I just shot a Bison with my smith and wesson .500 and figured it was time for my desert eagle .50AE to get its first kill. What do you guys think. I figured if a .44 mag can do it a .50AE should not be an issue. What bullet should I load up for it. I have some 300 grain TMJ bullets and some 420 grain punch bullets that I used in my smith. Do you think the punch bullets would be to long or have an thoughts on other bullet choice?

Ken O'Neill has shot a water buffalo I believe with a .50 AE. Maybe he will chime in on this discussion.

No, Rob, I've shot a couple of large water buffalo with the .375 JDJ (Australia) and .475 Linebaugh (Argentina). I've also shot several North American bison with the .500 WE and .475 Linebaugh.
There are water buffalo, and then there are LARGE water buffalo. Smaller buff (most often found on U.S. game ranches)are no problem for a fully charged .50AE, in the hands of a man that can shoot. I'd probably try to use a 350 gr. XTP and a case full of H-110 which will approximate the .500 WE. I would not use the standard 300-325 gr. bullets as loaded by Speer and IMI. I'm not sure that heavy (~400 gr.) cast bullets, or the Punch bullets will feed through a Desert Eagle.
For the exceptionally large water buffalo often found in some areas overseas, I would personally use the .500 S&W, or .475 & .500 L's.

Thanks for sharing Ken.

Ill will do some research to see if I can load some 400 grain bullet or at least some hot loaded 350 grain ones. worst case I could always use the .500 SW. I just have not shot anything with it yet , so would like to. I ordered a 10 inch barrel to get a bit more velocity.

quote:

Originally posted by steel:
Ill will do some research to see if I can load some 400 grain bullet or at least some hot loaded 350 grain ones. worst case I could always use the .500 SW. I just have not shot anything with it yet , so would like to. I ordered a 10 inch barrel to get a bit more velocity.

There are some 350 grainers that are very tough and deform minimally and that is the way that I would go in-order to assure enough penetration

I looked at hawk bullets and it seems they make custom bullets with thicker jackets and they make them from 350 grains up to 400 so maybe ill get some and load it up and do some penetration testing.

cant run a hardcast thru that gun so i'd getcha barnes buster and see if it'll cycle if so it'll surely do the job on the buff.

I bought two boxes of Barnes Buster Flat Nose Flat Base Bullets.500 400Gr bullets. The base is covered so I wont have to worry about fouling the gas chamber. I just hope the bullet is not to long. If it is to long I may call Hawk bullets and see if the can make a 350 grain .500 bullet with a really thick jacket.

I called hawk bullets and they are making me a custom 350 grain .50ae with a .050 thick jacket so ill do some testing with it. The owner said he has never had that request on a .50ae and cant wait to hear results of it fired.

Can you shoot a hard cast bullet in the DE?
It seems some guys say you can and others say no.

The hard cast bullets foul the gas system and the gas system is to thin to clean so I am not trying to ruin the gun. I would like to use the 420 grain punch bullets but im afraid it may be to long, my next choice is the 400 grain barnes buster if it is not to long, if all else fails I will us the 350 grain thick jacket hawk bullet. When the rest of the bullets arrive I will do some testing and post results and pictures.

The Hornady .500" 350 gr. Magnum XTP bullet is a tough one, which is the reason I suggested it, and use it.

quote:

Originally posted by steel:
I called hawk bullets and they are making me a custom 350 grain .50ae with a .050 thick jacket so ill do some testing with it. The owner said he has never had that request on a .50ae and cant wait to hear results of it fired.

I am a bit leary of Hawk bullets. I have used them in rifle calibers only and they were way too soft IME.

What size jacket thickness did you use?

I have used Hawk bullets in the 9,3x74R, 286gr .035jkt, and in the 450/400 300gr .025jkt, and in 400gr with the .035jkt.

I chose those jacket thickness because I wanted the bullets to be soft to shoot deer and pigs.
They worked perfectly, good penetration and large expansion.

I would talk to the people at Hawk as they know pretty much exactly how their bullets perform at what jacket thickness and what velocity.

quote:

Originally posted by steel:
What size jacket thickness did you use?

I don't recall, but the 500 grain bullets I used in my .458 Lott experienced core separation on a smallish wild hog.

Whit do you know how much the core weighed after that separation? Just wondering. Packy

quote:

Originally posted by packrattusnongratus:
Whit do you know how much the core weighed after that separation? Just wondering. Packy

I was only able to recover the jacket -- the rest was scattered to the wind.