After finding positive reports I'm thinking about trying some 375 cal Safari Raptors, 275 gn in my .375 H&H.
Get a bigger gun! LOL.... OK, jest...... Get a Larger Caliber is more true to statement.
OK OK....
1). Is this bullet weight sufficient for Cape Buffalo ?
Yes, it will exit broadsides, but will leave a tiny little hole......(Ok already, we know)......... LOL..... Yes in 375 caliber it is more than enough bullet and will out penetrate and out traumatize any conventional premium within caliber......
2). I see two versions of this bullet. One a design from which 6 petals separate and the other ( TSG = Thick Skinned Game ) from which 3 petals separate. For Cape Buff which is the preferred bullet or do both perform admirably enough that I could use either ?
I think it was sometime June of 2012 that someone tried the 275 Raptor on buffalo shoulder and complained that some of the blades not making through buffalo shoulder........... So Dan called and we discussed it, and he thought he would make some of the Raptors in .375 caliber with 3 blades instead of the normal 6 blades, theory being the larger blades would penetrate better. I told him its something we could try and see, and he knew I was leaving for Australia in a few weeks to shoot a lot of buffalo. I told him I was going to take my 9.3 B&M to try it out as well, and decided to make the 9.3 255 gr Raptor a 3 blade as well, he would get those to me and test in Australia against the normal 6 blade version........
I received the 3 blade versions in time to load and take them, but not in time to do any test work.
I had the 9.3 B&M in Africa earlier that same year using then the 210 ESP Raptor to really good success for a small caliber. Not as good as 458 or even 416 on plains game, but not bad either, and was very impressed with the terminal performance of the 210 Raptor. I would later change that bullet for my use to a 200 gr Flat Base Raptor, which I like much better.
So we get the 9.3 in Australia and start shooting buffalo........ From observation and a little digging, yes the 3 blade versions seemed to penetrate better, both blades and even the bullet itself. Blades could easily be found in the chest cavity. But, I only shot about 10 buffalo with the thing, and firmed up my beliefs that buffalo just are not much impressed with Rat calibers. I even shot a couple with the 210 Raptors and got broadside exits, but buffalo just didn't pay much attention to any hits with 9.3. I put it away and went to larger caliber I was playing with 475 B&M, which also did not impress me as being any better at all than 458 caliber........ But it was damn sure more effective on buffalo than 9.3.
With Raptors it is a fact that the smaller the caliber, the smaller the blades and those tiny blades tend to stay closer to center wound channel than the larger calibers...... I have tested most Raptors here, and many .224 caliber Raptors and 308 Caliber Raptors....... Smaller blades that make it away from center just don't penetrate as well on their own as the larger caliber blades..... Common Sense and logical right? Of course.......... And in my observations of the larger blades of the 3 blade version they did penetrate deeper than the 6 blades.....
When we made it back home I tested these and tests results confirmed the observations in the field.
What I did not observe is that buffalo reacted differently to taking either bullet. Both ended up being dead at some point. What I do know is that you won't be at any disadvantage with the 3 blade version.
As to why the base bullet penetrated deeper, I really can only speculate on some factors, but nothing concrete as I never looked into it any further.
3). I've read nothing but positive reports on these bullets but is there anything troblesome I should be aware of ?
Will most likely be the easiest load workup you have ever done. The bullet should shoot one hole with most anything you load at 50 yards........ And, the 300 gr Solid is the same bullet, just no hollow point, same overall length, same bearing surface, same hole with same load, so no tweaking and hoping to get a solid to shoot with your Raptor....... With years and 1000s on top of 1000s of Raptors and solids downrange, if I ever had a rifle that would not shoot Raptors or CEB Solids, I would either get rid of it or put a new barrel on it..... This has happened twice and I did just that. Of course, those rifles would not shoot anything else either......
He may still have some good advice for your choices.
HEH...... Get a bigger gun.............
