John Taylor claimed and I believe rightly so that the 375 claim to fame is its ability to penetrate. Does it really out penetrate the 416 and the 45"s????

My experience with the 375 is it will penitrate about the same as a 416 or 404 all things being equal except bullet weight...There is not a lot of difference in any of them as far as I can tell....I have seen the 375 fail (only with softs) on facing shots on Buffalo and have read of this in the book Nyati..I have not seen this in the 416 and larger calibers, nor with the 375 with a solid....

I still prefer solids for Buffalo and see little difference in killing power between softs and solids, but I do get a better blood trail with a solid ala two holes..I like the FN by GS Customs or the late Bridger FN solids...they are better than RN solids, no doubt in my mind about that.

Sorry, no help here. Most everything I've ever shot with the 375 has exited.

I would have to agree that the 300 solids have amazing penetration. I have never recovered one either. To my recollection they have all exited from buffalo.

For this reason I see no need for them when sport hunting. A premium bonded soft point, or X bullet is really the best projectile you can use. The old theory of solids being needed was when there were no premium bullets made and the simple copper jacketed bullets would fall apart. I have seen Swift A frames penetrate 5 feet length wise through buffalo and drill right through the bones of the front shoulder area and come to rest under the skin on the opposite side. I still have one of the bullets which weighs over 300 grains because there is as chunk of bone imbedded into the lead.

A solid is good with an absolutely perfect shot but even slightly off the mark and it will zip through like a field tipped arrow. You may not even know you hit him it goes through so quick. With soft points and the additional expansion and internal trauma you will almost always see instant game reaction. Solids have their place for folks who shoot frequenlty and can wait on a shot like culling, or just not take the shot at all. For a sport hunter with limited time and a single shooting opportunity the premium softs will give you more options in a herd shooting situation and have no real downside by todays premium bullet construction standards. I say this based on Buffalo hunting only not Rhino Elephant or Hippo. Those three still may have a place for solids when hunting, depending upon the habitat and your shot placement options.

Getnlemen



SD is important for penetration. But don't forget bullet construction.I don't see any reason why the 375 is "spectacular" compared to others. There are other calibers that have higher sectional density than the 300 grain in 375. Rigby was well known for their strong bullets even back in the old days I have never been hunting in Africa, but seen the difference on other animals.



9,3 in 300 or 320 grains.



458 bullets in 500 and 600 grains



416 in 400 grains



338 in 250-300 grains.



In calibers larger than 470 the bullets must be very heavy for the caliber to get high sectional density



Cheers

/ JOHAN

I'm told that sectional density (SD) is the key to penetration. It stands to reason that the heavier the bullet, with the higher SD, will have the greater penetrating power.

With that in mind, any caliber larger than a .375 with a bullet of equal SD at the same velocity will penetrate futher. The .375 is however generally driven faster that its larger counterparts. So, go figure.

For D/G a SD>300 is recommended.

Hope this helps.

Keith

Most of the buffs I've shot with my .375 the solids penetrated through the animal from distances of 30 - 100+ yds on side and slightly quartering shots as well as brain shots. From my experience, the .375 with premium solids on buffalo has outstanding penetration. So much so that I make sure there is no other buff standing behind the one I am aiming at. That is good enough for me....