500 Nitro Express

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500 Nitro Express

Post by Baz460 » 27 Oct 2017, 3:52 pm

Hi, anyone on the forum had any experience with Woodleigh Soft Points on Buffalo. My rifle was regulated with Hornady SP's, and I have used them in a 460 Weatherby on scrub bulls, but they were going a heck of a lot faster than a 500. Have been told the Woodleighs are a great projectile. The load will be 110 grns with the Aussie equivalent to 4831, Federal 215 primers and Woodleigh 570 grn SP's.

Cheers, Baz.
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Re: 500 Nitro Express

Post by Gamerancher » 28 Oct 2017, 8:22 am

What velocity are you expecting?
Considering the North American bison herds were almost made extinct using soft lead, 400 to 500gr bullets @ 1200f/s, a loading that would completely penetrate shoulder to shoulder on the biggest bulls. Just sayin'. :unknown: :drinks:
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Re: 500 Nitro Express

Post by MalleeFarmer » 28 Oct 2017, 9:35 am

An american bison is a heck of a lot smaller than the asiatic water buffalo so id rather not gamble on using the same load on both species unless it was a load primarily for water buff. Back On point.. id say a woodleigh sp projectile in a 500NE over 110gr AR2213sc will be plenty for buff considering many people use .338s and .300s and the ol’ three oh has possibly accounted for as many buff in oz as any other cartrige.
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Re: 500 Nitro Express

Post by No1Mk3 » 28 Oct 2017, 3:48 pm

G'day MalleeFarmer,
The American Bison is a heck of a lot LARGER than Bubalus Bubalis! The feral Australian Water Buffalo averages 500kg and 1.3m at the shoulder, the Bison is 1.5m avg x 750Kg, and commonly over 1000Kg. Still, as you say a 303 has accounted for more buff than any other calibre, and pro shooters were mostly using military MkVII FMJ,
until soft points became more available. According to an old mate who culled around the Top End for years it killed an awful lot of Geese as well! So then the load Baz460 is considering will flatten any game he may encounter, from buff to bull elephant!
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Re: 500 Nitro Express

Post by Daddybang » 28 Oct 2017, 5:20 pm

No1Mk3 wrote:G'day MalleeFarmer,
The American Bison is a heck of a lot LARGER than Bubalus Bubalis! The feral Australian Water Buffalo averages 500kg and 1.3m at the shoulder, the Bison is 1.5m avg x 750Kg, and commonly over 1000Kg. Still, as you say a 303 has accounted for more buff than any other calibre, and pro shooters were mostly using military MkVII FMJ,
until soft points became more available. According to an old mate who culled around the Top End for years it killed an awful lot of Geese as well! So then the load Baz460 is considering will flatten any game he may encounter, from buff to bull elephant!


Yeah ya right buff can be cranky but they arent quite the armored beasts some believe. Don't get me wrong they can be a handful but as ya said the loads being talked about by the op will take anything in tis country and most anywhere else as well!!! :drinks:
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Re: 500 Nitro Express

Post by Baz460 » 28 Oct 2017, 7:02 pm

Thanks for the input guys. I agree that more buffalo have been taken with a 303 than any other calibre in Australia, and have absolutely no doubt that there are many smaller calibres out there than a 500 that will do the job on buffalo. But there is to me nothing better than smashing both shoulders of a large animal, whether it is a scrub bull or cape buff, and having limited experience with the 500, would like it going a bit faster than 2150 fps. So not having used the Woodleigh projectiles before, I think it will be a bit of trial and error. Maybe I should go to a 500 grn, instead of the 570 grn, projectile and stoke it up a bit, but that could interfere with the regulation. I guess I will shoot a few brumbies and pigs with it and see how it all goes.
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Re: 500 Nitro Express

Post by Daddybang » 28 Oct 2017, 7:20 pm

PLEASE post pics showing whata 500 does to a pig that would be effing brilliant to see!!!! :drinks: :drinks:
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Re: 500 Nitro Express

Post by MalleeFarmer » 29 Oct 2017, 5:36 pm

No1 i concede that the waterbuff isnt “a heck of a lot bigger” it is still bigger (not as tall but heavier. the american bison max weight is around 1t wild water buffalo max at around 1200kg its close but water buffalo are still larger than bison the large head and forequarter of the bison is impressive to behold though. the water buff just resembles a big muddy cow..
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Re: 500 Nitro Express

Post by Wobble » 10 Nov 2017, 11:09 am

MalleeFarmer wrote:the water buff just resembles a big muddy cow..


Go tell that to the face of one of them, see what he says :lol:
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