Recommended dangerous game bullets and cartridges?

[Sheldor]

Generally speaking, monolithic copper bullets have the best terminal results when used at higher impact speeds. With standard short action cartridges I would recommend stepping down in bullet weight. We typically use 130 or 150 TTSX’s for 308’s. I will also typically try to shoot both shoulders with them as well.

 

[Philip Glass]

Philip, would you use an Accubond on a Dagga boy?

It would be fine. They are basically the same as the A Frame. I am unlikely to divert from TSX personally. I have seen so much success with them in so many calibers and situations.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Based strictly upon the cartridges which are available on the current market for the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum.

Barnes TSX factory loads work very well for Cape buffalo & hippopotamus (see photo above). And also thick framed plains game.

Federal Power Shok factory load works very well for lion & leopard.

For elephant or rhinoceros hunting, I highly recommend you to have Hendershots Custom Loaders in the United States load you some Cutting Edge Bullets monolithic brass Safari Solids.

 

[375Fox]

Well I’m going to ZiM with my 375 H&H with 300gr TBBC and Hammerheads and a 458 WinMag in Hornady 500gr DGS and DGX…
So again to the OP I believe the best out there that you can look into is the -

Trophy Bonded Bear Claw and Hammerheads
Hornady DGX Bonded and DXS
Cutting Edge (CE) Solids and Raptors

What is a hammerhead bullet?

 

[CZDiesel]

What is a hammerhead bullet?

Sorry, brain fart lol Sledgehammers…

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[mark-hunter]

Sako has hammerhead bullet, but it is not DG bullet...

 

[MntMan82]

So, it seams Swift-A-Frames are problematic to find on the market.

Gents, help me to compose the list of high quality premium game bullets acceptable (better say recommended) for dangerous game, solids and softs?

Feel free to recommend!

How does Hornady DGS and DGX stand with reputation?

My most recent trip I used DGX 300 grain in my 375 and took a giraffe, Cape buffalo, wildebeest and eland all with one shot each. People may hate on them but I’m a firm believer in they work. I’ll be posting a review of my safari soon and I have pictures of the recovered bullets. Shot placement is a key component along with your bullet selection.

 

[uplander01]

Barnes and North Fork,.....until woodleigh is back. Someone needs to buy up Swift and move the company and actually hire some people to build bullets. They are already overpriced but I'm sure they could charge even more.

 

[30.06king]

My experience with my own handloads in 375 H&H .....
Best accuracy found with Barnes TSX ( 270 and 300 gn ), North Fork SS and Cup Point Solid 300 gn, Woodleigh Weldcore RN SN 300 gn.
Least accurate was Hornady DGX 300 gn ( I think non-bonded model when I had them ). By least accurate I mean not grouping as well as the above but still adequate for 50 to 100 yds shots. Inquisitive about the poorer accuracy I individually weighed some bullets once. Barnes, North Fork, Woodleigh all fell within tight tolerance. The Hornady DGX showed quite a bit of variability by comparison. I'm not sure that explains everything but was an interesting discovery.
I have conversed on best bullet choices for African game with only a couple of guys who are vastly more "Africa" experienced than I and whom I think offer qualified opinions. Both spoke highly of Swift A Frame, Barnes TSX, Woodleigh and one added CEB Raptor to the list. Neither thought Hornady DGX cut the mustard but both thought smaller calibre Hornadys were OK.
Personally I mostly shoot TSX 300 gn and some 300 gn North Fork in my 375 H&H and enjoyed great performance from both. Currently I am building a small supply of CEB Raptor 275 gn to begin tyring at some stage.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I bought a trial pack of 307 gr 404J last year from Hammer in Missoula, MT. I couldn't get the right powder to work up a load. Anyone else tried their bullets? They make quite a variety.

 

[ActionBob]

Here is a picture of a 480 grain .458 Hornady DGX Bonded that completely failed on a cape buffalo.

 

[mark-hunter]

Here is a picture of a 480 grain .458 Hornady DGX Bonded that completely failed on a cape buffalo.

Recovered bullet suggests other bullets did not fail!
How did it go?

 

[375Fox]

Here is a picture of a 480 grain .458 Hornady DGX Bonded that completely failed on a cape buffalo.
View attachment 628848

That’s what PHs showed me on my recent hunt. They said good for broadside shots but outside that was problematic. I am surprised with 458 and 480 gr though. We heard a couple shots in the distance then the PHs shot (different sound) then no more. The joke was hornady bullets followed up with federal or Barnes.

 

[30.06king]

I bought a trial pack of 307 gr 404J last year from Hammer in Missoula, MT. I couldn't get the right powder to work up a load. Anyone else tried their bullets? They make quite a variety.

Ron Spomer is quite a fan I believe of the medium game calibres. Not sure if he has used any on DG but IIRC he might have mentioned in one of his videos or podcasts that he was going to. I'm sure you could find some of his videos with a search.
Here in New Zealand on one of our good sites I read good thing about Hammers in small to medium game calibres. They seem much more destructive on internal tissue compared to cup & core bullets of identical weight. Basically, if you want them here you have to order and import yourself from Hammer. They work out quite spendy ( due to our weak dollar ) but some guys combine orders and have them sent in one shipment. I'm not sure if Hammer makes them available to our trade industry.

 

[ActionBob]

Recovered bullet suggests other bullets did not fail!
How did it go?

That bull ran for 8 days before finally being darted because the wound was not obvious enough to know for sure it was the right bull. It never woke up. Died under sedation. Massive infection.

The shot was head on, on the nose. The bullet went up the nasal cavity and shattered when it hit the actual cranium. A better bullet would have hit the brain or at least neck vertebrae at the base of the skull.

 

[Nevada Mike]

What calier/cartridge do you need? I may have some.

 

[Novice Huntress]

Hi All,

Mark-Hunter, as a lot of us in Europe has a subtle problem when it comes to sourcing DG ammo or reloading components, our market is nowhere near as large as the USA or obviously Africa, so we are literally at the end of the supply chain!!!! Plus unlike our USA colleagues we have a rake of licensing hurdles to cross!!

For example Germany has Barnes DG bullets for reloading in stock but will not ship to another EU state!! USA guys keep that 2A!!!!

I could not source A Frames or Barnes for 375, so I used a Peregrine VRG3 which worked extremely well and I would not hesitate to fully recommend.

When I was last in SA I made sure I brought some back. The PH's I shared the trip with used Barnes, Hornady and Rhino DG suitable bullets. As had some of their previous clients.

As is listed in this thread fellow forum members have had sucess with the above, I have no link with North Fork but the photo is from Pierre Van Der Walt's book, plus as wildcatter82 has said these are being shipped to Croatia, when you have no other option perhaps these would be worth a try?

I have used A Frames for PG and they are great, but there are alternatives, yes PG is totally different to DG requirements.

Hello Mark! North Fork has a dealer for Croatia named Oružarnica (Armoury?) in Zagreb. An order of our bullets was just put in the post earlier this week and headed that way. Please reach out to me if you have any questions about our premium hunting bullets. -Jay

 

[rifletuner]

I have only hunted one cape buffalo. I used Woodleigh soft and solids, and despite them not being Swift A Frames, I did live to tell the tale. I used my 450 Ackley with 500gn handloads that cronied 2130. At the recommendation of my PH, I loaded a magazine of solids, with a Weldcore soft on top for the first shot. The hunt went to script, with the bull getting a soft in the shoulder while standing undisturbed at about 60 yards, then 2 solids aimed at the root of the tail on the departing bull, then another solid through the spine as we walked in from behind once it was on the ground. This was back in the 1990s, before the uber solids we have today.

 

[grand veneur]

Here are also a few classic SP bullets from Hornady, the predecessor model of the DG series and which, despite their appearance, did their job on buffaloes. The driving force behind was the cartridge 460 Weatherby Magnum. Maybe that is the difference. They were heart or lung shots, not frontal head shots where many other bullets could also fail.

It's not as some people here believe. I have also used other bullets with the same cartridge, including the Swift A-Frame and the Barnes TSX. On the other side, with completely different cartridges such as the 10,75x68 or the 11,2x72 Schüler, I used very marginal old bullets that also worked well thanks to a good shot placement, but I want not repeat such experiments.

All of this to say that one should remain somewhat critical when it comes to bullets and not immediately condemn some of that.

 

[grand veneur]

The fact that you should still use solids when hunting elephants is out of the question, at the moment. Wait and see what happens next.

This also raises the question of which solid should be used. I can already imagine the answers in advance, but here for example is a classic 500gr FMJ bullet from Hornady that is a bit deformed but still worked. I have a few others of the same type that look like beans, but they still penetrated deep enough and worked well on elephants. The classic caliber .510 535gr FMJ bullets from Woodleigh have not shown a deformation.