Just watched an episode of "Tracks Across Africa". In this episode, Donna Grey shoots a really nice bull with a 450-400. In the commercial break, Hornady ran a commercial promoting the use of its Interbonds on cape buffalo.

Unless Hornady has toughened their Interbond in the large bores, their ad is irresponsible in my view. My experience with their bullet was less than satisfactory. We recovered no more than 50% of the Interbonds on perfect heart shots missing the heavy bones. The bullets virtually disintegrated.

Recent posts on this forum hinted that Hornady was doing the right thing by pulling the Interbonds off of the market and replacing them with tougher bullets for likes of buffalo. Still running this commercial doesn't seem to support that notion.

Boddington was there last year with Mr. Hornady himself while Terry Carr was there and they ahd issues with them then. You'll never find me using either an Interbomb or an Accubomb. Just too many inconsistencies with both bullets. Perhaps some of our forumites that had problems with them can report. jorge

Jorge,

Maybe that's why Hornady has ceased production on the Interbonds as well as their encapsulated solids. Probably anything with the "brass colored" jacket material might be effected. Tech guy stopped short of saying the jackets where brittle but said Steve Hornady recently had a bullet fail (broke in half) on a Cape Buffalo and ordered a look see into the problem.

According to the tech support guy I talked with late last week. (At last) They are trying to find someone to supply copper jacketed steel to be able to go back to the lead core copper covered steel jacketed solid they stopped making about 10 years ago. We didn't talk much about the soft nose Interbond replacements, but I got the impression they where also being looked into.

If anyone might be interested Midway has the 458 Intebonds on closeout. That's how I found out about this and started calling.

The Hornady guy I spoke to at SCI said they were using Interlock for the 9.3...and I thought also the 450-400.

Of course one has to keep velocity in mind. A 450-400 is a fairly slow caliber by today's standards, so the interbond may work OK

quote:

Of course one has to keep velocity in mind. A 450-400 is a fairly slow caliber by today's standards, so the interbond may work OK

I was shooting a Lott.

I enjoy hunting buffalo more than any other animals. And I have shot quite a few of them.

The one thing that I have learnt is one should use the TOUGHEST bullet one can find, without going to a solid.

Today, one can find a number of makers who produce HP bullets made with solid copper.

These, in my own opinion, are the very best for hunting buffalo.

If these are not available, then my second choice would be those with a solid copper shank, and lead in the front half.

Like the Trophy Bonded Bear Claws and Jenssen bullets.

If these are not available, I would use a solid.

I prefer these over even the Nosler Partition. As the over riding requirement here is penetration.

I would not consider using ANY of the normal soft points, regardless of what their manufacturers use to describe them.

Unless I have no choice at all.

Saeed
I am curious on your results with the Jensen [I think they call it the J 36 bullet] in 375 H&H.

I shot the 300gr and the 225 into animal glue along with some other bullets.

I was not too impressed with the Jensens considering their price.

However I reserve final judgement until I shoot some real animals with them.
I have several boxes of them in loaded ammo, and plan to test them on wild pigs.

I have used a lot of TB bullets in different calibres on game and like them a lot.

quote:

We recovered no more than 50% of the Interbonds on perfect heart shots missing the heavy bones. The bullets virtually disintegrated.

I had a client last year who shot a buffalo less than 50 yds at a heart. Same thing happened. The bullet did not have a good penetration, and it seem to have lost nearly 50% of the weight. It just fell apart. He was using 458. The bullet was not his first choice, but the only option he had due to delayed shipment.

Even with a bad bullet, shot placement was key on this one.

Zahir, That was me! What a great hunt. Thanks again for what has to have been one of the best buffalo hunts of all time.

Russell

quote:

Originally posted by Hunter Formerly Known As Texas Hunter:
Zahir, That was me! What a great hunt. Thanks again for what has to have been one of the best buffalo hunts of all time.

Russell

Hi Russell,
Thanks for kind words! It was one of my great hunts for me as well.
Zahir

Texas Hunter,nice buffalo

quote:

Originally posted by Hunter Formerly Known As Texas Hunter:
"Texas Hunter,nice buffalo" quote by Shootaway

Thanks Shootaway.

All shooting was done offhand by the way. I shot the first buff at 20 yds, kneeling. My subsequent shots were at 40 yds. standing on open ground blasting away at two buffalo at the same time. You will notice the shattered horn tip on the bottom bull. I put an insurance shot in his spine and failed to notice his horn in the way. (Things were moving a bit fast at the time.) The taxidermist has a little extra work to do.

Given all this talk about bullets and buffalo, what do you guys think about the 300 Gr. .375 Northfork for Buff? That's what I was planning on using backed up with Barnes solids for the follow up shots. I'm pushing both with 78 Grs. of H-4350. Sure hope I'm on the right track here.

If you make your first shot a good one, you should be fine. If you don't, you've got issues whether you're shooting a .375 or a .500. That's one of the things that makes buffalo hunting so exciting. They can soak up a phenomenal amount of lead and keep going...or coming as it may be.

I'll defer to those with more knowledge and experience regarding specific loads.