I just bought a 416 Rem. Blaser. What do you recommend for a bullet for Cape Buffalo? I have used the Federal Bear Claw to sight it in.

400 grain Swift A-Frame and never look back.

tait

The truth is you would be in pretty good shape if you looked no further than the TBBC you have already used. The Swift A-Frame is excellent and the Barnes TSX has a lot of fans. Any of those should serve you well.

Mark

The Rem is a definate buff killer and I personally like any of the premium bullets but I have a special place for the Barnes bullets...They are destructive...

Mike

16 days till the Selous

My .416 with A frames has killed 5 buffalo, one of which Wendell shot. can't beat that bullet.

I also like A Frames and used them on buffalo (375 & 416) with great success. The TBBC has an excellent reputation, but am I correct in stating the TBBC tends to "open up" easier than the A Frame and thus offer less penetration? I've never tried the TSX but from everything I've hard, it's fast becoming "the bullet." jorge

I could use all bullets mentioned so far, but I would prefer the 370 grain North Fork soft, followed by the flat point 370 grain solid, simply because they worked perfectly for me in my limited use. Good shooting.

Depending what else may on the menu, consider using 350 grain Swift A Frames. I have had excellent results.

Another vote for the NorthFork. I used the 380gr in my .404j for everything from bushbuck to buffalo, all one shot drops.

If you stay with Federal, then you can try Barnes-X Triple shock. A little less tough yet still good is the A-Frame. Still less tough is the BearClaw.

Don't forget to think about your second shot and the advantages of a solid if you are up against cape buffalo. Any solid will do fine as a second shot (Hornady, Barnes, SledgeHammer, etc.). The goal with the second shot is maximum penetration from any angle. One good combination is Trophy Bonded Bearclaw for the first shot followed by Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer for the second. There are many other good combinations too.

quote:

Originally posted by retreever:
The Rem is a definate buff killer and I personally like any of the premium bullets but I have a special place for the Barnes bullets...They are destructive...

Mike

16 days till the Selous

My experience is the same.I shot three buffalo with Barnes "X" and solids. My friends killed three more with Barnes and North Forks and all were extremely effective. I've shoot plains game with North Forks as well and can't praise them enough.

tait,

All the bullets mentioned here thus far are very good bullets. If you are happy with the accuracy of your TBBC loads, stick with them. Otherwise, try few of the others (A-Frame, TSX, North Forks, etcc..), and pick any of the lot that give good accuracy in your rifle.

A bit off topic Tait, but which Blaser version did you buy, how does your rifle perform so far and what scope are you using?

Antonio

Hi Tait:

Another vote for Swift Aframes 400 grain for the 416 Rem Mag.

My handlosd is accurate and deadly and shoots sub MOA. It also matches the same POA as the Barnes Solid in 400 grain, almost same velocity.

Regards... Jim P.

I see just about all factory loaded 400 grain bullets are at 2400 FPS is this what where talking about or should a handloader try to up this velocity at all ?

Hi tanoose:

I tried a bunch of powders in my custom 416 Rem Mag. before I hit on my load, here is my recipe.

Federal Brass, trimed at .284, CCI 250 LgRifle primer, 77.5 grains of IMR 4064, shoots Swift Aframes, 400 grain PSP's in 1.25 in at 100 yards 2,470 FPS...

Shoots Barnes Round Nose solids 1" even @ 2500 FPS.... withing .5 in same point of aim as the Swifts... You can't ask for more than that.

Shot my 46 in. Cape Buffalo with this load. Would not hesitate to use it again. But I did go up in scale to the 458 Lott...

Regards... Jim P.