Premium bullets needed for PG?

[SStomcat]

I’ve been wondering if a premium soft bullet like A frame, Northfork SS has a significant advantage over other SS. Now this is with respect to all PG big and small and not to be mixed up with DG

 

[375Fox]

In my opinion yes. Bonded bullets give predictable performance and penetration on bone on shoulder shots on eland, kudu, zebra, and larger PG. You are giving up some performance on smaller game like springbok, impala, duiker where premium bullets don’t expand as well, but I’d take predictable performance over bullets that have opportunity to fragment and give varying results. The vitals on African game are further forward than North American game and correct shot placement is on the shoulder not behind the shoulder.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

In my opinion yes. Bonded bullets give predictable performance and penetration on bone on shoulder shots on eland, kudu, zebra, and larger PG. You are giving up some performance on smaller game like springbok, impala, duiker where premium bullets don’t expand as well, but I’d take predictable performance over bullets that have opportunity to fragment and give varying results. The vitals on African game are further forward than North American game and correct shot placement is on the shoulder not behind the shoulder.

I think 375Fox has it exactly right. I took 200 grain AccuBonds for my .300 Win Mag on.my last trip. All bullets passed through and the animals all did the "bang flop" or took just a couple of steps. The PG ranged from a small impala ewe up through a big waterbuck bull. If I had wanted another zebra or an eland, the bullets would have been fine. Would I have used a standard 180 grain Win, Rem or Fed? Not as long as I had a choice. I don't want an animal to suffer, and an animal hit and lost is an animal you pay for.

 

[JimP]

On both of my hunts I have used Barnes TTSX out of my 340 Weatherby, all plains game.

For the big part standard cup and core bullets would have worked, but then you have the what if senerio come up where you need a premium bullet. As most know with hunting Africa you'll have animals of opportunity where a premium bullet is needed and if all that you have are cup and core bullets what are you going to do when that trophy animal is standing there?

 

[K-man]

I'm sure others will say this too, but the bullet does all the work. The gun, powder, and shooter are just the delivery system. To spend the time and effort and money to get to your dream hunt in Africa, the couple of dollars more for a premium bullet is negligible. If you have ever been the last one in line behind a P.H., two trackers with your head down because you wounded an animal you will make sure you will do everything in your power to not lose or wound an animal. The only reason to consider a different bullet is if a premium doesn't group well in your rifle.

 

[Brian]

If you go for NF bullet you should ask them about the Lion bullet, I think it is called the PP. Their regular bullet is very tough and you will get some pass through.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I'm sure others will say this too, but the bullet does all the work. The gun, powder, and shooter are just the delivery system. To spend the time and effort and money to get to your dream hunt in Africa, the couple of dollars more for a premium bullet is negligible. If you have ever been the last one in line behind a P.H., two trackers with your head down because you wounded an animal you will make sure you will do everything in your power to not lose or wound an animal. The only reason to consider a different bullet is if a premium doesn't group well in your rifle.

If one premium bullet doesn't group well in a rifle, there are many other controlled expansion bullets available.One of them will probably work. If you can't find one that does, using standard "Wal-mart" ammo probably won't group either.

 

[JD Noblin]

In my judgment and experience, a premium bullet on PG is a must. I've used Northforks, A-Frames, Barnes, and Hammers and I've had tremendous success with all of them. On my trip last year the Hammer Hunter bullet out of a 275 Rigby saved me on the biggest Kudu I've ever taken (62"). It was a snap-shot through bush and I mis-judged the steep angle of the Kudu and hit him in the right flank. The Hammer shed its petals in the gut (as it's designed to do) but the solid shank penetrated all the way up through the chest cavity and into the left lung. The bull ran over 200 yards but did succumb to the lung shot. If I had been using any other bullet it probably would have been stopped by the gut and I would have likely lost the Kudu.

Overall, my two favorite PG bullets are: (1) the Hammers as they have very good G7 BCs, are easy to tune, and kill quickly (2) the Northforks which hit like Thor's Hammer, penetrate well, and can be tuned pretty easily (its not a long distance bullet as they have the BC of a brick and shed velocity pretty quick at long distances).

 

[Deepfork]

I’ve been wondering if a premium soft bullet like A frame, Northfork SS has a significant advantage over other SS. Now this is with respect to all PG big and small and not to be mixed up with DG

Yes its important and you have stated the reason why. Big and small.....everything in between too. Your bullet has to be suited to the biggest, toughest animal you might have the opportunity to take. A 150 gr Winchester power point from a 30-06 would be fine for a Impala. Bad choice for a Eland, Kudo or Zebra though.

 

[CZDiesel]

There are a lot of bullets that I consider “Premium”, having said that yes! I always use “Premium” bullets when I hunt but they vary…
For Arizona and New Mexico Couse Deer and Mule Deer I use Hornady SST as they have a great BC and work great on thin skinned game but for heavy game like Elk and African Plains Game I’d only use a Bonded!
Again different, for Elk because they can be shot at much much longer ranges so the Nosler AccuBond is great and I suspect it would be on African Plains Game too but I’m taking the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw which is much tougher.
The Safari is very expensive and ammo is not, take the best!

 

[Andrew62]

I have had great success with Barnes and Swift. Just last week in Africa I took an eland with my .308 using Swift Aframes, 125 yard shot, it went maybe 40-50 yards, performed beautifully.

 

[YancyW]

In my judgment and experience, a premium bullet on PG is a must. I've used Northforks, A-Frames, Barnes, and Hammers and I've had tremendous success with all of them. On my trip last year the Hammer Hunter bullet out of a 275 Rigby saved me on the biggest Kudu I've ever taken (62"). It was a snap-shot through bush and I mis-judged the steep angle of the Kudu and hit him in the right flank. The Hammer shed its petals in the gut (as it's designed to do) but the solid shank penetrated all the way up through the chest cavity and into the left lung. The bull ran over 200 yards but did succumb to the lung shot. If I had been using any other bullet it probably would have been stopped by the gut and I would have likely lost the Kudu.

Overall, my two favorite PG bullets are: (1) the Hammers as they have very good G7 BCs, are easy to tune, and kill quickly (2) the Northforks which hit like Thor's Hammer, penetrate well, and can be tuned pretty easily (its not a long distance bullet as they have the BC of a brick and shed velocity pretty quick at long distances).

Not to sidetrack too much, but where did you get that Kudu??

 

[Tra3]

I think about what bullet one would prefer to hunt elk with, then use that bullet in Africa.
A variety of PG are quite large. A better bullet give you a better chance when a minor miss occurs.
Frequently you will see people post about how cheap ammo is in comparison to the cost of a hunt. How much ammo can you buy with the cost of a $1500-$2000 wounded and lost animal?
I’m partial to Barnes.
Note: if you use a .375h&h, you can use about any bullet and still get great results on PG.

 

[Sabre]

I feel like there has been a lot of ammo questions lately. So I feel like a broken record. But I agree with 375Fox and I prefer bonded bullets. More specifically, I really like the Federal Terminal Ascent and also their Trophy Bonded Tip.

With non bonded bullets I didn't like fragmentation I saw out of them. And with monolithic copper I have had less consistency in performance and also varying accuracy from gun to gun. All copper bullets are good, I'm not saying they aren't, but I have, so far, found bonded to be more consistent.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I’ve been wondering if a premium soft bullet like A frame, Northfork SS has a significant advantage over other SS. Now this is with respect to all PG big and small and not to be mixed up with DG

Your question lacks some background like the caliber you'll be shooting as well as the species of PG you'll be pursuing. But with that said I am a proud and unashamed in the least lover of the the NorthFork bonded cores. At this point I've lost count of how many animals in Africa have been taken by me and the family in various calibers. I'll share my favorite NF experience.

My younger son was moving for an impala, what would be his first big game animal of any kind. As Jacques of @JKO HUNTING SAFARIS was leading him in and I sat perched on a ridge above them, the herd they were moving in on did not have a ram that Jacques thought worth taking.

However while on this stalk 3 zebra meandered down the opposite hill towards Jacques and my son. I sat there praying that Jacques would not put my boy on one of these zebra as he was shooting the not so overly powerful 7x57 M70 I had bought for him.

I'm sure God heard my prayers but Jacques didn't. We watched as they maneuvered into position. One shot on a hard quartering too frontal was taken. The bullet hit just inside the stallion's left shoulder, traversed across the heart, through the right lung coming to rest under the skin just behind the right shoulder. Dead zebra. When we cut the animal open, the blood vessels at the top of the heart had all been severed and the heart just rolled out of the animal.

Again from a 7x57 rifle shooting a not so heavy 140gr NF bonded core. So you be the judge of that performance.

So to kind of say the same thing as @K-man, why would you go with a lesser bullet? It's just not worth the cost savings when you add everything else up.

 

[Kevin375]

I have killed a good numbers of plains game with classic cup and core bullets like Hornady Interlock, Hornady SST, Hornady ELD-X, Nosler Ballistic-Tip, Sierra Game King, PMP Soft Point, Norma Vulkan and Berger Elite Hunter.
They did the job most of the time. Indeed, I had a big fail with a Berger that exploded at the impact on a blue wildebeest. The penetration was in that case not deep enough and I had to shoot the animal again twice to put it down. But this bullet was also too frangible for shooting at close range.

Unfortunately, we didn't recovered the bullet, but I think I also had a fail with a Interlock 300 gr in .375 H&H on a yound eland bull shot at very close range in the thick bush. We tracked the animal almost one day before we found it dead. My shot was well placed, behind the shoulder, but despite the animal was side-on, we don't know what happened and workers who skinned and gutted the animal were not able to give us more informations. I'm pretty sure my bullet burst when it touched the animal.

Very often, with other classic cup and core bullets, I saw a separation between the jacket and the lead core and even more when bones were hit.

With a classic caliber and if not pushed too fast, I can still use these classic bullets on small and medium plains game but if I have the choice now, I prefer bonded, partition or lead free bullets.
With magnum calibers, I will only use Premium bullets, except if I only plan to shoot baboons and jackals.

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

I’ve shot and killed a lot of PG and North American animals with Barnes TSX and TTSX Bullets. My preferred choice from .22-250 to .375H&H. Never had one run off and not recovered in a short period of time. From small cats to giraffe, Buff, Croc, Hippo all with Barnes TSX or TTSX. Nosler Partitions used to be my choice until I switched to Barnes close to 20 Years Ago. Likely close to 100 animals with Barnes TSX or TTSX if you include Coyote, Pigs, Jackal, Baboon, and a few other non-trophy animals…

There have been a lot of PG killed dead with non-premium bullets and well placed shots. Emphasis on well placed shots…

 

[Oldwavy]

Ask them about the Lion bullet if you choose the NF bullet. The bullet does all the work, as I'm sure others will agree.

 

[Oldwavy]

Ask them about the Lion bullet if you choose the NF bullet. The bullet does all the work, as I'm sure others will agree.

 

[mdwest]

do you NEED one? I'd argue no... a reasonable cup and core unbonded, SP bullet like a rem core-lokt or federal power point will get the job done... Ive shot a handful of PG with core-lokt from a 30-06 and a handful more with Hornady Interbonds from a 7x57 (using camp rifles) and not had any problems.. and most of the PH's I know dont spend the money for premium bullets.. they shoot S&B, PPU, core-lokt, etc (something reliable and affordable thats easy to obtain in their home country)..

that said... if youre paying a small fortune to go on a hunt somewhere outside the US.. why wouldnt you use a premium bullet? the cost difference whether you are hand loading or buying factory premiums, even if it is double what "regular" ammunition costs, is negligible when you consider the entire cost of the hunt (airfare, trophy fees, etc)...

Even if the premium bullet only provides a small advantage (in many cases the advantage can be significant), why wouldnt you spend the extra $2-$4 per trigger squeeze to gain that advantage?

If you take 10 animals.. youre talking about an additional $40 in costs max... if you practice prior to going over and shoot 2 boxes of your premium ammo... youre talking an additional $160... so all in, $200 more in costs.. when youre total hunt budget is likely north of $10K...

seems like a no brainer to me.... for $200 I'll take every advantage I can get...