.470 N.E. Bullet Test By Bullet Safaris

[BULLET SAFARIS]

.470 N.E. or the .470 Nitro or African Double Rifle or Elephant Gun ... anyway, you state it is a big bore rifle that represents one of the largest calibers made for hunting - hunting anything on earth and possibly other planets.

Big bullets of 500 grains flying around 2,200 fps, and with the capability to take down a T-Rex.

With a variety of projectiles available. What bullet is best? What bullet is best for your needs? We test the leading ammunition available for the .470 nitro express rifle and recover the projectiles. Expert analysis and commentary by Slick Willy C. (largest leopard taken in Rungwa, Tanzania), Mark 90# Whitley (largest elephant bull taken in Botswana 2024), and Professional Hunter Nathan Askew (23 years of dangerous game hunting experience at the time of filming).

If you can't tell by the intro we had a lot of fun planning and making this video!

We tested:
North Fork cupped solid/monolithic solid / and SS expanding bullet

Barnes Banded monolithic solid

Hornady solid

Noler monolithic solid

We recovered all the projectiles.

Enjoy! @bulletsafaris www.bulletsafaris.com
Follow us on IG and enjoy the other videos on YouTube.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I enjoyed watching the video and your results. I've been a pretty loyal North Fork guy for years now, but have very little experience with the flat point solid and zero with the cupped point solid. I've read many reports of them from the field, but I look forward to hearing yours.

One question regarding the Hornday DGX. Since this video I believe is recently made, were the DGIX bullet you used, the newer bonded version or the older version which were not bonded? Your results sound very similar to what was reported for the non-bonded version. The new bonded DGX is supposed to be much better.

 

[Luvthunt]

Enjoyed your presentation

 

[BULLET SAFARIS]

Enjoyed your presentation

The shooting part or the part where I tripped and almost fell! We are an unedited type of safari movie company.

 

[towserthemouser]

Thanks for showing these results.

I just cannot for the life of me understand the business strategy from Hornady....... are they unaware of the bad reputation their DGX bullets have earned? Is it too expensive to fix it? Do they not possess the engineering know-how to make a good-performing solid bullet? Do they not believe it's a real problem? Do they just not care? Do they feel like they don't have enough competition to worry about it? Do they just not believe the real world feedback they're getting from multiple PHs in Africa?

I just don't get it. They're a big company, and they seem to work hard and care about perfecting the performance of some of their smaller and more commonly used bullets, while simultaneously completely neglecting their big bore bullets (you know, the ones that can get their customers killed.....).

Does anyone have any insight into what is going on?? I find it absolutely befuzzling (my favorite new word, made up by my son and borrowed shamelessly).

 

[sniper7]

Great video thanks for sharing

 

[ActionBob]

Thanks for showing these results.

I just cannot for the life of me understand the business strategy from Hornady....... are they unaware of the bad reputation their DGX bullets have earned? Is it too expensive to fix it? Do they not possess the engineering know-how to make a good-performing solid bullet? Do they not believe it's a real problem? Do they just not care? Do they feel like they don't have enough competition to worry about it? Do they just not believe the real world feedback they're getting from multiple PHs in Africa?

I just don't get it. They're a big company, and they seem to work hard and care about perfecting the performance of some of their smaller and more commonly used bullets, while simultaneously completely neglecting their big bore bullets (you know, the ones that can get their customers killed.....).

Does anyone have any insight into what is going on?? I find it absolutely befuzzling (my favorite new word, made up by my son and borrowed shamelessly).

Just watch some of Steve Hornady's videos. At times he seems like a great guy. But when he talks about introducing the DGX Bonded he outright says there was no need for it. Pure arrogance when it comes to his products... they have been perfect all along so why change anything?

I took it on faith that the new DGX Bonded was actually Bonded. However I suspect their quality control is so bad that non Bonded bullets can go right in with the Bonded ones. I had a so called 480 grain DGX Bonded bullet blow up in the nasal cavity of a buffalo. What should have been a brain shot resulted in a wounded bull running rampant for 8 days.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Thanks for showing these results.

I just cannot for the life of me understand the business strategy from Hornady....... are they unaware of the bad reputation their DGX bullets have earned? Is it too expensive to fix it? Do they not possess the engineering know-how to make a good-performing solid bullet? Do they not believe it's a real problem? Do they just not care? Do they feel like they don't have enough competition to worry about it? Do they just not believe the real world feedback they're getting from multiple PHs in Africa?

I just don't get it. They're a big company, and they seem to work hard and care about perfecting the performance of some of their smaller and more commonly used bullets, while simultaneously completely neglecting their big bore bullets (you know, the ones that can get their customers killed.....).

Does anyone have any insight into what is going on?? I find it absolutely befuzzling (my favorite new word, made up by my son and borrowed shamelessly).

I think @ActionBob answered both your question (at least in part) and mine regarding which version of the DGX was used by Nathan. I would add one comment to Bob's reply regarding Hornady.

It's a business decision. We hunters tend to be a very loyal lot. We have a good result a time or two and that's all it takes sometimes, we just refuse to see the data that talks ill of our child. Add to this is that many, perhaps most hunters don't load their own ammunition and to Hornady's credit they've been a supplier of factory ammo, and hunters just keep on buying it. So why should Hornady stop supplying an inferior product if it's selling well?

 

[Riflecrank]

Thanks for the Entertainment and Enlightenment, Bullet Safaris.

The DGS went bananas on "pop" bottles and a sandbag.
Hornady !!!
Bless their bullets, they keep trying and failing.
I don't think I saw a DGX in the video. That would have been further E & E,
maybe even more spectacular than the DGS ?
Non-bonded and bonded get mixed together at the factory ?
Please tell me that ain't so !!!

Forget the softs, but consider the "solids" history in order of development by Hornady :

1. FMJ-RN non-solid, copper-washed steel surrounding lead, round-nosed, state of the art back in 1900 before Hornady.

2. "Encapsulated Solid" non-solid, brass surrounding lead, no steel, and still round-nosed, arrived about
started showing up around 2003 to 2006.
That was after Hornady started factory loading the .458 WIN MAG to 2260 fps MV (claimed) and .458 Lott to 2300 fps MV (claimed)
with 500-grainers.
It was their worst non-solid solid ever, quickly made evident at the higher MV.

3. DGS non-solid, copper-washed steel surrounding lead with an ogived flat nose,
finally a slight improvement, but not by much, as Bullet Safaris has shown.
It was being loaded in the Hornady factory ammo by 2010

Here is a picture of the "Encapsulated Solid" a non-solid solid with no steel anywhere in it,
brass capsule with lead fill, and a copper gas-check covering exposed lead on base,
a worst ever design for Hornady. I pulled these from some of their earlier .458 Lott ammo.
It was still being called "FMJ/RN" on this ammo box flap:

From now on I use only SOLID solids of copper or brass with FN meplat.

 

[sgt_zim]

Seems like my best choice for backing my wife and her 375 is going to be my 404J with the 430 gr NF cup points.

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

This is awesome!

 

[Flewis]

I think many of us support Hornady because they support us. In many cases they are the only game in town. They have brought back many cartridges that were very hard to source. Just a couple of years ago 404j was very hard to find. I for one thank them for their support. Do I think they make the best bullets out there, no I do not but I do thank them.

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

I think many of us support Hornady because they support us. In many cases they are the only game in town. They have brought back many cartridges that were very hard to source. Just a couple of years ago 404j was very hard to find. I for one thank them for their support. Do I think they make the best bullets out there, no I do not but I do thank them.

We have had quite good luck with their ELD-X bullets, especially at greater than 100 yards. At ahorter distances we have had some odd movements once inside the animal but in no case has the bullet failed to kill the animal. All of this experience is on whitetail and hogs in Texas.

 

[Riflecrank]

Love the 6.5 Creedmoor factory ammo from Hornady.
Extremely accurate in my Ruger No. 1.
They do very well servicing the "small arms" market, except for the problem with the "big bore" bullets.
Hornady .458 WIN MAG component brass is as good as any.
Thank you Hornady.