3rd Annual JRH Holiday Bovine Bash

[MaxP]

The third annual JRH Holiday came to a close last Friday the 15th of September. Hondo, Texas was hot and dusty, but the attendees were enthusiastic and ready to go when it kicked off. We kept a much more measured pace this year in an effort to gather data more thoroughly.

For the uninitiated, the "Holiday" is an invitation only gathering of terminal ballistics handgun hunting truth seekers willing to put their loads/bullets/theories on the line on large bovines (other game is included, but bovines are the preferred media).

I will add more detail as we go along.

First up, with his gorgeous blued Model 29 was Jack Huntington. This man's shooting ability is something to behold. This wildebeest was his first animal of choice to start the blood letting. He was shooting vintage Norma Triclad loads. They worked but left something to be desired. His first shot reached and destroyed the heart, yet the animal was able to move off a couple hundred yards at least, again proving the point that each and every animal is a law unto itself.



While heading back to the skinning shed with Jack's conquest, we saw this hog off in the distance. A rare occurrence during the day and this heat. We jumped off the truck, and tradmark and I discussed who would do the honors. He insisted I go and use his newly massaged Super Redhawk in .454 Casull (tweaked by Jack Huntington), loaded with Lehigh Defense flat-nosed 300 grain solids. The moving target was put down with a shot to the forehead. Decisive.....

 

[MaxP]

Day two started with CraigC taking this water buffalo with his Super Redhawk in .44 Magnum, loaded with Grizzly Cartridge's Punch Bullet loads that ran a scorching 1,400 plus fps over the chronograph. Craig displayed some really fine shooting!



Next up was Pasco's Ibex with a Super Redhawk in .480 Ruger loaded with Hornady 325 grain XTP loads. He was running and gunning and shot really well offhand.



Jordan, an associate of Jack's shot this Watusi initially with a Contender in .375 JDJ. He finished the job with his revolver (a Redhawk in .44 Mag with a Dan Wesson barrel and shroud) even though it was fatally hit with the first shot.

PHOTO will be added later

 

[MaxP]

Day three was a busy day. It started off with my bull water buffalo. He was nearly an albino with a golden color. We nicknamed hi "Blondie." We had a number of touchy encounters with him over the previous couple of days. He aggressively followed us when we weren't hunting him and we actually had to back out of a couple of situations to avoid him. He was also over a ton in weight on the hoof. I took him with my BFR in .500 JRH loaded with Punch bullets right around 1,350 plus fps. I center punch his chest with the first shot, puncturing his heart. He ran off (I tried to hit him running through the thick brush) and slowed up allowing me to put one in his shoulder. At this point he looked as if he would charge, but I changed his mind with another Punch bullet. He ran off a short distance and piled up. Wasn't able to recover any of my bullets.

 

[MaxP]

These others will be out of sequence.

This is the water buffalo shot by tradmark with his BFR in .460 S&W. He was shooting Grizzly Cartridge's 300 grain Swift A-frame load. It worked like a charm to say the very least, and as usual his great shooting was on display.



This Watusi was taken by Mike -- another attendee -- with his BFR in .45/70. I believe he was using Lehigh solids. Tradmark can fill in the blanks here. It was good work and great performance.



CraigC took a second water buffalo with his SRH in .44 Mag, stoked with Grizzly Punch loads. That is one great bullet/load combination for bovines and again, Craig shot really well.



The eleventh hour tenacious handgun hunter award definitely goes to James. He shot this Sika deer in the near dark with his .475 Linebaugh FA 83, while the rest of us were enjoying a barbeque. James is what I would describe as "hardcore," and was a welcome addition to our gathering!

 

[CraigC]

Blondie was a real menace. He was always between us and the rest of the buffalo when we were on the ground, not at all impressed with our presence. Sneering defiantly and very obviously contemplating stomping us into a pulp. We all know this ain't chasing Cape buffalo along the Zambezi river but it ain't shooting cattle in a pasture either. These critters routinely make things interesting and most definitely do not like being hunted. It's part of the reason why we hunted in groups, not only because we are unapologetic voyeurs but also to stop a charge if necessary.




Here's a shot of Jordan and his watusi bull. He hit it first with the Contender .375JDJ loaded with the Accubond and followed up with a custom Redhawk .44Mag setup for Dan Wesson barrels. Which is why he's posing with two guns.


This is Michael with his goat nicknamed "wildegoat" because its horns resembled a wildebeest. He used a scoped GP100 .357 with a 140gr Barnes and I believe a 180gr A-frame.

 

[MaxP]

I need to add that again, the JRH Holiday was held again at Action Outdoor Adventures of Hondo, Texas.

 

[farm23]

Was bullet recovery hard because most shots were clear thru or hard to find. Now days I hunt mostly pesty deer in my fields and use either a 44 or a 45. Mostly a Charter Arms 44 because it is light and easy to carry, but regardless I still get mostly thru shots. A handgun is more than adequate if you make the effort to place your bullet. I look forward to more of your write up on the Bovine Bash

 

[Bert W.]

Looks like a good time. I need a good picture of the Redhawk with a Dan Wesson barrel and shroud. When is the cook out?

 

[CraigC]

Many of the Punch bullets and Barnes Busters exited but we managed to recover several. Only one cast bullet provided an exit and that was a 340gr .44Mag Buffalo Bore round. I've got a handful of bullets to post pics of.

 

[Kookla]

Thanks for posting this. Though not sure if was the Punch bullet that downed Craig's buffalo- think it was his death stare

You mention that this bash is a way for all of you to test your bullets and loads- were there any eye openers? Did any perform better than expected, or some that you thought should have been good but didn't perform as hoped?

 

[MaxP]

Thanks for posting this. Though not sure if was the Punch bullet that downed Craig's buffalo- think it was his death stare

You mention that this bash is a way for all of you to test your bullets and loads- were there any eye openers? Did any perform better than expected, or some that you thought should have been good but didn't perform as hoped?

The Swift A-frame never fails to impress. They are tough and don't over-expand. One of the above buffalo was taken with a .460 stoked with 300 grain A-frames at just under 2,000 fps. For me, however, the king is the Punch bullet. I didn't recover one from my buffalo.

 

[CraigC]

Hey, that's my happy face!

I think we've learned a good bit from all of this. We've learned that while hardcast bullets are very good, they also have limitations. Some did very well and reached the hide on the far side. Some were heavily damaged but still worked reasonably well. Some failed miserably. We had a 500gr .500Linebaugh come completely unglued. How do you predict which result you'll get if you only get one shot at a trophy Cape buffalo? Personally, I wouldn't and would consider the $4 a shot for Punch bullets to be cheap insurance. We're also learning that bullets that maintain their nose shape penetrate measurably better than those that deform or flatten even the slightest amount. We're learning that weight is probably not quite as important as we once thought. The Punch bullets are 270gr and 285gr at well over 1400fps and they did better than hardcast WFN's that were 85gr heavier. I was extremely impressed with the Swift A-frame. We saw bullets pushed to nearly 2000fps that expanded well but held together enough to also penetrate extremely well.

The Barnes Buster is a great penetrator but the meplat is pretty small, even smaller than an LFN. Because it's all copper with no lead core, it's also a very long bullet. Loaded to the bottom crimp groove and filled with 300MP, I could get them to 1380fps but that is too long for anything but the Redhawk/Super Redhawk or custom long cylinder single action. In my opinion, the Punch is the best combination of freight train tough construction, weight, meplat size and nose shape and would be my choice for dangerous game. For an expanding bullet on elk, moose or big antelope, the A-frame would be at the top of the list.

EDIT: I've been informed that the Buster has a lead core, sorry.