I've come up with a good load for the 300g TSX using Big Game powder and it produces 2630FPS in my Win 70.

I was able to acquire two boxes (100) 300g Swift A Frame bullets (At great cost!) I can develop a load for that bullet as well.

I know they are both fine bullets. Is one considered the accepted BEST head for Buff?

Both are "best" and work great. I have used both on several buffalo and cannot tell any difference. Both are excellent.

I’ve shot a lot more TSX than AFrames in my .375. Not because they are better, but because I can get them more reliably.

Both work superbly.

If I was forced to say, the A frames expand better and the TSX penetrate more.

Either will kill buffalo well if you do your part.

Basser,

Both those bullets are fine. Just use the one that shoots best in your rifle. You may find the SAF will come to pressure quicker than the TSX.

Mark

In my very limited experience I found the TSX worked like a charm and held together.

Both will work.

Use whatever you wish.

Just make sure you place the bullet in the right place.

Funny thing we have recovered several A-Frame, as well as Nosler Partition bullets from buffalo we have shot.

Those were wounded by previous hunters.

Never recovered any mono copper from anything which has been shot previously.

I have used Barnes X bullets for over 25 years.

They have never failed.

At these velocities they are fine.

I have experienced them losing all the lead in the rear partition at higher velocities.

As a rule, my first choice is mono hollow point bullets for buffalo.

That is why I make my own, which work just as well as ny mono copper bullets.

As others have said, both are killers for sure.

I've shot a lot of buff with the TSX, the weight retention & penetration inspires a lot of confidence.

Put a few into the buffalo, even better...

I've never shot a buffalo with a .375, but it will do the job. I've shot them with a variety of bullets, including Trophy Bonded Bear Claws, Nosler Partitions, and Swift A Frames. I don't like Noslers on a frontal shot, which is my favorite shot, but TBBC's and A Frames have both done extremely well.

I've never shot a buffalo with a Barnes based on one shot I took in South Texas on a very large whitetail, he field dressed 170 pounds, which is big for down here. He was dead broadside at about 100 yards and I shot him right behind the shoulder with a 400 grain Barnes to avoid meat damage. He dropped to the shot, but the first hint I had that things weren't totally right was hearing the ricochet.

The bullet entered behind the shoulder, not on the shoulder and the exit was out the top of his neck. A good 6" deviation on a relatively small animal. So I've written off Barnes bullets for dangerous game.

I found Swift A to shoot more accurate in my two 375 H&Hs. Never shot Barnes in that caliber at game because of the accuracy difference. I would go with the more accurate in your rifle. Tie goes to the A-Frame.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
I've never shot a buffalo with a .375, but it will do the job. I've shot them with a variety of bullets, including Trophy Bonded Bear Claws, Nosler Partitions, and Swift A Frames. I don't like Noslers on a frontal shot, which is my favorite shot, but TBBC's and A Frames have both done extremely well.

I've never shot a buffalo with a Barnes based on one shot I took in South Texas on a very large whitetail, he field dressed 170 pounds, which is big for down here. He was dead broadside at about 100 yards and I shot him right behind the shoulder with a 400 grain Barnes to avoid meat damage. He dropped to the shot, but the first hint I had that things weren't totally right was hearing the ricochet.

The bullet entered behind the shoulder, not on the shoulder and the exit was out the top of his neck. A good 6" deviation on a relatively small animal. So I've written off Barnes bullets for dangerous game.

That is nothing compared to this.

A friend wounded a kongoni.

We found it and he fired at it broadside less than 50 yards.

Rifle was my 375/404 shooting a Barnes original X bullets, 300 grains.

Bullet hit him in the shoulder, went under the skin, changed direction upwards.

Went over to the other side, still just under the skin, then down again!!

Never seen anything like it.

Still, I never stopped hunting with these bullets.

Until I made my own.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I have used Barnes X bullets for over 25 years.

They have never failed.

I second this.

Ditto the above, I have Partition (no problem)
Swift A Frame (no problem) I have Barnes TSX and that is the one I use ongoing. If it's not broke don't mess with it.

Bullet performance on animals.

Best to worst.

Mono metal

Solid base like the Trophy Bonded and Jensen

Partition like the Nosler and Swift

Soft points.

I've shot nothing but Barnes for the past 25 years also. Ranging from whitetails, brown bear, buffalo, lion, leopard, everything in between.

The ONLY reason I used the NF Cup Points on my buffalo last year is I wasn't able to find any TSX for my 500NE at the time.

The TSX will always be my go to bullet. NEVER had one fail on any animal. I and don't mean it didn't kill the animal. I mean it performed exactly as advertised. Lost a pedal every once in a while, but always got great expansion and penetration.

I've seen Partitions loose all the lead behind the partition. The A-Frame would be better than Partitions, and a second behind the TSX IMO.

Since you have a TSX load that works, I'd use it and spend my range time practicing off hand and off sticks.

I love the A-Frame and use it where cats are going to be the focus, but for buff, the TSX will work great!

quote:

Originally posted by Ongwe:
Since you have a TSX load that works, I'd use it and spend my range time practicing off hand and off sticks.

I love the A-Frame and use it where cats are going to be the focus, but for buff, the TSX will work great!

I have no idea how many cats I have shot.

Practically all with either Barnes X or my own Walterhog bullets.

Last year I shot a charging lion.

Art Alpin brought up his silly idea of LUON LOAD.

A totally useless lot of ammo!

Thanks fellas. Good advice from guys with real experience...can't beat it.
I'll stick with the Barnes TSX. I have 150 of them I bought bulk off of another site (probably seconds of some sort) that I'll use for practice and a box of fresh heads that I'll load for my hunting ammo.
All off-hand or off the sticks from now till August

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Bullet performance on animals.

Best to worst.

Mono metal

Solid base like the Trophy Bonded and Jensen

Partition like the Nosler and Swift

Soft points.

Yes. That should be a hunter's catechism.

The Swift A Frame remains my favorite.

If you want a real game-changer you ought to try the Norma African PH 375 H&H Mag 350gr.TSX

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:
If you want a real game-changer you ought to try the Norma African PH 375 H&H Mag 350gr.TSX

What does it do!

Kill them and skins them too??

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:
If you want a real game-changer you ought to try the Norma African PH 375 H&H Mag 350gr.TSX

What does it do!

Kill them and skins them too??

Produces similar results as your 375/404 . bang/flop.

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:
If you want a real game-changer you ought to try the Norma African PH 375 H&H Mag 350gr.TSX

What does it do!

Kill them and skins them too??

Produces similar results as your 375/404 . bang/flop.

Absolute MAGIC!

I still believe where the bullet goes in and where it ends is what matters.

Especially on large animals like buffalo or eland.

If I might offer a bit of insight to the occasional " why did the bullet do this" thing..... Before I say it, TSX is also my preferred buffalo medicine - it just works, no substitutes need to be found. I have shot TSX in so many calibers, 416 Rigby, 375 H&H, 300 WM, and on and on.

The occasional mono-metal oops - I have one 7mm RM 175grain I think, that is bent when it hit( and one shot killed ) a gemsbok, we were in very tall grass, crawling along so that my sister-in-law could get a shot at this gemsbok. She did get a great shot off, about 70 yards, and hit pretty close to her aim point. She's a decent shot. There was a bit of a weird sound to the impact, mind you I was culling gemsbok, had shot a BUNCH of them that week, mainly with the 300 WM. I offered the skinners $$ to recover the bullet, I was really curious to see it. At that close range and muzzle velocity, that TSX should have really mushroomed but it had not. It was bent midsection, and NO mushroom. My PH remarked, he had seen that happen occasionally shooting thru brush or grass, and the bullet hits something light, and causes it to yaw, just before hitting the intended target. The speed and the POI on the animal killed it anyway, but the takeaway is that it could happen to any bullet. I am not sure, a cup and core type bullet would hold together enough, to penetrate sufficiently for a one shot stop though.

I like the TSX ( and there are others ) because it holds together, I just have to put it on the mark.

I have hundreds of recovered bullets.

In various stages of expansion.

So do bend at the front, closing the hollow point, but they never changed direction.

Quite a number we have seen come out on the other side, tail end out of the buffalo whirl the front stays in!

Once a bullets hits an animal, there is no saying where it might end.

Some recovered TSX bullets:

375 from Buffalo:



416 350 gr from Buffalo:




Another 416 from a different Buffalo:



Another 350 gr 416 from another Buffalo:




You may notice several of those 416's are taken on the same piece of tile. I've stayed in the same chalet with CMS 6 or 7 times now. LOL

I have quite a few others but they were on my old Photobucket account. They range from 243, 300WM, 7MM, 338, 375, 416, 500NE. They all look the same. Most aren't recovered as they penetrate like hell!!! And they hit like Thor's Hammer!

Thanks for those photos Todd. I hope to have a similar picture or two from my buff hunt in Moz with Dean at CMS. Maybe I'll sell the two boxes of A Frames I bought. I can probably afford a vacation home with the proceeds they're so dear!

What I like about A-Frames is the predictability. All of my recovered bullets look pretty much the same, but I can tell which were close and which were far by the degree of mushrooming -- how far down they went. I've only had two exceptions with Swift A-Frames, all the others look pretty much the same.

Once in 2021 I shot a hippo on dry ground head on at 25 yards. The bullet went through the skull, both sides and was recovered in the neck. It had shed the entire first part of the partition. But that was a pretty extreme test and it worked fine.

The second surprise was a complete pass through on a broadside buffalo last year. He ran about 15-20 yards, but can't remember ever having a complete pass through on a buffalo with a soft. A bit concerning actually, although in this case, there were just a couple of dugga boys so no problem. Took the other one too.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by Ongwe:
Since you have a TSX load that works, I'd use it and spend my range time practicing off hand and off sticks.

I love the A-Frame and use it where cats are going to be the focus, but for buff, the TSX will work great!

I have no idea how many cats I have shot.

Practically all with either Barnes X or my own Walterhog bullets.

Last year I shot a charging lion.

Art Alpin brought up his silly idea of LUON LOAD.

A totally useless lot of ammo!

Seeing as we are talking bullets and their construction, I have always been under the impression that Swift A frames and Nosler Partitions performed very similarly . I did read an article claiming the SAF was superior to the Nosler because the frontal lead on the SAF was bonded and the Partition was not. The claim was the nose of the Partition could be more easily shed. Any thoughts ?
Thanks in advance.

I grew up hunting with Noslers in South Texas and always believed that they were the greatest. I've shot and killed buffalo with Noslers, but don't think they are as good as Swift A Frames, especially on frontal shots. After my complete pass through on a buffalo with an A-Frame last year, I might rethink that a bit though. I don't generally want a pass through on buffalo, although the blood trail is really easy.

Overall, still like the A-Frame. I'll just watch it on totally broadside shots, but how may times do you get a buffalo that's completely broadside? If I do in a herd, I'll just make sure I hit bone or wait til they clear.

Why bother?

Use a mono bullet and shoot then from every angle!

That is what I do.

Never failed!

Saeed,

Do you get pass throughs on broadshide shots?

Also, my concern about Barnes bullets is deviation.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Saeed,

Do you get pass throughs on broadshide shots?

Also, my concern about Barnes bullets is deviation.

Sometimes they do go through.

And there is no bullet that will NEVER deviate from its path.

I have seen normal FMJ round nose 460 Weatherby turn 90 degrees in an elephant's trunk!

I know any bullet can deviate. High velocity bullets at close range are notorious for it regardless of make.

Years ago we ran a penetration and deviation test.

Shooting rifles from the 243 Winchester to the 460 Weatherby Magnum.

Using all available bullets to us at that time.

We made a long wooden box.

Open at the top, it was over 6 feet long.

Inside we put catalogues like phone books, some wet, some dry, and MDF boards 3/4 inch thick.

The only bullets which consistently changed directions were pointed FMJ.

All others never deviated.

Of course this was not in animals.

And I have seen all sorts of bullets deviate from their course in animals.

Use what you have confidence in. I like the A-Frames over the Noslers and I don't like mono-metal bullets like the Barnes, but each to his own. It's important to have confidence in your rifle and your ammunition.

Trophy Bonded Bear Claws do very well as well.

A-Frames or TBBC would be my choice.