What bullet for my 404 Jeffery

I've emailed Rhino bullets twice. No replies yet. I did contact the BATF, they told me that the bullets would have to go through an importer. I'm still trying to sort that detail out.

IvW, if I cannot get Rhino Bullets in the States, would the Northfork SS be an acceptable substitute? They are very similar in design and function?

Shootist43 said:

I've emailed Rhino bullets twice. No replies yet. I did contact the BATF, they told me that the bullets would have to go through an importer. I'm still trying to sort that detail out.

IvW, if I cannot get Rhino Bullets in the States, would the Northfork SS be an acceptable substitute? They are very similar in design and function?

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Have no experience with them and I cannot find the SS you are referring to.

Throphy Bonded Bearclaws and Swift A frame are excellent alternatives.

Below is all I find on North Fork bullets. They soft point pictured has a nice mushroom, but the sides may be a bit to smooth for my liking, but one picture is nothing to go by. They do look tough.

Try our new Percussion Point (PP) Bullets!

Company History:
Over a decade ago, North Fork Bullets began with the goal of creating the best hunting bullets in the world while providing exceptional service to its customers. North Fork's years of continuous development and dedication to perfection has resulted in four innovative product lines: Perfection bonded soft point, percussion point, flat point solid and cup point solid, each with industry leading performance. North Fork is a small, independent bullet manufacturer who listens to the needs of its customers.

North Fork Bullets are manufactured at the foot of the Oregon Coast Mountain Range in Philomath, Oregon, U.S.A. Oregon's diverse game and habitats provide an ideal proving ground for premium bullets.

Bullet Design:
At North Fork, we use the finest materials, the tightest tolerances and the most robust designs to give you unrivaled terminal performance with "match grade" accuracy in the field. Ultra pure copper and lead are used in our products to give unfailing performance as compared to impure alloyed/gilded metals. Our soft points and solids are designed to hit the same point of impact while our innovative pressure and foul reducing grooves allow more reloading flexibility and less rifle clean-up then competing designs.

Soft Point:
Experience more one shot kills with North Fork Soft Points. Our Soft Points are designed to give you deep, devastating, straight line penetration over the broadest range of conditions. The robust, solid copper shank pared with the bonded lead front core gives you the "perfect mushroom" every time.

Percussion Point(PP):
Shocking. Opens fast and penetrates deep. The Percussion Point was designed specifically for large felines, but works well on any tough, thin skinned game.

Solid (FPS)
Experience one of the deepest and straightest penetrating solids on the market. The large flat meplat, truncated nose and mono-metal design of the FPS delivers a resounding impact and a large, deep wound channel. All North Fork solids are safe for modern double rifles; only the bands of the bullet touch the rifling, minimizing the stress on the barrels imparted by typical solids.

Cup Point Solid(CPS):
The North Fork Cup Point performs like no bullet you have ever experienced. It penetrates deep like a solid but with a larger permanent wound channel. By adding a shallow cup to the front of the bullet, North Fork has created an "expanding solid", ideal for up close tough game.

North Fork Bullets have a highly regarded track record around the world. Whether you are on a once in a lifetime safari or are hunting in your own backyard, have confidence on the hunt with North Fork.

IvW, I concur, this is exactly what Dr Kevin Robinson told us on the buffalo hunting course. He use the North Fork cup/core in his .505 Gibbs and believes in this bullet while trusting his own live on this bullet as well. During one course when tracking buffalo he had to put down a buffalo that was charging from ten meters out of a dense bush ....here is a photo of the bullet hole...Dzombo is the solid they prefer.

It is my understanding that SS is North Fork's designation for their Soft Point bullet. I spoke with a BATF employee earlier this morning. It appears that all I need to do is complete BATF Form 6 and have it approved. Then I can import Rhino bullets in the calibers and quantities listed for a period of up to 2 years. Things appear to be looking up.

Shootist 43, it really is good to know. I previously needed to permanent export from the USA two .450 No.2 Nitro Express rifle barrels that was introduced by Eley in 1903 from a friend who passed away last year. It seemed to permanently export for personal use once is really not a big story. As soon as my friend`s wife get hold of the two barrels I want to bring it in to do a W.W Greener shotgun conversion build. This caliber has the lowest pressure of all the big double rifles. I am sure this double rifle will be something I will enjoy tremendously..

The Northforks have a stellar reputation with all who have used them.

I have never read of a failure, or even sub-optimal performance. And I have read everything I can find on them.

Also, the Northforks generally seem to achieve full velocity without excess pressure (due to the driving bands, no doubt).

This cannot be universally said of the A-Frame, which in some rifles creates high pressure prior to achieving expected max velocity.

I am planning a head-to-head wound channel/penetration/expansion/weight retention comparison of the 400gr .410 A-Frame and 400gr .410 Northfork.

This will likely happen over this coming winter.

I need to decide what uniform test medium to use. May try to do both water jugs and soaked newsprint.

Anyone have a few hundred pounds of newspapers they want to contribute to the cause?

My main reason for doing this: A fellow I want to hunt Buffalo with says use an A-Frame or Woodleigh (both stellar, proven bullets).

I, being a tinkerer and experimenter, want to test the Northforks. I have been doing this sort of thing going back to my days as a 12 year old boy doing penetration tests in the basement with .22s...if my parents only knew!

So I won't go back to the PH until I have some data...which he might very well reject as nonsense!!

But yeah, the Northforks have a great track record already on game...my test is really more for fun.

Tarbe, contact Dr. Kevin Robinson and talk to him about the Northfork bullet`s performances , they did a lot of penetration tests on dangerous game animals and autopsies as well.

L to R
Northfork from Waterbuck bull. Full Frontal shot. Recovered near the anus
A-Frame from Blue Wildebeest QT shot over 170m
A-Frame from Eland bull full frontal. Recovered in very last skin of stomach right at the back

Same

Excellent performances all round...

What I would hope to do is show the relative performance under controlled conditions.

The above bullets certainly show the relative performances under uncontrolled conditions...all stellar it appears.

Tarbe, I used Stewart Core bonded bullets the last time I hunted a blue wildebeest and Impala ewe, with my 404 Jeffery ,unfortunately in both cases I did not manage to get hold of the bullets it went through ...but it was devastating performances when the bullet struck them. I need now to shoot an eland cow /bull full frontal to be able to retrieve the bullet and see how it performs..
PM inbound...

for what its worth,

i have switched from barnes x bullets (which have done a good job for me over the years in a .338 win) to north fork softs for my 375 ruger and my 450-400. i am planning on using the 450-400 for a brown bear backup rifle. 400 gr softs at 2100 fps out of my zoli o/u rifle. i get 1" or less at 50 yards and 1.5" groups at 100.

after hearing from multiple posts on this site, i decided a good soft that was near indestructible was a good choice all around.

i believe north fork makes one of the best softs available. i will be using them on a cape buffalo hunt next october. good shot placement and good bullets trump everything else. that said, for a great all around caliber for large, tough and even dangerous game, a 404 jeffery sounds like a top choice for shoot ability and performance. thanks to ivW for all the information!

1Dirtwalker, I can see you know a lot about what an excellent/premium caliber rifle is with your reference to the 404 Jeffery, using Northfork bullets in the 404 Jeffery makes it even more devastating..especially if you can use a 450 gn bullet....I concur, IvW really shared excellent knowledge on this thread, thank you kindly IvW, a novice like me will make good use of your advice .

I or someone in my family has used NorthFork softs in 7x57, .308W, .30-06, .300WM and .375H&H on all sorts of PG. No DG yet with them. Everyone that we've recovered looks pretty much like the one in @DWB pics above.

I've never used the A-Frames hunting, but I would expect the performance of the NF's to be equivalent to, maybe even slightly better than the A-Frames. Recently I have seen some A-Frames where it looked like lead from the rear of the bullet was being displaced. This can't happen with the North Forks as there is only lead in the front of the bullet which is of course bonded.

I can confirm that in side by side comparisons, NF to A-Frame, that it takes less powder to obtain the same velocity with similar accuracy for the NF's. Usually somewhere around 1-2gr less.

P. Phil, the lead in the rear sections of A Frames is not bonded and on every A Frame I have shot it moves forward and creates a nice secondary swelling of the projectile. This in no way affects the performance of the A Frame. I am not sure if this is a design feature of the bullets, but they do work for sure. I have shot a fair few A Frames and have never had an issue (only the 275gn in .338 though and only on buff as well). As for the .404 bullet choice...you won't go wrong with the 400gn Woodie and the 450gn Woodie would be more of a good thing. I have shot water buff with my .404 and 400gn Woodies and they perform very well. I haven't tried any other bullets as the Woodies work just fine for me.
As for solids, my view is to forget them on buff. The last buff I shot took 6 shots, the first was a soft the rest solids. I only tried the solids to see how they would go. The first shot, a soft was a high lung shot (my fault) and the recovered soft worked as per designed. The following 5 solids just zipped through and showed no effect. I'm damn sure if those five were softs it would of been a different story. This was all was with a .500 NE so is a little off topic I'm afraid, but relevant all the same.
North Forks seem to have a good reputation, but unfortunately I've never seen them in Australia to try.

Woodleighs soft nose and Woodleigh Hydrostatics. They work.

Rule 303 said:

Woodleighs soft nose and Woodleigh Hydrostatics. They work.

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The softs in 570 gr 500 Jeff overexpand at 2300+fps and are only good for hunting lion. Not recommended for buffalo. Stopping them anyway, they may be ok for broadside initial shots but not for back-up.