The .370gr NorthFork followed by two .400gr Barnes solids worked for me. If you have talked with Mike, he probably gave you his recommendations regarding the prescribed load, powder drop tube, etc... If you want to know what I used, send me an email. Bill

To date, I have used the North Forks extensively as well as the new 400 gr. Noslers and 450 gr. Woodleighs on quit a few Buffalo, and all are excellent softs.

The best solid one can use is the Bridger flat nose solid made by John McMorrow, it kills as well as any soft point and will punch thourgh a Buffalo and give you two holes and a heck of a blood trail....That big splashy blood trail is mighty comforting in the high grass as you can concentrate on whats up front and not be stumbling along with your head down looking for the nose blood you get from a soft that left no exit wound.

What about the Speer Tungsten solids? I would be almost afraid to use them at $130/25. Are they really that much better than Barnes, etc...

The ONLY place one can justify a Speer tungston is in the 458 Win Mag. as they are short and leave more room for powder which the 458 dearly needs...IMO...

The Speer has no cutting shoulder and I'm still convienced that is important in a DG solid, contrary to some posts I have read that declare the cutting shoulder never makes contact..that sharp cutting shoulder raises hell with many small blood vessels I believe and just like any wadcutter it cuts a clean hole thats not prone to plug up with fat.

AGS solids are great, but expensive, eh? I have used them in 416 and 458 and the ones recovered were unscathed (no bending or distortion).

Lets hope the Bridgers become and stay available.Currently there seems to be some problem.

What I would really like to nail down is the question whether there is a difference between the Barnes 400gr X
and their 400gr soid in .416.

The X will open up some but should maybe cut better and resemble the meplat of modern solids.

At least 2/3 of the X will stay and probably be enough.
But what are the actual experiences with the X in rear shots,spining etc ,where solids are called for

thanks

sheephunter