From 1969 up until 1983, you could only get 2 makes of 300Gr soft nosed factory loaded ammunition for the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum:
- RWS KS (Kegelspitze) Cone Point
- Winchester Silver Tip
The Silver Tips were absolutely atrocious. But I really liked the RWS KS Cone Points. They were absolutely fantastic on lions and I shot my first 2 lions with these. Also fantastic for leopards and I shot a very big 188 LB male with a single 300Gr RWS KS Cone Point behind the shoulder (broadside heart-lung shot).
For hunting Cape buffalo with a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum magazine rifle, my preferred setup back in those days used to be 1 RWS KS Cone Point (for the initial shot) followed by the rest of the magazine being loaded with RWS (and later Remington) round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solids (for the follow up shots). It was a good combination for the time. The KS Cone Point bullets would come/break to pieces all too easily if used for frontal or quartering away shots on Cape buffalo. I recall one particularly hairy incident in 1979, where an RWS KS Cone Point completely disintegrated after striking the scapula/shoulder bone of a large bull. What happened next could best be described as a comedy of errors, but with immense danger to me and my white hunter and the trackers (a story for another day).
But shots taken from perfectly broadside angles were absolutely devastating for double lung shots on these creatures.
The RWS KS Cone Point was considered very revolutionary for it's time. Since the interior lead core used to be completely flush with the gilding metal jacket, there was absolutely no chance of the bullet noses getting deformed by hitting the interior magazine wall of a rifle during recoil (a very common problem with soft nosed bullets during that era).
I would happily use the RWS Cone Point bullets for leopard and lion hunting today, but alas. They were discontinued by RWS in .375 caliber a few years ago.
