Left to right above:

1. 350gr/.416 X-Bullet

MV 2700 fps (.416 Rigby)

Range 50 yards

Water buffalo cervical spine, vertebral body, broke neck, found bulging off side hide.



2. 350gr/.416 X-Bullet

MV 2700 fps (.416 Rigby)

Range 150 yards

Water buffalo chest shot, no bone other than ribs hit, found bulging hide of off side.



3. 300gr/.375 X-Bullet

MV 2528 fps (.375 H&H)

Range 100 yards, Texas Heart Shot on Botswana Kudu as he jumped over a 6 foot high brush pile on 3 legs (seven hours after the first bullet was deflected by brush, causing a broken right front leg just below the brisket). Pictured bullet was recovered in viscera by skinner, in forward abdominal cavity in a bloody mess.



The water buffalo weighed close to a ton, bigger than the average cape buffalo.



The kudu weighed about 600 pounds (52")



The 350 grain X-Bullet in a .416 makes it good for buffalo up close, as well as plains game past 300 yards.



Note how #2 bullet above tumbled and had its petals bent forward as it traveled base first.



Note how bullet #3 is mushroomed at an angle as if it may have changed course after penetrating Kudu pelvis bone, then tumbeled in the paunch where it was found. This was not a fatal shot, the kudu kept running and the PH hit the rear spine on another Texas heart shot with his 300gr RNSP .375 H&H, as I was reloading my chamber, and anchored the kudu. I then shot him in the neck to end his suffering. Mea culpa. It was a long seven hours of tracking, and I am grateful to the PH for sticking to the track and for anchoring the magnificent beast. Crap happens.

Ron,

When and where did you hunt the water buff? Did you go on a "bomb up," to Australia???

The 300 gr 375 looks like it needed more rotational velocity.

Those 350 gr 416 caliber X bullets look alot like the X bullets in my water buckets!!!

Andy

I took a Gemsbock with a 350 gr Barnes X at 2600 fps a couple of weeks ago. The bullet passed completely through the shoulders and chest. It literally numbed the fella, who staggered 20-25 yards and collapsed.

Is there other data that indicates whether or not the 350 Barnes X is appropriate for the first round on Cape Buf?

I killed three buffalo with the 350X, back in 1998.
While it worked well, I prefer the 400.

Ron,



Was I correct to say your 416 GSFN made a 2 inch diameter hole in the heart of your bull? I checked your photos to confirm that.



Thanks for additional details.



Are you speaking the Lakota language now (Souix), or an Athabaskan dialect (Navajo)???



Andy

RIP,
Would you mind sharing your 375H&H load?
Thanks!
Russ

Nick,
the recovered bullet retained weights:

1. 262.2 gr/350gr = 75%
2. 284.5 gr/350gr = 81%
3. 301.5 gr/300gr = 100%+ but of course there is some kudu biltong curled up under the petals of this .375 bullet.

The two .416/350gr bullets were cleaned up completely, no dead meat there.

Blacktailer,
Certainly:
Winchester brass .375 H&H
Federal GM215M primer
Reloder 15 powder, 72.0 grains
Barnes XFB Cannelured 300gr
2528 fps average
3/4 MOA for 3 shots when I do my part

Andy,

Glad you could make such an accurate estimate. I did not measure with a ruler. It was bigger than 2" exiting the heart, but the entrance hole was close to two inches, maybe just a little under, certainly greater than 1.5" entering. The GSC FN had passed through the humerus, about the toughest bone in the whole buffalo, before hitting the heart.



Yep, that is Lakota. The language of Crazy Horse, a great spiritual figure, a war chief who never signed a treaty, and got bayonetted in the back under truce. He was right there when Custer got "Siouxed." A lawyer would not have done Custer any good.



"Hau kola": Hello friend ... "hau" sounds like "how" for hello.



"Pilamaya hwo": "I thank you (and I am a male saying this)". A female would say "pilamaya hwe."



"Doksa": "Later" short for "see you later."



We have a member here who posts by the handle "Tasunka Witko" or "Crazy Horse."



My Lakota name is "Chante Mato." "Care Bear" or "Heart of Bear."



The bear represented a ferocious fighter and a wise healer in the mythology.



And thanks for the pointers on the 450 North Fork elsewhere. 100 grains of RL-15 was what I was figuring for my 45 Lapua. It liked that charge with the 500 grain Barnes Original RNSP's, a bullet which I had plenty to burn.



When I get good North Fork 450gr soft and solid loads worked up, the 45 Lapua may be reborn as the 45 Lakota.

Sure seems as though those 350 grainers tend to shed petals/lose weight, no? I wonder if the design it quite right for the velocities generated. The more I think about it, the more I'd say the 350 X in .416 has the lowest average % of retained weight of any X bullets I've used, regardless of caliber. Did I say that right?



Tahilli Kemosabe

I just went through my bullet box and found 4 recovered 350 grain X bullets. The heaviest slug (sable) weighs in at 290 grains, with about 80% loss of all 4 petals. No bone hit either, as I recall. Two others (buffalo) weigh in at 242.3 & 255 grains and a full length warthog shot @ 256.3 grains. Not a one retained any complete petals, unlike so many of the others I have in front of me. Two .416/400 grainers (buffalo) @ 376 and 398.3 grains, shoulder shots too, I think, one onside and one offside.

Nick,

The Barnes X just has a very narrow velocity range, at least in these large bores, that those X petals stay attached to the base of the bullet. Your 400 grain probably worked better because it was slower, thats all.

As I recall your 450 gr 458 stayed intact from your Lott at what, 90 yards?

To their credit, the longer heavier bullets also have alot of frontal area when they tumble.

Andy

I was going to stick a couple of Barnes 270 gr. 375 H&H Triple shocks into a Buff this year, but you can bet your sweet bippie the first one will be a flat nose solid.

After looking at those photos I may not like what I am planning..Maybe I will take a couple and try them on a dead buffalo before I shoot a live one with them...

Or perhaps useing the 400 gr. Triple shock in my .416 might be a better place to test the water with the new bullet....That sounds like a plan.

I have used the 270 grn X in my 375 H&H to take over 40 head of African game. This includes 2 eland, 3 kudu, 4 zebra etc. The shots at large game have been from 50 yard to 400 yards. I have yet to shear a petal at a velocity of near 2700 fps.

Mike

I agree, Mike. The .375 X bullets have been superb for me also, which amounts to just another reason I think the 350 X design (cavity dimentions) is suspect.



Andy - yes, "because it was slower". That's what I was getting at when I stated that I wondered if the 350 X design was "quite right for the intended velocities".