Big Bores Can Give Big Results

Brent and his wife, with 500 MDM and buffalo...............

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How many of you consider a 416 caliber gun a "Big Bore".........???????

I bet most of you do, that would be normal, conventional thinking. 416s have been used many years, some by very successful PHs in Africa, and they swear by them. I don't really fall in that category when it comes to buffalo, elephant and hippo. Lion, bear and leopard, superb medicine............ But I really think they come up short on the "heavies"............

The first time I ever went to the field with a 416 it was a Winchester M70 416 Remington, I took it as my light gun. The heaviest game planned on that trip was buffalo, and I had a 458 Lott along for that mission, and the 416 along for plains game. I may have had some other bullets loaded, I just don't recall exactly, I am sure I probably had some heavy 400 Barnes solids along for that "Just in Case" sort of scenario, but for the most part I used a 340 Woodleigh at 2500 or so fps for zebra, hartebeest, sable and my only Roan. I really got some mixed results, when compared to the same game with 458s........ Some good, some I think should have been better, so I was not off to a great love of 416 after this trip. I did however really like that 340 gr Woodliegh, I figure it would have been great for bear and or lion. I did use the 340 and416 for my only leopard as well on this trip. I did not try it out on buffalo or anything heavy.

I did take a nice Roan, the only one I have ever taken. Interesting story as well. I shot him at about 60-70 yards with the 416. He dropped in his tracks at the shot, which was just off the point of his left shoulder. I was impressed for a few seconds, he dropped in the long grass and for a few seconds I could not see him at all. Then all the sudden he was back on his feet, and looking for us it seemed. When he saw us, here he came, full charge! Yes, antelope can go crazy from time to time. This one came hard on, I lined up frontal chest and shot again, which slowed him down considerably, and then fired a third one before he went down for the count. He made it to about 20-25 yards from us before being stopped, he was no real danger that far away, but we were truly amazed at the charge. All good fun.................

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Still, after this trip I was not seriously impressed with 416s................ This was just Pre-B&M as well.

I also ended up with a Ruger #1 in 416 Rigby at some point, and it was a great shooter, but never went to the field with it. I later picked up a big heavy Ruger Magnum in 416 Rigby, and it would not shoot for crap, so I turned it into a 510 Wells, which is a .510 caliber 460 Weatherby case. Its a big dog. Still way to big and heavy to tote around.

Later I developed the 416 B&M, it was the third B&M to be done, and was a real winner in 416 circles. I took Gun #1 to Zimbabwe in 2007 and shot one cow buffalo with it, using a 350 Swift A Frame. It did, OK, buffalo was dead, so not much to complain about, but still just not that impressed with it.

I built another 416 B&M from a Super Grade M70 with 20 inch stainless barrel. In 2008 I took the boys to South Africa for their first trip, and they used it extensively on some plains game with very good success. On this trip we were shooting 350 gr Barnes TSX, and it hammered, I believe some better than what the 340 Woodleigh had done in the 416 Remington. This is Matthew with his Kudu and then after that Mark David with his Oryx

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Later I built another 20 inch gun, with a Myrtle Stock from AI in the early days from South Dakota.......... This gun is the gun I use to do all the pressure work and load data in 416 B&M.

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Along the way, I met a fellow from TX that ended up being a good friend. Sean Russell, and he was 416 B&M nuts..... Had to have one, so he had one built and a year or so later was able to take his first and only trip to Africa. By then we had developed the Cutting Edge Solids and Raptors, and this is what he used. Sean used a 350 gr CEB Solid for the heavy work, and the 325 Raptors for first shots on buffalo and other game he ended up taking. He had a hell of a good trip and I was very happy for him. Sean was not in the best of health, and he drank way too much. It ended up being the "death" of him literally, and he passed in 2018. I was glad he had the experience he did.

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Sean was a bullet digger as well, he ended up sending all the bullets he recovered. Of course I catalogued them and still have them along with others. Sean came to visit with us in December of 2017 for a couple of weeks. We did a lot of shooting during that visit too.
 
Somewhere along the way, I ended up with a 20 inch Stainless gun and a black Ultimate stock. This was getting good to me, very light rifle, less than 7 lbs. Jon Sundra also took a liking to it as well and did a short article which included it, and stated it was his favorite B&M at the time. Like all articles they get some things confused... LOL...... But overall pretty good............

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My last 416 B&M is a real winner. I decided to do a 18 inch barrel. I bet you guys have heard over the years just how "efficient" shorter, fatter cartridges are, for example this was the cartridge Hype back when the 300 Winchester Short Mag was introduced, along with all the other WSMs. Well, it is very slightly sort almost true in those small calibers, but only something you can really measure through electronics. I never really bought into that, until we started increasing the bore size, then that efficiency starts to show up in a "big bore" way. Remember the mention earlier concerning the 20 inch 50 B&M, and how I gained ZERO velocity over the 18 inch barrel? That is the efficiency coming to play in .500 caliber. Think inside barrel cubic inches of powder burn. With a 1/2 inch bore, you have a lot of cubic inches in which to burn powder, a shorter, fatter powder column gets a head start over a thinner more narrow powder column in the same bore diameter. 458 B&M and 458 Winchester have basically the same powder capacity, with the 458 B&M being 2.240 inches and the 458 Winchester at 2.5 inches. 458 B&M at 18-20 inches is equal to 458 Winchester at 24 inches, this is that shorter fatter powder column and efficiency starting to show up. 50 B&M has more inside cubic inches in which to burn the same capacity of powder than 458 B&M, hence 50 is more efficient, 458 has more inside cubic inches to burn than 416 of equal length. To increase burn, as caliber drops, you have to increase barrel length to equal. While 458-.500 is great at 18 inches, you start to loose some of the efficiency with .416 and so forth............... Hell with it, its good enough at 18!

Combined with the lightweight Winchester Ultimate stock this gun came in light at 6.5 lbs no scope. Extremely handy, light and easy to carry. It became my favorite 416 of all time, and still is today. It is dressed up in full redneck camo to boot!

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This configuration gained some popularity in Alaska. Being stainless and the Ultimate stock made it a perfect Alaska rifle, and 416 is plenty of caliber for the encounters you might find there. There are two guides in Alaska that carry 416 B&Ms similar to mine, here is one of those............

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In 2013 I went back to Australia to do some buffalo shooting with my buddy Paul Truccolo, this time I carried this little 416 along to play with, and my Myrtle Stocked 500 MDM. The little 416 was a dream to carry and hunt with, but honestly it started to struggle with buffalo. I took around 10 buffalo with it, and there was a marked difference in how buffalo reacted to 416 caliber as opposed to 458+. Oh yes, it would kill them, but it just took more time, more bullets, and there was no doubt less buffalo reaction. I was NOT impressed with 416 calibers as Buffalo Slayers...............Better than lesser calibers, such as 375, but not as big a hammer as 458+.......................

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I think if I ever returned to Alaska for bear, I would carry the little 18 inch 416 and be well gunned. Another friend did just that a few years ago and took a big brown, DRT on the spot. Its a superb caliber for anything less than buffalo. But a true big bore? Maybe if comparing it to something less..............
 
came hard on
Ah the old days..............
come up short
currently....
Still way to big and heavy to tote around
I think we've all been through that ...
shorter, fatter
Easy!!!!!!!
shorter fatter
Again!!!??? I'll only take so much!!!
its good enough at 18!
Ah...young and dumb..........
light and easy to carry
Yep...had em like that too!!
 
@Michael458 thanks for the technical info, stories and, the pictures. This is really special coming from someone that "has been there, done that".

Oh, and those old double rifles and drillings may not be efficient as a bolt gun but some of them are works of art.
 
Oh, and those old double rifles and drillings may not be efficient as a bolt gun but some of them are works of art.

Thanks Geeze, for the fine words. Appreciated.

I love the 500 Nitro Express. While it is rimmed, designed for doubles or singles, it is "The Cartridge" to live up to in my opinion. When I developed the 500 MDM, I had hopes that it would equal 500 NE at least. Well, designed for the bolt guns, and able to really put the pressures up in the stronger action, the 500 MDM easy exceeded the power levels of the 500 NE, and did so in a smaller, lighter, and easy to carry package.

500 NE is a fine cartridge, and if I was doing double rifles, then that is what it would be chambered in........

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This is my buddy Sam's 500 NE, its a Heym. As stated, Sam has about 2 dozen or so Double Rifles, they are very expensive. The Heym goes for around $18'000 or so. Sam also has a 577 NE, it goes for around $25'000.

I like the 500 NE much better. Its light by DR standards, as I recall coming in just under 11 lbs.

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Much of the experience here in the Carolina's with Big Bores comes down to 45/70. Some of my first experiences as well. I still own a lot of 45/70s, lever guns & single shots. I don't have as many as I used to have, either sold, or converted to .500 caliber. What is better than .458 caliber? You win if you guessed .500 caliber.

Back in the 1990s we didn't have any serious bullets designed for 45/70. It really was not taken serious in the Big Bore community and not a cartridge taken to Africa much except as a novelty. No one had spent much time making any serious bullets for it. About the best we had at that time was big hard cast bullets, 400-450 gr or so, and they were not that good when it come to buffalo +. Fact is, above mentioned, I damn near got in a serious situation with hard cast, not a perfect shot, along with some confusion at the moment with the PH I was hunting with. Fortunately it ended well, but it could have been a serious issue. Part of that, but not all, being an inferior bullet for the mission. I won't repeat that here, you can see more details prior to this post.

Below is a photo, guessing from somewhere around 2005-2006 or so. CEB and North Forks had not made bullets yet. This is what we had, and some of these would not work in a lever gun, being too long. Still some really good improvements over the 1990s.......When I hunted buffalo I think in 2002, I would have done much better using that Barnes Buster, while not perfect, it would have been a hell of a lot better than a Cast bullet. The Barnes 330 FN Solid is or was a damn good bullet, but at that length you see below it was single shot only. JD had sent down some of the 305 Brass HPs by Fricke, they were very good as well.

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Below is a prime example of some of the inconsistencies you will have when using Cast Bullets............... Even at moderant velocities....

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In 1999 I was on a bear hunt in California, decided I needed to use one of my big Winchester 1886s for that. I was using a 405 Remington and pushing it too hard in that longer barrel. It would have been getting close to 2000 fps, and that is 400 fps too fast for that bullet, it will break apart, and did on this bear. Not a giant bear, probably 300 lbs max, and so far up a Ponderosa Pine all I could see was a black ball of fur on a limb! I could not tell head from ass. I figured just to shoot in the middle, and sort everything out after that. I did, bear came tumbling down hard. I was on the high side of the big Ponderosa, and started down to the bear which was struggling to get back on his feet, I got tangled up with a damn dog, and went face down sliding to the bear! Oh Crap, I held the gun up and out, while the front of my body was getting ground down sliding fast to the bear. I managed to stop about 6-8 feet before hitting the bear head first. I jumped up, and put a second round in to sort it out. All good, and it was a very unusual bear with all the white on the chest.

The 405 Remington had broken up, hitting in the rear, a piece exiting the leg, then entering the bear again and taking out one lung. It was a long way down that tree, which I am sure was a hell of a beating in and of itself. Second round exited out and sorted it out.

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I found myself back in Zimbabwe in 2000, and had a Marlin along. I used it on a few things, and it was not impressive to say the least.

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I did have one big problem with a young kudu that we shot for bait, lion bait. It was only 30 yards, and a angled shot on the shoulder. Using a 405 Remington at 1850 fps, it broke up on the shoulder, glanced off, never entering the vitals. One leg severely damaged, it managed to run until it was out of 45/70 range, I had to ask my PH to finish the mission. I was not happy about that.

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Later in 2000 I found myself in Alaska on a moose hunt. This time I was carrying a Uberti 1885 45/70. We hunted for several days, it was cold, it was wet, and it was nasty. Finally this odd moose came strolling by, and I was sick of this damn weather and ready to shoot something. Told my guide, Gary Gray, we were going to shoot this moose today, end of story. The moose came trotting by, I shot, and splinters flew, I had hit a tree about 10-12 feet in front of me, small about 3 inches in diameter. Moose never took notice, I took off running after it, reloading along the way, I managed to stop and shoot again, getting a good shot just behind the shoulder, as the moose spun around I was able to hit him again. On this trip I was using a 350 Hornady which at the time was designed for 458 Winchester, and it would have been the "Premium" 45/70 bullet of the day at that time. It would hold up, and did. When we we were digging the bullets out and processing the meat, we found the second shot I had fired, perfect bullet performance. As we continued, we found what was left of the first bullet, it had indeed went through the tree, hit the moose, but had lost its jacket in the process. I went back, cut that section of tree out, and brought it home as well.

While the 350 Hornady had performed very well, we still didn't have good dedicated bullets for 45/70.............

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We will skip 2002 and the buffalo in Zimbabwe, it is already on the thread......... We will now go to 2005, and just happens to be the last time I went to the field with 45/70. We had a bison shoot in January of 2005 in South Dakota. This was a shoot, and not a hunt. I had planned on two bison. I took a Winchester lever gun 1886 and that same Uberti Single shot 1885, both of course 45/70. On this trip I was shooting a softer, expanding cast bullet that I had been using, but forget now the name or where it came from. It was a dandy expanding bullet and was rather consistent in that aspect.

It was cold, I mean very cold. The ambient air temp was -32 degrees, wind chill at -53 degrees. I had the lever gun out, we picked a big bull and I went to work. He was running on the first shot, and I am not a good running shot, and basically gut shot him. It slowed him down however, and I hit him again, and again and maybe again until he went down. It was a struggle to get him in position for photos, but we did and was in the process of taken photos, myself and Jaun my wife behind the bull, and the rifle out front. I had my hands on top of him, and felt something move, and then noticed foggy air coming out his nostrils! Hell, he was not dead yet, I jumped up, ran around, grabbed the rifle, loaded it, and put another couple of finishing shots in. HEH HEH.... What a hoot, we had man handled this bison for photos, was in the process of taking photos, and damn he came back to life!
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The second one was really good to me. I had totally forgot I had the Uberti with me, this lever gun was doing me good! I hit the second bull good, he ran, hit him again, and I was running too. I caught up enough to fire the 3rd round and he took a tumble head over heel, very impressive looking. And big big fun! No big drama here, this one was down for the count............

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Still, while the 45/70 had got the job done, it was still not impressive when compared to larger capacity .458s............. We needed proper bullets designed for 45/70 that could handle bigger missions asked of it.
 
In 2006 I went to work on the various B&M cartridges, and I never went to the field again with 45/70. For the next 10+ years I would be so tied up in those, that all other cartridges took a back seat and were basically retired. If I was to use a lever gun, which I did later, it would be .500 caliber.

But along the way, I never forgot about the 45/70, and developed proper bullets for it with both Cutting Edge and North fork................ Now, the 45/70 could handle some serious missions that might be asked of it.

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Yesterday in the posts above you will see me mention a few times "bullet failure", and or the bullet broke up, and back in those days we didn't have any real 45/70 bullets. Most of that is true, but in some cases it actually is not the failure of the bullet and or the cartridge, it was mainly a failure of the operator, ME.

It was my fault that I was running some of the bullets faster than what they were designed to run. Not a failure of the bullet itself.

For instance, the 405 Remington bullet. It is actually a very good bullet, it may be one of the most accurate .458 caliber bullets I have ever shot. It was designed specifically for 45/70, and in its Factory Ammo it would run around 1200-1300 fps out the muzzle. At this velocity it would expand and hold together perfectly. However, trying to run it at 1800+ fps is a mistake, and will lead to bullet failure. This is an old photo from many years ago, showing the 405 at 3 different velocities. From these tests, 1600 FPS at the muzzle is the absolute Maximum Velocity you can run the bullet, and it still hold together............

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Twenty or more years ago, Hornady had a Round Nose 350 gr bullet that was designed for 458 Winchester. When the need came for a 45/70 bullet, Hornady very simply flattened the nose of the same bullet. This was a tremendous boost for 45/70 at the time, and I considered it the best bullet available for 45/70. As you can see, below 1600 fps it would not even expand, but at 1800 fps + it was a hammer..............and would even hold to 2400 fps.

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For some reason, unknown to me, Hornady changed the design of the 350 FN for 45/70. It was not near as tough a bullet. I learned this through the rumor grapevine, and decided I needed to have another look. In 2012 I retested the bullet, and sure enough it was expanding now at 1600 fps. It was less consistent as well in its terminal performance. I did not bother to test at higher velocity, but I suspect it would not hold up well above 1800 to 2000 fps.

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For one to be successful in the field, whatever your endeavor might be, from deer/pigs, to buffalo/elephant, one needs to know and understand the terminal ballistic behavior of the bullets you go to the field with. Regardless of cartridge or rifle. Always know and remember, "It's the Bullet that does all the Heavy Lifting"............ The bullet does all the work and can bring you success or failure! If you understand the limits of your bullet this will give you a big head start.

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Have you ever considered a big bore rifle for smaller game? You have much to gain, and little to loose by choosing a big bore for lesser missions. The biggest disadvantage you might run into is range. You are not going to in most cases shoot extreme ranges with the common big bore rifle, but done properly, you won't have any issues at all out to 250 or so yards, and that is a long way in the Carolinas, under most circumstances you will run into in the field.

Even in Alaska for moose and bear, I always preferred a larger caliber. In Africa I wanted the rifles I carried to be as versatile as possible, able to handle anything from Impala to Elephant if required. But this was always asking a lot of a big bore, and it all came down to choosing the right bullet.

In my early days in Africa, I found myself a few times with various 338 Winchesters. Thinking ahead, I always had some sort of Solid loaded up, for that just in case encounter with something large. I retired the 338s in favor of a Winchester M70 I had in Layne Simpsons 358 STA. I really fell in love with 358 caliber because of that rifle. I took 25+ head of plains game, from Impala to Eland with that gun and cartridge. It was a magic gun actually, it would shoot a 250 gr Hornady at 2850 fps, 275 gr Swift A Frame at 2750 fps, and a 310 Woodleigh Solid at 2400 fps, all to the same or very CLOSE POI at 100 yards. I carried all three loaded bullets on every hunt, and on a regular basis would interchange the 250 Hornady and the 275 Swift, depending on the task at hand. The Solids were for encounters with heavy game, and emergency use only, which never occurred and were never needed in the field. This is a case of taking a medium, and trying to get the most out of it.

One can do the same with a big bore rifle these days, because we now have plenty of very suitable bullets to accomplish this.

We will start at 416 caliber and work our way up...............

Stated earlier, the first time I took a 416 to the field was 2005 in Tanzania, used it on several species and the only bullet used was the 340 Woodleigh at 2500+ fps. According to my records the furthest shot was hartebeest at 275 yards. Most everything else was less than 150 and 3-4 animals were less than 60 yards. This 340 Woodleigh performed perfectly for what I was asking of it.

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Other bullets were recovered, they all were similar to the ones above. The test work before hand looked very similar as well................

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I think it was 2008 before going back to the field with 416, and at this time it was 416 B&M and my boys doing almost all the shooting with it. Now we had changed up to a 350 Barnes TSX, which I believe was a much better bullet than the Woodleigh. The boys shot Kudu, zebra, and oryx with it, and I believe terminal performance was better with the Barnes, and noticed more animal reaction to taking the bullets as well. Translation, the Barnes seemed to hit harder and animals went down quicker.

The test work before hand was good.......

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And three recovered bullets looked great.........

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Another good possible lighter bullet for 416 would have been the 300 Barnes TSX, but I never went to the field with it.

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The 350 Barnes TSX would have and could have been used on buffalo as well. 340 Woodleigh and 300 Barnes could have, but it would need to be a lung shot, and bypass hitting bone, hopefully..........

Another great bullet would have been the 325 North Fork, again, I never made it to the field with it either.......

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In 2013 I designed a new 416 caliber bullet that came in at 225 grs. It was a Cutting Edge Raptor. Light for caliber Raptors can do big things. A Raptor is the most wicked, devastating bullet I have ever seen. It literally rips animal tissue to shreds.

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I shot several buffalo with these 225 Raptors, and they did fine, bases exited full grown mature buffalo, so you can't ask for more. For Buffalo the problem with any bullet in 416, is the fact that it is not 458 caliber +. Buffalo are hard to impress.

I ran across two running pigs one day, I hit both of them too far back, again, I am not the best running shot, but it anchored both of them at the shot, and you can see some of the damage these bullets did to tissue.......

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Nasty, and since then these same bullets have been used for brown bear and many other animals with incredible success. Anything short of buffalo, hippo and elephant, in .416 caliber the 225 Raptor will handle it all with ease......... No need to look for another bullet for lighter work.........
 
Catching back up, where I left off. Talking about Light For Caliber bullets you can use for lesser critters here at home, in your big bore rifles......... Today we move back up to .458 caliber. This of course includes 45/70, which is what many of you are going to have on hand.

Now, we are talking lesser game, in our area, mostly deer/pigs...... in some areas black bear. When I say "lesser", that means mostly thin skinned game to me, and for the most part non dangerous game. Now make no mistake, a black bear can be something to be aware of no doubt, so before you take me to task on that issue understand I do not infer that the game we hunt here at home is any lesser than game elsewhere. What it does mean is you don't have to have a heavy caliber solids and big bore serious soft/Raptors or such to accomplish your mission.

Many years ago I found myself in Namibia. Primarily hunting leopard, which means you shoot other animals to use for bait. Leopards love rotten zebra meat, and zebra were plentiful. At the time I was shooting a 338 Winchester, running 250 gr Nosler Partitions at 2650 fps. Many of you would consider 338 Winchester a fairly powerful cartridge. Well, I am here to tell you it is a minor caliber rat gun when shooting zebra and other tough
plains game. I had a perfect shot on a zebra at 325 yards, dead steady prone position, dead on the shoulder. I fired, perfect hit. I honestly expected the zebra to just fall over and that would be it.

NOT. This zebra took off running like he had not been touched. Not even a flinch! Off we go, we track him about a 1/2 mile, blood everywhere along the way. We finally get to a herd of zebra, and two stallions are fighting! One of those stallions has blood running down his leg? Yes, its the one I hit, he ran 1/2 mile and is fighting with another one! Not as far this time, maybe a 100 yards or so, I shoot again, then 3 more good hits before he calls it a day. Total of 5 rounds 250 Nosler 338s before he drops finally! This was the normal for 338 and those Nosler Partitions on other animals as well. Not very impressive at all. This was the last time I went to Africa with a 338 Winchester and never used Nosler Partitions again in any caliber. I think the next year I went to Alaska with 338 Winchester, but now I was using 275 Swift A Frames. I had excellent results on Brown bear and black bear on that trip. But from that point on I never went to the field with a 338 again.

In 2000 I started hunting with 458 Winchester, and was playing around with 45/70 as well. While hunting lion we need bait as well, so more zebra shooting in the works. At this time I was shooting a 400 gr Swift A frame at 2325 fps. I shot a zebra at 177 yards one day, dead on the shoulder, and he never took a step, straight down, DRT. I was beginning to learn the value of "Caliber"........................

Zebra are notoriously tough animals, able to take a lot of punishment and keep on going. I have shot a hell of a lot of zebra, with 338 Winchester, 358 STA, various 416s, various 458s and 500s........... They start paying serious attention at 416 caliber, and then when you get to 458 caliber, it puts them in the dirt.

Below you will see a friend of mine, Beau Barnes and his 458 B&M. Beau has taken a lot of African game with his 458 B&M, and has some really good video. This is Beau shooting a zebra with a 250 gr .458 caliber bullet we designed. You will see it is very decisive.



I have yet to shoot a zebra with 338, 358, 9.3 and even 416 and see those kind of results. When you get to .458 caliber, you can see some magical things start to happen.....................
 
Yes .458 is magical. No matter where you hit them, there is a big hole. I use my 45/70 on deer in thick woods. I have gone back to old school with 1100 to 1200fps loads and cast bullets of the big flat meplate design. Very little meat destruction and very often DRT results. Long shots are maybe 60 yards so there is plenty of power in these loads at these ranges.
 
A few years ago he was hunting in Zimbabwe, in an area that had elephants. They were not hunting elephant at the time, but close to them regardless. Cow elephants can be rather antagonistic at times, this one gave them a full charge, unprovoked, in which Brent ended up "STOPPING" the charge with his 500 MDM and 500 gr CEB #13 Solids...............



That is an amazing thing to see. Frontal shot and the elephant drop right there.
 
Yes .458 is magical. No matter where you hit them, there is a big hole. I use my 45/70 on deer in thick woods. I have gone back to old school with 1100 to 1200fps loads and cast bullets of the big flat meplate design. Very little meat destruction and very often DRT results. Long shots are maybe 60 yards so there is plenty of power in these loads at these ranges.


Absolutely. I think your solution is far more effective than the small bore high velocity crowd. I know that may turn some heads, but I have seen both at work. When you get to .458 caliber, things change dramatically. I am pleased to hear of your success.
 
Absolutely. I think your solution is far more effective than the small bore high velocity crowd. I know that may turn some heads, but I have seen both at work. When you get to .458 caliber, things change dramatically. I am pleased to hear of your success.


Whats your opinion on .50 Beowulf out of curiosity? I know its no where near the velocities of the African big game type rounds, but the bore diameter and the projectile weight seems to be potentially effective despite its lack of higher velocity... have you ever considered making projectiles for it?
 
Whats your opinion on .50 Beowulf out of curiosity? I know its no where near the velocities of the African big game type rounds, but the bore diameter and the projectile weight seems to be potentially effective despite its lack of higher velocity... have you ever considered making projectiles for it?

First, let me explain, I am not in the bullet making business, and do not make bullets. What I have done is help design, test, and develop bullets that would accomplish the missions I was going on, and especially in .500 caliber, as all the 50 and 500 B&Ms are true .500. In fact, the very reason we undertook this massive study was so we would have proper bullets in .500 caliber. Just so happens, they were so good, they flowed up and down to all calibers from .224 to .620 and everything in between...............

As for the 50 Beowulf being designed for AR platforms, semi-auto, this limits the pressure to and around 55000 psi. Between that an its case capacity velocity with 300-350 gr bullets run from 1600-1900 fps or there about. You don't need a special designed bullet to accomplish what the 50 Beowulf is capable of. There are many excellent conventional bullets available in .500 caliber, mostly designed for the 500 S&W, that are a perfect fit for the 50 Beowulf and its platform. I have never fired a 50 Beowulf, but I understand the terminal ballistics associated with it very well. It would be an excellent choice for deer/pig/black bear in the Carolinas and beyond. I would look very closely at the 300 Hornady Flex for most of its missions. In addition there is the excellent Lehigh bullets in .500 caliber that would work extremely well that goes a big step beyond the conventional bullets. There is a 300 gr CEB Lever Raptor that might work ok, but I think it might take up too much case capacity, as it seats deep when adding a Tip. And, Raptors like a little more velocity as well. If the gun would feed/function, you could look at some of the CEB Solids, but that is hit and miss, some semi will feed them, some will not. I believe there are more than enough .500 bullets already available that would work extremely well in this cartridge, and no real requirement for anything more.
 
First, let me explain, I am not in the bullet making business, and do not make bullets. What I have done is help design, test, and develop bullets that would accomplish the missions I was going on, and especially in .500 caliber, as all the 50 and 500 B&Ms are true .500. In fact, the very reason we undertook this massive study was so we would have proper bullets in .500 caliber. Just so happens, they were so good, they flowed up and down to all calibers from .224 to .620 and everything in between...............

As for the 50 Beowulf being designed for AR platforms, semi-auto, this limits the pressure to and around 55000 psi. Between that an its case capacity velocity with 300-350 gr bullets run from 1600-1900 fps or there about. You don't need a special designed bullet to accomplish what the 50 Beowulf is capable of. There are many excellent conventional bullets available in .500 caliber, mostly designed for the 500 S&W, that are a perfect fit for the 50 Beowulf and its platform. I have never fired a 50 Beowulf, but I understand the terminal ballistics associated with it very well. It would be an excellent choice for deer/pig/black bear in the Carolinas and beyond. I would look very closely at the 300 Hornady Flex for most of its missions. In addition there is the excellent Lehigh bullets in .500 caliber that would work extremely well that goes a big step beyond the conventional bullets. There is a 300 gr CEB Lever Raptor that might work ok, but I think it might take up too much case capacity, as it seats deep when adding a Tip. And, Raptors like a little more velocity as well. If the gun would feed/function, you could look at some of the CEB Solids, but that is hit and miss, some semi will feed them, some will not. I believe there are more than enough .500 bullets already available that would work extremely well in this cartridge, and no real requirement for anything more.
Thanks for the reply, I'd been enjoying your stories and ballestics research, so I figured it wouldnt hurt to ask :)
 
Thanks for the reply, I'd been enjoying your stories and ballestics research, so I figured it wouldnt hurt to ask :)

Thanks....... And it never hurts to ask. I don't have all the answers either. But we can probably find them.........
 
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