I ve used Barnes Tsx .375 - needed 4, .470 double solids, Woodleigh 600gr solid and softs in .505, and TSX 525gr .505. The .375s, even through the heart took some time to have effect. The .505s were very impressive, solid anchored through bush, and the Woodleigh bowled the buffalo over. The .505 Tsx were very accurate but broke up and lost the petals. The Woodleigh solid had very poor accuracy. What are your experiences with North Fork cups or Woodleigh hydrostatics or any other you recommend as the only round for buffalo? In other words for both first round and follow up and also for accuracy? Thinking of trying based on recommendations the North Fork 600 gr cups in .505? Any favorite loads?

I have a grand total of one buffalo to my credit.
I used a 375H&H with a single 300gr Barnes TSX to the chest on a head on shot, got almost 4ft of penetration, took out the top of the heart & lungs. He made about 50yds & piled up dead as a hammer.

I have used both 458 Lott and 470NE with Woodleigh softs and a 404 Jeffery with Hornady DGX on buff with excellent results.

The Woodleigh, a bonded bullet, is a better choice.
That said, bullet placement matters way more than the type of bullet.

375 H&H and Winchester 300 FMJ
416 Weatherby and 400 Trophy Bonded Bear Claws and Barnes Super Solids
416 Rigby Improved and 400 Trophy Bonded Bear Claws and Barnes Super Solids.
375/404 and Barnes 300 X, and 300 Walterhogs.

All performed great.

No difference noticed in their performance.

quote:

Originally posted by bwana cecil:
I used a 375H&H with a single 300gr Barnes TSX to the chest on a head on shot, got almost 4ft of penetration, took out the top of the heart & lungs. He made about 50yds & piled up dead as a hammer.

you dont need anything bigger. Rather shoot thios rifle comfortably and accurately than a cannon you are going to flinch with and wound with.

LR3

Interesting you say the Woodleigh Solid doens't have good accuracy.

Can you expand on this.

I have a 505 and although only fired a few solids, those I did hit where expected (and exited).

Like bwana cecil, my cape buffalo experience is limited to only one buffalo.

It was about a 50 yd broadside shot to his shoulder with my .375 RUM and a 300 gr Barnes TSX. He ran about 80 yds and was dead when we got to him.

One buff - 60 yards with 416 Ruger with 400 DGX thru both shoulders and stopped under skin on off side.

4 buffs 375. 300 Barnes TSX
Tough buggers

3 buff with .475 500gr Swift A-frames (and 1 500gr Bridger solid follow up)


4 buff with .375 300gr Walterhogs.

.600 nitro Woodleigh 900 grain softs and solids
.450 no2, Hornady 500 grain softs and solids
.450-400 3 inch, Woodleigh 400 grains softs and solids
Cal

A few with 9.3x62 with Swift A Frames and Woodleigh solids.
A few with 470 and 458 with Woodleigh Soft and FMJ bullets.

All accurate and performed as expected.

.375 H&H with 300 grain TSX

Only one and that was from a 416 Rigby using a 400grain Woodleigh Hydrostatic. One shot was all it took.

416 rigby with barns x not sure of weight as it was the PH rifle.

9.3x63 with woodleigh 286g hydros.

416 was a better option.

I used 375H&H with barnes-X 300g and hornady superformance 300g...totaly +- 20 water/australian bufalo.

Hornady 500 solids and softs in a .458 Win mag.
Disclaimer: That was in the years before the internet,before I learned that common run-of-the-mill Hornady bullets weren't good enough and that the .458 Win. mag was too puny to kill anything bigger than a Duiker.

2 buff both were shot with .375 H&H. 300 grain partitions followed up by nosler solids.

First buff was quartering too, shot was raking through the upper half of the lungs. Buff was not quite dead when we approached but could not stand up.

Second buff was broadside at less than 20 yards. I placed the bullet 3" above his elbow and blew out the back side of his heart died seconds later about 50 yards away.

Niether of the partions exited. both solids did. The second one penetrating lengthwise.

1 buffalo with a 300 grain TSX from a 375 H&H. Buff fell at the shot and did not regain his footing. Put 4 solids in him to speed up his death. Very happy with the TSX and I am convinced I would have needed less "finishing" shots if I had used those over the solids.

416 Rem Mag Trophy Bonded, 416 Rigby Swift A-Frame, 460 Guns & Ammo 500gr Trophy Bonded.

470 Nitro Express - 500 gr Woodleigh Softs and Solids
and 500 gr Barnes X triple shock - all worked very well

450/400 - 400 gr Woodleigh softs and 400 gr Barnes Solids

My one buff was taken with the .375 Holland. The first shot was at 41 yds with the 300 Nosler PT that penetrated the heart from a head-on frontal shot. Even though the bull was pumping blood out the entrance wound like it was pushed by a water pump handle, the buff slowly turned and started walking away while the rest of the herd thundered off.

I followed the first shot with 3 Hornady 300gr solids, all shot at various angles into the staggering bull. Of course, the buff was a goner after the first shot, but neither he nor I knew that, so I kept shooting.

I was able to recover the NPT and one solid. The Hornady solid was still perfect, except for the rifling marks.

4 buff
2 - .416 Remington 1 Barnes and the last with a CEB
1 - .458 Lott Hornady DGX
1 - .470 NE Woodleigh Softs and solids
The kill with the lott was the most impressive. Heart shot at 20 yards took him off his feet.

3 Buff with .375 H&H using 300gr Barnes TSX and Banded Solids. No bullets recovered.

1 Buff with 500NE using 570gr Barnes TSX. Bullet not recovered.

1 Buff with 416 Rigby using 350gr Barnes TSX and 400gr Barnes Banded Solids



1 Buff with 577NE using 700gr CEB Non-Cons and 750gr CEB BBW#13 solids

I have shot the total of ONE buffalo and that was a one shot kill with a 375H&H with a 260gr Nosler Partition. Shot was from about 40 yards,was a side shot and buffalo actually reared up on hind legs and ended on back with all 4 feet in air pretty well dead. It was the second spectacular shot I have made with this 375 and Nosler 260gr Partition. The other was a broadside shot on an Eland from about 100yds. Eland went straight down with all four legs going in opposite directions. Both animals were browsing when shot and totally unaware of our presence. This was my all time favorite rifle and load for Africa.

Two with 416 Remington 400 Grain TSX, both one shot kills

One with 470 Nitro with Woodleigh Solids, 5 Shots in the Tiger Bay Jess.

One with 470 Nitro with North Fork Cup Point and Flat Nose Solids. Something like 13 shots.

One with 375 H&H with 300 grain North Fork Bonded Bullet, follow up with 470 Nitro.

One with 375 H&H with 300 grain North Fork and second shot with 300 grain CEB solid. Dead within 75 yards.

One with 470 Nitro with North Fork Cup Point. DRT. Never took a step.

One with 470 Nitro with CEB Non-Con (Copper). DRT. Never took a step.

Shop Placement. Shot Placement. Shot Placement.

458 WM 500GR TBS

416 WM 400GR TBS

375 H&H 300GR SAF and TCI solids

375 WBY 300GR TSX and NF softs

I am not a fan of all solids for buffalo.

Mark

I've had great luck with the Lott and Northfork softs and cup point solids. I think the Cup Point Solids are the best buffalo bullets out there. Opinions may vary.

I have shot six cape buffalo with the .375 H&H, two with the .375 Ruger, one with the .416 Rigby, two with the .416 Remington, three with the .404 Jeffrey and one West African Savanna buffalo with the .9.3x62. Various bullets from Wooddleigh Weldcores to Barnes TSX, Combined Technology Fail Safes, to Swift A-Frames and Hornady DGX's... all have done the job when I did mine.

If I can slip some a couple different types of water-buffalo in with the capes I've shot 23 in total.

One with .416 Rigby 400 grain TSX and 400 grain Banded Solid. (Flat Nose)Not overly impressed with the TSX. Solids did what solids do, not much.

Nine with .375 H&H, 270 grain A-Frames, 300 Grain Banded solids. After the fourth one I said screw the solids. A-Frames rock.

Eleven with .458 Win and 450 grain A-Frames. Enough difference over the .375 to keep using it. Typically they didn't go much of anywhere.

One with .450 NE VC double and Hornady DGX factory loads. Nice rifle, crap bullets. Shot buff 6 times, buffalo probably died of boredom but didn't go far.

One with .300 Ultra-mag and 180 Accubonds. brained it, went down about how you would expect.

My son got his first WB with a 30-06 this year. Despite having tons of 180 Woodleighs and TSXs, he forgot and popped it 6 times with 165 grain Hornady Interlocks.Kids these days . It went about 80 yards, picking up another shot every couple jumps.

Seven Buffalo (4 bulls & 3 cows) all with the .375 H&H using 300 grain Swift A-Frames
and a few monolithic solids.

5 Cape Buffalo using a Winchester Model 70, 375 H&H, a Merkel 470 NE and Searcy 450-400 NE. I used 300 grain and 500 grain factory loaded Federal Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solids and Trophy Bonded Bear Claws respectively for the 375 and 470, and Butch Searcy's own 400 grain custom hand loaded Hornady solids and softs for the 450-400.

3 buffs 1st one was 7 shots with 416 Rem using 400gr barnes solids

2nd was 1 shot with 416 Rem with 400gr Barnes solid

3rd was 1 shot with 416 Rem with 400gr swift A frame

Winchester Mdl 70 Special Build from the Custom Shop in caliber .416 Remington Magnum. Approximately a dozen+ buff. Remington Barnes solids, Remington Swift A-frames, CEB non-con. About 20% dropped to the shot and this percentage seems to be about the norm among Cape Buff hunters.

2) with 416 Rigby 400 grain TSX
1) with 470NE 500 grain Hornady DGS
1) wih 375H&H 260 grain Titan monometal

4 dead Buff!


.

*470 NE TROPHY BONDED BEAR CLAW AND BARNES SOLIDS
*416 REMINGTON TROPHY BONDED BEAR CLAW AND SLEDGE HAMMER SOLIDS

.375 H&H Federal factory 300gr TBBC and TSX on my two buff

Two with 375 H&H with 300gr TSX. Impressive performance. One dead within feet, one ran 40 yards.

One with 458WM and 500 gr TBBC . . . not a fan.

Seven with 416RM and 400 gr A-frames and Barnes Solids, all with good results, from dead right there, to ran a ways a piled up, to ran a ways and took a bit more shooting to finish the deal.

Two savannah buff with 375H&H and 300gr Nosler Partitions with good results.

10 buffalo .458 Lott Federal Premium Trophy Bonded Bearclaws. No follow up shots required.

Having put this little tidbit out there, the next one will take 11 shots.

I did take 6 shots to anchor my Roan in Zambia. Not pretty eh fairgame?

Jeff

First buffalo was with .375 H&H loaded with 300 gr. Barnes solid at 75 yards in Zim.

Second buffalo was with .458 WM loaded with 459 Gr. Barnes solid at 7 yards in Moz.

Third and fourth buffaloes were with .458 Lott loaded with 450 Barnes solids both one shot kills in Tzn.

Fifth and sixth buffaloes were also with .458 Lott loaded with 450 Barnes bullets. No. 5 was with a solid and no. 6 was a soft due to his location (broadside with complete penetration) in Tzn.

Bull1