.375” North Fork SS & PP

[Russ-F]

Does anyone have experience with the North Fork .375” 300 grain soft point (SS) or the .375” 300 grain percussion point (PP) bullets on plains game i.e. Eland & smaller?

Regards
Russell

 

[Neale]

Hi Russell, I have used the 300 gn North Fork on large bovives here in Aus and they have performed excellent on all occasions. They mushroom well and retain nearly all their weight. They will certainly take above and below Eland size animals.

 

[Russ-F]

Hello Neale,
Thanks for the report.

Did you use the SS type (their ‘normal’ soft points) or the PP type (the ‘pussy pounders’) which were designed to open faster than the SS but still hold together?

Regards
Russell

 

[Neale]

Hey Russell, I use the SS type. You will not go wrong with these.

 

[1dirthawker]

Russ-F,

i am a north fork fan. have used the 300 gr ss on moose and caribou and brown bear. i have some pp, but have not used in my 375 ruger, yet.

i did use the pp in africa out of a 450-400, 400 gr pp on a wildebeest. was a touch over 190 yards, hit tight to the shoulder, pass thru, did not recover bullet. 50 cent sized hole, bull went 30 yards. i suspect the pp will work great on all game but buffalo critters. if i had to pick one to shoot an eland with, i'd start with the ss because they can be larger than a buff. but, i think the pp would work fine too. it still is bonded and has a solid base. good luck

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Does anyone have experience with the North Fork .375” 300 grain soft point (SS) or the .375” 300 grain percussion point (PP) bullets on plains game i.e. Eland & smaller?

Regards
Russell

Between myself, wife and sons, we've knocked down a bunch of critters with North Fork BC's in various calibers and weights. And I've used the PP too in 375, but not in the 300gr version. I've used 250gr versions of it and it works great on PG. But I'm going to advise you to develop a load with the 300gr SS and just use that. Keeping things simple has its advantages too, you'll never have to wonder if you remembered to load the right bullet as you pull down on that animal in front of you.

 

[southern_fowler]

.375 300 grain SS bullets are deadly.

 

[Russ-F]

Thanks to all for the advice. Based on it I’ll get some of the 300 grn SS type for load development.

Regards
Russell

 

[fourfive8]

Where are you finding North Forks? NOS factory ammo sitting somewhere or NOS bullets sitting somewhere? The "supposed" US distributor for North Forks, Reloading International, shows only a handful of NOS in different choices and I haven't heard anything about the "new company" in Sweden actually starting any production yet.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I got an email from reloading international, saying that North Fork has started production in Sweden. They asked what diameter and eight people wanted so they could start where the most demand was.
I have high hopes, but in the event it’s a flop, there’s always Swift A-frames

 

[fourfive8]

Hope so too. North Fork made good, well designed bullets.

 

[Russ-F]

FourFive8,
As Wyatt said, production has started in Sweden. I’ve been in contact with the new owner & they’ll be doing the 4 bullet types in all the usual calibres.

Regards
Russell

 

[neckdeep]

I am a big NF fan also, 23 African animals from Giraffe to Klipspringer, 300 gr SS on most all but some little guys and Solid's first on one Buff and the Giraffe. Not many recovered bullet's but the one's that I have are perfect mushroomed and lost a couple grains. The best part is the ease of loading and finding an accurate load that solid's will hit same POI. I have quite a few for a couple single gun safaris with the 375 and some 416 and 338 for a two gun safari. Give them a try, you will like

 

[RayAtkinson]

You can shoot 300 gr marbles in the .375 and killed PG

.All kidding side Ive killed lots of camp meat in Tanzanian PG as well as in Zim and RSA with solids without any problems in the .375, 416, 404,9.3x62, and 338, I like the flat nose solid or cup points best..I do believe the bigger the caliber the better solids work of PG, but they all work well enough in those calibers..

 

[crs]

My .405 WCF loves the 300 grain NFs. And my 1886 45-90 loves the 450 grain FPS which took several Cape Buff and an ele with them. The FPS frontal brain shot went through the head and into the body; had to be cut out.
Both accurate and deadly. Often shoot through the biggest of game.(except maybe ele)

 

[RayAtkinson]

I field tested the North Forks back in the day, the sp and cup points and was instrumental it the cup point, a bullet I still use to this day, and it works on all species with shoulder shots, including elephant..I documented these kills for MIke and sent him thebullets. There may be some bullet as good, but none better for sure..I still shoot both..They are again available but from some swiss company...

 

[Puddle]

I finally have access to North Fork bullets (per Kevin Robertson' suggestion).
Since the 300 grain SP is a pure copper, pure lead, bonded bullet I'm thinking of using the Swift A-Frame loading manual as the starting point since the two bullets are sorta, kinda, similar.

Anyone have a better resource idea for starting load data? (.375 H&H)
Thanks

 

[neckdeep]

What powder? 65-66 gr RL15 is a great start that has worked pretty well for me

@Surgeon1

Reloading International just got a big shipment of NF's in stock in most all caliber's

 

[Puddle]

What powder? 65-66 gr RL15 is a great start that has worked pretty well for me

For 300 grain bullets in the H&H I've used all the usual suspects - H4895, Varget, RL-15, & H4350.

If this bullet is anything like the A-Frame, I'll likely be targeting a MV between 2,460 - 2,500.

Thanks - I'll take a look at your RL-15 starting load.

 

[steve white]

Russ-F,

i am a north fork fan. have used the 300 gr ss on moose and caribou and brown bear. i have some pp, but have not used in my 375 ruger, yet.

i did use the pp in africa out of a 450-400, 400 gr pp on a wildebeest. was a touch over 190 yards, hit tight to the shoulder, pass thru, did not recover bullet. 50 cent sized hole, bull went 30 yards. i suspect the pp will work great on all game but buffalo critters. if i had to pick one to shoot an eland with, i'd start with the ss because they can be larger than a buff. but, i think the pp would work fine too. it still is bonded and has a solid base. good luck

If a PP went through a wildebeest it is perfect for plains game. The SS might be too hard to open as much? I almost bought some PP at the DSC (all they had) but did not know how they would do for buff.