Dear freinds,

As some of you know, I have been recovering 458 caliber soft points shot into 5 gallon water buckets for the last three years in my 450 Dakota.

I have tested all of the premium 458's now except the 500 gr Woodleigh.

Do any of you guys have ten (10) of them I could buy off of you so I dont have to buy an entire box?

If you do please send me a PM and we can exchange mailing addresses.

I can either pay you for them plus shipping, or trade you for ten other premiums you might find interesting. (I have the excellent 400 and 450 gr North Fork, 450 gr Kodiak, and 450 and 500 Swift, plus most others available for trade).

Thanks in advance.

Andy

Just had a look at my collection. I only have 1/2 a 500gn woodleigh left (I ground it in half to check construction.) As soon as I get my next 458 I will be buying more 500gn woodleighs ,but this could be a while.How did the xperiment go? Any results yet.

CR,

I have tested 16 bullets so far plus the 416 remington with 400 gr Swift as a control to George Hoffmans collection of 400 gr Swifts recovered from buffalo. (The nylon water buckets almost exactly duplicated deformation on his bullets).

Will post results here when test is finished with pictures.

Dont think I can get it published anywhere as it makes 500 gr TBBC, 400 and 500 gr Barnes X and 450 gr Swift look relatively poorly.

Best all around bullets so far are 400 and 450 gr North Fork, 450 and 500 gr Kodiak, and 500 gr swift.

Velocities are 2650 -2,700 fps 400 gr, 2450 - 2550 fps 450 gr, 2350-2400 fps 500 gr.

Bullets that did poorly probably still OK at normal 458 win mag velocities.

Lots of good bullets these days but five mentioned above stand out for retained weight, penetration and expansion.

Id hunt with any of them.

Expansion of Kodiaks is amazing, about one inch with 91-95% retained weight. 500 gr had 1/2 can more penetration than 450 gr and equal to a 416. The 500 Kodiak would be a great soft/solid combo.

North Forks probably best "all around" with .820 expansion, but the 400 gr had more penetration than the 450 gr!!! I really like this bullet at 2,700 fps.

The 450 gr Barnes X best of the X bullets. The 500 gr tumbled and broke off 2 of petals, and 400 gr slimmed down to a cylinder. 450 gr Kept stability and had classic "square" profile Saeed has seen so often in his 375 x 404.

Ill see if someone here can post a picture of the group shot of all the bullets.

One picture worth a thousand words.

And please, anyone out there who shoots Woodleighs, and wants to see how they do at 2400 fps please contact me!

(The 400 gr Woodleigh retained 293 gr and expanded to .85 x 1.25 inches.)

I expect the Woodleigh may be similar to the Kodiak, but probably a bit less retained weight.

Andy

I have what you need.

I posted this before but it either didn't "take" or got deleted--

I sent you a PM, also.

Andy,

I don't know if anyone else stepped forward, but I will give you the 10 Woodleighs you need on a condition:

a.) You tell me the velocity you shot them at,

b.) You post pics of the recovered bullets here, and

c.) You return half of the recovered bullets to me for my recovered bullet collection.

Please let me know. You can email your address to: dmccart@xmission.com

Have you tried any 600gr. BARNES ?

Nitro and 500 grains,

Thanks men.

I sent you each an e mail with photos attached of bullets recovered to date.

Cole, I have not recovered the 600 gr Barnes copper jacket unbonded "original," as Ive only tested bullets I was interested in using myself.

I tried originals in the late 70'2 early 80's in 375 caliber and was not too impressed. Also, I like velocity and the 400 gr performed better than most 500 gr. (Guess they were designed for increased velocity).

Bullets Ive recovered so far are:

400 Barnes X, NF, TBBC, woodleigh. (NF looks great at 2700 fps!)
418 Bitterroot (largest frontal area and highest retained weight).
450 NF, Swift, Barnes X, Kodiak, GSFN. (NF and Kodiak two of my favorites.)
500 TBBC, Kodiak, Swift, X and conventional WW RNSP. (Swift and Kodiak great bullets).

As a control, also tested 400 gr Swift in 416 Remington to compare test medium to George Hoffmans collection of 400 swifts from buffalo.

Now that these Mighty Men have stepped up to offer me some 500 woodleighs Ill have tested all the major brands.

I guess Id test the 600 gr if a few showed up in my mail box and the 550 gr Woodleigh also but so few of us will ever shoot a 550 or 600 gr was not too inclined to test them. (It costs about $15-20 apeice to recover a bullet).

Recoil is brutal with 500 gr at 2450 fps. Cant imagine a 600 gr. wow.

Ill post retained weight, diameter, frontal area (measured in photoshop with pixels), penetration, volume of permanant wound cavity, length before and after firing, and percentage of retained wieght plus photos of base and top of bullets after I recover the 500 gr Woodleigh.

PS I would test the 550 woodleigh if anyone has a few.

Everyone has an opinion but very few men will roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty (or bloody).

Thanks again to 500 gr and Nitro.

You do meet the best people on this forumn.

Andy

Andy, I hope to drop those bullets off at the post office tomorrow. By the way, what cartridge are you using for these tests?