I have 40 years experence hand loading and have hunted a verity of game over the years from varmints to elephants. So I offer this first hand information. I have seen many types of bullet failures so it's important to select the right one for the job. There is a lot to consider, cost,availability, accuracy and of course performance. The right bullet is a combination of every thing mentioned. I use a lot of Hornady mostly because they are inexpensive and accurate and I do a lot of shooting several thousand rounds a year. Generally depending on what I'm hunting when using expanding bullets it's going to be a Nosler or Barnes X. But we are talking big game here so lets stick to that meaning game over 1,000 pounds. I have shot big game with 375 H&H, 416 Rigby, 460 Wby, 500 Jeffery and 500 NE. Used on several elephants, buffalo and one giraffe. With out any question when selecting a expanding bullet the Barnes X can not be beat. For solid on elephants Barnes is great but Hornady DGS work just as well and cheap enough to expend a lot of ammo on practice. In my bolt rifles I will use a Barnes X followed by Hornady DGS Except on elephant which is always DGS for head or body shots. The frontal brain shots I have made on elephants always dropped them and the bullets penetrated so deep I have never recovered one. I did one heart shot on a elephant with my 500 jeffery and it knocked him down, he got up and ran about 50 yards as fired 2 more rounds in his hip trying to anchor him. That rifle also shot buffalo but it really too much gun for them. On buffalo I have shot with a 375 H&H with good heart shots just did not stop fast enough to suit me and I think the caliber is a bit light for them but I'm sure there are hundreds of people who will disagree with that. But that's my personal experince. I moved up to a 460 Wby on my next buff with a Hornady soft point, killed the buff but the bullet blew up and no exit wound. Hornady expanding bullets are not suited for a 460. The 460 is really too much for buffalo and that 26" heavy barrel is kind of slow to swing. I've shot 6 big game animals with it but I don't use it much any more. I did take a very nice Eland with the 460 firing a 500 Hornady solid thru it's rump that exited his chest, That was about 7 feet of penetration. Could not have made that shot with any other bullet rifle combo with confidence. Only made that shot because I knew what that gun and bullet could do. The PH was a bit upset I took that shot until we found the bull behind the next bush. He went 25 yards. The next buffalo was shot with a 416 Rigby pushing a 400 gr Barnes X moving at 2550 FPS on a frontal shot, the bullet was recovered in the hind quarter perfectly mushroomed and retained all it's weight. It spun the buff around, still on his feet but unable to run so I fired a 400 gr Hornady DGS broad side thru his shoulders and he dropped in his tracks. It's hard to beat that combo for buffalo. I've shot buffalo, giraffe, crocodile and Baboons with the 416 and I love that rifle. With my 500 NE double rifle it is regulated with Hornady bullets so I am forced to use DGX and DGS. I have another Buffalo hunt booked this year and will be using that rifle and load. I have not used this rifle on Buffalo yet but I believe the 570 gr DGX should do just fine due to the slow speed of the 500 NE. I would not use a DGX in bolt guns with high speed loads as long as Barnes X was available. If you use any thing from a 416 to a 458 Lott of Buffalo with a Barnes X you can't go wrong. Most people think you really need a expanding bullet to do the job, But on really big tough game, I've seen many still standing after absorbing expanding bullets and took a solid to put them down. I have shot several big game animals in Africa where the expanding bullet broke up before reaching vitals before I learned my lesson on using premium bullets. If you are shooting big cats then then you need a much different bullet bullets like a nosler Accubond that expands very rapidly yet will hold together rather well in animal in the lion class. Hunt why you still can worry about paying for it latter.
