Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Cape buff bullet combo?

First shot 300 grain A-Frame;
next 3 shots 300 grain nosler solids;
out of .375 "pick your mag" rifle?

Please, no Barnes rants. We know they
are highly regaurded around here...

As long as they are accurate in said 375 mag, why not?

I used Hornady DGXs last month, followed by a DGS, but only used the solid to "pay the insurance". The Hornadys were very accurate in my Ruger No. 1.

I hope I answered your question, your post is a wee bit confusing.


maddog

You don't need the solids for anything except elephant, rhino or hippo on land. You are asking for trouble with solids on a herd situation. AFrames are great. They worked for me on buffalo with both the 375 and 416 Rigby.

You can take what I say with a grain of salt as I have yet to hunt cape buff (although next year will find me after them in Zim!). However, I have spoken to a handful of hunters with envious experience with multiple buff., as well as advice from numerous PH's with years of experience.

As Jorge has already pointed out, the .375 300gr. Swift A-Frame is all you'll need, and is highly recommended by all the PH's I've queried.

maddog; I spend much of my time confused. Thanks for your answer,
Gary

Gary,
What you propose to use will work fine. Obviously, as everyone has said, the Aframe will work perfectly for a soft. However, I'd go with what your PH recommends in terms of solids. While some PH's have moved away from wanting hunters to use solids, there are still quite a few that I've talked to over the years that still want you to have solids for certain situations. If you have both, you won't need to worry and can load what the PH recommends as each distinct situation dictates. So...don't take it as an absolute that there is no application for buff hunting with solids. Talk to your PH about them and then follow his advice. And by the way, you're not the first to be confused about this question and many others regarding African hunting.

I agree with Jorge. I have taken more than a few Cape Buffalo and never have used a solid, although I carry a few just in case of emergency.

Never used A Frames but heard good things about them...I been using the North Fork softs and Barnes TSX and both perform nicely on Buff. I used the 270 grain TSX on Buff and it works....but I still like a 40+ caliber better...

The North Fork Cup Point is an excellant choice along with their Softs...they group very closely together in my rifles.

Used the 300 grain AFrame on several occasions. They performed extremely well. Carried solids and never used them.

Used two softs followed by two solids for buffalo, at the instructions of my PH.
Both were 300 grain North Forks as they are more accurate than A-frames in my rifle. They worked very well with a bang flop on the first shot. One of the solids also penetrated both shoulders on a 50 pound bull elephant.

Sounds just fine to me....

Anyone try the Woodleigh Hydro-statically stabilized bullets on thick skinned game?

They look like a viable compromise between an expanding and solid bullet.

Have not hunt Buff yet but from my 9,3x64 will be combination
2x 325gr Norma Oryx followed 2x 275gr Norma Solid if needed.
Or 2x 320gr Woodleigh PP SP followed with 2x 320gr Woodleigh FMJ

You might add giraffe. I shot mine the first time in the shoulder with a TBBC from my 458 Lott. It didn't break all the way through and pin him down. The next shot was through the neck which it broke on impact.

Good point, that said, I don't think a North Fork soft or cup point or a TSX will have those issues even though the giraffe is a pachyderm.

I agree. I was stunned at how thick giraffe skin really is. I think it is thicker than elephant, but I have never shot an elephant.

Is it true that the TSX behaves more like a solid than a softpoint?

nope

We are very lucky to enjoy the wide selection of excellent bullets that are available today. Having killed eight cape buffalo I have learned one thing, a well placed premium soft (or two) will bring one down.

The TSX is a fine bullet and worked really well out of my 416 Rem.

I prefer the North Fork Soft over the A-Frames and feel the hold together a little better. It is my preference, others feel different and the Swift is an excellent bullet.

The only buffalo I have dropped in its tracks was shot with a North Fork Cup Point from my 470. The bullet passed just above its heart, the buffalo slung its head back like a brain shot elephant and collapsed dead.

The CEB non-con is supposed to be a very good bullet, although different. People I know and trust have used them and will use nothing else in the future.

It is my preference to always carry solids either in my left barrel or in the magazine unless I am using NF cup points and I will load up with only cup points.

The 570g TSX shoots really well out of my 500 Jeffery. At 2400 fps, I'm not planning to use solids on buffalo when I go in a couple of years, but then I've never hunted buffalo. So if I need to bring solids, please let me know and I'll work up a load with the 570g Barnes Banded solids.

Umm...wow! 570g @ 2400 fps will leave a mark on anything it connects. I wonder if you feel the recoil when you are shooting at game? I am sure you do when you are sighting in or load development.

My loads for my Lott are 500g @ 2400 fps and I don't feel them when I am shooting at game. The bench is different. I wish my range had a stand up bench.