Hornady Bullets

Hello Just Passing Through,

I was shocked and befuddled when I discovered that, men who've worn out many pairs of shoes from walking thousands of miles, actually know more about walking (and more about shoes as well) than I do.

Kind Regards,
Velo Dog.
 
Hi again Norwegianwoods,

Another side note on velocity limitations of old fashioned bullets (old Velo's favorites).

One of my hunting partners here in Alaska loaded some newer product Nosler Partition 260 grain spritzers into his .375 Weatherby (about the same cartridge ballistically as the .375 Ackley Improved) to some super-galactic velocity to hunt moose where there are a lot of canyons.

His idea was to be able to shoot 4 or 500 yds metrs if necessary.

A short distance from his tent, he bumped face to face into a good bull, at only a few paces (thick alders and dwarf willows) and shot same in the brisket.

The bullet shattered like glass and the bull ran like a hare on fire.

Long story short, he got lucky and managed to eventually finish it with that load.

He will never use that bullet again.

He sold the rifle as well and now uses a .35 Whelen with 250 grain A-Frames.

Out.
Velo Dog.
 
Hallo Jaco,

Even though I have but a wee drop of water's experience, in your ocean of experience on the subject at hand, IE: shooting African heavy game animals / selecting proper equipment and related subject matter (to include bullets), years ago I totally concluded that there are quite a few premium bullets today that, out-perform old fashioned Hornady and similar lead core/jacketed bullets.

This is multiplied on sometimes difficult to clobber buffaloes and other heavy game, especially for those who insist on bringing high velocity rifles to hunt at close range.

Most USA hunters are suffering from Velocity Madness, as Pondoro Taylor so well phrased it, just after WW II.

I used to have it bad but, my first trip to the Lowveld / Limpopo cured me of it finally.

The other side of that coin is that I do like old fashioned Hornady bullets within their velocity limitations, especially in round nose configuration / heavy for caliber design on many of the species I have used them, here in N. America, especially Alaska where I live.

Such have been my bullet of choice for 3 out of 4 African adventures, with A+ results (zero wounded animals lost) in .375 H&H, .30-06 and .450 No2 Nitro respectively.

But the success is partly because the animals were hit where they are supposed to be hit, or at least 99% of them (I'm only human) but, they all still went down and also, partly because I have never tried to use such old fashioned (1890's technology) bullets beyond the impact velocities they were designed to handle.

Likewise, my meager experience with double rifles has shown that two of the few I have owned, regulated best with the above described Hornady's, not Woodleighs as I had expected.

The buffalo in the photo by my name was taken with a left and a right (as that's how I prefer to run my triggers) with Hndy DGX and DGS respectively,

Both impacts knocked him off his feet and both were fatal, he just was not convinced immediately after the first one pitched him onto his chin, he stayed down after the solid.

I've kept the mushroomed DGX as a conversation piece, the solid is still somewhere along the banks of The Olifants River.

These meager experiences could be easily beginner's luck and I totally get that but the point of my long, painful rant is: A hunter should never drive an old fashioned bullet at higher velocity than it was designed to handle in the first place.

If I ever decide to use a bolt action on heavy game (I have several that were made for that), I will prefer the A-Frame for a soft and a monolithic for a solid (if such will hit to close enough to the same point of aim as the soft).

I believe that you chaps who shoot large animals and guide people to shoot large animals for a living, do know way more than I ever will and if I book with you some day, I will bring whatever bullet / bullets you ask me to bring.

You must keep well,
Velo Dog
 
Hi again Norwegianwoods,

Another side note on velocity limitations of old fashioned bullets (old Velo's favorites).

One of my hunting partners here in Alaska loaded some newer product Nosler Partition 260 grain spritzers into his .375 Weatherby (about the same cartridge ballistically as the .375 Ackley Improved) to some super-galactic velocity to hunt moose where there are a lot of canyons.

His idea was to be able to shoot 4 or 500 yds metrs if necessary.

A short distance from his tent, he bumped face to face into a good bull, at only a few paces (thick alders and dwarf willows) and shot same in the brisket.

The bullet shattered like glass and the bull ran like a hare on fire.

Long story short, he got lucky and managed to eventually finish it with that load.

He will never use that bullet again.

He sold the rifle as well and now uses a .35 Whelen with 250 grain A-Frames.

Out.
Velo Dog.
Velo Dog
Most of my shooting in Namibia was done with a 35 Whelen and 225grain accubonds or Woodleigh bullets.
My gemsbuck was hit at around 120 yards with a 250 grain Hornaday round nose launched at 2,700fps . Hit him in the shoulder. He took off at a million miles an hour and piled up 20 yards later.
That's 250gn round nose punched a golf ball size holdout the other side.
Great performance
Cheers mate Bob
 

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