After much contemplation and a little splurging, I have made the plunge and ordered my first 404 (Parkwest SD-76 Bushveld). I ordered this rifle in preparation for a Botswana elephant hunt in 2026 and now am beginning to looks at loads.

Which solid do you guys prefer in the 404? I am currently looking at 400 gr Barnes banded solids and the 400 gr cutting edge solids. Any experience or advice would be appreciated!

Not elephant i know...but a couple of weeks ago I used my .404 on 13 water buffalo in the Northern Territory.

I was shooting 400 TSX and 400 Barnes banded solids. Did not recover any solids at 2215 fps. Not all exited for sure but the penetration was damn good, facing me and quartering hard they all would exit...

I had good success with the CEB solid on an elephant bull last year. I also had excellent luck getting them to group with their safari raptor expandable with very little load manipulation.

I have had success on cape buffalo with CEB, NF and Peregrine Bushmaster.

After absolutely smashing the last couple of buff I’m using Woodleigh Hydrostatics exclusively now.
Full length penetration on last bull.
Ready for ele’s in 25 !

Not .404 specific, but I've always tried to find a good solid that prints close to my softs. If eles are your primary target, you might take the opposite approach and find the best solid and then find softs that print close to those.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Not .404 specific, but I've always tried to find a good solid that prints close to my softs. If eles are your primary target, you might take the opposite approach and find the best solid and then find softs that print close to those.

I like this idea! I'll experiment with a few solids to see which one agrees with the gun the best.

I'll probably start with the Barnes. I've always been a big fan of the TSX so why not give their solids a shot.

As for the CEB, has anyone had feeding issues?

For the first shot I would prefer a good soft. Safari Bullet Company or Rhino Solid Shank. I believe there are equivalents made in the US but those are what I know and have used on buff.
Those would actually be good for just about any shot except an animal that is running directly away.

There is much data available on solid design and performance. Check out Michael458. CEB 13 BBW and the Norfolk with the large meplats are the best performing solids available. Barnes has changed their design to allow easier feeding, but has sacrificed performance. If you can find some older Barnes with the flat meplat, they are excellent. If you decide to go with the newer style Barnes solids, hit me up. I’ve got some custom loads I’d sell.

quote:

Originally posted by Flipper Dude:
There is much data available on solid design and performance. Check out Michael458. CEB 13 BBW and the Norfolk with the large meplats are the best performing solids available. Barnes has changed their design to allow easier feeding, but has sacrificed performance. If you can find some older Barnes with the flat meplat, they are excellent. If you decide to go with the newer style Barnes solids, hit me up. I’ve got some custom loads I’d sell.

Thanks for the info! I reached out to a custom loader near me to order some loads with CEBs but they advised me to stay away from the cutting edge solids in my rifle setup due to feeding issues in my case. Looking like the Barnes might be my first trial...

I’ve got some dummy loads in CEB solid if you want to try to make them feed. You are welcome to borrow. My advice is to choose the best bullet design and make your rifle feed them.

CEB Solids and Raptors

The swift break away solids are simply amazing penetratores.
with their caps they feed very well also

Any reports on the 430 gr. North Fork solids?

The elephant bull I took with my .404 I used the plain vanilla Hornady DGS. Worked beautifully...

Not .404 BUT, in my buddy's 416 Rem at 2200 fps (so basically a 404):

Had good luck on Bull Ele and as backup on a bunch of Aussie buffalo with the standard Woodleigh 400gr RN solids, as well as the Woodleigh Hydros. Really good penetration.

In my 458s, I've been very happy with the results on Ele bulls, tuskless cows and backup on a lot of buffalo with Hornady DGS (bought the bullets and reloaded 'em.)

I really like Lavaca's idea, see what the gun likes & what prints with some good softs

I like the flat nose North Forks and the old Woodleigh's, Used the 404, 416 Rem, and 450-400-3" for many years, my go to rifles for DG, used used with various solids and none failed.

Apart from lead core RWS 400gr solids and factory loaded Parker Hale (manufactured by Norma) 400gr solids both of which I've used without failure on buffalo and still have a supply of, I do have some Impala 400gr and CEB 350gr solids for my 404.
These are untried on any game (by me) but of the two, the Impala bullet looks the better.
Multi banded solid brass, nice and long with the nose rounded to a flat point. I imagine this profile would feed nicely from the magazine and chamber without hitch. Penetration should be excellent.

The Impala bullets are made in South Africa, not sure if still available anywhere.

quote:

Originally posted by PAGuardian:

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Not .404 specific, but I've always tried to find a good solid that prints close to my softs. If eles are your primary target, you might take the opposite approach and find the best solid and then find softs that print close to those.

I like this idea! I'll experiment with a few solids to see which one agrees with the gun the best.

I'll probably start with the Barnes. I've always been a big fan of the TSX so why not give their solids a shot.

As for the CEB, has anyone had feeding issues?

PAGuardian, I had a bit of a feeding issue with the 400 grain Cutting Edge Safari Solid on a dry land hippo bull I shot with Alan Vincent. My rifle is a Pre-64 Model 70 in .416 Hoffman.

The bull ran past me at about 20 yards and I placed the first shot into his chest and then had a bit of difficulty feeding the next round. I had to try a couple times to get it to chamber, which might have cost me a couple seconds. From first shot to 2nd the hippo covered about 20 yards, so could have been a problem if the hippo was coming toward us. 2nd shot was quartering away hard and my bullet entered about halfway back, transited about 18” of spine and was lodged in the base of the skull. Total penetration was about 4 feet, which we thought was excellent given how much spine it had gone through. I could re-load the bullet and shoot it again.

DLS...Thank you for the feedback!

I really wanted to try the Cutting Edge solids but your experience only solidifies why I'm going to go another route. In fact, I talked with the reloading team at Hendershots (Extreme Ammo) and they said that the Cutting Edge solids just won't work well in my setup.

I'm going to try the Barnes banded solid first and see how it shoots.

Thanks to all for the advice!