Ray,

How fast were you shooting those .404 North Forks?

Mike said your .470 was going about 2,000 fps.

He sent me a couple of your photos. Wow!!!

Andy

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Andy,
The 404s were going 2450 FPS...I was using the experimental flat nose cup point..The 470s were going 2020 FPS and they were also cup points...

The Northfork flat nose solids in both calibers were all pass throughs and whined off towards Nigeria taking out tress, elephant, two fat Somalia wimmen and a Sudan Oryx on the way, finally stopping in a Gorilla on top of some mountain in CAR, must have been a richochet!

I did manage to recover quite a few cup points on shots lenthwise or ones that broke both front shoulders and came to rest under the off side skin..The performed spectacularly...

I would be glad to send all the photos of bullets to someone who can post them here...Mike Brady at Northfork will be making up some cup points and I believe them to be the best buffalo bullet I have ever used, they expand some into pretty little mushrooms, and penitrate like all get out....and at about any velocity as far as I can tell....

Hopefully someone will use them at very high velocity and let us know...I would also like to try some with a bit less cup and see what that does...

Mike is on to something with these bullets and I see a great future for them as a all around never fail on anything bullet that leaves two holes most of the time in any thing...I doubt that they are a elephant bullet but that remains to be seen, they just might work fine on timbo...

Alf and Ray,

Thanks for details.

Ray, what did you shoot the bonded NF with in your 404? It looked just like the bullets from my premium 458 test.

Andy

Andy,
I shot a buffalo down through the shoulders into the lungs, then into the stomach at about 75 yards...It took out the lungs and a chunk of spine..

It looks just like every other Northfork soft I have recovered from Buffalo, Eland, and assorted plainsgame...They are boringly consistant, and it makes no difference if you hit heavy bone or just flesh, they always look the same, perfect muchrooms...

O.K. guys, I am convinced that North Forks are as good as it gets.



I will be shooting a bison with a 380 grain NF soft in .404 Jeffery,in mid October,at Comstock Ranch Meat Market . After he dies instantly with one softpoint bulging the hide of the off side, I will put one of the new solds from NF of same 380 grain weight through the buffalo from stem to stern to see if it keeps going. MV for the 380 grain .423 caliber bullets will be just over 2500 fps.



Then I have about a dozen boxes of .458cal/450gr North Fork softs and solids to devote to my new Magnum Mauser .450 Dakota, or any other .458.



No other bullets need apply if there is a North Fork available, and Mike Brady has a knack for picking the best bullet weights for his "technology." The added service of a solid of same weight is greatly appreciated. Something Swift ought to take notice of.



Andy,

Got any good loads for the 450gr/.458cal North Forks in the 450 Dakota? IIRC the 450 Dakota is one of your favorites. H4350???

Thanks Ray for helping to popularize such a good bullet as the North Fork. Mike Brady deserves our business.



Now if we could just get Saeed to try his bonded soft points in his .375 next year!



I continue to be amazed that my plastic water buckets so accurately predicted how the NF would perform. Between your experience and John's freind Joel, it looks like you really can predict how a bullet will behave on buff with three 5 gallon water buckets. Strange but true!



RIP, I sent you an e mail with my 450 loads. Short course is use RL-15. 104 gr w 400 gr NF, 100 gr w 450 NF and 96 gr with 500 gr bullets. This will equal factory 400 and 500 gr velocity. As you will see from data, the old style NF solid took 2 gr more powder to equal velocity of bonded soft point. They printed to same point of aim in my rifle.



IMR 4064 also works well. 102 gr with 400 and 98-100 gr with 450 gr. (It has 50 fps more velocity than RL-15 at somewhat less pressure).



VV550 is best slow powder. 106-108 gr with 450 NF. 2,550-2,600 fps from my short 21 1/2 inch barrel.



Hope to use this on elephant and buff next year.



Thanks again Ray and Alf for pictures!



Andy

Do you (or anyone) want to part with any 450 grain .458's to try in October. Northfork says they are out.

Thanks,

Ray
I'm trying to develop a load for the 9.3 x 62 using 286 gr NF's. In a Interarms Mark X and a Lothar Walther barrel I cannot load the bullet way out. In fact the rather long bullet protrudes rather deeply into the powder space. Do you have a load for this using a comparatively temperature insensitive powder suitable for Zimbabwe in Sept.
Your Re-15 load with the 286 Nosler Partition shoots just fine for elk in the West in October.
Thanks for any advice you may have.

.

AfricanHunterFortner,
I only have a few boxes of the .458cal/450gr NF softs. The rest are the old style Ogive-Flat Nose "cup point" I reckon. Let us call that style the "OFN."

I tested the feed and function of samples of that bullet along with some samples of the new Truncated Cone flat nose Solid NF. Let us call the new one the "TFN."

One of my .458 rifles would not feed the OFN very well, but the TFN worked well in all of them.

Mike decided to discontinue the OFN and sold the remainder of his OFN .458/450 stock to me for $20.00 per box. Those are some fine plinking bullets. Eat your heart out.

I only got a few samples of the TFN .458/450gr, as he was all out when I asked about ordering some more.

You had better wait for Mike Brady to replenish his stocks with the new TFN and NF soft.

However, he is likely tied up making the smaller elk and deer bullets that are his staple.

You should order directly from Mike Brady when he is restocked. I am waiting too. He will get them to you by FedEx within 3 days of ordering, and he needs to raise his regular prices!!!

I got ample supplies of the .404/380gr North Fork soft and TFN, and loads worked out and ready.

Sorry but I am not going to part with any of my North Forks. If North Fork makes a bullet I can use, that is my goto bullet.

Thanks, Andy.

Alf, agreed. Maybe the flat nosed solids have an advantage in straight line penetration on game. Maybe the round nose solids penetrate deeper in a homogeneous test medium, but are not as reliable on game?

Janus,
I use 58 to 59 grs. of RL-15 and 60 to 63 grs. of H414 depending on the gun...Start low an work up to max in your rifle....