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Cutting Edge Bullet report
06 August 2012, 19:07
Brain1Cutting Edge Bullet report
I'm back from a month in Botswana ans Namibia. While in Botswana I was able to try out Cutting Edge Bullet performance on one of Botswanas bull elephants. I bull was quartering toward and slightly facing us. The rifle was my Merkel 500NE double. Cartridges were of my own loading, 96gr RL-15 with 570gr CEB solids. a total of 5 rounds fired. The last 2 were more or less not needed but ammo is cheaper than hospital bills.
I did not recover any bullets. 4 were fired in the front chest area and exited the rear end. The last was a between the ears shot the exited bottom of chest. The elephant was hit 4 times in the heart and lungs. Each shot would be considered fatal. My only complaint is that now I'm going to have to find a bigger elephant to shoot to try and recover a bullet for my key chain. Just joking on the last sentence for those who don't have the same sense of humor as me.
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06 August 2012, 20:58
ledvmquote:
Originally posted by Brain1:
I'm back from a month in Botswana ans Namibia. While in Botswana I was able to try out Cutting Edge Bullet performance on one of Botswanas bull elephants. I bull was quartering toward and slightly facing us. The rifle was my Merkel 500NE double. Cartridges were of my own loading, 96gr RL-15 with 570gr CEB solids. a total of 5 rounds fired. The last 2 were more or less not needed but ammo is cheaper than hospital bills.
I did not recover any bullets. 4 were fired in the front chest area and exited the rear end. The last was a between the ears shot the exited bottom of chest. The elephant was hit 4 times in the heart and lungs. Each shot would be considered fatal. My only complaint is that now I'm going to have to find a bigger elephant to shoot to try and recover a bullet for my key chain. Just joking on the last sentence for those who don't have the same sense of humor as me.

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J. Lane Easter, DVM
A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.– Billy Clayton, Speaker of the Texas House
No state commands such fierce pride and loyalty. Lesser mortals are pitied for their misfortune in not being born in Texas.— Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Texas in May, 1991.
06 August 2012, 21:00
ZephyrCongrats on the success of your hunt.... You are right about the bullets, you walk into anyones hunting library or room and you will no doubt find a bunch of spent bullets neatly lined up everyone the shooter will fondly pick up and tell their tale..
Once again congrats
06 August 2012, 21:02
pagosawingnutCongatulations on a good hunt. I too will be taking the new CEB's next year when I go for buffalo. All of the reports I have seen have gotten my attention.
06 August 2012, 21:21
CCMDoc

Those pesky CEB bullets doing exactly what they were designed to do ...
My great appreciation for the work done by:
Sam - designed and tested them;
Michael - exhaustive testing on both range and in the field;
And
Dan - who brought them into production for the rest of us
Great job to all and to Brain1 - looking forward to your Hunt Report and pictures

NRA Lifer; DSC Lifer; SCI member; DRSS; AR member since November 9 2003
Don't Save the best for last, the smile for later or the "Thanks" for tomorow
06 August 2012, 21:23
boom stickSeems when you go hunting you should bring a metal detector to recover CEB's

You can make a key fob out of the elephant hair.
I'd love to see people shoot these bullets with their earlier BPE's, cordite loads as well as smokeless cousins. These super bullets are quite efficient.
06 August 2012, 21:50
Todd WilliamsCEBs are top performers for sure.
Leaving Friday for 21 days in the Selous, taking 20 expanding CEB and 20 solid CEB for the 470, be interesting to see what happens there..also 40 Nosler Partition for the 375, curious as to what the differences will be...kld
08 August 2012, 03:32
retreeverTake another box of solids for 470. Absolutely!
Mike
Michael Podwika... DRSS bigbores and hunting
www.pvt.co.za " MAKE THE SHOT " 450#2 Famars
the 11 lb ammo weight rule is killing me, open to suggestions......kd
09 August 2012, 04:08
Todd Williamsquote:
Originally posted by kld:
the 11 lb ammo weight rule is killing me, open to suggestions......kd
Do you have an observer going with you? If so, put some of it in their bag. If you take an extra bag, such as one of the Blue SCI Relief bags, put some in there. The 11 lb rule is per bag, not per person.
10 September 2012, 07:43
reddy375How are these diff from barnes bullets, just asking?
D/R Hunter
Correct bullet placement, combined with the required depth of bullet penetration, results in an anchored animal...
10 September 2012, 11:14
Todd Williamsquote:
Originally posted by reddy375:
How are these diff from barnes bullets, just asking?
Well ... for one thing, several of the DG calibers are no longer available from Barnes in their Banded Solids due to the BATF ruling. For the calibers that are still available, Barnes is moving back to the Round Nose design giving preference to cheaply made rifles that many are unwilling to have tweaked for proper operation over absolute superior terminal performance of their bullets. Some FN's are still available online. From your handle, I take it you are a .375 shooter. That caliber is not currently available from Barnes in the Banded Solid.
But to really answer your question in detail, you'll need to check out the currently 252 pages of information in the sticky at the top of the Big Bore section. Lots of good info there!
10 September 2012, 14:39
reddy375Thanks Todd. I wonder how longe before these guys get stopped from making flat nosed solids!!!!!
10 September 2012, 18:55
Todd Williamsquote:
Originally posted by reddy375:
Thanks Todd. I wonder how longe before these guys get stopped from making flat nosed solids!!!!!
Well, the issue isn't the FN, it's the content of the metal and whether or not the bullet can be fired in a pistol. I think the 375 JDJ was the issue with the .375 for example. It's possible at some point we could end up having to shoot copper instead of brass but what I'm really hoping for is that the BATF makes a final ruling in favor of Barnes. I'm sticking with the CEB bullets over Barnes, but I don't want to see the BATF continue down this road.
Do take some time however to check out the Terminal Bullet thread I mentioned. There is a wealth of information there. It's a huge thread and would take time to read it all but man, is there some good info packed in there!! They tested just about every bullet on the market and in every caliber including the Nitro Express doubles. Some interesting things such as, and to your original question, the Barnes BS in most calibers has a similar meplat to the CEB BBW#13 and performance is similar. However, in the 9.3 bullets, the Barnes meplat is just enough smaller to make the bullet loose stability and tumble, thereby limiting its penetration to just a few inches. Lots of little tid bits like that.