Enigma,

Welcome to the forum.

I have used a number of different loads through the past.

This year we used just one load, 88 grains of H4350 with the 300 grain Walterhog bullet, which gave us 2790 fps.

This combination seems to work very well, with extremely good penetration.

When using Barnes X bullets, we found that penetration was better when the velocity was around 2600-2650 fps, rather than loads that were over 2800 fps.

This was just a field observation, and not any sort of fool proof scientific study.

Animals, especially buffalo, are amazing at making one scratch his head as to how they behave after being shot.

Saeed,

I agree with you regarding shooting buffalo. I have only shot two. I shot my most recent buffalo not quite two weeks ago and I was quite surprised by his reaction (or lack thereof).

We were tracking 3 old bulls in some very thick brush. We had already bumped them once and then caught up to them again. I shot the last bull in the group and he was broadside to us at about 20 to 25 yards and facing to the right. As I was just about to shoot, he turned toward us, gave us a nasty look and was quartering towards us just a bit. I hit him in the chest, exactly where I was aiming, with a 400 grain Barnes X at 2,375 fps (416 Rigby). The bullet crossed thru him and went through his heart.

At the shot, he barely flinched and started coming towards us. My PH shot his .458 Win Mag with a 500 grain Barnes solid. With the 22 inch barrel on his rifle, I would be surprised if his bullet was going much over 2,000 fps at the muzzle. Anyway, the bull dropped at his shot. His shot was about an inch or two higher than mine and an inch to the left. We guessed that the PH's bullet may have clipped the bottom of his spine where it sits low in the neck.

Both bullet holes were pumping out tons of blood and the PH thought that the bull would have died within 30 or 40 yards from the 1st shot. The problem was he would have made it the 20 yards to us before he expired.

Anyway, I was expecting to see a much greater effect at impact from the 1st shot. It was well placed and definitely from what most people consider to be "enough gun". In fact, given the chance to do it over again, I would have shot him in the same place.

To see that buffalo take that hit from the 416 Rigby and immediately come for us was pretty surprising. The buffalo had probably made it 3 to 5 yards when the PH shot and I was just about ready to pull the trigger on my 2nd shot which was a 400 grain Bridger flat nosed solid at just over 2,400 fps.

Given what I experienced above, I guess I would like to borrow the 577 T-Rex for my next buffalo hunt

Tim

Thank you very much Saeed for taking some of your time answering my questions. If you have a few more minutes, would you mind telling me if there is a difference in penetration with solids, say Barnes, at theses difference velocities.

I would think that the faster they go, the better penetration... with solids anyways.

Thanks again

Enigma

The 577 T.Rex would not have made any difference.

This is just standard buffalo behavior, which I have learnt over the years.

If he is still breathing, I keep shooting. That policy has kept us out of trouble so far, and I intend to stick to it.

I shot a bull through the shoulders, he ran around a bit and stood broadside to us. I fired another shot at his chest. He reared up on his back legs, ran for a few yards and stood looking. I fired another shot at him. We were up on a hill, about 200 yards away. By the time we got down, he was lying on his side, but still breathing. I put another bullet into his neck.