Bullets that well advertised but were not that great

[PHOENIX PHIL]

A great bullet will not make up for poor marksmanship, but a bad bullet can undo a good shot. Both factors count.

And the truth shall set you free!

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Well it's Friday, so why not stir up the pot a bit. I'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned the original non-bonded Hornday DGX. I wouldn't hunt gophers with that bullet.

 

[steve white]

Well it's Friday, so why to stir up the pot a bit. I'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned the original non-bonded Hornday DGX. I wouldn't hunt gophers with that bullet.

Before the thread got really going, I would have bet $5 that most of the entries would be Hornady...didn't turn out exactly that way, but I''m with you. I've been particularly unlucky with the Interlock.

 

[Safari Dave]

Well it's Friday, so why to stir up the pot a bit. I'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned the original non-bonded Hornday DGX. I wouldn't hunt gophers with that bullet.

Mine worked perfectly on my one and only cape buffalo. (one-shot kill)

I guess, I put the bullet just where it needed to be.



I put a couple more bullets in it, at distance, just for insurance, but the old DGX did just fine for me.




Based on what I've heard, I wouldn't use them now, but they worked just perfectly for me in 2021.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Before the thread got really going, I would have bet $5 that most of the entries would be Hornady...didn't turn out exactly that way, but I''m with you. I've been particularly unlucky with the Interlock.

I haven't used any of their bullets so I won't comment on them. The new DGX bonded seems to have good reviews. But I'll just stick with my North Fork bonded cores and Swift A-Frames. Bonded bullets are certainly not needed for smaller PG, but they'll still kill them quite quickly and I prepare for the big boys.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Mine worked perfectly on my one and only cape buffalo. (one-shot kill)

I guess, I put the bullet just where it needed to be.



I put a couple more bullets in it, at distance, just for insurance, but the old DGX did just fine for me.




Based on what I've heard, I wouldn't use them now, but they worked just perfectly for me in 2021.

They worked for lots of people. But they also failed for a number of hunters at a rate I personally would not accept. You can ask @gizmo about his experience with them on a lion.

I honestly have never read of a failure of a NF bonded core or A-Frame. Certainly its possible it's happened, but I've never read or heard of it.

 

[ftrovato]

Mine worked perfectly on my one and only cape buffalo. (one-shot kill)

I guess, I put the bullet just where it needed to be.



I put a couple more bullets in it, at distance, just for insurance, but the old DGX did just fine for me.




Based on what I've heard, I wouldn't use them now, but they worked just perfectly for me in 2021.

I've heard from PH's that they have seen examples of the DGX's pancaking and not penetrating....(just 3rd person from me I only target practice with them)

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I am not a fan of Winchester Silver Tips, at all. On my life’s first African safari to Kenya in 1974, I lost a very big African male lion (which we had baited by employing a zebra stallion) when I made a frontal chest shot with a 300Gr Winchester Silver Tip factory load fired from a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum. Later, my white hunter followed up and finished off the wounded cat. A postmortem revealed that the 300Gr Winchester Silver Tip bullet had completely broken apart & disintegrated into pieces without penetrating some 3.5” through the lion’s adrenaline filled hardened chest muscles. That one incident immediately made me swear off Winchester Silver Tips for life.

The pre 1970 Winchester Silver Tips used a proprietary jacketing material made from a combination of copper, nickel & zinc. There were excellent. After 1970 (up until the discontinuation of Winchester Silver Tips in 1999), Winchester (in an ill perceived attempt at cutting down manufacturing costs) decided to switch to an aluminum jacket for their Silver Tip bullets. Quality immediately deteriorated overnight.


These old Winchester Super Speed and Remington Klean Bore 300Gr copper jacketed flat nosed FMJ solids for the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum (last manufactured in 1981) were also absolutely deplorable for hunting anything which actually mandated a solid bullet. The jackets were absolutely guaranteed to split upon upon striking elephant skulls & shoulder bones, Cape buffalo skulls & shoulder bones and hippopotamus shoulder bones. Bullets were also prone to breaking clean in half at the cannelure.

 

[Safari Dave]

This just goes to show that "anecdotal evidence" does not amount to anything...


Winchester Silvertips have preformed flawlessly for me on game in America. Based on my experience, I would use them without hesitation on light skinned/boned animals, including big-cats.




If I remember correctly, Peter Chapstick said that he pried the "silvertip" off when he was hunting leopard, because they wouldn't expand enough.



HH - you have MUCH more experience than me, so I will defer to you on this subject...

 

[Hunter-Habib]

This just goes to show that "anecdotal evidence" does not amount to anything...


Winchester Silvertips have preformed flawlessly for me on game in America. Based on my experience, I would use them without hesitation on light skinned/boned animals, including big-cats.




If I remember correctly, Peter Chapstick said that he pried the "silvertip" off when he was hunting leopard, because they wouldn't expand enough.



HH - you have MUCH more experience than me, so I will defer to you on this subject...

Safari Dave, were you using the Winchester Silver Tips with the copper-nickel-zinc jacket or the Winchester Silver Tips with the aluminum jacket ?

Even if I do not like Winchester Silver Tips, I strongly believe that a man must be absolutely fair when criticizing anything. I will fully submit that for American deer (white tail, black tail, mule), elk and black bear (but not grizzly/Kodiak bears)… the Winchester Silver Tip (even the one with the aluminum jacket) will work satisfactorily.

I would not have a problem using the aluminum jacketed Winchester Silver Tips for a broadside shot on a leopard. Even a broadside shot on a lioness (provided that I don’t hit the shoulder bone/scapula). But not for a frontal chest shot on a male lion. The adrenaline filled chest muscles on an excited adult African male lion can best be described as being comparable to tyre rubber in terms of toughness. Even the modern 300Gr Federal Power Shok soft point bullet will frequently experience cup & core separation on these hard muscles.

 

[Flbt]

Before the thread got really going, I would have bet $5 that most of the entries would be Hornady...didn't turn out exactly that way, but I''m with you. I've been particularly unlucky with the Interlock.

You have ? What cal?
My 6mm with the old frontier 6mm Remington interlock would go through both shoulders with the high shoulder shot on deer and went completely through 350+ hogs the scale stopped at 350
When they dropped that load and went to using the sst when I changed to federal
The sst was a different failure they were not accurate in my guns

 

[Safari Dave]

I'm pretty sure that most of mine had the aluminum jackets...

 

[Rule 303]

The original Nosler Ballistic Tips. Way to explosive on game.

I will second that. My experience was with the reintroduced Solid base that had a ballistic tip. Only good for practice on paper. I shot a small sow at 80mts in the spot light. 130 grain 270. The old solid base would have gone through to the stomach. She dropped to the shot but when we got there she was gone. Found her the following day about 2 kilometers away thanks to the Hawks and Crows. Massive surface head wound.

I did have trouble with one batch of 130 grain 270 Corlokts. Too hard. Penciled threw pigs and Thar. They still died as they were heart shot but managed to cover some distance first. So not really a failure.

The other stand out failures for me were Barnes. I could not get them to shot in my 270, 35Whelen and 308. This before their banded ones came out but by then I had put the Brooks kids through Uni with the amount I spent on then trying everything known to man to get them to work. Now just not interested in trying them.

The Hornady DGX that I bought to try in my 416 Rigby, kicked worse than my home loads were over 100fps slower. After shooting one small pig with them, yeah it killed it, split the backside wide open but did not exit. Pulled the rest, ditched the powder and bullet, just used the cases.

 

[Rule 303]

Federal Woodleigh Hydros in both .375 and .416 have been solid performers for me. They are presently discontinued, however. I'll post a video or two when time permits.

They are still being made. They were not affected by the fire at Woodleigh as they are made elsewhere.

Roohawk, I wonder what velocity they were doing and what the twist rate in your rifle is. As said above they are long for calibre/weight.

 

[fourfive8]

Several and maybe some others, for reason, I’ve forgotten about … here are the worst for hype vs performance… Hornady InterLock, Nosler Ballistic Tip, Remington Core-Lokt, Remington Ultra Bonded, Speer (forgot exact one), Sierra (forgot exact one)

 

[coreydb]

I've always had a conservative approach to bullet selection when I hunt for meat; lead is dead. That said, I love "experimenting" with new bullets when they come out, just to see what they can do, but NOT when I hunt for meat. For that I only have two criteria: DRT/very short distance runs before they drop, and meat damage. I just don't mix and match......skunks and 'possums excluded.

 

[BGGMKLR]

Before the thread got really going, I would have bet $5 that most of the entries would be Hornady...didn't turn out exactly that way, but I''m with you. I've been particularly unlucky with the Interlock.

Obviously, these posts, and the impetus behind them, are based on "personal" experiences...positive or negative.
Personally, I loaded the old Plain Jane Hornady 154 gr BTSP exclusively for my Weatherby 7mm.
It reliably performed on Elk, Deer, Pronghorn, Caribou, and North Slope Grizzly...without failure...from 100 to about 500 yards....and one XXXL Black Bear at around 6-8 ft..
Cheers
Spike

 

[Monski]

They worked for lots of people. But they also failed for a number of hunters at a rate I personally would not accept. You can ask @gizmo about his experience with them on a lion.

I honestly have never read of a failure of a NF bonded core or A-Frame. Certainly its possible it's happened, but I've never read or heard

They worked for lots of people. But they also failed for a number of hunters at a rate I personally would not accept. You can ask @gizmo about his experience with them on a lion.

I honestly have never read of a failure of a NF bonded core or A-Frame. Certainly its possible it's happened, but I've never read or heard of it.

Very interesting that they failed on a Lion! I will have to look that thread up. I never hunted lion but would like to someday. I would probably use a 260 gr partition in .375 or maybe 340 gr NF SS in .404. I used a 250 gr Aframe in .338 for a brown bear and they (2 shots) did well but to my surprise they both exited despite both going through bone. I guess I thought of the bear as cape buffalo tough. If I ever did brown bear again it would be with a partition (never would on buff).

I have had 2 bullet failures with heavy for caliber woodleigh protected points, one 350 gr .375 on eland and one 600gr .505 on buffalo. Yet many people have killed a lot of buffalo with them. Their solids my PH and I have used are great although I use mostly Barnes, NF and CEB mono solids now.

 

[jswitzer]

They worked for lots of people. But they also failed for a number of hunters at a rate I personally would not accept. You can ask @gizmo about his experience with them on a lion.

I honestly have never read of a failure of a NF bonded core or A-Frame. Certainly its possible it's happened, but I've never read or heard of it.

I saw a zebra hit with an AFrame pistol bullet and the entire front of the bullet was gone. There was a 44 sized hole through his heart and bullet was under the off side hide. Not a failure in my book but maxed out performance wise.

 

[PerH]

.35 cal Oryx FL , too soft and brittle .

Incidentally the original FL ammonia they loaded for it back when it came was some nickel jacketed Alaska original made for .358 Win, and others . All were the same , brittle , soft , lot of superficial wounds and ruined meats .