Ammunition for Cape Buffalo

[Badger Matt]

I had good results from TSX in my 458 WM on the only Buff I hunted. The bullet dropped him in his tracks (luck) and lost almost no weight as it expanded.

 

[Red Leg]

I am a huge fan of the 300gr TSX. I shoot a magazine full of them and save the solids for dik dik and Duiker.

 

[Boendoes]

Barnes TSX or Swift A-frame (both 300gr), the best of the best ...

 

[Hank2211]

I personally use Barnes TSX, but I have had good performance from Trophy Bonded Bear Claws as well as Swift A-Frames. You really can't go wrong with any of these.

 

[ndumo HUNTING SAFARIS]

My first choices:
Barnes TSX
North Fork or Trophy Bonded Bearclaw
Swift A-Frame

 

[Foxi]

I tried Hornady DGX and Hornady FMJ with best results .

and here the shootout from a beech.
70 cm/27,55 inch with a 300gr Hornady FMJ
show me such a bone by a buff

Foxi

 

[spike.t]

a slight side swerve but plenty of info already. wondering why some people have good experiences with the hornady dgx soft and others a nightmare? i have never used it or seen it used, but the only .404 ammo i can get at the moment is hornady dgs and dgx and a friend said he has had lots of problems with clients using the dgx soft and it disintegrating . i bought a box of the solids to shoot the .404 and check zero with the irons and scope, and as it was bought from AHR from one of their clients it only needed the irons tweaking slightly for me. now i was with peteg and we were shooting into an earth bank that was also full of gravel and smallish rocks and the solids after being dug out were looking ok after going through that tough combination. now pete shot his cz rigby with aframes and they were perfect and looked like they had been removed from an animal not soil, gravel and rock....now he said when he did this with the hornady gmx softs they totally fragmented with only tiny bits being found.........so only talking factory loads how come some have good results and like them and others have very bad results and dont like them at all?..........oh and at nearly $300.00 a box of 20 its a bit expensive to buy some to experiment......

 

[Royal27]

a slight side swerve but plenty of info already. wondering why some people have good experiences with the hornady dgx soft and others a nightmare?

I will never know due to this... why take a chance when there are options out there that you don't ever here about a failure from???

Besides, my H&H HATES them!!! I know this is specific to my rifle, but geez.... Below are three shot groups with TSX and DGX shot the same day etc.... the DGx was not a fluke. they really shoot this poorly from my rifle.

 

[K-man]

Nothing like proof....Nice shooting

 

[spike.t]

"I will never know due to this... why take a chance when there are options out there that you don't ever here about a failure from???

Besides, my H&H HATES them!!! I know this is specific to my rifle, but geez.... Below are three shot groups with TSX and DGX shot the same day etc.... the DGx was not a fluke. they really shoot this poorly from my rifle. "


ok royal interesting. the solids shot fine in mine, but its why some people have their dgx perform fine and others have a major nightmare with them turning into a shotshell on impact that i am wondering about.......

 

[CAustin]

Foxi I have had the same good results with the Hornady DGX

 

[Royal27]

Foxi I have had the same good results with the Hornady DGX

View attachment 59482

Have you weighed that bullet @CAustin ? That would be interesting to see what the weight retention was on it. If I'm reading @Foxi correctly his, or one of his, retained at 72%.

From everything I've seen and read the TSX is usually in the 96-98% retention range.

but its why some people have their dgx perform fine and others have a major nightmare with them turning into a shotshell on impact that i am wondering about.......

Yeah, understood what you were asking Mike. Hornady doesn't seem to be willing to answer the question though, other than to say the issue doesn't exist.

 

[CAustin]

Royal I don't have the ability to do the whole weigh and measure speed as I don't reload. My point really was that the round as pictured retained a lot of its weight and did the job as advertised. Is it 90%+ I don't think so but it dropped the animal.

 

[spike.t]

Yeah, understood what you were asking Mike. Hornady doesn't seem to be willing to answer the question though, other than to say the issue doesn't exist.

yeah i think i have heard that they say there is no problem.........just strange that some work ok and others dont.........suppose i will bite the bullet and buy a box and experiment....

 

[PeteG]

Foxi I have had the same good results with the Hornady DGX

View attachment 59482

Thats pretty good performance.
As mike mentioned, I was literally picking pieces of jacket and lead out of the sand.
Then i thought that the sand was just too hard and abrasive, so i tried some A-Frames and they were perfect mushrooms...
i cannot weigh the end result either, so no idea what the a-frame final weight was.
The funniest thing is the Hornady DGX/DGS rounds sell for the same price here as Norma A-Frames... at about $300/box of 20.

 

[Royal27]

Royal I don't have the ability to do the whole weigh and measure speed as I don't reload. My point really was that the round as pictured retained a lot of its weight and did the job as advertised. Is it 90%+ I don't think so but it dropped the animal.

I guess that's my point though Charlie. Did the bullet do its job? If your definition of the "job" is a dead animal then there is no doubt. You have the buffalo on your wall to prove it. My definition of a DG bullet doing its job is maximum penetration, good and consistent expansion, and weight retention. So based on that does the Hornady do as well and as consistently as others? I personally don't think so. There are too many stories of shattering and solid data showing the DGX doesn't retain weight like other bullets such as the Barnes, Swift, and Northfolk as examples.

I'll also bet that if 100 experienced DG PHs were polled and asked what one bullet they would want their client to use on buffalo (since it is the most common of DG) that a very, very low % would say the DGX. Believe it or not, I'm not anti-Hornady at all. I think they make some solid products. I just think that in the DG class there are multiple better options.

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Foxi I have had the same good results with the Hornady DGX

View attachment 59482

I agree with CAustin. I've never had a problem with cartridges from RWS nor from Hornady.
Witold

 

[Royal27]

The funniest thing is the Hornady DGX/DGS rounds sell for the same price here as Norma A-Frames... at about $300/box of 20.

Hornady isn't cheap for the .404 Jeff here relatively, but you can still get it for $85 per box, so yikes....

As comparison .375 H&H can be had in Hornady for $38 per box.

 

[CAustin]

Yep the expense here is reasonable.

 

[PeteG]

Hornady isn't cheap for the .404 Jeff here relatively, but you can still get it for $85 per box, so yikes....

As comparison .375 H&H can be had in Hornady for $38 per box.

Hmm, so when are you visiting and how much space is in your luggage???