get for on game performance. I wish they were available as components.

I load a 160 grain for my 7mm-08 (Federal Trophy Bonded)......but good luck finding any these days.

No special fouling issues or cleaning.

Thanks for the feedback! Hopefully they can keep up with demand and make these readily available. I'd love to load some in the future.

Original inventor.

What do they do that a partition or accubond won't do?

While I’m not picking at the noslers at all, big fan, but the trophy bonded in my experience retain a bit more weight.

Probably nothing but it’s nice to have other premium options. Partitions and Accubond price increases have become rather ridiculous along with poor availability last few years.

X2 on the price and availability. Has led me to other options. Still a big fan but would also like if they would make some new grain weight offerings.