Is this a good bullet to use or should I look elsewhere? Any suggestions/loads appreciated.

This is a good bullet @ .375H&H speeds. I have had great accuracy w/ IMR4064 & RL15.

2 shots, 2 eland on a Texas ranch. These were not the big bulls, but the biggest cow was pushing 1000 lbs. High lung shot gave complete penetration, instant kill. 2nd was a young male, bullet plowed through the spine and came to rest inside hide on far side. Retained about 56% after drilling through about 3 inches of spine. I was shooting 74 grains of Win 760 at about 2500 fps. Bob

They will work 90% of the time and fail about 10% is my experience...They cannot be depended on 99% like a North Fork, Nosler, Woodleigh or GS Custom..I have seen both the 270 gr. fail and the 300 gr. Hornady interlocks on rare ocassions...but they do!!

Based on that and the cost of an Eland, I want the edge in my favor so I always use a Premium bullet..An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.....considering the fact that bullet failure is no excuse for not paying the trophy fee if he gets away and Eland don't die easy..

the cost of a better bullet is about 50 cents difference, so my question is WHY?

Because I think, and was asking if my thoughts are valid, that the 270s will give greater expansion and more damage to the size game I'm shooting, which doesn't include Eland, BTW (JMO, and not being in any way critical of other's actions, but personally if I want to shoot something that looks and acts very much like a Brahma bull, I don't have to go to Africa to do it, as mentioned above we have them in Texas) and the 270s shoot flatter and faster than most of the others. The biggest animal I'm likely to shoot will be a Kudu. I'm never seen an animal with shredded lungs go very far but I've seen several with bullet diameter sized holes thru their lungs go a long, long, ways. That's why. And, since it is not critical to my enjoyment of the experience whether I shoot any animal or not, if the shot is not right, I won't take it, meaning I don't need maximum penetration. I know some of the above puts me in a small minority, but so be it.

Thanks for the advice all. I'm still considering other bullet choices as well as dropping down to a .30-06 (Failsafes?).

[ 05-16-2003, 21:24: Message edited by: Gatogordo ]

Gatorgordo,

I have used the .375"/270 Hornady Interlock bullet on sevral African animals, including a very large eland bull. These are not premium bullets, and they are going to kill the animals if everything goes according to plan.

Since no plan survives first contact with the enemy, I recommend you prepare by using another bullet. It took three of these to kill my eland, so I woun't use them for that again (Hornady .376 Steyr factory loads). They did fine on warthog and smaller antelope, and I observed them pass through on impala, but the exit holes showed bullet expansion.

I am working with Mike Brady's North Fork bullets now, but I have not had the chance to shoot anything with them yet. Ray has hed very good results.

I would substitute the NF, Swifts, Barnes X-Bullets or FailSafes or Trophy Bonded in a 270 grain choice. You have a much large operational envelope for these bullets than the Hornady Interlock.

jim dodd

To add to my post, when I go to Namibia next July I will have something other than the Hornadys in the 375. I have no doubt that it'll take a zebra, kudu, gemsbok, but going all that way, I'll pay the insurance and get a premium suited for long range (250 grains or so) working in the H&H. bob

Just don't try to push them too fast.

Last year I used Hornady Heavy Magnum factory loads, which come out at about 2800fps.

In all the animals, I never recovered more than a few pieces of mangled jacket, and chunks of lead no bigger than a pea.

It came very close to costing me a zebra.

This year, it's Nosler Partitions!

Rick.

I killed 8 medium sized animals including kudu, gemsbok, hartebeest, warthog and baboon in Namibia last year using the 270gr Hornaday SP in my 375 H&H. The load of 73 gr of RE15 gave me 2700 fps. I only had two bullets exit, one on a head shot gemsbok and one on a warthog. On the other animals shot through the chest/shoulder some of the bullets did no even make it through the far side of the rib cage. Of the bullets I found all of them had stayed together wery well and weighed about 200gr. Only one animal required a secound shot(gemsbok shot through the back of the lungs).

Although these bullets kill very well I feel they are a bit too soft. A bullet must exit to leave a good blood trail. Some of my bullets were found inside the chest cavity againt the off-side ribs, this is very marginal penetration.

I had much better penetration using the 180gr remminton coreloct at 2710fps in my 30-06 on the same animals the year before.

Jason

With Swift A-frames and north forks and TBBC's out there and the cost of safaris, I can't figure why one would have to use a 90 % bullet. I have used the 270 Swift to great advantage. To each his own. Just my .02$. Good hunting. "D"

I used 300gr Swift A-Frames on plkains game -kudu being the largest animal- and not one bullet was retrieved. A good bullet but I feel that they weren�t expanding very well. I�ve shot about ten deer with the Hornady SP and I�ve had good kills with good expansion -no failures.

good luck on the hunt

cewe

Gatogordo,

I have used the 270 grain hornady sp with great results on game including kudu but not eland. They expand readily and sometimes the lead moves out of the jacket at worst but that is after they have already penetrated and destroyd the vitals.

Try not to push them beyond 2600 fps and you should have no hassle.

They work OK on most anything if you don't push 'em too quick. You will get a lot of meat damage otherwise. They will break up if you hit the chassis of a big animal, but should be OK on a kudu.

Use the Barnes X 270 or 300 and don't look back. They are trouble free motoring, if your rifle shoots 'em well.

270 / 300 gr bullets. Actually if you shoot a 375 on a regular basis, then load for the 300 grainer.. Use a good bullet like the Partition, Failsafe, Barnes X, A-Frame, Trophy-bonded, Grand Slam, etc at a velocity of 2550-2600 fps and never look back. On actual targets, not just in theory, the 300 grain bullet hits about 3/4 inch lower at 300 yards than a 270gr (starting at 2700-2750). The velocity increase for the 270gr at the muzzle is gone by the time you're at 300 yards and the the energy is much higher for the 300gr. more than energy is the extra amount of bone and flesh the 300 will destroy. I have used 300 grain partitions with a max load Win 760 for @2600fps and when sighted for a 220 zero, the round hit about 7-8 inches low at 300... plenty flat for a shoulder hold at any sane range... it has never failed and has accounted for anything that you can hunt... Plus, if you hunt any areas where lions, elephant, buff, and anything else that wants to stomp, bite, grind you into a greasy spot,,,, the 300's will do what the lighter bullets won't..keep you alive...one rifle, one load

Ditto Pete Millan.

I once shot a nice whitetail buck with the .375 Hornady 270 Grainer at a very long didtance (had to aim a full foot over it's back) and the bullet hit amidships perfectly.....guessing the remaining velocity to be about 2,000'/sec.

There was no expansion at all.....the exit wound was about .375 diameter......but the exit wound allowed us to track the deer for about 150 yards. It's hanfging on my wall today!!!

I believe one can drive them too fast to make use of their characteristics.

However I really have to ask.....For the small cost of a premium big game bullet......why you would use anything else?

I'm going on my first African hunt in about a month and I've loaded Swift A-Frames for my .300 H&H. Dern cheap insurance in my opinion!!

I am sold on the 270gr Swift A-frames. I used JJHack's handloads in his rifle last year on seven plains game from steenbok to eland, at ranges from under 50 yards to over 200 yards. They worked perfectly in all cases.



I was a big fan of the 300gr Swift A-frame before (and still am), but my eyes were opened to the advantages and performance of the 270gr bullet on that trip.

One of these days I hope that Ray will at least acknowledge the Swift in his lists of good premium bullets.

Canuck

[ 05-28-2003, 19:38: Message edited by: Canuck ]

Canuck,
Some time past I posted photos of about 8 Swifts that came from game and they all looked just like yours...

I do have a problem with Swifts in that they mold into a roundish ball with no extended cutting flared petals and as a result they sometimes do not leave a very impressive blood trail on game like Impala...They, on the other hand, perform to perfection on Cape Buffalo, Lion, and larger animals...

That is my call on Swifts and it is the primary reason for the development of the Siracco...

But all this in only my personal opinnion...

hornady SP's are NOT for actual african game... but are great to practice with...

Partitions, Woodleighs, Barnes, Swifts, Failsafes, all great SPs (if barnes and failsafes are sp)

other than 416's, (haven't used the 458s much) I don't think of ANY hornady as a good bullet for africa...

and that, with my grand ZERO safaris.....

But, I do shoot lots of game, understand penetration and weight retention, and, dadgumit, a BT is a paperslayer...

jeffe

My .375 shoots the 270gr Hornady into VERY small groups, at 2700 fps. I have used them for 2 shots at game - an Impala and a Red Hartebeest. Both dropped on the spot, but meat damage in both cases was HORRENDOUS (I was hunting for biltong, so I was less than delighted). The Impala actually had a 10" horizontal rip in the skin, along the top edge of the shoulder blade on the entry side. For all the world, it seemed as if the shoulder blade was very nearly blown out of the hide! Admittedly, neither of these 2 shots were longer than 30 yards. Since then, I have used only 300 grainers, although I am currently playing with the GS Custom 270gr FN, which I might or might not use in a few weeks. Common sense tells me that I should stick with what I know works.

Ditto Pete M and Nickudu

I've used Hornady products for many years and found them to be ok if used at sub 2500fps velocities. They also tend to shoot very well out of most of my rifles.

Swift A Frames, Noslers and BarnesX are, as we all know, clearly in a different class and a better bet.

I am a big Swift proponent, but the fact that a 270gr 375 did not fully penetrate an impala IS cause for concern. go here: www.Lavikinga.com ( under hunter) and see my Swifts. The one "failed" bullet was a 180gr Hornady Interlock out of a 300 Weatherby recovered from an impala at 80 yards. reained weight waws 82 gr. jorge

hi folks, i can really recommend swift a-frame and barnes-x bullets for african plains game. i used a .375 H+H Mag. with 270gr and 300gr bullets. they were both good penetrators on kudu, oryx and zebra.

but even for plains game i really like .416 rigby. next time i'll try a .460 wby. mag. using 450gr barnes-x.

keep your powder dry!!

Jorge, I wasn't very concerned about the lack of an exit on the impala. It did penetrate about 3 feet afterall, and the imala went no-where. On one of Saeed's videos he also shot an impala in the chest and recovered a 300gr Barnes X (from his 375/404) in the hind quarter. I would suspect that a fair bit of bone (brisket/hip) was hit in either case.

Ray, I remember. I just couldn't resist bringing it up again. I've never been dissapointed in the blood trail left after a Swift was used, but then again, I've never had to follow one very far.

Cheers,
Canuck

GAto,
Since your not going to shoot Brahman or Eland then I suspect you'll do fine...I doubt if there is any such thing as bullet failure with 270 grs of bullet in a 375 H&H until you get to the really big stuff...