"Farmer called me and I went out to the farm with a Mk V Deluxe .460 Wby and 500-gr RNSN at supposed 2700 fps, a factory load."
"A shot to middle of chest at 50 yards on the running cow just made her come to a standstill, stood there bleeding from the nose".
"As my gunbearer and I hurriedly skinned the mad cow, we could not find anything of the 500-gr RNSN in the mess inside the mad cow's chest."
Ron, I noted a difference in bullet design (More lead exposed in the tip) from late 80's to late 90's in that Hornady 500 grainer so it was evolving in design or retooled? Secondly, I shot that bullet loaded to 2500fps into a scrub bull's shoulder and it expanded and stopped in the membrane behind the shoulder between the shoulder muscle and ribs but did not penetrate the rib cage. Shot the balance of what I had loaded up on pigs and brumbies (wild horses) after that.
I think that bullet as released to the handloader was only ever designed for the 2100ish of the .458. It is also possible that Hornady did a slightly heavier jacketed version for the Weatherby Factory Ammo as I also noted 2 different .416 cal 400 gain Hornady bullets. After owning 3 .416 Weathery's and a .416 Remington, I noted that the factory Weatherby ammo had a more parallel sided body shape meeting with the round nose whereas the handloader version had a .416 shank to the cannelure then a tapered ogive to meet up with the round nose. It was obviously different.
I tried to get a box of factory .416 ammo for comparison but the distributor told me they were too expensive to give away to writers even though I wrote more articles on Weatherby rifles that the whole market combined back then. To be fair, he did send me a complimentary Weatherby The Man, The Gun, The Legend Book which I appreciated.
John
When truth is ignored, it does not change an untruth from remaining a lie.
