I have heard gossip that some new versions of the Iron Buffalo may be on the build.

It would be good to have a vast herd of Iron Buffalos across the world. Plywood, water and 2.5 mil plastic bags are pretty consistent all around the planet. Extraterrestrials need not apply. With a herd of Iron Buffalo, data would soon become more than anecdotal.

Data would become normalized to the Iron Buffalo formula. A sort of International Normalized Ratio, or INR, for bullet penetration.

If a bullet can cross 10 compartments before keyholing, for an INR of 10, then that is a good bullet and load.

Lesser INR figures would apply to expanding bullets, and the North Fork Cup Point INR of 8 puts it in a class all its own.

Most soft point INR's will be 5 or less, I predict.

I am going to spiff up the Iron Buffalo with black parachute cord trimming along its sides to act as chicken wire to keep the water bags from bulging out too far.

I will then pose it on the saw horses with a taxidermied water buffalo tail hanging on the shooting port side. Then a set of water buffalo horns on the other end of it, for a photo.

This will emphasize the similarity to a Texas Heart Shot on a water buffalo. The Iron Buffalo is sort of like a water buffalo.

Build those Iron Buffalos so I don't have to do all the work.

BTW,
Mike Brady of North Fork has been kind enough to produce some experimental cylindrical bullets of .416/370gr persuasion with driving bands that match those of his .416/370gr FPS, a truncated cone Flat Point.

This is purely investigational to see if a cylinder will penetrate more or less than the smaller meplat.

After this another experiment would be a rebated rear on a cylinder to put the center of gravity forward to see if this improves anything with penetration. If it does anything, I may have to add another 9 feet of Iron Buffalo and call it the Iron Giraffe.

I am thinking 1500 fps, 2000 fps and 2500 fps for the .416 cylinders as well as the Bridger .505/550gr Brass Flat Nosed solids.

Some load development is needed before shooting.

In a purely personal interest, how about comparing the Woodleigh .458, 500 gr at 2300 with the Woodleigh .458, 550 grain at 2,150. It would be a good test of the importance of sd to penetration as the 500 gr. sd is .341 and the 550 Gr is .375.

465H&H

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
In a purely personal interest, how about comparing the Woodleigh .458, 500 gr at 2300 with the Woodleigh .458, 550 grain at 2,150. It would be a good test of the importance of sd to penetration as the 500 gr. sd is .341 and the 550 Gr is .375.

465H&H

When I get to soft points that would be a worthy test, to demonstrate the predictable winner, the 550 grainer. It is going slower, it will deform less, assuming similar (or stouter) construction, and the small difference between 2300 fps versus 2150 fps would soon be overcome by the heavier bullet.

This assumes the soft points open up into a relatively uniform flat nose and don't tumble like a round nose solid.

I do not waste time and risk equipment on any round nose solids, anymore, as they tumble too soon without fail. They will go only 1/3 to 1/2 as far as a Flat Nose solid before tumbling. Once the solid tumbles it veers off and dings up the skeleton of the iron buffalo in the midsection. Round Nose solids produce only gut shots when attempting Texas/Portuguese Heart shots on the Iron Buffalo.

I am still working with solids only for basic understanding of how caliber, mass, velocity, and nose shape affect penetration on alternating 7.5" thick bags of water with 15/32" plywood boards backing each bag to add resistance and to witness any keyholing or loss of stability by the bullet. 4 layers of truck innertube cover the entry hole of the Iron Buffalo, to simulate rump and tail skin.

I have done a .375/270 FN at 2900 fps versus the .375/300 at 2500 and 2700 fps. The heavier bullet goes farther, the same for the two velocities with the 300 grainers.

The water gets tougher with the higher velocities.

Plain plywood seems to show higher velocity goes farther, according to Dave Estergaard.

Water plus plywood seems to be more realistic as substitute game animal.

You can never shoot a bunch of game animals the same way every time. Each shot is different.

That is why the Iron buffalo has some utility. Each shot is identical. The variance or randomness comes in only after the bullet tumbles.

Observing when the bullet tumbles and measuring that point on the boards is crude but as good as anything so far ... unless you have temperature controlled ordnance gelatin precisely at 40 degrees F and in a block 12 to 20 feet long with high speed cameras all along the side to watch for wobble.

The Iron Buffalo compartments could be loaded with slaughter house remnants of bone, hide, guts, and meat, but each shot would be different then too.

More Iron Buffalo all across the world would be helpful to compare results and check my "data."