So, they got it right one time out of ten, that's no justification to give them a medal. The resounding reply from other users is that they failed them."And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth" (Lord Of The Rings opening monologue).
We should not forget that DGS / DGX were developed for classic Nitro Express (low velocity) cartridges when Steve Hornady almost single-handedly in the US resurrected the classic African calibers, for which we should all be immensely grateful.
There is no fly on the DGS, and never was, and a lot of the original DGX history came from loading them at higher velocities than designed for. Specifically, loading at .458 Lott velocity the DGX designed for the .450 NE. History became legend. Legend became myth...
More than likely Hornady should have reacted much faster than they did, and proactively bonded the DGX rather than reactively doing it, admittedly too late.
Bonding the DGX allowed it to withstand higher velocities. Here is the only one I needed to shoot, out of my buff (recovered under the skin on the opposite shoulder after a 30 yd double lungs shot from a .470 NE) in August 2018
Everyone is free to prefer a Nosler Partition, a Swift A Frame, a Barnes X, a Peregrine, a North Fork, a Sledgehammer, or whatever, and that's OK, but the simple reality is that the DGS / DGX B just plain work. There is no need for folks to perpetuate the myth...
My personal choice is DGS / DGX B in the .470 because the identical profiles of the bullets deliver an identical point of impact for soft and solid; and Barnes X in the .416 Rigby where I prefer only one load because I can also use it on plains game if the trophy of a lifetime pops up while after buff.
PS: I have also seen with my own eyes early monolithic slugs (A Square Monolithic Solid in this case) push out the rifling on the barrels of my own pre-WWII Belgian best quality Jules Burry .450 #2 enough that you could discern the rifling from the outside when looking at a tangential angle, so you will not catch me firing a monolithic slug anymore from a classic double...
I realize you have had positive results in your experience with DGS/DGX. i am one of those people you refer to as actually hunting DG. I am also one who has helped "clean up" after another hunter's use of dgs on an eland and a buffalo. The pictures I have are indeed recovered from a dead animal, but they were suffering until finished by another bullet. You may continue to use DGS as long as you want, i will use other better bullets as long as it is my trophy fee, and i am responsible for the trackers and people around me. I hope no one ever has to clean up for you and your hunts go perfectly.
I'll be headed back to Africa in October for a ten day stint at plains game. Your right, I won't be hunting Dangerous game it will be strictly plains game. I have however had first hand experience with failures of Hornady. Tracked an Elk three miles that should have been dead because of a bullet seperation. I will be hunting Eland this fall. They actually weigh more than a buffalo, and again I won't be using Hornady.
I agree. I use Hornady DG& DGX a lot for practice because of price. I have not heard much about the new bonded DGX. But there is a lot of other premium bullets I'll just stick with.
Not much of a report - they weren't my animals. The eland was shot quartering away the .416 rigby bullet impacted the second rib and disintegrated without penetrating the lungs. I have a picture of the bullet somewhere but not easily available. It looks like scrap metal. I finished the buffalo just 2 hours before my flight left, so I didn't even accompany it to the skinning shed.
And what if Ford had spent several years saying they had never heard of the problem and you knew multiple people who had contacted Ford and been told the same thing - we checked, no problem, our gas tanks are great!
The bullet on the eland was a dgs that disintegrated on a rib. That is a complete failure, even for a dgx. I can see what you mean about the newer models, i am not up on the current hornady lineup. Sorry about that confusion, my bad
