Looking for opinions on the best over .500 caliber expanding bullet, hopefully based on personal experience but all answers are welcome

Question:
Which is the best over .500 caliber expanding bullet you have used?

Choices:
Barnes
Swift
North Fork
Woodleigh
CEB
Hornady
Other

 

Chuck,

you might want to re-do the poll.

GSC is a serious all-around bullet that is left off the list.

And I assume that you, a Jeffrey owner, are interested in .510"bullets as well as .500"

quote:

Originally posted by 416Tanzan:
Chuck,

you might want to re-do the poll.

GSC is a serious all-around bullet that is left off the list.

And I assume that you, a Jeffrey owner, are interested in .510"bullets as well as .500"

Good points I wanted to include the 505 too

Including Gibbs .505, I ve tried Woodleigh, Kynoch, NF cups and TSX. TSX most accurate and great expansion with “cutting” in wound channels. Woodleigh 600 gr delivers great punch on buffalo and knocked one off its feet.

Hi all, I shoot a 500 Jeffery, so I'm trading off the Barnes the 570g TSX vs the 570g A-Frame both at 2300 fps. I thought this might be a good place for folks shooting either the 500 NE or 505 Gibbs on buffalo as well. Haven't shot anything but American big game (elk, deer and one black bear) with my 500 Jeffery so far. I do plan to take it to Africa and to Kodiak Island for my next brown bear hunt as well.

Thanks for all of the helpful comments.

I voted for Woodleigh, in either 505 (600gr) or 510 (570gr) I have had Stella results with both in my 505 Gibbs and 500 NE 3 1/4”.

I also use Woodleigh in 375, 416 and 458, they also perform perfectly.

I am biased coming from Australia though.

Cheers.

I shoot the 350 Woodleighs in our 375 Weatherby at 2550 fps, great bullets!

If it's already .500", it doesn't need to expand.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
If it's already .500", it doesn't need to expand.

But if it does expand, and penetrates deeply, the buffalo is going down fast.

Any of the first 5 suit me..plus my all time favorites are the GSC and the woodleighs..Ive never had a single issue with either in any caliber I used them in, up to a .470 or a 500. I never used the 500 as best I recall, but have used the .470 a good deal and witnessed the 500 being used with Woodleighs and Swifts. JUst a lot of good bullets out there these days, the days of bullet failure are all but gone with all the new tech out there...

The Barnes TSX (and TTSX for smaller calibers) is tough to beat and are affordable to boot. I load them in every caliber from .308 - .585. The X bullet changed the way we think about hunting projectiles and today's TSX is better still. +1 for Barnes.

I've used the 570g TSX and the 570g A-Frame out of my 500 Jeffery at 2300 fps on North American game only (elk, feral hogs, one mule deer). Both are devastating as you would expect. I have no experience using them with tougher game (cape buffalo) which is why I started the poll.

Haven't used my 525 TSX in my 505 yet on game but if they work like the 500 .458 then oh boy doesn't get much better.

Let us know what happens but I guess any top notch soft will be awesome in a 500

How does the 570 grain woodleigh sp expand (open up) in smaller game like hogs/moose/bears when the velocity is in the .500 NE area? (2100fps) Does it just "slip true" without any expansion?
The reason I ask this i because I am thinking of a Merkel DR in .500 NE for my moose and bear hunting.

quote:

Originally posted by Overkill from sweden:
How does the 570 grain woodleigh sp expand (open up) in smaller game like hogs/moose/bears when the velocity is in the .500 NE area? (2100fps) Does it just "slip true" without any expansion?
The reason I ask this i because I am thinking of a Merkel DR in .500 NE for my moose and bear hunting.

Hi,

The 570 grain Woodleigh RNSN was quite noticeably more emphatic on pigs, dogs and donkeys than was the 570 grain Woodleigh FMJ out of a double .500NE.

The Cutting Edge Bullet 410 gr. Raptor bullet in .500 cal at 1940 fps. worked very well on two cape buffalo recently. Each buffalo only took a few steps with a shoulder shot. The internal damage was extreme.

quote:

Originally posted by Brian Canada:
The Cutting Edge Bullet 410 gr. Raptor bullet in .500 cal at 1940 fps. worked very well on two cape buffalo recently. Each buffalo only took a few steps with a shoulder shot. The internal damage was extreme.

Nice to hear. I expect that my 360-grain tipped Raptors at 2800fps will work, too. (Just waiting for TZ hunting to re-open for residents.)

416Tanzan, As you know, cape buffalo, when hit in the shoulder will often react by instantly setting their feet and turning to run and buck like hell.

With all hits I made on this last trip with CEB Raptors in the .577 and 50-110, the buffalo reacted more like it had been electrocuted than shot. It's the best way I can describe it. For an instant they would stand there stiffly or move/stagger a few steps.(I know that lots of buffalo hunters won't believe it.) All shots were 40 yds or less and obviously all one shot kills.

Since my hunt I have discussed CEB bullets for buffalo with seasoned hunters who have used them extensively on buffalo and they have the same assessment.)
The two PH's on this hunt were very impressed and said so. The trackers and skinners and the PH's said they had never seen anything like that. ( I realize that the biggest cartridge they had all likely seen used was probably 458 Lott.)
Also, my velocities with both switch barrels was well below 2000 fps.
CEB Raptors don't like going through brush, I an told.

My grandson used a 100 gr. tipped Raptor FB bullet in his 30-30 single shot at about 2600fps. He hit an old blesbok in the shoulder with it at 110 measured yds and the blesbok ran/jumped for about 10 yds.

Brian

Yes, I, too, heard of a raptor that hit a branch and failed. I assume because the petals opened up. A slow velocity will not really help. A person must simply avoid hitting branches, which is true of all expanding bullets. I have 400 grain flat-nose solids as backup, though I also have some 450 grain GSC HV that I think highly of.

By the way, here is a picture from some sighting-in shots a decade ago that illustrates the point above.

The horizontal image on the right was a .416" 350gn TSX from an otherwise acccurate load and accurate rifle. It apparently hit a blackened twig, unnoticed by me, on the way to the target. The smaller holes were a 338 and the other 416 shots were taken by more than one person. With the true-tracking Nikon scopes, we adjusted a couple clicks as desired and went hunting. I never click all the way to center, though, so as not to chase some other problem.

By the way, the 360gn tippedRaptor is also .510" caliber, which should help with getting the attention of the beast. All the ones that I have shot have been with 41 cal and smaller.

Just when game is getting scarce or more restricted we have an abundance of the best bullets ever made.

The only .50 that I have fired was the M2 50 BMG and the choice of bullets was FMJ and FMJ tracer; so my experience isn't applicable to your question. However it seems to me that there are two measures involved: accuracy and performance velocity window. the accuracy may be a function of the particular rifle, so results may vary. the performance window depends on the toughness of the intended targets. I presume all of the above makers produce their bullets with heavy resistance in mind, and velocities of the popular .50 rifles, but you may want to check the mfg listing on what they consider the best velocities for their bullets to yield optimum performance and then compare their responses with those listed that have actual experience with the various bullets.

416 Tarzan,
That is an informative target. Thanks for posting. Yes there are lots of excellent, high tech bullets now.
For solids, I have used the CEB #13 and the North Fork Cup Point Solid. The wide flat meplat is good for straight penetration I am told. They sure go straight as they penetrate.
The only .500 CEB Raptor bullet that I have any experience with is the 410 grain.
When stalking in thick brush I put a solid up the spout. (Easy to organize with my single shot, break open rifle.

I have had bad luck with the terminal performance of GSC HV bullets in .308 and 7mm, but that is another story.

Thanks again for the photo and useful comments. Brian

I've been shooting 570g TSX and 570g A-Frames at 2300 fps out of my 500 Jeffery. Only shot North American game with them but both are very accurate and feed and function well. Ordinarily I'm more of an A-Frame/Partition guy but the 570g TSX has endeared itself to me.

quote:

I've been shooting 570g TSX and 570g A-Frames at 2300 fps out of my 500 Jeffery.

I understand that they are great bullets. Brian