Preferred bullets for RSA Plains Game

[375Fox]

I don’t know what people see in Barnes bullets. They have a propensity to do crazy things sometimes on animals and the copper fowling is intolerable. Some people state accuracy is good, but that’s not been my experience.!
I’ve shot everything you have listed in Africa and then some with a frames. I never had an issue availability has been a bit of a problem, but that’s being resolved now and production quality has been good. 200 grain A-frames out of the 300 WM are hammers on everything
I’ve used exclusively A-frames out of 300WM, 375, 416 Rigby and 450-400 & 470NE doubles
With excellent results. North Froks would be my second choice. And just about any premium bullet before I would use Barnes on anything. I know that goes against what many will tell you!

I could think of reasons not to use Barnes for a particular circumstance but accuracy and copper fouling would not be in those reasons. They are consistently the most accurate bullets in my 300 win and 375 H&H with 150 and 250 gr bullets. They need lighter and faster for best accuracy. I have never seen copper fouling issues in 270 and larger.

 

[pilar]

I don’t know what people see in Barnes bullets. They have a propensity to do crazy things sometimes on animals and the copper fowling is intolerable. Some people state accuracy is good, but that’s not been my experience.!
I’ve shot everything you have listed in Africa and then some with a frames. I never had an issue availability has been a bit of a problem, but that’s being resolved now and production quality has been good. 200 grain A-frames out of the 300 WM are hammers on everything
I’ve used exclusively A-frames out of 300WM, 375, 416 Rigby and 450-400 & 470NE doubles
With excellent results. North Froks would be my second choice. And just about any premium bullet before I would use Barnes on anything. I know that goes against what many will tell you!

For everything from .223 - 375 Barnes TSX has proven a stable and efficient factory load , much more cost efficient then SAF , I just received a notification that swift has some 375 ammunition @ $160 per box where barns is available @ $70
This past weekend we killed two animals with 140gr TSX 270wsm
I don’t think they did anything wonky? Margie shot one @ a 1/4 angle and it went in behind the shoulder and drove through the heart & lungs up though the neck and exited! Other was front shoulder, heart and lungs, exiting last rib
We have about 100 rounds down the tube and might clean it but doubt it as it’s still 3/4 to a 1 inch in her CVA rifle
Same with my .308win with 130gr ttsx here is a picture of a elk shoulder my wife took
Nothing wonky and pretty accurate
Those caliber you listed would be wonderful for some CEB ( cutting edge) reloads for buffalo and other large critters imo
Nothing wrong with swift except availability and price per unit and collection in factory loads

 

[coreydb]

Ladies & gents, I have a question I'm sure that's been asked but wasn't able to really find anything with my searches. My wife and I are headed on our first trip to RSA in August 2025 for waterfowl and some PG. We're wanting to harvest Eland, Kudu, Sable, Nyala, Gemsbok, Red Hartebeest, and Impala. My wife is shooting a 30-06 and I'm taking with a .300 WM (both 180 gr.) and a .375 H&H (300 gr.) The 30-06 and .300 WM will be used for everything except for the Eland, that's the .375.

My question is about the actual bullets and their effectiveness. I still have to pattern them to see what the rifles like the best but I've got Barnes TSX, TTSX and Swift A-Frames. I'm also considering the Swift Sciroccos. In your experiences, what bullets do you prefer and why over the others mentioned? I'm looking at kinetic energy transferred, bullet weight retention, bullet expansion, pass through versus staying inside to continue to do damage, etc. I've talked with the PH and he said that any of them will work.

Any insight and personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

You're in luck! I've downed everything you're after and over several trips successfully used Swift A-Frames (375 H&H 300gr) , Norma Bond Strike (.308/.30-06 180 Gr), and Hornady ELD-X (300WM 178gr). I also used Nosler Partition, but it was in 25.06.......Pick your poison and have fun!

 

[coreydb]

I've shot many plains animals using different brands, just to see how they did. All were excellent.
All but one were 30 caliber (308 and 300WM), one was .25 (35-06). All were lead filled but one (Nosler Partition). The best .30 cal long range performance were the Norma Tipstrike 180 Gr, the Hornady ELD-X 178 gr, and the Nosler partition (112 gr). I dropped all my animals with these bullets ranging from 60-412 yds.

 

[Bandera]

I used the the Barnes TSX with good success in June of 24 and then again two weeks ago. Interestingly the ammo my PH had for his rifle was PPU soft point.

 

[BryceM]

Between Barnes TTSX/TSX, Swift A-Frames, Hammers, and CEB, just pick the one that shoots the best in your rifle and take it.

I've killed 30 or 40 critters with Barnes. A few with A-frames. I've recovered one A-frame from a giraffe, one TTSX from an eland, and one TSX from a cape buffalo. Everything else exited.

Shot placement is WAY more important than little variations between these.

 

[Warren Knudsen]

I have had great success with norma oryx and all size plans game from impala to eland.