Has anyone have any personal experience of these on big game [can be 505 or 500 j,A2]buffalo ,elephants, hippo .how did they go ? your opinion of them ?

tankhunter,
I don't have any first hand experience with them, but a guy I know uses them exclusively. He is a buffalo junky.

quote:

but a guy I know uses them exclusively. He is a buffalo junky.

Steph123,

Is there any chance that you friend can share his experience with us?
Him being a buffalo hunter is just what we are looking for.
Try to get pictures of the bullets too.
It would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance.

Warrior

Yes, I did the initial testing on them with my 505 Gibbs to work out (or let Woodleigh) work out the Recommended Impact Velocities.

All animals shot were Water buffalo - large and small, bones hit and soft tissue only shots (I made a point of getting different shots to see what the bullet does under different circumstances which we are able to do due to numbers of animals and that we can pick the animals and the shots).

They work, they don't open up as easily as SN projjies - which of course is to be expected.

I would use them again but I am a SN person although I do like the heavier bullet out of the 505 Gibbs - which is underpowered with the 525gn (same as the 500J is).

The PP's do protect the tip of the bullet well and the tips of SN of any make do get some damage in the mag, especially if like me you use the gun all day and have mass culling sessions.

They penetrate very well with the extra weight.

I also shot a couple of pigs, well lets say that getting recoveries was a bit hard even though I hit them up close at full velocity.

Hope that helps.

Warrior,

I'll ask him next time I speak to him.

No experience with them on game, but I did recover a couple of them that I shot into a sand bank at 100 yards - muzzle velocity from my .500 A-Square was right at 2,500 fps.

Here's how they ended up:



I know a sand bank is tough on bullets, but these still seemed kind of soft to me.

Michael

Firstly, I have never found sand banks to be a very good test medium as they have no give in them and do not act like flesh.

And secondly, if you push a bullet well above it's recommended impact velocity, then what do you expect. The Bullet does not have the problem.

I also recovered, from Buffalo, bullets that looked a bit like that - slightly less flattened but along the same lines.

Why ? Becuase I pushed them flat out, faster than I normally would so that we could see what actually did happen to them.

That's how the RIV is worked out.

.

Warrior,

I got this picture today from the guy I know who uses the .510 600gr Woodleigh PP bullets.



He told me that this bullet from from a very large buffalo bull shot broadside at about 40 yards. The bullet was recovered from under the offside skin. The muzzle velocity was 2490 fps, and the bullet's retained weight was 534 gr. It is a 600gr Woodleigh PP 0.51" diameter. He said the bullet mushroomed down to the cannelure groove and expanded to about 1.25". He also told me he has more bullets, but that was one he had handy. He said he has some that are pretty mangled that he recovered from head shots on buffalo.

Hope it helps.

Seems typical Woodleigh, 2.5x times diameter expansion and probably 90% weight retention. This bullet was driven faster than Woodleigh recommends by the way, top impact velocity recommended for that bullet is 2200 fps.

quote:

Originally posted by chuck375:
Seems typical Woodleigh, 2.5x times diameter expansion and probably 90% weight retention. This bullet was driven faster than Woodleigh recommends by the way, top impact velocity recommended for that bullet is 2200 fps.

Interestingly it looks exactly like some of the one's I pulled out of animals.

I found the "petals" of botht eh SN and PP's cut a very ragged wound channels that stayed open and bled profusely.

.

500N,

One thing is for sure that if this bullet goes through the heart like the above bullet at 2.5x diameter it will be devastating. The size of the hole is very import for a quick death. Whilst penetration may be impaired to some extent, it would be wise to take conservative shots and avoiding lengthy angled shots that might stop the bullet short.

The size of the hole counts, and that is why with non-deforming solids we go for bigger calibers to accelerate the bleeding as small holes are pone to contract and limit the bleeding.

Warrior

Warrior

Re the hole, I agree - but I always tend to "up" the calibre and "up" the bullet weight
as it gives more options. But that's my own HO.

Re "penetration may be impaired to some extent", couple of things I have found.
No question that expansion does make bullets pull up.

The extra weight of the bullet tends to give it the extra ooooommmpppphhh for it to push through further.

On the first shot, I need to be able to see the "5th" rib to take the shot as I know I can punch through. However on 2nd and 3rd shots, then I take anything that is presented and unless I am using an FMJ (which I don't always do over here), then instead of trying to get through to the vitals from the ass, I aim for the hip as I have found that once I break that, then the animal pulls up. And by using a heavy for calibre bullet, then it tends to punch through quite far anyway - sometimes all the way through to the vitals.

I will say that shooting over a hundred and cutting up hundreds more of big game (Buffalo + a few scrub bulls) certainly opens your eyes to what goes on and what works and what doesn't.

.

quote:

And by using a heavy for calibre bullet, then it tends to punch through quite far anyway - sometimes all the way through to the vitals.

Ode to SD !!!

Warrior

quote:

Originally posted by Warrior:
Ode to SD !!!

Warrior

Yes, probably a better way of putting it !!! LOL

I'm taking 350g Woodleigh PPs in my 375 H&H for brown bear this fall. I expect them to open up to at least 2x diameter and have more than enough penetration.