Does anyone have any experience with the 400 grain Barnes Triple Shock X bullets in 416 Rem. Mag. on buffalo? My rifle shoots the Federal Premium with Trophy Bonded Bear Claws extremely well, but I'm having difficulty locating this ammunition. Overall, which bullet would you prefer on buffalo -- Barnes X or TBBC? Thanks in advance for your comments.

i have not used the 416 but in my 404 at 2440 fps with 400 tsx worked great on buff no problem

lavaca

My uncle used 400 grain Barnes TSX in his 416 Taylor with good results on cape buffalo. Shot well, penetrated well, opened well. I seem to remember hearing bad things on the forum about TBBC on cape buffalo. I'm not qualified, but I'm sure someone will chime in who is.

Brett

PS. His were hand loads.

lavaca,

www.grafs.com has the federal TBBC 416 in stock or at least it shows that way on line.

I have always had good luck with Federal TBBC in 375, 416 and 470.

BigB

I had a difficult time loading barnes TSX and barnes flat nose solid in the .416 rem mag. I could not get a proper crimp. I just gave up trying.

But I have used the trophy bonded bear claws on buffalo and it had excellent results. If they shoot well out of your gun, thats the bullet for sure.

Thanks for all the replies.

John at Safari Arms loads the Barnes Triple Shock at a reasonable price for just about any chambering.

http://www.safariarms.com/

Lavaca,

Your choices Superior out of S. Dakota or safariarms... or reload your self or maybe a friend and you can load them...
The TSX is a 21 century bullet and it will penetrate from any angle... Crack heads also...

Mike

I have used the triple shock 400 on two trips to the selous with great success. In my view it's tough enuf to replace the solids and expansion makes it a natural to replace the lead tipped softs. Superior ammunition in Sturgis SD loads my African ammo and Larry is a great source of wisdom on ballistics. They are loading some 180 grain 300 WSM tipped triple shoks for me now for a May Leopard hunt in Zim. I love the triple shoks and bet you will too!

Have used Barnes Xs on Buf ... but used the 350 gr driven at 2700 fps.

Only recovered bullet was from a followup shot. Hit the right side rump, smashed the femur (which is huge), fully penetrated the gut and chest (through the heart) and lodged underneath the skin after penetrating the front chest wall. Penetration was 6 to 7 feet!

Used the same bullet on a Bison. One shot behind the left leg. Picked up a piece of rib incoming and blew it out the other side after trashing the heart and lungs. Did not require a second shot.

Barnes bullets work fine!

I have a wenchester Model 70 in 416 Rem I am using Varget 75.0 grains and the Barnes 400grains TSX and Banded Solids inch groups at 100 yards you could try that. I have used Reloader but my rifle does well with Varget.
Cheers
Eric

Although I had a triple shock fail to open up in a 308 on a mule deer, a number of clients have used them on Buffalo and I have seen those bullets and they all performed extremely well..

IMO Barnes bullets work much better on heavy big animals, and from time to time fail on on animals that don't give the bullet resistence. I think the tend to pinch the hollow point shut from time to time on light stuff????????????? but just an opinnion.

Ray

My family and I have shot allot of deer with TSX and have found the same thing. I've shot them with .25-06 and .325wsm. I've had varying results from clean punched holes on broadside shots to absolute mayhem on quartering toward shoulder shots. They very much depend on what you hit, but I agree that buffalo should be a non issue for expansion.

Brett

I shot my 2006 buffalo using a TSX out of a .416 rem. It opened perfectly and destroyed the buff's heart. I will be using the same load (from Superior Ammo) next year in Tanzania.

Doug

Lavaca, your question is a good one. I also shoot .416, so like other African hunters I have plenty of experience with most of the bullets we all use. Both the TSX and the TBBC are likely to do the job, so you can't go wrong with either one. If you want an opinion on preference I will tell you I prefer the TSX. The TSX is softer than you would think in the nose (an alloy change from Barnes as far as I can tell) so it will expand well, especially with an object as massive as a buffalo. Expansion will also be assured if you get good speed out of your .416 (and I am impressed with the speed of a .416). Penetration with the TSX will be as gratifying as the remarkable accuracy.

I definitely like using the TSX as my first shot on buffalo, followed by Barnes Banded Solid (of the same weight) for the second shot. This assures that the second shot (often a rear entry shot) will have maximum penetration from any angle, and it will smash through any bone and still continue on without deviation of the bullet path, and it will still have predictable entry at the same point-of-aim as the TSX.

With the TBBC you have an even softer nose than TSX, so occasionally you may encounter complete loss of forward end, depending on what you hit. This is therefore a fast-expander bullet, but one with proven good penetration. I think that I would be more inclined to use a Swift A-Frame instead of TBBC on buffalo if I had to chose a leaded bullet. The A-Frame is tougher and you'll recover more of the bullet, and the penetration probably will beat the TBBC. Thanks for letting us share our experience. Bill

Im in the process of working up triple shock and banded solid loads for my 416. Never used them before as I bought TBBC and Sledgehammers from federal. I think the banded solid will be better than the sledgehammer but never had a failure. Only changing because of the high cost of loaded ammo.