.375HH buffalo ammunition recommendations?

[rookhawk]

what soft and solid combo would you recommend to put in a magazine rifle for Cape buffalo in .375HH.

Is there a pair of soft/solid that regulate similarly so your first shot soft flies about the same as your second shot solid?

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Are you shooting factory ammo or hand loads?

 

[rookhawk]

Factory

 

[Velo Dog]

Hi rookhawk,

Excellent question.
Any PH will respect you greatly if you ask them that same question.
Also, if you like books, do read the better than excellent: "Africa's Most Dangerous" by Doctor Kevin "Doctari" Robertson".
He devotes an entire chapter to the subject of bullets for buffalo.

That being said, the following is my feeble opinion:
Unfortunately, every rifle usually has its own particular quirks.
So, there is no easy formula to find a soft and a solid that will strike the same spot as each other.
You just have to try them in your specific rifle.
Also, factory live ammunition limits your choices somewhat (but not enough to worry about).
However, many buffaloes are taken very thoroughly with factory loaded .375 ammunition.
Some PHs even prefer to use factory ammunition themselves, because much of it is so well suited to Africa these days (unlike 30 or 40 years ago).

Yours truly has only shot one buffalo and so please do take my recommendation with a grain of pepper.
My opinion on this subject is based primarily on experiences of several PHs and quite a few fellow clients that I have discussed calibers and bullets with over the years.
Regarding a soft for heavy game, I feel that there is no bullet as reliable as the Swift A-Frame, at least none that is easy to find on sporting goods store shelves when you need a box or two.
Even the very best ones that are difficult to find, do not really offer any better performance than the A-Frame, some may equal it (Bear Claw, North Fork, Rhino, etc., etc., etc.) but none surpasses it, as far as I can tell.
Also, the faster you drive your buffalo soft point, the more you need something like the A-Frame.
The .375 H&H is not a super high velocity cartridge (like the unnecessarily fast .378 Weatherby, the Remington Ultramag, and etc) but it is not a low velocity cartridge either.
So, a properly tough bullet is called for when using it for heavy game.

As a side note, do not be lured into using the "sort-of-similar" Nosler Partition in your .375 for buffalo.
It is nowhere near as tough as the A-Frame.
The Nosler might or might not be adequate for buffalo in much larger/slower calibers but, in the .375 bore, it is too quick to expand and fragile for the very thick/stout/impact resistant bones in heavy, dangerous African game - IMO.
Otherwise, the NP in .375 / 300 grain is one of the best bullets for pretty much any other species, including most "normal" animals in Africa or in fact, anywhere in the world.

As for a solid, you are wise to want one that impacts to the same point of aim as your soft.
If your rifle happens to feed and shoot to same point of aim, a solid with a slightly flat tip ("meplat" shape), these tend to track straighter through flesh and bone than round nose ones do.
However, virtually all of the Pre-War Nitro Express Cartridges used round nose softs and solids to take thousands of just about every species in Africa so, flat nose vs round nose is not a huge issue.
Also, as "solids" go, the monolithic types (solid copper or solid bronze or solid brass, or an alloy from some combination of these metals, swaged or lathe-turned to fit a specific caliber) are the very toughest of them all.
However, a thick steel jacket over a bonded lead core (such as the Woodleigh design) will usually pass clean through a buffalo on broadside shots and pass most of the way through a buffalo lengthwise.
Even on lengthwise shots, into an already hit and now fleeing (or charging) buffalo, the lead core "solid" (full metal jacket) has been known to exit the opposite end of buffaloes on occasion.
So, a monolithic is not the deal breaker, if a Woodleigh or similar design is more accurate in your rifle.

I believe Remington and Federal both, currently offer live ammunition in .375 H&H with the 300 grain A-Frame bullet - this would absolutely be my first choice.
Federal might also still be offering the "Trophy Bonded Bear Claw" 300 grainer in .375 H&H live ammunition.
The Bear Claw is an excellent buffalo bullet as well, by all accounts.
However, finding it available for sale is dodgy, at least where I live (and the .375 H&H is no doubt more popular here where I live than it is in the other 49 States, across the USA).

I wish I was going buffalo hunting and you were staying here on my often quite boring job.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Don't know if anyone is loading Swifts new solid yet, but that's one route to go pairing with A-Frame.

 

[bassasdaindia]

Don't know if anyone is loading Swifts new solid yet, but that's one route to go pairing with A-Frame.

I would like to find more information on the Swift solids . I am a Swift A frame fan , however my factory solid of choice in 375 would be our local 286 g PMP solid , I rate this solid very highly as do many local PH's.

 

[rookhawk]

Thanks for all the advice. I bought federal premium ammo. 300gr

Softs - swift a frame

Solids - woodleigh hydrostatic

Will bring half box of both to Africa in a month. Should be great.

 

[Opposite Pole]

I have experienced poor performance from the following 375 H&H Federal Trophy Bonded Bear Claw load https://www.federalpremium.com/ammunition/rifle/family/cape-shok/cape-shok-trophy-bonded-bear-claw/p375t3

I was stalking a large cow Water Buffalo. The beast was feeding on the edge of a forest. I got to within approximately 50m (55yds) of it. It was as easy a shot as a hunter can hope for. Undisturbed animal, broadside presentation. Having kneeled I took a rest on a tree and fired. Upon receiving the shot the animal took off into the paperbark forest. Here I made a serious mistake. Being sure of the shot I did not fire again while I could have gone for the rear spinal shot or a hind leg shot – there was enough time to fire off at least one more aimed shot. There were two of us there and we both agreed the shot was true and waited a short while before following the animal. Had the bullet performed as expected it would have taken out the lungs and most likely the heart as well. However, the animal disappeared and initially we found no blood at all. The shot was fired at 8am and we spent the rest of the day trying to find and follow spoor. Hard going as we were tracking through wet, muddy paperbark forest late in the wet season with temperatures around 40C (100F) and 99% humidity. After several hours, we found minimal traces of blood in two spots. Did not manage to track down the animal that day and stared again the following morning. At 7am we spotted an animal about 100m away. It was standing broadside to us and looked healthy on its feet. However, close observation through binoculars revealed its sides were somewhat collapsed indicating that perhaps it did not drink and feed for some time. I fired one standing shot and several running ones until the beast fell, upon reaching the animal I fired a finishing shot into the base of the skull as the animal was still alive.

Trying to understand what happened we started looking for the bullet. Upon hitting bone, it failed to break it and instead deflected of its path by about 90 degrees and went straight into the gut cavity where it got lodged. I was quite keen to find that projectile but not keen enough to go through the content of its injured gut cavity. I’ve gone back to the place where I fired that first shot the previous day. The path of the bullet was clear, there were no branches it could have hit on its way.

I do not want to bad mouth a reputable projectile as perhaps my experience was just an isolated incident. I do not think any projectile on the market is going to perform 100% correctly 100% of the time but be that as it may this particular one did fail resulting in suffering animal and a long and stressful follow up.

 

[fourfive8]

Thanks for sharing the info on the popular TBBC. I have never shot one so have no experience with them.

Since I haven't shot a factory loaded rifle round at an animal since about 1970 I can't speak for current factory offerings. However, given the popularity of the 375 HH I would imagine the selection to be extensive. My choice for large stuff like buff using the 375 would be 300- 300+ grain tough, proven bullets. I have had excellent results using Swift A Frames, North Fork Cup Point Solids and Barnes TSXs. I have witnessed good results from GS and Woodleigh bullets shot by others. Some research shows that larger meplats or cup points of the copper mono metals that feature that nose design have much less terminal deflection tendency.

 

[Opposite Pole]

TSX is what I used to follow up the above mentioned animal and it performed flawlessly. I have also shot a decent size bull buff with 270gr TSX from 375H&H and again it performed very well.

 

[IvW]

I re-load. Although I use my 500 Jeff for Buff I have had great success with hand loaded Rhinos. 380 grain solid shank expanders at 2200 fps.
Then also 350gr Rhino solid shank expanders and also the 340 gr Rhino monolithic solid with a meplat, both @ 2300 fps. The last two group exactly to the same POI with hand loading.

Just take care with this solid as it exits on everything.

These heavy for caliber bullets perform exceptionally well in the 375 H&H.

 

[sheephunterab]

Hornady Superformance 250-grain GMX. No real need for soft and solid this one. One bullet....no worries.