Hornady claims the DGX is strong enough to be suitable for dangerous game. I hear mixed reviews all over the net. some say the DGX comes apart on thick skinned game while others claim it works great.
im interesting in hearing what the people on this forum think of this bullet.
-what are your thoughts?
-have you tried it on thick skinned game?
-does any one have pictures of DGX bullets retrieved from thick skinned game?
for the sake of this thread I will hold back my own feelings on using standard cup and core bullets on dangerous game until ive given a chance for people to give their opinion.
thanks
-matt
Matt85,
You are wise to research bullet performance in general but especially in regards to hunting Dangerous Game.
PHs, Game Wardens, Park Rangers and such are excellent sources on this subject, as well as many people here in this Forum.
Yours truly has only shot one thick skinned animal and one not so thick skinned animal (buffalo & zebra) with the DGX bullet.
Such feeble experience is no reason for you to choose that bullet but I will tell the tale anyway, so that with mine combined with any other person's experience here, you will hopefully be able to piece together a case for or against DGX bullets accordingly.
To start, regarding premium soft points, I have not SEEN anything that delivers as close to advertised as the Swift A-Frame but, they are so heavily reinforced that there is some debate as to whether they might separate the muzzles from the rib on older double rifles with many firings (I would not know).
Likewise, A-Frames are not always accurate in all bolt action and single shot rifles but in most they are, furthermore they are known to streak the bore with jacket metal fouling more than some brands (but I'm pretty sure they still make excellent bore cleaning products these days).
The DGX and DGS were my choice because they have no such issues (they are malleable steel jacket, guilding metal plated and lead alloy core) and after experimenting with several brands and shapes of bullets/powder charges/primers, et al, I determined that they shot way tighter groups with a soft in one barrel and a "solid" in the other of my old Army & Navy .450 No2.
The buffalo I shot was with the Hndy DGX 480 grain, .458 diameter @ 2050 fps from a SxS .450 No2 NE.
He was walking rapidly toward myself and the usual suspects (PH, Tracker, Camera Man).
Not charging but obviously trying to show us that he wanted us gone (that area does not get many human hunters but plenty of lion and that minor display of aggression is how the buffalo sometimes deal with lions there, according to the local Game Warden).
At about 40 paces (the PH later said more like 30 but whatever) from the sticks, I shot el buffo at the neck and brisket juncture, just as he turned his head to his left to look at a companion (also a rough looking character) who had just jogged up beside him to join his efforts.
The 480 grainer struck him just to his right of center (my left as I was facing him), tearing the carotid artery, scraping the neck vertebra and coming to rest behind the shoulder.
This knocked him immediately off his feet.
I still have the bullet.
He gathered himself upright again and bolted with the thundering herd, as if a contender in the Kentucky Derby, no limping, nuthin' (except gushing blood from the entance wound).
Off the sticks now, I swung my weapon with him, until there was enough gap to fire again without risking any other animal, led him for a split second and let drive with the "solid" DGS (actually a FMJ in N. American terminology).
This one hit him in the right side gut as planned, (hoping to criss-cross his vitals the opposite direction and break the left shoulder before exiting).
However, my solid smashed his spine instead, again, knocking him immediately to the ground, this time in a mighty cloud of dust.
He never moved again and we never heard a death bellow.
As I made that shot, I had guestimated the range to be around 120 paces and rapidly lengthening but again the PH thought it much farther - 150 meters at least (whatever, doesn't matter a whole bunch, just good conversation).
He obviously would have croaked from the first shot with the DGX but who wants to loiter around in hopes it is so.
I also sacked a stallion Burchell's zebra with that rifle/DGX, again at something around 40 paces.
I shot him quartering toward me, spot on the shoulder, smashing it, then tearing through both lungs and stopping in a visible lump under the hide.
He only stumbled from the impact but didn't fall, then bolted on 3 legs faster than any horse with 4 legs I ever rode, then slammed into a thorn tree and fell dead right there.
I could not give him the other barrel due to the herd thundering away with him.
In conclusion, I would use the DGX (and/or DGS) again for thick skinned game.
HOWEVER, it is imperative that hunters use enough gun, as Robert Ruark used to say.
My 2 centavos is: old fashioned style bullets seem to fail most often when driven at significantly higher velocity than they were designed to operate at and newer (harder) designs seem to fail most often at lower velocities.
Cheerio,
Velo Dog.
