Best 375 lion bullet

[Llano Estacado]

Interesting in peoples experiences with the “best” lion bullet for the 375 H&H? Presume it would be the 300 grain partition or the 300 grain North Fork Percussion tip. What are peoples experiences?

 

[Nevada Mike]

I would use 260 or 300 grain Nosler Pertitions.

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

A very soft bullet will be best

 

[Frederik]

Any proper bonded soft will do.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Best would have to be the 300Gr Nosler Partition, but Nosler unfortunately hasn’t manufactured new consignments of these ever since the outbreak of the Chinese virus. Fortunately, I got very lucky & managed to buy a couple of boxes from a gun show in Nevada.

Another excellent lion bullet from the days of my youth, would have to be the old copper jacketed lead cored Barnes Originals (with the 0.32” thick jackets, not the 0.49” ones). Unfortunately, Barnes no longer offers these in .375 caliber.

Among currently manufactured bullets, I would consider the very best to be the:
1) Wim Degol Lion Bullet
2) North Fork Percussion Point

If limited to factory loads, the Federal Power Shok 300Gr soft point gets my vote. Be warned however, that the bullets WILL break upon when striking the shoulder bone/scapula of a large make lion.

Over the years, I have hunted my first few lions with the old RWS 300Gr Kegel Spitze cone point factory load (now unfortunately discontinued). I shifted to Nosler Partitions in the 1990s and I currently employ the Federal Power Shok.

If I had anybody who would load me up some ammunition with 300Gr Wim Degol Lion bullets, then that would be my top choice (I don’t possess a lot of confidence in my skills as a hand loader to load my own dangerous game ammunition).

 

[Pondoro]

260 grain Nosler Accubond, 300 Nosler Partition or North Fork..

 

[Frederik]

I just want to add in some thought I don't want to start a talk about CBL lion hunts compared to lions hunted over bait but a lion is an extremely big animal with superior muscle and power.

A lion relaxed can be shot with almost anything but a tensed up lion you better bring some proper bullets because those muscles become hard very hard.

 

[PARA45]

I used a 375 H&H, Barnes 300 grs Vortex ammo for the lioness I shot. One shot that is all it took. Entry and exit hole were not dramatic, but the internal damage was evident. I asked the owner, and he recommended the Barnes.

Exit wound

Internal organs.

 

[Philip Glass]

Interesting in peoples experiences with the “best” lion bullet for the 375 H&H? Presume it would be the 300 grain partition or the 300 grain North Fork Percussion tip. What are peoples experiences?

What ever soft bullet your rifle shoots well. I used Accubond on mine but Scirocco 2 (or partition) might be better.

 

[Andrew62]

I took mine with Barnes TSX, they worked really well, however, if I were to do lion again I would look towards Northfork PP, perhaps Swift Aframes.

 

[ActionBob]

@Royal27 had a very effective load for cats and Plains Game on our Tanzania hunt

 

[Skshyk]

I have my upcoming lion hunt in June. I will be using the same bullets as I did with my leopard 300 gr Accubonds (factoring seconds from Midway please don't be upset).

 

[RockSlinger404]

I just want to add in some thought I don't want to start a talk about CBL lion hunts compared to lions hunted over bait but a lion is an extremely big animal with superior muscle and power.

A lion relaxed can be shot with almost anything but a tensed up lion you better bring some proper bullets because those muscles become hard very hard.

Just to add to Frederik, I shot my male lion with a A-Frame out of a 404Jeff @ 2200fps. He was in the sphinx position and the bullet did not exit. Don't underestimate their size, use enough gun!