375 solid preference? Elephant considered

[Edge]

Federal .375 H&H Hydro, frontal brain shot worked out just fine for me.

 

[One Day...]

The 350 gr Woodleigh conventional solids at 2300 fps have incredible
Penetration. I shot a big Botswana bull with a side brain shot. I don’t think that bullet even slowed down passing through his head. I left what I had left with a friend. He claimed full length penetration on a cow elephant while doing control work. I can’t substantiate that but I believe him. Those solids take the .375 to another level.

Amen!

And with the matched 350 gr Weldcore "soft" they up-gun the .375 deep into .416 territory (ref. Kevin Doctari Robertson) while sharing the same point of impact, for a perfect one-two punch with initial soft followed by up-the-rear-end solid on buff when applicable.

 

[MarkB]

Mine went down with a 300 gr Barnes banded solid. No idea if they are still around but I do have 2 boxes left unloaded so will use again if/when given another opportunity. Used 300 gr accubonds for PG on same hunt. Worked great but turned small stuff inside out.

MB

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

300 grain Woodleigh Hydro...if you can find them.

This would be my recommendation. I took 5 rounds JIC with my in June and returned with 4 of them. For me they shot nearly identical POA/POI as the 250gr TBBC out to 200yards.

 

[rookhawk]

See my post on the woodleigh hydro 375. No penetration. Wouldn’t pass through a zebra, kudu, or a sable. Don’t use a woodleigh hydro for elephant.

trophy bonded sledgehammer is a proven classic. Nosler solid is fine. Barnes solids are fine.

 

[TOBY458]

See my post on the woodleigh hydro 375. No penetration. Wouldn’t pass through a zebra, kudu, or a sable. Don’t use a woodleigh hydro for elephant.

trophy bonded sledgehammer is a proven classic. Nosler solid is fine. Barnes solids are fine.

Very interesting. Where is your post? I'd be interested to read it.

 

[375Fox]

trophy bonded sledgehammer is a proven classic.

Trophy bonded sledgehammers are also known for deformation. Kevin Robertson talks about them specifically in his podcast on hunting bullets for Africa. There is an elephant report on here from Namibia last year where sledgehammer solids were used and the bullet is clearly deformed. I wouldn’t trust the straight line performance.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

See my post on the woodleigh hydro 375. No penetration. Wouldn’t pass through a zebra, kudu, or a sable. Don’t use a woodleigh hydro for elephant.

trophy bonded sledgehammer is a proven classic. Nosler solid is fine. Barnes solids are fine.

I had the opposite experience. Out of 4 shoulder/lung & heart shots on a buffalo my only pass through was the Woodleigh Hydro. The other 3 (1st, 3rd, & 4th shot) were all 300gr Trophy Bonded and lodged under the skin on the offside shoulder. All shots were under 40 yards. As long as he was on his feet, he was taking lead.

 

[WAB]

I had the opposite experience. Out of 4 shoulder/lung & heart shots on a buffalo my only pass through was the Woodleigh Hydro. The other 3 (1st, 3rd, & 4th shot) were all 300gr Trophy Bonded and lodged under the skin on the offside shoulder. All shots were under 40 yards. As long as he was on his feet, he was taking lead.

I haven't used them in my .375 but I can assure you that the woodleigh hydro performs extremely well in a .458 Lott! I think that they are an exceptional bullet design, however, in the .375 I really like the 350 gr Woodleigh conventional solid. You simply can't stop that bullet.

 

[Ridge Top Ranch]

Hydo solid in 300 grain did in my ele.

 

[rookhawk]

To clarify, my only knowledge of the Woodleigh hydro is in a case of factory loaded federal premium 375H&H ammo that I purchased. Nothing would die cleanly with it. The PHs were stunned that it wouldn’t pass through kudus and zebras.

I came home, shipped it all back to Federal, and they ran ballistics tests on it stating it was completely to published specs for velocity.

I cannot recommend it in a 375HH as I have a ten+ animal set of bad anecdotes from the case of ammo I purchased from Federal. The Federal premium 375HH swift a-frames performed just as advertised on those same hunts when I wanted to use a soft.

 

[Edge]

To clarify, my only knowledge of the Woodleigh hydro is in a case of factory loaded federal premium 375H&H ammo that I purchased. Nothing would die cleanly with it. The PHs were stunned that it wouldn’t pass through kudus and zebras.

I came home, shipped it all back to Federal, and they ran ballistics tests on it stating it was completely to published specs for velocity.

I cannot recommend it in a 375HH as I have a ten+ animal set of bad anecdotes from the case of ammo I purchased from Federal. The Federal premium 375HH swift a-frames performed just as advertised on those same hunts when I wanted to use a soft.

Do you know if they tumbled inside the animal(s)?

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

I haven't used them in my .375 but I can assure you that the woodleigh hydro performs extremely well in a .458 Lott! I think that they are an exceptional bullet design, however, in the .375 I really like the 350 gr Woodleigh conventional solid. You simply can't stop that bullet.

My .375 had zero issues passing through. After seeing them perform, I'll likely take a full box next time, rather than drop 5 solids in one of my boxes of TBBC.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

To clarify, my only knowledge of the Woodleigh hydro is in a case of factory loaded federal premium 375H&H ammo that I purchased. Nothing would die cleanly with it. The PHs were stunned that it wouldn’t pass through kudus and zebras.

I came home, shipped it all back to Federal, and they ran ballistics tests on it stating it was completely to published specs for velocity.

I cannot recommend it in a 375HH as I have a ten+ animal set of bad anecdotes from the case of ammo I purchased from Federal. The Federal premium 375HH swift a-frames performed just as advertised on those same hunts when I wanted to use a soft.

What type of shots were they? Hard quartering away? or broadside double shoulder? I shot factory federal Woodleighs as well.

I'm like your PH's and stunned they wouldn't pass through. I too wonder if maybe they tumbled on impact, or maybe there was an issue with that batch of projectiles. Federal loads them but Woodleigh produces the actual projectile and there's always a chance something is a little too hard/too soft. The velocities will be within specs but the upset will tell the performance upon impact.

 

[rookhawk]

Do you know if they tumbled inside the animal(s)?

I do not. I only know that proper shots in the boiler room repeatedly resulted in no pass throughs and bad blood trails.

Possible reasons:

1.) The .375 Woodleigh hydro with the plastic tip does not perform correctly at 375HH velocities.
2.) That Federal outright lied to me regarding the testing they did that resulted in ”nothing wrong with the ammunition you sent us”.

 

[rookhawk]

I do not. I only know that proper shots in the boiler room repeatedly resulted in no pass throughs and bad blood trails.

Possible reasons:

1.) The .375 Woodleigh hydro with the plastic tip does not perform correctly at 375HH velocities.
2.) That Federal outright lied to me regarding the testing they did that resulted in ”nothing wrong with the ammunition you sent us”.

PH was Vaughan Whitehead-Wilson if you’d like to get his impressions as he was the witness. Shot a zebra, kudu, sable, and eland with them. I do not believe we got a single pass through. Farthest shot was 200ish yards, most were 100ish yards. The gun had a 26” barrel so the velocity realized was best-possible-scenario as well. All game was recovered, but the results were dumbfounding.

Because the meat was promised to the locals, the forensics we could conduct were limited.

 

[Edge]

I do not. I only know that proper shots in the boiler room repeatedly resulted in no pass throughs and bad blood trails.

Possible reasons:

1.) The .375 Woodleigh hydro with the plastic tip does not perform correctly at 375HH velocities.
2.) That Federal outright lied to me regarding the testing they did that resulted in ”nothing wrong with the ammunition you sent us”.

Do you know the rifling twist in that rifle? If it’s say 1-14 vs 1-12, I wonder if the bullets were not properly stabilized, hence the tumbling question.
Things that make you scratch your head!

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

I do not. I only know that proper shots in the boiler room repeatedly resulted in no pass throughs and bad blood trails.

Possible reasons:

1.) The .375 Woodleigh hydro with the plastic tip does not perform correctly at 375HH velocities.
2.) That Federal outright lied to me regarding the testing they did that resulted in ”nothing wrong with the ammunition you sent us”.

I wonder if the solid copper alloy was a little soft and because of that they expanded on impact instead of not expanding as designed. Obviously can't speak for the testing they did but I'm curious if they didn't test that since they don't manufacture the projectile they only load them.

Did you keep/recover the upsets from within the animals?

 

[rookhawk]

I wonder if the solid copper alloy was a little soft and because of that they expanded on impact instead of not expanding as designed. Obviously can't speak for the testing they did but I'm curious if they didn't test that since they don't manufacture the projectile they only load them.

Did you keep/recover the upsets from within the animals?

Let me dig around and see if I have any 375 Woodleighs that have been retrieved or not. If I have any, I’ll post pics.

The 375 Federal Woodleigh hydro and the swift a-frame regulated to nearly same POI but the results were startlingly different. I’m all for absolving Federal and/or woodleigh from the performance cloud I’m putting them under in this circumstance, I just cannot assign provable cause as to why they were nothing but unsatisfactory under varied conditions.

 

[Mark R]

T

Let me dig around and see if I have any 375 Woodleighs that have been retrieved or not. If I have any, I’ll post pics.

The 375 Federal Woodleigh hydro and the swift a-frame regulated to nearly same POI but the results were startlingly different. I’m all for absolving Federal and/or woodleigh from the performance cloud I’m putting them under in this circumstance, I just cannot assign provable cause as to why they were nothing but unsatisfactory under varied conditions.

That’s very, very strange. I have used handloaded Hydro’s in calibres from 338WM to 450NE. The only one’s the weren’t pass throughs were on Aussie buff bulls. Everything from pigs, donkeys, cape buff, hippo, scrub bulls and water buffalo have been slayed with Hydro’s. From the very few recovered from animals and into dirt backstops at my range they have shown nill to very small amount of expansion. Very small amount.
Just my experience with them