I ran across this on Woodleigh's web site and thought I would pass it along.

Under New Bullets:
450gr .416" Soft Nose
SD .372
BC .402

They also mentioned:
New in 2001:
416 Rigby SN and 404 Jeffery SN. Feature a new high performance jacket to withstand higher impact velocities than the previous version. Expansion is still reliable at low velocities.

Woodleigh's web site:
http://www.woodleighbullets.com.au/

-BOB

Has anybody used the Woodleigh 450gr .416 bullets yet?

Mick,
They have not been available as yet as far as I know...Woodleigh is also comming out with a 350 gr. 375 bullet, should be a dandy.

I assure you I will be trying both on Buffalo within a year.

------------------
Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

That would explain why nobody has them

The 450 grainers have been available for quite a while over here.

Geoff has increased the jacket thickness on the 410 grainers to handle the weatherby velocities.

The 450 grainers have the original 'thinner jacket' and he says 2200fps is ideal.I am thinking of buying some to try in a friend's 416 myself.

Karl.

[This message has been edited by Karl (edited 07-07-2001).]

Has any one tried those 350's in the 375? I heard some say a 350 wouldn't stabilize in most 375's due to a rate of twist or some such. Any experience? Thanks "D"

[This message has been edited by D Hunter (edited 07-07-2001).]

Does anyone know approximately when the .416 Woodleigh Softs were toughen up? Is there a manufacture date or other designation on the box to know which bullet you have? Huntington�s always seems to have a very good supply of Woodleighs. What other sources are there?

Thanks for any info....

The 350 are not out as yet, as far as I know. McDonald sent me an email stating they would start production either this fall or next spring...

I wouldn't worry about the 350 not stabilizing, just try them and see, most of that stuff is theorizing...So what if they shoot 3" at 100, thats good for Buffalo at 25 yds I'd bet....I'll be using them....

I will say if your gun dotes on 300's it'll do fine with a 350...

------------------
Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

It has been some time since I used the Barnes 350 grs in the .375 H&H As I recall they did not penterate as well as the 300 grains did. I had a client use them in Africa using the old .049" copper jacketed Barnes. they mostly passed straight through all of the large antelopes like a solid. If pushed at higher velocities in one the hotter .375s they might work better.
George

I got an email from Shirley at Woodleigh and the 350 gr. 375 and 450 gr. 416's are being turned out as we speak..This was 7-17-01

She is sending me several boxes of both to test on Buffalo etc.

Geoff Woodleigh is presently in the Bush shooting Water Buffalo and Aussie cattle with them to see how they work...

He asked me if I thought a RN or a Protected Point would be the best seller and I said the round nose and I think he felt the Protected point, so he's going to produce both....now thats a good idea...

He said solids would be down the line about a year...something about the jacket material that he uses for softs is shorter than the solid jackets...

At any rate when Woodleigh makes a bullet you can bet it will work or its going to get fixed, if it doesn't....

These heavy for caliber bullets are for herd shooting Buff at short ranges and will expand like the dickens to huge cross sections and come to rest on the opposite shoulder, as designed. They also work well on all plains game...

Ray,
I have some 410gr Woodleighs that I tried but when sighting them in we were shooting in a caliche bank. On all of them the lead came out of the jacket. On the ones we recovered I bet the bullet didn't weigh 125grs. Now, I know we were shooting in a caliche bank and not an animal but this still bothered me. We never recovered any of the Barnes. I think they just penetrated deep into the bank. What is your opinion on the Wooleigh bullets? I have heard reports that these are coming apart on buffalo. Seems to me they would be a great lion load.
Thanks,
Terry

Terry,
I have shot a lot of Buffalo with Woodleighs and I have seen a lot of Buffalo shot with them and they all worked but one, it split in half on the teeth of a bull and I suspect any bullet would have. One shouldn't shoot buff in the head with anything but a solid anyway in my opinnion...tends to agrivate them with softs.

I suspect clay is much harder than Buffalo and most people drive thoes bullets too fast as they have been, in the past , designed for 2200 to 2300 FPS...Woodleigh recently toughened them up for 404 and 416 because of the higher velocities and some failures caused by that....

Woodleigh softs are designed to open up big and stop on the off side skin of a Buffalo in calibers 404 and 416 based on the original velocitys...When driven at the proper velocity they are the most perfect of bullets...and I suspect the new toughies will perform perfectly at the higher velocities...

It is impossible to make a bullet that works under all conditions, but most of todays bullets do a pretty good job..Everyone that hunts a lot will have failures from time to time..I have had most with BarnesX, but I know some very respected hunters that swear by them and have never had a failure, so who knows...

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com