1st shot solids?

After reading much here and elsewhere about velocity and bullet form retention as being a real issue with higher velocity rounds such as 460 Weatherby it occurred to me.. why not just shoot solids from shot #1 rather than using them as back up for shot 2 or 3? I am new to this of course so please excuse if this is a standard operating procedure I am just not aware of. Thanks and I love this site!

Well one reason, you can have a solid go right through a animal into another animal.

Another reason is a soft...to me anyway inflicts more damage immediately in whatever area the bullet first hit. So instead of a small hole through the lungs...you have a huge hole.

I'd rather have the huge hole...most days....unless my bullet hits a bone, then I'd rather have a solid.

Big5er

Most modern day but not all PH's want you to use an expanding bullet to make th biggest hole possible in your buffalo. A solid works but it doesn't cause the tissue damage and therefore the followup can be much longer. Shattering a leg bone and having it explode into the chest cavity can provide a quick demise with a solid as can a CNS shot but these are not the norm. A modern premium expanding bullet and particularly the mono metals will provide everything you need for buffalo hunting including great penetration.

my point was many of those comments I have read against the 460 claim issue with disintegration of an expanding bullet at those velocities. Or is this really not an issue with the correct bullet?

Big5er

You've got it. The 460 WBY didn't do very well with the existing softpoints when it came out. At this time with SAF, Northforks, TSX etc it should be better than ever.

Originally Posted by Mark H. Young

Big5er

You've got it. The 460 WBY didn't do very well with the existing softpoints when it came out. At this time with SAF, Northforks, TSX etc it should be better than ever.

Thank you Mark

Originally Posted by Big5er

After reading much here and elsewhere about velocity and bullet form retention as being a real issue with higher velocity rounds such as 460 Weatherby it occurred to me.. why not just shoot solids from shot #1 rather than using them as back up for shot 2 or 3? I am new to this of course so please excuse if this is a standard operating procedure I am just not aware of. Thanks and I love this site!

The use of controlled expansion soft point bullets for the first shot on cape buffalo has nothing to do with velocity, or bullet blow-up! The use of a quality controlled expansion bullets for the first shot on a cape buffalo is because the controlled expansion bullet does the most tissue damage, to insure the shortest path to the animal’s humane death! With the first shot one can pick his shot so as to make that shot do the most tissue damage it can do. The solids that follow that first shot will normally have to traverse more tissue, and bone to get into the vitals in the chest from behind with the animal running away, or travel a straight line from the front into the CNS (spine and/or brain) or breakdown the heavy bones on the shoulders or down through the horn boss when he charges!

The high velocity of the cartridges like the 460 Wby Mag and others of that ilk are not needed for the hunting of dangerous game. High velocity only does two things well, and they are increase recoil, and make the bullet shoot flatter, and neither is needed for hunting dangerous game. High recoil makes a rifle very hard to shoot accurately, for two reasons. Reason #1 is the heavier the recoil the less likely a person will shoot the rifle enough to get really good with it in the field. #2 reason is the greatest use of velocity is to make the rifle shoot flatter for long range shooting. Both these reasons combined are detrimental to precise shooting, at any range, for any game animal. The dangerous game is only dangerous at close range, so the only need for a very flat shooting rifle is on an escaping animal that was poorly shot with the first shot, or as back-up for a well placed first shot.

If anyone wants to see for himself what most PHs think of the 460 Wby Mag rifles or any rifle with a muzzle brake, it will be evident from the look on his face when you pull that shiny new Wby cannon out of the case in camp!

The idea of using the solid for buffalo was result of poor bullet performance BEFORE we had the myriad excellent controlled expansion bullets we enjoy today. With modern bullets available now, the first bullet should be one of those super softs. Buffalo are big, hardy animals with big bones and require good bullets.

Originally Posted by DUGABOY1

If anyone wants to see for himself what most PHs think of the 460 Wby Mag rifles or any rifle with a muzzle brake, it will be evident from the look on his face when you pull that shiny new Wby cannon out of the case in camp!

DUGABOY.
100% perfect said. This sentence in your answer will not be forgoten.

Stay safe.
Michael