Anyone used 300gr Failsafes on Eland, Giraffe and Cape Buffalo and what were the results? How long are the 300gr Failsafe bullets?

If you are talking about 375 bullets, I used the 270g on Oryx, Zebra, and Hartebeast and had zero expansion on all animals. After tracking for half a day on the Hartebeast I switched to Hornady RN and never had any more problems. I do not like these bullets based on this experience and will not use them again. The may be great for buffalo...but so are other bullets...and I choose to use them.

In 2001 I used them on a buff and hippo in Mozabmique. Buff ran may 50 yards and was dead upon arrival. The hippo took one to the brain, rolled over and sank-only to reappear about 45 minutes later floating in Cabora Bassa. They are very effective bullets in the 375 H&H.

Perry

Over my last six hunts, I've used the FailSafe 300 grain .375 bullet on everything from klipspringer to buffalo, hippo and giraffe. I've never had a problem. The ones I've recovered were all opened up nicely, with an occasional broken petal. Weight retention is excellent. I've heard the stories about expansion failure on soft skin animals, but haven't had that experience. These days, any premium bullet driven at proper velocity will do the job.

I have not had any problems with the Fail Safes either.

quote:

Originally posted by David W:
Over my last six hunts, I've used the FailSafe 300 grain .375 bullet on everything from klipspringer to buffalo, hippo and giraffe. I've never had a problem. The ones I've recovered were all opened up nicely, with an occasional broken petal. Weight retention is excellent. I've heard the stories about expansion failure on soft skin animals, but haven't had that experience. These days, any premium bullet driven at proper velocity will do the job.

Could you measure the length of one of the 300gr Failsafes for me?

aa,

here is a nice list of some .375 bullet lengths

http://www.accuratereloading.com/375wby.html

scroll to the bottom

In '96 my partner and I each used .375's with Federal Nosler Partition bullets on a plains game hunt in Namibia. We had a couple of drop-in-their tracks kills. On a '98 hunt my partner and I used Winchester Failsafes and shot ~20 critters and had over a dozen drop-in-their track kills. I'm a big Nosler Partition fan but this made me a bigger Failsafe fan.

Since then I've used Failsafes on another 30+ African critters and have no complaints about them. It seems to open up but retain weight for penetration better than a Nosler Partition.

My experience with Cape Buffalo is a grand total of two which hardly qualifies me as any kind of an authority. I wounded one with a .375 (not recovered) and dropped one where it stood with a 460 Weatherby. I also was witness a wounded 'buff being finished off with alternating shots from a .375H&H and a .416 Rem Magnum. The reaction from the 'buff as being hit alternating between the two calibers was very telling. It would shudder when hit by the .375...it would MOVE when hit by the .416.

My vote now goes for using a .416 (or bigger IF you can really handle it).

they gotta fall when hit in the shoulder.if they don't you got to start thinking.You need power,the right bullet and a good barrel that throws the bullets the way they should be thrown.That failsafe looks like a mean bullet.I have run some experiments with it but not much.It has shown me that it's the toughest bullet on the block.If i went to Africa,that would probably be my bullet of choice.Once I get my 416 Rigby I think I'll order some and makes some loads.

Better find another bullet for that 416...Fail Safes were never made in that diameter. And now, they aren't being made at all.

quote:

Originally posted by John in SC:
aa,

here is a nice list of some .375 bullet lengths

http://www.accuratereloading.com/375wby.html

scroll to the bottom

Thanks so much for the information as it is really helpful. I thought I might hunt for a Eland or maybe a Giraffe on my African hunt next year and I wanted to use a really tough bullet in my 376 Steyr. Midway has a sale on 300gr Failsafes but I think they may be too long for best performance in my rifle. My max OAL is 3.1" or a bit more. Mag is 3.125" so I may ask here on AR if any one has used them in their 376.