Success with Norma Bondstrike 180gr .300WSM

[EastTX Jess]

Back in March, I caught this ammo on sale at Midway for a great price and bought 5 boxes. I read several good reviews and decided I would use it on a summer axis hunt if I got good groups and it shot well at distance. 100 and 200 yard groups were slightly less than MOA (about the best I can shoot). Setup is 24” barrel and a Maven CRS2. I entered the data into Maven’s ballistic calculator using the stated BC and MV on the box, both of which seemed optimistic to me. Surprisingly, the 300, 400 and 500 yard holdovers were dead on and repeatedly rang steel at those distances. Time to hunt!

Monday morning I was able to take a mature axis at 144 yards. He was quartering to me and raking a tree, giving me his near shoulder. I don’t know where the bullet ended up. It didn’t exit, but, it wrecked the shoulder and resulted in a very dead axis 30 yards later. I expect the bullet lodged somewhere in the sacrum/pelvic area. As it was nearing triple digits, our focus was on getting the cape and quarters cooled so I didn’t go searching for the bullet. Nonetheless, I won’t hesitate to use the Bondstrike again.

 

[Sinistram]

I've had excellent success with Norma in general, and their factory ammo has always shot very well for me. I've never used the Bondstrike on game, but I understand it to be their "accubond" type of bullet. It's perhaps an underrated company in the US, though gaining ground.