Hi,
@19_A_CPT
Out of the three cartridges which you’ve illustrated… the 300Gr Nosler Partition Federal factory loads are the most suitable for the application which you mention. Nosler Partitions are a magnificent choice for all African plains game, any of the great cats and for BROADSIDE SHOTS (BUT NOT FRONTAL, DEPARTING OR QUARTERING AWAY SHOTS) on Cape buffalo.
Generally speaking, however… the best .375 Holland & Holland Magnum 300Gr factory load available on the current market today (for your preferred list of quarry) is the Barnes TSX. Absolutely amazing for plains game & Cape buffalo FROM ANY ANGLE. However, it’s not suitable for the great cats (but you didn’t list any of the great cats as a potential quarry, anyway).
Now, a couple of comments. The Winchester Super X 300Gr post 1970 Silver Tip factory loads which you have illustrated, should NEVER be employed on hunting ANY big game (let alone DANGEROUS ONES). Up until 1969; Winchester Silver Tips used to be manufactured with a proprietary jacket material that was composed of copper, nickel & zinc. They were an excellent choice of expanding bullet (the best available at the time). However; in 1970… Winchester (in a misguided & ill conceived attempt to reduce manufacturing costs) altered the Silver Tip jacket material to pure aluminum (which stayed this way until Winchester completely discontinued the Silver Tip line in 1999). These post 1970 Silver Tips had a nasty reputation for completely disintegrating upon striking even hardened muscles (let alone bone) of some big game. On my life’s first African safari to Kenya in 1974, I actually lost a gigantic male lion that I had shot on bait with a 300Gr Winchester Silver Tip factory load fired from a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum. My white hunter, Mr. Cheffings eventually spoored & finished off the wounded lion on the next day. A postmortem revealed that I had made a perfect frontal chest shot, but the 300Gr Winchester Silver Tip bullet had completed blown apart & disintegrated into pieces without penetrating some four inches into the lion’s hardened chest muscles. I completed swore off Winchester Silver Tips ever since that day.
The Remington Klean Bore 300Gr post 1961 pre 1982 copper jacketed flat nosed FMJ solid factory loads which you have illustrated, were quite possibly the worst solid bullets ever to be designed for hunting dangerous game. The lead core of the bullets are not properly reinforced with more than a thin copper jacket. And the meplat is far too small. These bullets were dangerously prone to breaking in half at the cannelure, riveting or even completely disintegrating upon striking the heavy bones of elephant, hippopotamus or Cape buffalo. As amatter of fact, they were practically guaranteed to split open. Due to the small meplat, they would frequently deflect & not maintain a straight course either. My good friend, the late Dave Bourban lost a gigantic Cape buffalo in Botswana in 1980 after using these 300Gr Remington Klean Bore factory loads on the animal. Even after three shots to the shoulder bone/scapula, the brute was able to get away. The white hunter eventually sorted that Cape buffalo out, later during the day. A postmortem revealed the sorry state of Dave’s bullets (or rather, what was left of them) upon striking hard bone.
Winchester & Remington were both clearly sourcing the bullets for their .375 Holland & Holland Magnum solid/full metal case cartridges from the same supplier at the time. Here are some 1974 made Winchester Super Speed 300Gr copper jacketed flat nosed FMJ solid factory loads for comparison.
Observe the identical similarity in bullet shape & nose profile.
For this reason, Winchester & Remington both began to load their .375 Holland & Holland Magnum ammunition with 300Gr Hornady round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solids starting from 1982 (all the way until they both ceased to load solid bullets for the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum in 1994). The Hornady round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solids were good stuff.
Warmest Regards,
Habib
