I just returned from a great buffalo hunt w/ Vaughan Fulton in the Caprivi. My 404j & the 380grNF have done it again, another one shot buffalo kill. Here is the recovered bullet. The flanking TSXs are from another hunters 416rem from his buffalo. The far left is a 250gr/338NP from his wildebeast. Notice the slipped rear core.

The left bullet is recoverd from wetpack, impact vel. 2200fps. The right from the buffalo, impact vel. 2100fps+/-.

Troublel with Northforks was they all looked alike!

An unusual Nosler, but I am sure it worked or you wouldn't have a picture..I have shot a number of animals with the 250 gr. Noslers in the .338 Win. and it performed well, but its not one of my choices. I actually had better luck with the 210 Nosler and got better penetration..

Trouble with bullets is none of them seem to work in all calibers, so one has to sort them out by caliber..Example is the .416 Nosler is the best bullet I have used in a .416 Rem, but I am not fond of Nosler below .308 caliber..I can name other instances with most makes of bullets.

Northforks were the one exception, they always work in every caliber that I used them in. My only complaint is I think I prefer a more jagged expansion such as one gets with a Woodleigh or a GS Customs.

As far as the 404jeffery, I can't complain w/ the NFs. As you can see, it is about 1.25X larger dia. than the TSX the other guy used. Both hammered the buff.

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
As far as the 404jeffery, I can't complain w/ the NFs. As you can see, it is about 1.25X larger dia. than the TSX the other guy used. Both hammered the buff.

What muzzle velocity do you load to? I'm working up some loads myself.

Good pics Fred & interesting to see. What cartridge at roughly what velocity was the 250gr/338NP being shot from? I think this is the first time in "fired bullet porn" that I've seen that & wondered if it was maybe being drive way quick or whatever.
Steve

Hey Wink, those are running 2250fps @ the muzzle.
Shinzo, that 250gr/338 was from a 338winmag, not mine, but I am guessing 2700fps muzzle @ the impact vel. @ 125yds, maybe 2600fps?

quote:

"fired bullet porn"

From the bullets pictured,I would choose the TSX.The NP is a loser bullet.The NF has lost or nearly lost its front half.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
From the bullets pictured,I would choose the TSX.The NP is a loser bullet.The NF has lost or nearly lost its front half.

Sorry shootaway, but how do you figure? Yes, the NP would not have made me happy, but the NF is perfect. It hasn't "lost" it's nose, but perfectly expanded to almost 1.5X the TSX. I'll weigh it when I get home, but I am betting the total wt. is pretty close to 95%. As I thought, the bullet weighs 375.5gr, that's 98.5% wt. retention w/ 1.2-1.3X greater expansion than the TSX. I'm betting that the TSX is about the same wt. retained. I'm still a NF believer.

fredj338, did you also use the solids? What load did you use? Velocity ? I am having a 404 built by AHR. I have been put on a list with NF for when they get rolling. If not I will use the 400 Gr. TSX.

The NP bullet looks like the old FailSafe bullet that was discontinued a while back. I've had the same results with them and Woodleigh's where the lead would extrude out the back but never quite as severe as that .338 bullet... none of the animals I used Failsafes and Wodleighs on ever complained much.

quote:

Originally posted by tradewinds:
fredj338, did you also use the solids? What load did you use? Velocity ? I am having a 404 built by AHR. I have been put on a list with NF for when they get rolling. If not I will use the 400 Gr. TSX.

I had Barnes 400gr monosolids but didn't even fire one. I have two loads that are almost interchangeable as far as accuracy & vel.
84gr IMR4831, RP 9 1/2M, 380grNF = 2250fps.
85gr RL19, RP 9 1/2M, 380grNF = 2240fps
Both shoot to the same POI, both will go under 1MOA if I do my part. You can certainly push them faster, they just work better, but 2250fps is manageable for me from most shooting positions & shoots flat enough out to 200yds that it's useable for plainsgame. I would not hesitate to use the TSX but I have enough NFs to hunt w/ for a good long time. Another bullet to consider would be the Swift & there is nothing wrong w/ the exc. Woodleigh either.

Fred, assuming you are loading to 2,250 fps with the NorthFork380 grain softs, to what muzzle velocity are you loading the NorthFork Flat Point Solid to get a similar point of impact at 50 or 100 yards?

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
Fred, assuming you are loading to 2,250 fps with the NorthFork380 grain softs, to what muzzle velocity are you loading the NorthFork Flat Point Solid to get a similar point of impact at 50 or 100 yards?

Wink, I didn't use the NF solids, the flat point would hang up in the #2 spot in the mag so I went to the Barnes monosolids. I got them within 1" of the softs @ 100yds by running them @ 2150fps. That's close enough as the solids would be used inside 50yds IMO.

Ya gotta love those Northforks!

I would be carefull about discounting the Nosler partition in .416..I have more than a few recovered partitions in that caliber that look perfect, and have never had a failure so far..

Any bullet can fail and I have seen North Forks, Swifts, Barnes, and Woodleighs not look so good if a heavy spine is hit.. The big spines are a series of knife like boney edges that can raise cane with any bullet..It just happens and makeing a call on one bullet that doesn't look so good is always a mistake.

All the bullets were talking about here are good bullets and seldom fail, but fail they will if you shoot enough game with them..They are after all made by man.

You're certainly correct Ray. I suspect the NP shown was recovered after breaking a heavy shoulder/leg bone. The wildebeast died in short order. I still have complete faith in the NP in any caliber I have used them. The only reason I don;t shoot them in 404j is they are not available.

Fred,
I have also shot the Northforks in my 404 at 2653 FPS and at 2100 FPS and the bullets looked just like yours, in fact I have never recovered a Northfork that didn't look just like yours, a perfect mushroom and that experience was the same with many other calibers and at all manner of velocity..I have sent many of them back to Northfork with detailed explanation of how the performed using his form that he sends out..

They do one thing better than any bullet I have ever seen and that is expand to perfect mushrooms every time under almost any circumstance. They are so boringly consistant!!

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
They do one thing better than any bullet I have ever seen and that is expand to perfect mushrooms every time under almost any circumstance. They are so boringly consistant!!

That pretty much sums up NFs. I had just started trying them in some other calibers when Mike sold. I still have complete faith in the NP in any caliber but for my 404j, it's probably always going to get NFs at least for DG.