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Mike,

I tend to go along with Safarihunt. I shot a lot of my afican game with my .375 using a speer 235grn, not a premium bullet by any stretch, at 2900fps. At approx 180 yds it penetrated my wildebeeste from a quartering shot between neck and shoulder right through to the paunch.

My Kudu was taken at 300 yds plus across a valley and the speer penetrated the flank through the lungs and bulged the skin at the far side. It ran no more than 20 yds.

I'm a great fan of the lung shot, it anchors most beasts extremely quickly in my experience. I believe shot placement is the key. I've used many high velocity rounds and now my armoury is almost exclusively moderate velocity calibres ( .303, 7 x 57mm. .375 ). I tend to prefer good, relatively heavy round nose bullets and often take the lung shot. Even in my .243 I use the 100grn round nose at a moderate 2750fps and I'm proud to say no deer that I've used it on has required a second shot. (or fox for that matter).

My colleague however who until recently looked for the last possible foot of velocity has had many failures, bullets often zipping right through or blowing up( he liked Ballistic Tips ). He lost quite a few. He now uses heavier bullets and moderate velocity and does quite a bit better.

I'm not saying this is scientific proof, just based on my own experiences, limited as they are. I'm not sure boosting velocities is the right way to go, there is nearly always a trade off. The standard .375 H & H has been doing an amazing job since 1912. Why mess with it?
Choose the right bullet, choose the right shot and leave the rest to Nimrod!!!

my six penn'orth for what it's worth!

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Perfer et obdura!

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