RinB you got me thinking!!!
Buffalo #1 was with 300gr Woodleigh PP from a 375 H&H went about 40yards then down. Buffalo #2 a couple years later gave me a perfect broadside and a single 400gr Woodleigh RN at 2150fps from a 404 Jeffery ended it; ran 30 yards and crashed then let out a sound but didn't sound like a death bellow so we were concerned. But it was dead. Buffalo #3 same trip slightly smaller than #2 but much more battle scarred about 60yard shot slightly quartering away. 3 shots from the 404 Jeffery! First shot was a soft then it ran away then turned looking for us. PH asked me to shoot again. I fired a second shot which was a Woodleigh solid high in shoulder and found in the paunch which brought him down. Then for the third shot I loaded a soft again to finish him at about 10 feet away. We recovered 1 soft and 1 solid, didn't see any exits but we never recovered the other bullet.
I do feel that the 400gr bullet does hit harder, now I'm wondering does it really kill better? Maybe its just that the sound of the impact is more authoritative. Personally, from the recoil point of view a 300gr at 2550fps vs a 400gr at 2150fps - I do prefer to shoot the Jeffery less sharp on the shoulder perhaps a lower recoil velocity and more time to recover. The rifles are within 1 oz in weight of each other.
I'm planning another Buff hunt in 2024 and was planning to bring the 404 J and a 30-06 for plains game but maybe I should just take the 375 H&H and that rifle will do it all.
Regards
JohnT
