458 Swift A Frame 450 Grain for Buffalo

[Jeff 907]

Never heard of Cutting Edge Bullets before. A quick google search and they look like they would be very effective on game. May need to order some and try them out.

 

[RTaylor]

They are designed for straight line penetration, the Raptor (hollow point) is designed to penetrate a couple of inches before the petals, 6 of them, spin off in 6 different directions inside. The shank keeps on a straight line and usually exits. The petals do an amazing amount of damage inside the animal.
Using my .500 MDM in Australia last year, I took 3 Water buffalo. All the shanks exited and the insides of them was close to mush. Took a Giraffe in '17 with my .458 Lott and a 420 gr Raptor. It was a quartering too me shot and at the shot, the Giraffe rose up on his rear legs far enough that we thought he was going over backwards. He recovered and went maybe 20 yards before collapsing.
The .500 MDM puts that 420 gr out at 2430 fps.

 

[RTaylor]

Oooops. That bullet weight should be a 450 gr Raptor. My bad

 

[mgstucson]

Do one or more of the petals ever fail to detach, thus effecting straight line penetration of shank?

 

[grand veneur]

I have shot only one buffalo in West Africa with the cartridge 460 WBY-Magnum and a 450gr Swift A-Frame bullet. The muzzle velocity was at about 2550 fps. Unfortunately I had a exit and could not see what happened to the bullet.

 

[Nhoro]

Balistic calculator shows 1.7 inches less drop at 2400 fps than my usual load of 2195 fps. This is at 300 yards. My usual load is a 515 gr solid.

500 gr bullet will perform better and the trajectory is pretty much the same- a rainbow. I looked at it a while back and decided it wasnt worth it.