Doctari.

During the 2002 hunting season my safari clients used hand-loaded 380 grain Rhino bullets in .375 H&H caliber to take 6 Zambezi Valley buffalo and a number of the other game animal species which also occur there. These included zebra, waterbuck, bushbuck, impala, baboon, hyena and even a large Tom leopard.

This old mud encrusted Dagha Boy was the first buffalo I saw shot
with a 380 grain Rhino. The rifle is my Browning A- Bolt Medallion.

A duplex load of 31.5 grains of both S 335 & S 365 propelled the 380 grainers at 2200 fps of muzzle velocity from the 26 inch long barrel of my Browning A-Bolt Medallion rifle. I found this load to be particularly accurate, with these longer than normal bullets stabilizing well in the Browning’s 1:12 twist rate barrel. One inch groups at 100 paces were common.

My initial impression of the 380 grain Rhino’s performance on all the species shot, was one of amazement, particularly in the size of the permanent wound channels they created. I was also impressed with their penetration. From side-on, these bullets shot right through the chest cavities of all the small game species mentioned above, even the zebra and waterbuck. Only those from buffalo were recovered, the rest all exited.

When used on buffalo, from side-on, the Rhino’s were invariably found under the skin on the opposite shoulder, and my visual impression was that these buffalo’s reaction to the shot was similar to that which occurs when one of the .40 calibers is used.

I had an interesting experience with the first buffalo I saw being shot with a 380 grain Rhino. We were hunting in the Nyakasanga Safari Area and found a nice old mud encrusted old Dagha Boy late in the afternoon. As the bull stood facing us with his nose uplifted, my client shot him squarely in the center of the chest with a 380 grain Rhino. The shot lifted the bull’s forequarters right off the ground. He staggered backwards, turned and ran off. A backing shot was put in by the client, but as it would later transpire, it wasn’t necessary. We heard the bull fall shortly thereafter and by the time we walked up to him, he was dead. He died too quickly to even give a death bellow. ( Photo 1 )

It was dark by the time we had collected the Landcruiser. So as to lighten the bull for loading we removed all his abdominal organs. The thoracic organs were left in place so I could perform an autopsy to see the Rhino’s effect. ( Photo 2 ) This I did the following morning and I was disappointed to discover that the Rhino had, after cutting a huge hole through the bull’s heart, penetrated on to pierce the diaphragm. From the angle with which it did so, it looked to me as if it had then lodged in the rumen – which we had abandoned, many miles away in the veld.

Three months later, on another hunt, we just happened to be in the vicinity of where the first bull had been shot. When I realized this, I asked my tracker, if he thought he could find the place where we had gutted the bull. With a nod of his head he walked straight to the spot. The rumen, liver and intestines had long been eaten by scavengers but we did find a dried out pile of rumen content and after scratching around in it for a while I was extremely pleased to find the perfectly mushroomed Rhino! ( Photo 3 )

A bullet in flight contains both energy and momentum. [ A bullets momentum value (MM) = bullet weight in pounds x velocity in feet per second.]

It is well-known that the more momentum a moving object contains, the harder it will be for that object to stop. When it comes to bullets and hunting, the more momentum a bullet contains, the better and deeper it will penetrate. This has been proven many times.

What many do not realize is that different bullets can contain the same amount of energy yet different amounts of momentum. How they will perform and penetrate will vary tremendously.

Take the following example.

.404 Jeffery. 400 grain bullet @ 2150 fps = 4000 ft lbs of Muzzle Energy ( ME ) & 123 lb fps of Momentum ( MM )

.375 H&H. 300 gain bullet @ 2450 fps = 4000 ft lbs of ME & 105 lb fps of MM

.300 Weatherby Mag. 180 grain bullet @ 3200 fps = 4000 ft lbs of ME & 82 lb fps of MM

For example purposes, if it were possible to propel a 40 grain ‘Asprin’ at 6800 fps, it too would contain 4000 ft lbs of energy, but only 39 ft lbs of MM.

A 380 grain .375 Rhino @ 2200 fps produces 4085 ft lbs of ME and 119 lb fps of MM.

A regular 300 grain .375 bullet @ 2550 fps will have 4330 ft lbs of ME and 109 lb fps on MM

A 265 grain HV GS .375 bullet @ 2750 fps will have 4450 ft lbs of ME and 104 lb fps of MM.

The 380 grain Rhino penetrates well because it contains more momentum than other .375 cal bullets. More momentum, when combined with a lower impact velocity results in slower, more gradual bullet set-up, and deeper penetration. When one also considers the fact that permanent wound channel size increases to the cube root of a bullet’s expanded diameter, it’s no real surprise to me why these super heavyweight Rhino’s are so effective on buffalo. ( Photo 4 )

The 380 grain Rhino has the ability to expand to a larger diameter than other premium quality expanding bullets in .375 caliber. This is why they create larger permanent wound channels. Given similar shot placement (through the heart/lung area), the larger the permanent wound channel, the more rapid the onset of the inevitable – it’s as simple as that.

In my opinion, 380 grain Rhino’s are without a doubt, the best .375 caliber bullets to use for buffalo.

The old Dagha Boy’s heart after a 380 grain Rhino passed through it. With that size of permanent wound channel, it’s no wonder he died so quickly.

All these 380 grain Rhino’s were recovered from buffalo. The one second from the left lay out in the veld for three months. That is why it looks tarnished.







All these .375 caliber bullets were recovered from buffalo. L to R

300 grn Swift A-Frame, 300 grn Barnes X-Bullet, 380 grn Rhino, 300 grn Nosler Partition, 300 grn Stewart ‘Hi-Performer’.

Permanent wound channel size is in proportion to the cube root of a bullets final expanded diameter.

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