Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Another Bullet Discussion

Thats what I say. Why not a 200gr partition or Barnes? My 300WBY loves the 175 LRX..

I've had better luck with the partition in this regard...

I've no direct experience with African game, but I'd choose the A-Frame without hesitation... or a different option - the NP.

THIS

Yet another Campfire thread where members didn't keep reading the posts (or maybe never read them in the first place).

The OP has not only made up his mind, but the trip got delayed.

But some people still won't be reading the posts....

No worries MD, I sort of stirred it up again after posting fresh this week but I really did want to say Thank You to everyone that was involved.

Used Partition on 1st trip...A frame on last,,much better results with A Frame..

You can't go wrong with the 180 Accubond LR. Especially if and older or slower twist barrel.

Unlikely you'll need to shoot at anything beyond 150 yds, with the possible exception of the impala. Either bullet will work on all of them - I've taken all with the Nosler PPT 180 gr from a 300WSM.

I would favor the Swift A-Frame for the eland in case you need to take a quartering shot or need to get through the near shoulder.

Would appreciate hearing more details, such as the cartridges/bullets used, animals taken and ranges, and exactly how the A-Frame results were "much better."

Was waiting...

This African threads crack me up. The animals aren’t really any different than our animals of equal size. Surely not bullet proof. Both bullets will work. I have used both. Next month or two we cull eland. I won’t be traveling with a rifle so I will use a 7x64 I leave there. The horror of it. I will use a 160gr lead core bullet. We will take 200+ eland in that time. We are creating revenue by selling the meat so one shot kills. To think I use a 22-250 with 55gr SP’s sometimes to cull plains game most of the time. If I don’t have a head shot I will slip in behind the shoulder. Dead critter

Quicker kills and less tracking with the A-Frame.. Bullet was very accurate in a Tika 30/06 and a model 70 300 Win mag..Perfect mushrooms without a loss of weight..My personal experience anyway..I used Swift factory ammo..100 to 250 yards shots...Wife took a giraffe with one shot in 06..Mine took to two as it was 4 inches off center in chest and huge... With Phillip Hennings in Namibia...Both were180 grain ,,,most were 1 shot..Also got wildebeast.zebra,sprigbok wart hog..Other bullets work I'm sure...

On my first safari to Africa, I took along a .300 Wby. and 200 gr. Swift A-Frames. The bullets performed perfectly, on two Gemsbok, a Kudu, warthog, and a Hartmann's Mountain Zebra. It would be my choice of the two, based upon past performance of the A-Frames.

ManyMoons,

Thanks very much for the information.

The reason I asked is I've been on a number of safaris, including cull hunts that involved far more than the half-dozen or so animals taken on most, with far more hunters than just me--and far more bullets. The total is several hundred animals.

What I've found is that many hunters don't differentiate between the results of behind-the-shoulder shots, and shoulder-shots involving major bone--which tend to drop game quicker. Which is why I asked about shot placement, and the animals taken.

The big differences I have observed between Nosler Partitions and Swift A-Frames of the same diameter and weight are that Swifts make a bigger hole throughout the length of the wound channel, due to the bonded front core resulting in a wider mushroom, while Partitions make an initially bigger hole, due to the fragmentation of the front core, but the wound channel after that is smaller, due to the narrower mushroom. They both tend to penetrate about the same amount, even though Partitions generally lose more weight, due to the wider mushroom of the A-Frames. (The exception is larger-diameter Partitions, from about the 250-grain .338 up, which have the partition moved forward so they retain about as much weight as the A-Frames.)

There are a bunch of good bullets out there today, and am always looking for more info. Thanks for taking the time to answer.

Mule Deer ,thanks for the info...I admit we did mostly behind the shoulder 1st trtp and and in the shoulder on 3rd...Our 2nd. we shot 180 Scirrocos and they penetate very well (deep) but tended to not retain much weight..Lost about 30 grains....

Thanks for the additional information.

Were they the Sciroccos the original model, or the Scirocco IIs?

Mule Deer,,They were Scirocco 2.I know there are other good bullets,, but we had such good luck with A-Frames I think I'll stay with them for heavier game but sure don't need them for deer..Want something quicker expanding on deer and pronghorn..Nearly too old too hunt anymore,,dangit..

I have to laugh at the notion that somehow any animal is surviving either of the OP’s two choices (last summer). I personally would choose the A-Frame, only because the PHs I hunted with and keep in contact, consider the A-Frame their preferred bullet.

Yep, a lot of PHs recommend the A-Frame, and it's a great bullet.

But one of the reasons the A-Frame is so highly regarded is that it was the first larger-caliber "bonded" bullet that was reasonably available, expecially in calibers from .375 up.

One of the reasons the A-Frame was developed by Lee Reid in the 1980s is that Nosler quit making .375 caliber Partitions when they switched from lathe-turning to impact-extruding Partitions. The machinery Nosler had at the time couldn't extrude larger caliber bullets, and the .375 A-Frame filled the void--as well a providing good, bonded bullets in larger calibers--which is why Remington chose the 400-grain A-Frame for their "soft" when they introduced the .416 Remington Magnum. As a result, many PHs started to recommen A-Frames, partly because they were also superior to most traditional "softs" loaded in other .375 and up ammunition.

But as I mentioned earlier in this thread, there are bunch of really good bullets today. As an example, I first saw a bunch of PHs exposed to Barnes TSXs in 2007, on a month-long cull hunt in South Africa. They were all very impressed--but were also impressed by another new bullet, the Nosler Accubond.

My point is that PHs tend to recommend bullets they've seen work over a long period, on a lot of game--for obvious reasons. But that doesn't mean newer bullets don't work as well, whether monolithics or lead-cored.