JJHACK
New member
One of my clients used a 300 win mag with 180 grain failsafe bullets. These bullets have a good following and have had reasonable success on
lots of big game.
However the game taken with it this past safari was left standing and un-impressed for the most part. No bullets were recovered but no exits
could be distinguished from entries.
I watched Blesbok shot through the chest run off as if un-hit. They weigh about 200-225 pounds or even more. I saw Blue and black wildebeest
stand and look at us after the shot as if unhit as well. I watched a Gemsbok take 4 shots in the chest which could be covered with a dinner plate
and it never even started to wobble. I saw a red heartabeest and a zebra run for a 1/2 mile before I finished them off with my rifle. I saw evidence
of expansion on a springbok of 65 pounds but it was more likely velocity damage not bullet expansion.
I'm sure if something solid is hit with these bullets they will crush it but I have been left pretty much unimpressed with the performance of these
bullets for the second time. I have had another client use them a year ago with un-impressive results as well.
On the other hand the standard Hornady Bullet and the Swift A frame and Trophy Bonded bullets all seemed to knock down or immobilize game
rather quickly except for the Nyala bull I shot. That was an exception in my opinion.
On this trip we recovered about a dozen bullets in total for over 60 animals and not a single X bullet or Failsafe bullet. The X bullets did leave a
heck of an exit wound on a Kudu but the others were bore diameter exits even from the 375HH using them.
I'm not anti any specific bullet just telling you what I saw and I can have several others post follow ups here confirming these findings. The man
using the Failsafe bullets will never use them again. I will tell you that right now. He was very dissapointed, We called them slightly expanding
spire point solids. I don't know what you must hit to get them to open? I do know they will not blow up on the surface because they are very hard.
I also shot a sick Impala which was previously shot or attacked because it had a dislocated and bloody left front leg. It was running on three legs
straight away from us at 80 yards. I shot it in the rump with the 375HH and a 270 grain Swift A Frame. The impala went tail over the head and
rolled to a stop at the shot. I took the perfectly mushroomed bullet out of the neck. That was hit with a very high velocity at close range and the
bullet was intact and a picture perfect mushroom. With 3 plus feet of penetration. I had an identical shot on another impala but from the front this
time between the legs and I took the 165 grain 30/06 bullet out of the large intestine 1" from exiting the natural hole under the tail. It too was a
picture perfect mushroom. The impala also fell like it was hit with a bolt of lightning.
It would be to long to continue posting all the other game I saw shot but the standard Hornady interloks, Nosler Partitions, and the bonded
technology of Swift and Trophy Bonded all worked like magic and I highly recommend them.jj
lots of big game.
However the game taken with it this past safari was left standing and un-impressed for the most part. No bullets were recovered but no exits
could be distinguished from entries.
I watched Blesbok shot through the chest run off as if un-hit. They weigh about 200-225 pounds or even more. I saw Blue and black wildebeest
stand and look at us after the shot as if unhit as well. I watched a Gemsbok take 4 shots in the chest which could be covered with a dinner plate
and it never even started to wobble. I saw a red heartabeest and a zebra run for a 1/2 mile before I finished them off with my rifle. I saw evidence
of expansion on a springbok of 65 pounds but it was more likely velocity damage not bullet expansion.
I'm sure if something solid is hit with these bullets they will crush it but I have been left pretty much unimpressed with the performance of these
bullets for the second time. I have had another client use them a year ago with un-impressive results as well.
On the other hand the standard Hornady Bullet and the Swift A frame and Trophy Bonded bullets all seemed to knock down or immobilize game
rather quickly except for the Nyala bull I shot. That was an exception in my opinion.
On this trip we recovered about a dozen bullets in total for over 60 animals and not a single X bullet or Failsafe bullet. The X bullets did leave a
heck of an exit wound on a Kudu but the others were bore diameter exits even from the 375HH using them.
I'm not anti any specific bullet just telling you what I saw and I can have several others post follow ups here confirming these findings. The man
using the Failsafe bullets will never use them again. I will tell you that right now. He was very dissapointed, We called them slightly expanding
spire point solids. I don't know what you must hit to get them to open? I do know they will not blow up on the surface because they are very hard.
I also shot a sick Impala which was previously shot or attacked because it had a dislocated and bloody left front leg. It was running on three legs
straight away from us at 80 yards. I shot it in the rump with the 375HH and a 270 grain Swift A Frame. The impala went tail over the head and
rolled to a stop at the shot. I took the perfectly mushroomed bullet out of the neck. That was hit with a very high velocity at close range and the
bullet was intact and a picture perfect mushroom. With 3 plus feet of penetration. I had an identical shot on another impala but from the front this
time between the legs and I took the 165 grain 30/06 bullet out of the large intestine 1" from exiting the natural hole under the tail. It too was a
picture perfect mushroom. The impala also fell like it was hit with a bolt of lightning.
It would be to long to continue posting all the other game I saw shot but the standard Hornady interloks, Nosler Partitions, and the bonded
technology of Swift and Trophy Bonded all worked like magic and I highly recommend them.jj
