I have been using Hornady DGS 500 grain flat nosed copper clad steel jacketed solid factory loads exclusively since 2009 , for my .458 Winchester Magnum . I test fired half a box over a chronograph and the velocity averaged at about 2136 feet per second . This is more than adequate for rogue Asiatic jungle elephant bulls ( even for frontal brain shots ) and Gaur ( which happen to be the world’s largest and heaviest bovines ; roughly double the weight of an African Cape buffalo ) . I have stopped charging Gaur bulls ( weighing in excess of 1380 kilograms ) with this combination ( employing frontal heart shots ) and in most cases , the bullet looked as if it could be fired again ( as illustrated in the last photograph ) .
I have done my share of research as to the problems associated with Hornady bullets ( with documentation to support my findings ; should anyone find it interesting ) .
Until 1965 , Hornady used to offer round nosed full metal jacket solid bullets in three calibres ( a 500 grain .458 calibre bullet , a 300 grain .375 calibre bullet and a 220 grain .308 calibre bullet ) . These were round nosed and had impressively thick steel jackets . By all accounts ( including those of
@Major Khan Sir and game ranger , Terry Irwin ) , these bullets were renowned for their penetration and weight retention ; even when used on the largest of African elephant bulls .
From 1965 to 1980 , Hornady replaced the steel jacket with a cupronickel jacket ( in order to reduce manufacturing costs ) and this was what had lead to the deterioration in quality and performance ( as personally experienced by myself and professional hunter , John Coleman ) . During this time , the 250 grain .338 calibre bullet was added to the Hornady lineup .
From 1980 to 1990 , Hornady brought back the steel jacket and added the 410 grain .416 calibre bullet to the lineup . These bullets were renowned for their performance and penetration ( as documented by Mike LaGrange in “ Ballistics In Perspective “ ) .
From 1990 to 2004 , Hornady ( once again ) replaced the steel jacket with a copper jacket ( in order to reduce manufacturing costs ) . As predicted , this led to a deterioration in performance and penetration .
From 2006 onwards , Hornady introduced the DGS ( Dangerous Game Solid ) And DGX ( Dangerous Game eXpanding ) line . The steel jacket had now returned and the nose profile was altered from round to meplat . The performance of the DGS bullet has been consistently adequate ( ever since then ) ; provided that velocities are kept within reasonable limits . However , the DGX bullet proved itself to be quite unreliable for dangerous game .
In 2018 , Hornady decided to chemically bond the lead cores of their DGX bullets to their steel jackets . This greatly improved performance and I have recently used a Hornady 500 grain DGX factory load to take out a marauding Royal Bengal tiger ( by employing a behind-the-shoulder heart shot ) .
....uses dgx at end
