Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Dead Tough on Buffalo...

Murphy,

I pretty much agree with JPK on this. I used my M70 416 Rem when I hunted buff and tried the 400gr. A-Frame, the 350 & 400gr. TSX, and the 370gr. Northfork softpoint.

I ended up taking the A-Frame as my softpoint because I've always felt very comfortable with their performance on heavy game and the 400gr. shot extremely well in my rifle. The 350gr. TSX also shot very accurately from my rifle. I had issues with the 400gr. TSX since it took so much space in the case that I really had to back off the powder charge to keep the pressure down to reasonable levels. I openly debated on these pages whether to go with the 350gr TSX or the 400gr A-Frame, but finally decided on the A-Frame since it shot to same point of impact as my North Fork flat-point solids. If I remember correctly, the TSX's shot about 4 inches above the solids. In any case, I don't think you could go wrong with either the A-Frame or the TSX of either weight. Based on my experiences, though, I think the 400gr. TSX is pushing the limits in the 416 Rem. just because of its length.

Since your PH wants you to bring only one type of bullet, I would go with what JPK says and use the North Fork cup point solid as long as it shoots OK in your rifle. For a single bullet, I have to agree that it seems about perfect for good penetration but still with some expansion. The only caution I would have is that most PH's haven't heard much about the North Forks, so your PH my have his doubts and trepidations about using a bullet on buff that he's never seen or heard of. If you can get past this issue, though, I'm sure that the bullet will perform.

Just my two cents! Hope it helps.
Test

JPK, test, sensible advice. I may be able to take the 404/375 Ruger after all, as it seems to have now been finished. But if I need to take the 416, I'll try the 307 NF and the 400 AF, as I'd like to stay at or close to 400 grains, while taking into consideration the relatively small case cap of the 416RM and the length of mono bullets. Thanks for the help.

NF also makes an excellent regular, bonded core soft, btw. If you go AF, might want to bring a hanful of the NF cup points for second or third and subsequent shots. With the cup points, you really do not need a solid for buff.

JPK

JPK,
Having never used the Dead tough, and since I never will anyway, I bow to your wisdom, I was quoting a couple of folks that used them on their buffalo and they claimed excellent results on buffalo in thier 470s...Sometimes it makes a difference in the caliber that you use with a particular brand of bullet as to how well they do or do not work, at least that has been my experience..

But, the bottom line is I only use three brands of bullets for dangerous game and that is North Forks, GS Customs, and Woodleighs..

My favorite Buffalo bullets are the North Fork Cup Point, and the 450 gr. 40 calibers and 350 gr. 375 calibers. I also like the heavy for caliber Woodleighs for Lion. For elephant I like the GS Customs flat nose solid...The best elephant bullet I ever saw was the Bridger flat nose solid, and I still have a few hundred of them.

Ray,

We are both relying on second hand reports. Mine are from fellows in Zim, in particular Ganyana, who found the dead toughs too soft for buff, but excellent on lions.

I'll second your bullet choices for dangerous game.

You can't go wrong with the right Woodleigh for anything, but the flat nose solids enhance penetration and the cup points make two bullets for buff unessecary.

JPk

JPK,
Well Ganyana is a darn good source for this kind of information and I wouldn't argue with him about any bullet that he opines on..based on that alone I won't ever bother to try them.