454 Casull on Buffalo

[530Woodleigh]

Morning - starting to plan a handgun hunt in South Africa for a buffalo bull. The chosen cartridge is a 454 Casull in a FA Model 83, any advise / suggestions on what bullets to use - hard cast WFN, premium grade Swift/ Barnes or a Hornady ?

 

[Kevin375]

I'm thinking to buy the same caliber for the same purpose, but before I need to get a special licence, because it's not easy to get a handgun where I live.
My first choice will be Cutting Edge Bullets handgun Solid.
With the low SD, a buddy told me solids are the only way to go in handguns.

 

[akrifleman]

For DG particularly:
CEB or Lehigh WFN solids - hold together, penetrate well, and don't break up - I've had great results with both in the 475 Linebaugh, and I now hunt exclusively with them.
Hardcast - Proven to work, but sometimes shatter. A very skilled caster can make a good hunting bullet. Most of the commercial ones are not very good. Buffalo Bore now recommends copper solid for DG.
Premium bullets are for personal defense. I'm not aware of any good for hunting.
Solids are the only way to go in a handgun

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I would use CEB or a proven cast. By proven you need to test them.
The cast alloy used should have equal parts tin and antimony to prevent being brittle. Lyman #2 might be good at 90 lead 5 tin and 5 antimony, or you may want harder.

 

[TOBY458]

Brass or copper solids would be my choice. Something around 325-360 grains.

 

[Hunter4752001]

CEB make a nice all coper 300g handgun solid. However, because of the lower density of coper vs lead, the CEB projectile will take up a lot more room in the case and thus significantly limitting the amount of romm for your powder charge. The net result in my gun was that a max load using the 300g CEB solid was some 150fps lower than a max load for a 300g Swift AFrame.

 

[akrifleman]

CEB make a nice all coper 300g handgun solid. However, because of the lower density of coper vs lead, the CEB projectile will take up a lot more room in the case and thus significantly limitting the amount of romm for your powder charge. The net result in my gun was that a max load using the 300g CEB solid was some 150fps lower than a max load for a 300g Swift AFrame.

Typically all that velocity is lost on impact. The handgun bullets aren't starting with a speed advantage. Shoot AFrames 150 fps faster, and they still won't penetrate as deeply as a solid. My DG had bullets in the skin on the far side, but no exit. There isn't a ton of margin to play with.

In the Linebaugh penetration testing, expanded bullets sometimes only went 1/3 as deep as a solid. Testing was done on things from 45 Colt to 500 Linebaugh and DG rifles.

 

[MaxXSaker]

Morning - starting to plan a handgun hunt in South Africa for a buffalo bull. The chosen cartridge is a 454 Casull in a FA Model 83, any advise / suggestions on what bullets to use - hard cast WFN, premium grade Swift/ Barnes or a Hornady ?

For Cape buffalo with a .454 Casull, your bullet choice is critical. I would strongly recommend a heavy, hardcast wide flat nose (WFN) bullet in the 300-360 grain range. These penetrate deeply and retain weight, vital for breaking bone and reaching vital organs on such large, tough game. Premium expanding bullets like Swift A-Frame or Barnes XPB can work but risk under-penetration if they expand too rapidly. Avoid lighter or purely expanding designs. Practice with your chosen load extensively to ensure confidence and accuracy under pressure.

 

[Tradmark]

I would stay away from hardcast on buff. There used to be a write up on bowens site about a cape buff that was wounded through bullet failure with a 475L and on my first cape buff hunt my friend lost one on a video’d perfect shot with a 475L with hardcasts. The lehigh and ceb are the best theres is. Get the wfn’s and they will never deform or crack apart. It is just simply a harder more durable material. I have a load that runs a 325 aframe and a 325gr barnes buster to the same velocity and i took my first cape buff with that. Aframe first with the coup d gras when it was down with a buster. Second buff was with an aframe from a bfr 460. The solid coppers penetrate deeper and never fail. Barnes buster is good but the meplat is smaller. My friend ended up shelving the 475 with hardcast bullets and used my busters from his 454 to finally get his buff.