.458 Win Safari 500 gr. Solids and Partitions

01 September 2008, 04:24

I hunted cape buffalo with the new Winchester factory ammo in June. Took a nice bull with one 500 gr. Partition at 60 yards through the heart, then he came down a trail at us and I hit him with a 500 gr. Solid (Nosler's new bullet) at about 40 yards breaking the right shoulder and turning him off the trail, into the thorns. He only went twenty five or thirty yards, right leg was swinging after the bullet hit him, it was recovered in the opposite hip under the hide. He stood in behind a large thorn bush, in heavy shade and was watching his back trail. PH and I moved closer, saw him but I could not determine a lethal shot, just not enough light. Dark black blob in a dark shade area. Hit him one more time in the chest after some discussion, with another solid. He only went a few yards, we could hear him bubbling as he took breaths. Got dark on us, we ended up going in with the vehicle and a spotlight, he was only a short distance from the last shot down on the ground. Two more solids, he was still trying to lift his head - one more into the heart and he slowly lowered his head and did the long death moan.

Five new Winchester .458 bullets were recovered, four solids and the initial Partition. The Partition was a classic Nosler recovery, three of the solids are intact with normal appearance, one got turned almost 90 degrees at its midpoint, one was not recovered.'

WINCHESTER SAFARI AMMO
Bullet Measurements from Cape Buffalo Kill
.458 Winchester Magnum
Rifle â€“ Weatherby DGR, Dangerous Game Rifle
24â€ barrel
Bullet Weight % Max Length Max Diam.
500 Partition 404.8 gr. 81.0 1.018â€ 0.772â€
500 Solid #1 498.2 gr. 99.6 1.518â€ 0.458â€
500 Solid #2 497.5 gr. 99.5 1.440â€ 0.475â€
500 Solid #3 497.3 gr. 99.5 1.530â€ 0.458â€
500 Solid #4 497.3 gr. 99.5 1.170â€ n/a
*one other 500 Solid not recovered

Hopefully this chart will retain some order and be of interest.

Velocities in my Weatherby were essentially 2150 for both bullets. Point of impact was identical for both bullets at a 100 yard zero.

I have an image of the recovered bullets if anyone would like to post one. We killed five bulls, four with the new Win. ammo. One with a .375 H&H, 2 with .416 Rigby's and my .458. Excellent performance from each bullet weight and caliber.

I relied heavily on information from this site for two trips to Africa, one to Namibia in 07 and the S.Africa hunt in 08. This is a wonderful resource and I am appreciative of the incredible people on this site. Many thanks to Saeed and all his subscribers.

01 September 2008, 05:38

smallfry

Got any pictures? How was the dammage and penetration by the Partitions?

01 September 2008, 08:12

465H&H

I would love to see the pics of the recovered bullets. If you send it to me I will post it for you. How long is the barrel on your Weatherby?

465h&H

01 September 2008, 13:23

N E 450 No2

I too would like to see pictures of the .458 Nosler 500gr Partition. I am a b ig fan of the Nosler Partition... and I have this 450 No2 double....

01 September 2008, 17:00

Will

quote:
We killed five bulls, four with the new Win. ammo. One with a .375 H&H, 2 with .416 Rigby's and my .458. Excellent performance from each bullet weight and caliber.

I surely hope that the other buff went down easier than the one described. I am fascinated in the reaction of the bull if it was shot in the sequence described. Unless the heart was shot in the very bottom I wonder how the bull lasted so long.

As an aside, I am of the opinion and always have been that solids should not be used for buff for the reason that they do little lethal damage as shown by the results of your one buff. I did the buffalo perforation stint once with 470 solids and think it finally died of boredom. Yikes, they are tough.

01 September 2008, 20:26

WeatherbyDGR

Will,
At the shot the bull bucked with both heels upward then did a hopping run in the direction he was facing. I saw the exact reaction in the video on shot placement (Perfect Shot DVD). As he did that reaction the PH said something like, "That was a heart shot, good shot."

I was amazed he lived so long, he was dripping blood from both nostrils and had his head down when we saw him standing in the shadows, several minutes after the initial two hits. He only went a few yards after the third hit, but he just would not do the death moan. From reading Kevin's book on buffalo I suspect you are correct about hitting the lower portion of the heart, perhaps when it was expelled of blood. Regardless, he was a challenge and we earned the shot and another lifelong dream unfolded for me.

I regret that I did not stay with the carcass at the skinning facility, we were very late getting back to camp and I was run down from an illness and needed rest. I wish I had and got some internal damage images but I missed that opportunity.

All of the recovered Partitions retained their petals and looked similar. Other solids in other calibers looked just like my .458's. The Win. ammo did a good job for us. Some other game was killed with the .375 and probably the .416 Rigby, I put my .458 into the Tuffpack and hunted some plains game with a new TC Icon in .300 Win. mag with excellent results. We had the new E-Tip ammo and Accubonds for our .30 cals, my rifle preferred the Accubonds and made impressive one shot kills.

I got very ill upon returning and am not sure I will ever be able to return to Africa. Saeed's site provides me wonderful reading and the opportunity to share so many great hunts in so many African countries and hunting camps. That helps and I am indebted to all the hunters on the site.

02 September 2008, 02:39

465H&H

quote:
Originally posted by WeatherbyDGR:
I hunted cape buffalo with the new Winchester factory ammo in June. Took a nice bull with one 500 gr. Partition at 60 yards through the heart, then he came down a trail at us and I hit him with a 500 gr. Solid (Nosler's new bullet) at about 40 yards breaking the right shoulder and turning him off the trail, into the thorns. He only went twenty five or thirty yards, right leg was swinging after the bullet hit him, it was recovered in the opposite hip under the hide. He stood in behind a large thorn bush, in heavy shade and was watching his back trail. PH and I moved closer, saw him but I could not determine a lethal shot, just not enough light. Dark black blob in a dark shade area. Hit him one more time in the chest after some discussion, with another solid. He only went a few yards, we could hear him bubbling as he took breaths. Got dark on us, we ended up going in with the vehicle and a spotlight, he was only a short distance from the last shot down on the ground. Two more solids, he was still trying to lift his head - one more into the heart and he slowly lowered his head and did the long death moan.

Five new Winchester .458 bullets were recovered, four solids and the initial Partition. The Partition was a classic Nosler recovery, three of the solids are intact with normal appearance, one got turned almost 90 degrees at its midpoint, one was not recovered.'

WINCHESTER SAFARI AMMO
Bullet Measurements from Cape Buffalo Kill
.458 Winchester Magnum
Rifle â€“ Weatherby DGR, Dangerous Game Rifle
24â€ barrel
Bullet Weight % Max Length Max Diam.
500 Partition 404.8 gr. 81.0 1.018â€ 0.772â€
500 Solid #1 498.2 gr. 99.6 1.518â€ 0.458â€
500 Solid #2 497.5 gr. 99.5 1.440â€ 0.475â€
500 Solid #3 497.3 gr. 99.5 1.530â€ 0.458â€
500 Solid #4 497.3 gr. 99.5 1.170â€ n/a
*one other 500 Solid not recovered

Hopefully this chart will retain some order and be of interest.

Velocities in my Weatherby were essentially 2150 for both bullets. Point of impact was identical for both bullets at a 100 yard zero.

I have an image of the recovered bullets if anyone would like to post one. We killed five bulls, four with the new Win. ammo. One with a .375 H&H, 2 with .416 Rigby's and my .458. Excellent performance from each bullet weight and caliber.

I relied heavily on information from this site for two trips to Africa, one to Namibia in 07 and the S.Africa hunt in 08. This is a wonderful resource and I am appreciative of the incredible people on this site. Many thanks to Saeed and all his subscribers.

[

03 September 2008, 08:41

Andy

No photo is visible.

Please re-post.

Andy

03 September 2008, 20:40

465H&H

Looka like an AR problem as the photo is visable when I pull up the post. Anyone have any idea what is going on? I'll post just the photo again.

465H&H

03 September 2008, 20:42

465H&H

let me know if this pic is visable.

465H&H

03 September 2008, 20:47

jorge

My buffalo experience was almost exactly the same. Low heart shot (see photo) and broken left front leg/shoulder and he just stood there. Took two more shots before he went down. I was using 400gr Swifts. Once he was on the ground, I gave him a Hornady (old style) solid between the shoulders. jorge

03 September 2008, 23:26

JPK

Several of those bullets are bent, not just the banana. Tried rolling them on a table to see if they're out of round?

JPK

04 September 2008, 03:41

Andy

Weatherby,

Congratulations on an exciting hunt.

The Partition looks great.

Im glad to know it will retain at least 400 grains. Way better than a bonded TBBC by Speer!

As for the monometals; one out of 4 or 5 monometal solids turning over 180 degrees is probably normal in a 1-14 inch twist.

Amazing it survived!

Here is photo of the partition cut in half.

The bottom of the partition is in line with the crimping canelure.

Partitions courtesy of 465. thanks!

Andy