Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Buffalo bullets

I have killed buffalo with various bullets, and seen them killed by my hunting companions with several more. Whether or not the present-day Partitions leave any lead up front is irrevelant, because all the models that might be used on buffalo--from the 286-grain 9.3mm up--have the partition moved forward so they retain just about as much weight as the same weight/caliber of A-Frame, even if they do lose the entire front core. As an example, I have only seen two 400-grain .416 Partitions recovered from buffalo, and they averaged 90% weight retention. And because Partitions open to a narrower mushroom than A-Frames, they will generally penetrate a little deeper--and a smaller mushroom is also a major reason monolithics penetrate deeper. (Which is also the reason the late lamented North Fork penetrated so deeply.)

I have also found many PHs aren't particularly sophisticated about the details of bullets design and performance--mostly because many are not gun nuts, as somebody else already pointed out. But some are, and among those I've hunted with is Luke Samaras, the vastly experienced PH who started in Kenya before the 1977 safari ban. While Luke owns and uses a bunch of different rifles in various chamberings, he's a big .416 Rigby AND Nosler Partition fan. When he discovered in 2011 that Nosler made a 400-grain .416 Partition he switched, and has been very happy ever since.

Luckily there are a bunch of excellent buffalo bullets made today, and I will continue to use various brands. But one thing I won't do is judge a Partition's performance on how much lead is "left up front." Instead I'll judge them on how well they penetrate and kill, and so far those I've used and seen used have penetrated more than sufficiently and killed fine, in calibers including .375, .416 and .458. The relatively few that have been recovered retained an average of around 90% of their weight, which is far more relevant than retaining their front core.