Bullet Performance Database

[458 Exp]

Had the privilege of back up Ph on Buffalo the last week.

Safari Bullet Company .458 500gr out 458 Express at 7m (insurance shot)

487.7 gr 97.5% weight retention.

 

[Frederik]

Just love those Safari Bullet Company bullets they just keep on performing.

Nice buffalo !!!

 

[Fatback]

Caliber-458 win Mag
Ammo&Bullet-450 grain Swift Aframe loaded by Remington. This was old stock loaded ammo I bought off of Gunbroker.
500 Grain Nosler Solids.
Shot/Animal-Cape Buffalo, 46 yards, slightly quartering to me. Entered about the point of the shoulder and went through both lungs and the top of the heart. The bull went 30 yards and was getting wobbly, I went ahead and paid the insurance with the solid.

I am really pleased with the performance of the Aframe and disappointed with the Nosler solid. I won’t be using them on DG again.

 

[roverandbrew]

275Rigby / 7x57
175 Grain North Fork
2500 FPS
Broad Side Wildebeest (Zambia)
150 Yard Shot

 

[Inkgardener]

Caliber-458 win Mag
Ammo&Bullet-450 grain Swift Aframe loaded by Remington. This was old stock loaded ammo I bought off of Gunbroker.
500 Grain Nosler Solids.
Shot/Animal-Cape Buffalo, 46 yards, slightly quartering to me. Entered about the point of the shoulder and went through both lungs and the top of the heart. The bull went 30 yards and was getting wobbly, I went ahead and paid the insurance with the solid.

I am really pleased with the performance of the Aframe and disappointed with the Nosler solid. I won’t be using them on DG again. View attachment 631769View attachment 631771

What did you not like about the Nosler solid?

 

[Mountaineer]

458 win mag shooting 400 grain Woodleigh at 2525 fps. Entered Cape buffalo shoulder found in off shoulder. 337 grains remaining

 

[Fatback]

@Inkgardener, I would have preferred a through and through since it was a broadside shot at about 25 yards. I also did not like the way the bullet deformed.

For comparison, I shot a hippo last year with a 400 grain Barnes flat nosed banded solid out of a 404J that probably could have been reloaded. The bullet penetrated about 3 feet.

The 450 grain Swift Aframe was lethal and preformed as expected so the solid probably really wasn’t needed. However, if it would have been a more critical situation that performance leave a lot to be desired, in my humble opinion.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

275Rigby / 7x57
175 Grain North Fork
2500 FPS
Broad Side Wildebeest (Zambia)
150 Yard ShotView attachment 632952View attachment 632953

You can tell the velocity at impact was a little on the low side. Normally I don't see that TSX kind of look with the individual peels, normally it's filled in with lead to make a nice full cap on the mushroom. But the bullet obviously did it's job.

The coat on that blue is stunning btw!

 

[roverandbrew]

You can tell the velocity at impact was a little on the low side. Normally I don't see that TSX kind of look with the individual peels, normally it's filled in with lead to make a nice full cap on the mushroom. But the bullet obviously did it's job.

The coat on that blue is stunning btw!

I agree. This year the 275 has been on three Plains Game trips and shot quite a few animals of all shapes and sizes. Distances from 50-225 yards. Bullets have been 170 Grain Oryx, 175 Grain North Fork, and 160 Grain Swift A -Frames. Looking at results I feel the 170 Grain Oryx might be the best compromise of accuracy, weight retention, and expansion on game from Impala to Sable / Wildebeest.

 

[OxfordTheCat]

Caliber-458 win Mag
Ammo&Bullet-450 grain Swift Aframe loaded by Remington. This was old stock loaded ammo I bought off of Gunbroker.
500 Grain Nosler Solids.
Shot/Animal-Cape Buffalo, 46 yards, slightly quartering to me. Entered about the point of the shoulder and went through both lungs and the top of the heart. The bull went 30 yards and was getting wobbly, I went ahead and paid the insurance with the solid.

I am really pleased with the performance of the Aframe and disappointed with the Nosler solid. I won’t be using them on DG again. View attachment 631769View attachment 631771

Any details on the disappointment with the solid?

It held together, which one would think is one of the prerequisites for good performance. Did it not penetrate?

Edit: Pardon me, I see the question was answered in subsequent posts.

 

[Fatback]

What did you not like about the Nosler solid?

I shot the buffalo at 25-30 yards, broadside. I hit him right on the shoulder and would have expected a solid at that distance to zip right through him and that didn’t happen, obviously. Also, the fact that the bullet de-formed so drastically was a failure in my opinion and contributed to the lack of penetration. Fortunately for me the buffalo was dead on his feet from the Swift Aframe. If this had been a more serious situation, like a charge, this type of bullet performance could have caused real problems.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Photograph Kindly Provided By A White Hunter Friend

570Gr Barnes TSX (Federal Premium Cape Shok factory loading) fired from .500 Nitro Express Merkel Model 140E and recovered from Cape buffalo bull (which had to be shot more times in order to finally be downed).

The complete lack of any expansion whatsoever is quite disconcerting but not unheard of.

Barnes makes a top notch product and the TSX all-copper hollow point is an excellent bullet of it's class. But these monometal bullets really require higher velocities in order to expand properly. A 300Gr Barnes TSX fired at 2530 FPS from a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum seldom fails to expand properly. However, a 570Gr bullet being fired at 2150 FPS from a .500 Nitro Express will very occasionally fail to expand properly unless sufficient resistance is met while penetrating the target quarry. Still, this is one of the very few times that I've observed a Barnes TSX bullet to not even remotely expand. And a Cape buffalo bull is definitely not a soft framed fellow.

If this bullet was used on a lion or leopard (esp. one that is shot over bait or with a broadside heart-lung shot), then the Barnes TSX would have completely gone through & through. And the hunters would have one hell of a nasty follow up job waiting for them. For this reason, I always advocate lead cored bullets for the great cats.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Rogue Gaur shot with my (technically my son-in-law's) .375 Holland & Holland Magnum Remington Model 700 and 300Gr Barnes TSX factory load. The bullet did exactly as expected on a lung shot. Tried for a double lung shot but penetration was wanting.

The brute made it some nine kilometers after getting shot at late noon, but luckily the forest guards found him tonight after six hours. Judging from the freshness of the blood, he succumbed not too long ago.

This reinforces my two philosophies for Gaur hunting:

1) Use solids only
2) Use a caliber of at least .500 bore (.577 or .600 Nitro Express is even better !)

They are much tougher framed than an African Cape buffalo. On a Cape buffalo, this 300Gr Barnes TSX would have made it through both lungs easily. He would have folded after going less than 100 yards.

I feel like a complete imbecile for not using a solid bullet on him. I had eight rounds of Hendersots Custom Loaders cartridges with me, loaded with the excellent Cutting Edge Bullets 300Gr monolithic brass Safari Solids.

 

[PerH]

That was a strong bull and quite a resistance it gave to the bullet . What a wonderful and challenging experience it was .

It is something Arthurian over that fine bull , and I think the .458 rattled in the safe a little bit

 

[Hunter-Habib]

That was a strong bull and quite a resistance it gave to the bullet . What a wonderful and challenging experience it was .

It is something Arthurian over that fine bull , and I think the .458 rattled in the safe a little bit

Per, that Vatland .600 Nitro Express boxlock ejector which you and @Pondoro showed me, would be really useful here. Loaded with 900Gr Wim Degol Vor Mantel solids at 1950 FPS.

 

[BJH65]

Hello, just returned from a safari in Limpopo adjacent to the Greater Kruger area. I shot four animals, old Cape buffalo cow, kudu bull, Impala ram and male warthog. I was using a CZ 550 Magnum 416 Rigby, 25 inch barrel and factory Barnes 400 grain TSX at 2400 FPS. All bullets exited except shockingly not on a going away shot on an Impala ram! Bullet lodged in neck! Also put an “insurance” shot into the dying buffalo and did recover that bullet. All ranges are estimates corroborated by PH and video film review.

Kudu Bull- 50 yards quartering away, complete pass through, went 10-15 yards dropped.

Warthog male- 45-50 yards broadside shoulder- complete pass through, dropped in tracks.

Buffalo cow- 50 yard broadside, slightly high lung shot, complete pass through. Traveled approximately 30 yards before going down. Still barely alive, placed insurance shot into frontal chest from approximately 13 yards away. Bullet travelled approximately 3 1/2 feet, recovered, fully expanded weighed 400 grains still.

Impala ram- 40 yards, going away, shot into the rear middle tail area, dropped instantly to the shot. If you factor an adult ram averages 51 inches from head to tail, and bullet was recovered near end of neck, about 3 feet of penetration in total, traversing the complete length of the Impala ram. In photo of ram you can see bullet protruding from top of neck. Recovered bullet expanded but not quite as much as insurance shot on Buffalo. Recovered weight 398.8 grains.

I was quite surprised that the same bullet exited on a broadside lung shot on Buffalo yet stayed in a going away shot on Impala! I had an interesting conversation with both PH’s. They believed the bullet behaved differently when going through the stomach contents of the Impala which was full of grass. Perhaps similiar to shooting into water or perhaps ballistic gelatin, bullet behaving differently than when going through just muscle and bone.

Recovered bullet on left- Impala Ram 398.8 grains. Bullet on right- Buffalo insurance shot 400 grains.

Recovered Impala bullet-398.8 grains

Recovered Buffalo insurance shot-400 grains

 

[Rule 303]

BJH65, Congratulations on your hunt and success. Good rifle and great caliber, but then I am a bit biased as that's what I have.

With the Impala I see the bullet has not peeled back like the shot on the buff. So a larger surface area and so more drag. I too have seen and been told that the gut contents tend to pull a bullet up quicker than muscle and lung. Think of it as to shooting into loose sand or as you said water.

I put a 410 grain Woodleigh soft nose into the front of a Wart Hog from 50 meters and it did not exit. Found in the rum near the skin. This too had gone through the gut and was very wide in its expansion. Anyhow that is just my experience's, somebody else might know the exact reason for this.

 

[BJH65]

BJH65, Congratulations on your hunt and success. Good rifle and great caliber, but then I am a bit biased as that's what I have.

With the Impala I see the bullet has not peeled back like the shot on the buff. So a larger surface area and so more drag. I too have seen and been told that the gut contents tend to pull a bullet up quicker than muscle and lung. Think of it as to shooting into loose sand or as you said water.

I put a 410 grain Woodleigh soft nose into the front of a Wart Hog from 50 meters and it did not exit. Found in the rum near the skin. This too had gone through the gut and was very wide in its expansion. Anyhow that is just my experience's, somebody else might know the exact reason for this.

Thanks for your insight. Overall, I believe the .416 400 grain TSX performed quite well over a broad spectrum. I should like to obtain some 410 grain Woodleigh soft nose for a potential lion hunt or 400 grain Swift A Frame. We’ll return again in 2026 for trophy buffalo and if I can get it worked out, lion. I was advised that the Swift A Frame or Woodleigh soft nose would be better for lion.

 

[PerH]

Per, that Vatland .600 Nitro Express boxlock ejector which you and @Pondoro showed me, would be really useful here. Loaded with 900Gr Wim Degol Vor Mantel solids at 1950 FPS.

Yes it would and I would suggest you get in touch with him about it .

 

[Sarg]

Would be great if we found all our bullets after the shots but in a lot of situations there isn’t the time or place to do this.

In most cases in Africa someone picks the animal up & process it & the Boys may pass the bullets onto the PH or hunter.

As I have been hunting & guiding for a very long time I have a small bucket of spent bullets retrieved from game, unfortunately I didn’t record a lot of that information.

I have opinions on bullets that others think are great & I think are so so, over time most of these opinions have been proven correct.

I have had multiple hunters tell me that the Hydro (& Barnes) are just a fantastic killer, I thought different & many times seen them as a slow killer.

This season proved the same with two hunters using Hydros needing the animals stopped with A frames out of the .458.

Up to 4 good chest shots through the vitals & the Buffalo still coming straight towards us,

One hunter I convinced to use Swift A frames 400gr in his Gibbs 450/400 on his coming Cape Buff hunt in Zim, after 4 of his Buffalo needed follow up shots, also a huge Boar stopped at mere metres from our feet !

He sent me the results just now, one shot at 68m quartering frontal, 397.5gr mushroomed to .710 dropped right there.

I actually have two of the Hydros as well, one was laying on the ground behind the Buffalo, I know crazy & the other was in a horn, I spotted a lump & crack in the front of the horn & then a hole in the back, thinking strange, so I cut it out, this Buffalo was coming straight at us & got two fast shots from his Double, some how as it bucked from the first shot the second went into the horn ?