Hunter-Habib
AH legend
Hi, @franzfmdavis
Very logical question to ask. Let me explain. When I first began hunting in Africa in 1974… the standard practice was to load a soft point for the first shot and solids for the follow up shot. In a magazine rifle, it was soft point in the chamber and solids in the magazine. In a double rifle, it was soft point in the first barrel & solid in the second barrel.
The logic was that (as a client hunter) your first shot would invariably be made from a perfectly broadside position (which your white hunter would get you to) and from this angle… the soft points of those days (for example: the RWS Kegelspitze Cone Point) could be reliably expected to penetrate into the heart-lung region behind the shoulder (provided that you avoided the heavy shoulder bone/humerus/scapula). After the first shot, the Cape buffalo would be either departing (i.e offering only quartering away or going away shots) or (relatively less commonly) charging (i.e offering only frontal shots). At these angles, the soft points of those days seldom could be reliably expected to penetrate deep enough into the vital organs. Hence, we had to rely exclusively upon the solid for follow up shots.
My initial set up (in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum magazine rifles) was one RWS 300Gr Kegelspitze Cone Point followed by RWS 300Gr nickel jacketed round nosed FMJ solids (and later, Remington 300Gr Hornady round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solids starting from 1982) in the rest of the magazine.
In this double barreled .458 Winchester Magnum Belgium made boxlock ejector, it was a (hand loaded) Hornady 500Gr soft point in the left barrel for the first shot and a (hand loaded) Hornady 500Gr round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solid in the right barrel for the follow up shot.
Aside from the fact that soft points generated larger wound cavities in the vital organs of Cape buffalo on body shots to the heart-lung region (which accelerated blood loss and led to the game hemorrhaging faster from blood loss), they possessed one more advantage. They did not over penetrate. You see, the vast majority of African Cape buffalo are hunted in herds. And using solid bullets always runs the risk of accidentally wounding another animal after your bullet passes completely through your intended target animal. During my first Safari to Kenya in 1974, I had (in fact) accidentally wounded a Cape buffalo cow (which I didn’t even notice) when my bullet (an RWS 300Gr round nosed nickel jacketed FMJ solid) had passed through my targeted bull. Back in those days, you could barely get away with this sort of thing. I hesitate to think of the legal repercussions if a client made such a mistake on a Safari today.
In the mid 1980s, the concept of the controlled expansion bullet was first developed. Swift came out with the A Frame in 1984. Jack Carter developed the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw in 1985. Barnes came out with the X in 1989. I was first introduced to the Federal Premium Trophy Bonded Bear Claw 300Gr factory load in 1993. And after just one Safari, I resolved to never employ solid bullets on Cape buffalo anymore. Here, we had a bullet which could cleanly penetrate a Cape buffalo from ANY angle while generating a desirably large wound cavity without any risk of passing completely through the target animal & accidentally wounding another head of game.
Even though (post 1993) I mostly used the Federal Premium Trophy Bonded Bear Claw, I used other types of controlled expansion bullets over the years on Cape buffalo as well. The Barnes TSX and Rhino Solid Shank in particular, are stoutly constructed enough to even reach a Cape buffalo’s vital organs with shots taken at acute angles. They can even reach the brain with a shot taken under the Cape buffalo’s boss. Hence, I completely abandoned the solid for my Cape buffalo hunting purposes.
I hope that this provides some useful insight to your question.
On a related subject: In my field experience, a non expanding bullet under .450 caliber can’t be expected to reliably kill a Cape buffalo with a heart-lung shot all too quickly anyway.
Last edited:
