About 4 years ago I asked here why to use solids when there were other, expanding but hold together bullets (Like th X or the Failsafe) available.

I was wondering if anyone had any new opinions because of bullet development over the laast few years.

Adress any cartridge you like, whether it be a 300 H&H or a .375 or 1.008 Vincent Buffalo thumper or whatever...

Some expanding bullets will not penetrate enough. It doesn't matter how well they hold together. Three animals that demand solids are the Elephant, Hippo, and Giraffe.

There are three reasons for using solids. Penetration, penetration, and penetration.

jim dodd

Gatehouse,
You asked if recently anything had changed with solid bullets that might make them more attractive.
Relatively recently GS Customs has offered solids that will expand slightly while still penetrating extremely well, like more traditional solids.
Bullet makers such as Bridger are using cutting shoulders, that will "cut" a better wound channel and entrance/exit wounds allowing quicker bleedout and better potential for tracking than the RN solids of the past.
I'm sure Ray will weigh in on this as he has used some of these bullets with great results.
The only one I tried was the GS solid and the one rifle I tried them in wouldn't feed the blunt shape but it's rather picky.

Hope that answers your question to a degree.

Kyler

Thanks for the replys

For the sake of argument, lets exclude braining elephants.

I sure as hell will not be able to afford one, and my gal has stated that I can kill anything I want, except- IF YOU SHOOT AN ELEPHANT I WILL DIVORCE YOU, KILL YOU AND MAKE YOU DIE!

I think she'd rather I kill a whale than an elephant

Gatehouse,

The PH I hunted with in Tanzania last season didn't see a need for solids when hunting buffalo with a .416. He was big fan of Barnes X bullets (I was using A-Frames). He thought that the construction of premium softs from a .416 gave more than enough penetration.

I don't know if his opinion would have changed had I been using a .375.

Regards,

Terry

Gatehouse,

Take a look at my website - impalabullets.com. I think you will find it rather interesting. I went commercial in November last year. They penetrate like solids and work like softs in the torso.

Regards

Kobus

Firstly the X-bullet is a SOLID, though it is an expanding solid! I have absolutely no opinion on the X, simply because I have not been able to get them to shoot in my rifles!

I like to use a combination of soft and solids when hunting Buffalo. #1 soft, followed by a magazine full of Solids, or a soft in the right barrel, and a solid on the other side. The first shot is usualy a "pick it" shot, and a quality soft is best most of the time, followed closely by as many solids as I can get into him either running away, with Texas heart shots, or forntal stopper shots. I hunt with two or three PHs that want me to use all softs on Buffalo, claiming the solids make them have to go into the weeds after too many Buffalo, to finish the job.
In a 375 H&H I use a 300 gr Nosler Partition in the chamber,followed by three Barnes super solids, or Woodliegh solids.
In my doubles I use Woodliegh softs, and solids, but am thinking about useing the Impala, and the North fork, once they are available in the calibers I need, and they have been proven to not damage double rifles!

SOLIDS = penetration

Gentlemen,

Since I started using teh Barnes X bullets, I have stopped using solids except for elephants.

They seem to penetrate just as well as the solids I have used - the mono solids.

Even my PH has become a believer in the X bullet.

We followed some buffalo one day, and when we caught up with them, the only shot I could take was a quartering away. He asked me if I had any solids, and I told him no. But, I think the Barnes X would do the job.

He agreed o let me shoot. I hit the bull in the rear of the stomach, the bullet going diagonally forward. The bull took off, ran about 100 yards and dropped dead.

After that episode, he never hesitated in telling me to "shoot it up the ass!"

As you can see here.

Saeed

it seems like your shooting method were picked up in Texas with the clay shooting

This last time it was the Nyalas turn to get a shoot in the rear end

Do you think a X would work on a heart/shoulder shoot on elephant?

How did the matchking bullets work in South Africa?

/ JOHAN

I have had some bad experiences with the Barnes X bullets...but I have seen them work wonders for other folks, even last year I witnessed Buff killed with Barnes X and they penitrated lenth wise on big Buffalo bulls with perfect mushrooms on everything shot, Saeed loves them, Phil Shoemaker loves them, Ross Seyfried loves the Failsafe...Company like that knows their business...
School is still out with me but I not totally against them anymore...

I have been a big fan of the GS FN solid from its concept...but I have not seen one expand as yet, they just cut a nice open hole in both sides and kill much better than a conventional RN solid..They feed well in my tweeked rifles that I build, but not all guns will feed them...

I guess I'm going to have to buckle under to the use of monolithics sooner or later and put past experiences aside and try them one more time as I believe they possibly could replace a solid...but for head shots at oncomming buffalo, I think I'll always have a good solid handy...

I'll start with the heavy GS HV or Failsafes which fit the 375 like a glove, shoot well, and the fact that I have never quite trusted the 375 with softs, it should fix that problem, and make the good old war horse a much more effective DGR, as it always has been with a good solid...

It's terribly hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but I will give the devil his due and it seems the monolithics are changing the world of bulletoligy...