Cheesehead
AH senior member
It looks like the jacket thickness listed for the 550 grain .458 round nose is .050". I don't know how that compares to other commonly used bullets.
So I talked to Jeremy at Aria Ammunition today and he’s sending me 10rds of the Hawk 550gr 458 WinMag…
He told me these are his favorite for Buff in Africa! He said that the impact and energy dump are crazy and that just hit harder than anything for a SP in 458 WinMag!
He’s been out more than most of us combined!
Now this is his loaded round that has a 550gr Hawk at 2200fps! Serious energy!View attachment 631843View attachment 631844View attachment 631845
His exact words were 550gr Hawks! A sight to behold!
Here are also a few classic SP bullets from Hornady, the predecessor model of the DG series and which, despite their appearance, did their job on buffaloes. The driving force behind was the cartridge 460 Weatherby Magnum. Maybe that is the difference. They were heart or lung shots, not frontal head shots where many other bullets could also fail.
It's not as some people here believe. I have also used other bullets with the same cartridge, including the Swift A-Frame and the Barnes TSX. On the other side, with completely different cartridges such as the 10,75x68 or the 11,2x72 Schüler, I used very marginal old bullets that also worked well thanks to a good shot placement, but I want not repeat such experiments.
All of this to say that one should remain somewhat critical when it comes to bullets and not immediately condemn some of that.
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I can’t understand why you continue doubling down on your statements. You posted photos of 5 of your bullets that appear in the 30-60% weight retention range. If you posted 5 swift A frames they’d be in 85-90% percent weight retention. If you posted 5 Barnes TSX they’d be 95-100% weight retention. I’m glad non-bonded bullets killed buffalo for you in past, but even from your own photos they are not dependable performance. Your definition of minimal difference between in the working of bullets and minimal difference of remaining weight is apparently very different from my definition. 30% vs 90% is a significant difference.What was meant by my first post was the difference between the SP bullets that are bonded and the older models that are not. I used both types of bullets without noticing a big difference in the working and the remaining weight of the bullet after impact and penetration. I have also used premium bonded bullets to shot buffaloes, including the Swift A-Frame and the Barnes TSX, otherwise I could not say anything about their working compared to other bullets.
As for the Hawk bullets, some say they are clones of the old Barnes bullets. In this case they have the same jacket thickness as that of the Hornady bullets. Woodleigh and especially Degol make classic SP RN bullets with thick jackets.
Hornady .458 500gr Interbond RN bullet
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CZDiesel, Good job. That is very interesting, Thanks. Did he say how thick the jacket is on these?
Please keep us up today on your results. When are you going to hunt buffalo? Brian
He uses custom proprietary powders and won’t give out his powder info. You can always call themI am amazed that it can reach this speed with such a heavy bullet,
You need a press load even at 100gn less.
What powder and load does he use, please ask him.
Thank you.
So this is my understanding on Hawk bullets and I’ve called them but have not been able to talk to someone yet. To be fair I called them late this afternoon so being a Friday they might have been closing shop…Thanks to all for the information on the Hawk Bullets jacket thickness's.
I have seen Woodleigh SP bullets, that were used on DG and normal game and those of other manufacturers that are not bonded. The difference between them is very noticeable in regards to retained weight. This is not a put down of the other manufacturers just my observations. I think if Hornady had of used the Interbond Bullet Grand Veneur posted in the DGX they may of had few complaints about them.
For bullets used on non DG and non Large Game ( animals the size of cattle) there is probably no need for bonded bullets if the lead and jackets are strong enough to do the job. I have had conventional 130grain 270 bullets fail on pigs.
I get the impression I did not explain myself properly. I was talking about soft nosed/straight lead bullets, ones that expand not FMJ's. Most of the purely lead bullets were probably used in the black powder days, not sure on this.The cartridge 600 Nitro Express was perhaps a bad example, as were all the big bore cartridges that are primary used with FMJ bullets.
I get the impression I did not explain myself properly. I was talking about soft nosed/straight lead bullets, ones that expand not FMJ's. Most of the purely lead bullets were probably used in the black powder days, not sure on this.
That and being .458 bullets being available in DGX Bonded is why I used them. And that bullet totally failed. I bought 5 boxes of Bonded bullets and a box of solids. Waste of money because not all I can use them for is practice but I'm left trying to find an acceptable bullet to use in that 113 year old rifle. Or only use solids in it buy those need to be a metal clad lead bullet also. Not recommended to run a mono-metal bullet through those old barrels. Ironically I could have used a solid in that head on shot. But had those bonded softs loaded because I was hunting a huge bull in a herd.