Favorite .375 bullet for Buffalo?

Clayton Holland · Apr 1, 2015

Guided a guy on water buffalo in Oz using Barnes 300grain TSX and was pretty impressed. Shot a number of bulls and found most projectiles just under the far skin. Some shots were not perfect and I found they left a good blood trail. I don't like them to use solids.

matt85 · Apr 1, 2015

my thoughts on Hornady and other similar style bullets is this... its the year 2015 and bullet tech has come a long way since the early 1900s. there is no reason we should be using standard cup and core bullets on DG any more. we now have soft point bullets with bonded jackets and mono-metal bullets that expand reliably.

i just cant figure out why someone would intentionally handicap themselves by using a cup and core bullet when better bullets are easily available.

-matt

CTDolan · Apr 1, 2015

matt85 said:
my thoughts on Hornady and other similar style bullets is this... its the year 2015 and bullet tech has come a long way since the early 1900s. there is no reason we should be using standard cup and core bullets on DG any more. we now have soft point bullets with bonded jackets and mono-metal bullets that expand reliably.

i just cant figure out why someone would intentionally handicap themselves by using a cup and core bullet when better bullets are easily available.

-matt

Very, very, very correct (and very well-stated, too)!

CTDolan · Apr 1, 2015

Something to think about, when investing in a rifle (for use Stateside, or in Canada, or in Europe...or Africa)...make sure the cartridge chosen has adequate capacity to deal with monometal bullets. I see the day coming when lead will be illegal and monometal will be the only option. I do understand that, often, monometal bullets of a lesser weight will perform on par with standard jacketed lead bullet weights (if not better than), but still, it's something of which to be aware.

jduckhunter · Apr 1, 2015

I only ever shot one buffalo and that was two years ago in Zim. I used a 300 gr. Woodleigh soft in my 375 Ruger and killed the hell out of him, funny I never felt handicapped.

CTDolan · Apr 1, 2015

I think Matt has a very valid point, though. Why use an old cup-and-core when something so much better is readily available?

CTDolan · Apr 1, 2015

By the way, the Woodleigh is bonded, right? If so (I forget), it's already a step up.

matt85 · Apr 1, 2015

jduckhunter said:
I only ever shot one buffalo and that was two years ago in Zim. I used a 300 gr. Woodleigh soft in my 375 Ruger and killed the hell out of him, funny I never felt handicapped.

Woodleigh bullets are not standard cup and core bullets, they are bonded soft points or bonded protected points.

-matt

CTDolan · Apr 1, 2015

matt85 said:
Woodleigh bullets are not standard cup and core bullets, they are bonded soft points or bonded protected points.

-matt

Gotcha (thought so, but didn't bother to check up).

Still, were it me, it'd be a Swift...guaranteed weight retention by virtue of bonded metallurgy + separate cores.

matt85 · Apr 1, 2015

some types of bullets available today:

- jacket swaged onto a lead core = cup and core bullet. (most inexpensive SP and HP bullets)
- jacket chemically bonded to lead core = bonded bullet (ex: Woodleigh SP bullets)
- two seperate cores swaged into a two compartment jacket = dual core bullet (ex: Noslar Partition)
- two seperate cores chemically bonded into a two compartment jacket = bonded dual core bullet (ex: Swift A-frame)
- solid copper base with a bonded lead nose = there are two makes of bullets like this to my knowledge. Federal offers factory ammunition with the trophy bonded bear claw and North Fork makes their softs this way.
- solid metal bullets with no lead core usually made entirly of copper, copper alloy, bronze, or brass. = mono-metal bullet (ex: Barnes TSX)

example of the solid copper base bullet (North Fork):

-matt

spike.t · Apr 1, 2015

7.62 fmj

...... but as i have been partaking of strawberry daiquiris, bannana daquiris, banks lager, piper-heidsieck champagne, and then onto the good old orange grey goose probably best to not to listen to me.... :A Banana:

PHOENIX PHIL · Apr 1, 2015

matt85 said:
some types of bullets available today:

- jacket swaged onto a lead core = cup and core bullet. (most inexpensive SP and HP bullets)
- jacket chemically bonded to lead core = bonded bullet (ex: Woodleigh SP bullets)
- two seperate cores swaged into a two compartment jacket = dual core bullet (ex: Noslar Partition)
- two seperate cores chemically bonded into a two compartment jacket = bonded dual core bullet (ex: Swift A-frame)
- solid copper base with a bonded lead nose = there are two makes of bullets like this to my knowledge. Federal offers factory ammunition with the trophy bonded bear claw and North Fork makes their softs this way.
- solid metal bullets with no lead core usually made entirly of copper, copper alloy, bronze, or brass. = mono-metal bullet (ex: Barnes TSX)

example of the solid copper base bullet (North Fork):

-matt

The part about the grooves in the NF bullet reducing resistance and therefore pressure is no B.S. I routinely attain the same velocity with 2-3gr less of the same powder in comparison to other bullets .

matt85 · Apr 2, 2015

spike.t said:
7.62 fmj ...... but as i have been partaking of strawberry daiquiris, bannana daquiris, banks lager, piper-heidsieck champagne, and then onto the good old orange grey goose probably best to not to listen to me....

WRONG! you need a .243" FMJ, now pass one of them drinks my way. :S Lol:

-matt

gordon-kruger · Apr 2, 2015

If I must use a .375 because of some kind of reason my chose will be a heavyweight expanding-type bullets fired with a lower muzzle velocity, because its possess better Momentum and KO values than regular weight ones at their usual velocities.

My chose would be :

1. North Fork, CUP NOSE 350 gr
2. North Fork, SS 350 gr.
3. Woodleigh 350 gr Weldcore.
4. North Fork FPS 350 gr. (For solidarity bulls, not in heard situation).

TokkieM · Apr 2, 2015

Interesting to see not many of the hunters in the US use Norma Ammo. They have been going heavy for caliber on most of their DG ammo for a while now. Have used their African PH ammo loaded with Woodleigh bullets for a while now and can't say anything bad about them, except maybe they are hard to recover, they don't seem to stop easy unless they hit heavy bone. They also load the TSX for the 375H&H along with the Swift. For any other non DG you can't go wrong with their Oryx either.

matt85 · Apr 2, 2015

hunthardsafaris said:
Interesting to see not many of the hunters in the US use Norma Ammo. They have been going heavy for caliber on most of their DG ammo for a while now. Have used their African PH ammo loaded with Woodleigh bullets for a while now and can't say anything bad about them, except maybe they are hard to recover, they don't seem to stop easy unless they hit heavy bone. They also load the TSX for the 375H&H along with the Swift. For any other non DG you can't go wrong with their Oryx either.

Norma ammunition is great but its not commonly available in the US. only way to get Norma ammunition for most cartridges in the US is to order it online.

-matt

Mr. 16 gauge · Apr 2, 2015

GREAT information guys.....thank you very much!!!

I never really gave much thought to Barnes bullets; the other hunters in camp last year used them exclusively (PG) and they worked very well......I will definitely be checking them out.

One question, though..........no Nosler supporters? I used the accubond and partition last year on PG and they worked rather well; just kind of curious to see that they weren't mentioned at all.....

johnnyblues · Apr 2, 2015

Hank2211 said:
I have used Barnes, A-Frame and Hornady DGS. Swift is excellent, Barnes is exceptional. Had issues with the Hornady.

TBBC is also a heck of a bullet.

What sort of issues with hornady?

Velo Dog · Apr 2, 2015

spike.t said:
7.62 fmj ...... but as i have been partaking of strawberry daiquiris, bannana daquiris, banks lager, piper-heidsieck champagne, and then onto the good old orange grey goose probably best to not to listen to me....

Mr. Spike.t,

At this stage in my 62 years, I have concluded that there are only a very few problems in the world that a well placed 147 grain .30 projectile cannot solve.

Out,
Mr Velo Disease.

PHOENIX PHIL · Apr 2, 2015

Mr. 16 gauge said:
GREAT information guys.....thank you very much!!!

I never really gave much thought to Barnes bullets; the other hunters in camp last year used them exclusively (PG) and they worked very well......I will definitely be checking them out.

One question, though..........no Nosler supporters? I used the accubond and partition last year on PG and they worked rather well; just kind of curious to see that they weren't mentioned at all.....

Haven't hunted with the AB, but have developed loads with it. If my info is correct it is only made up to 260gr in the .375, so it is not appropriate in my mind for DG just on weight alone.

The Partition, a great bullet, took bullet technology to a new level. Could it be used on buff? Yes I'm sure it has. But just as the Partition was an advancement, the bonded bullets are also an advancement. The A-Frame for all intents and purposes is a bonded Partition. So if I had to choose between the NP and A-Frame or North Fork, it's the AF or NF without hesitation.

Favorite .375 bullet for Buffalo?

Clayton Holland

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