Bullets for Big 5.
A single
bullet from a .454 Casull revolver has sent the 3000lbs animal to the other
side, to the place where there are no hunters and the grass is always green.
But for the hunter who is still on this side a dream has come thru. To take a
really large animal with a handgun and do it “clean”!!
This bullet
has done the same thing 30-40 times
before. Of course there have been many animals less than the Giraffe`s 3000lbs,
but Wildebeest, Giraffe, Blesbuck, Moose, Waterbuck, Kudu have also easily been
taken with this bullet, travelling at a modest 1350fps. There is nothing
magical about it. It’s only a bullet made from a modified Lyman 400gr mould.
The
378gr .452 bullet to the right compared to a 300gr .429 bullet
At Brinell 17
the bullets turn out at 378gr. To cast
bullets is something I really enjoy, but not all Handgun hunter’s out
there take interest in making their own
bullets so….
In the later years there are several
manufactures making bullets for handgun hunting. One of them is the South
African based firm Frontier. Based in
So…. What is
new? Well they have a new bullet out there! A new bullet for you that do not
like to cast your own bullets and maybe this bullet will be the bullet you
would like to have in your cylinder when you meet your first Elephant, Lion or
maybe a Bear.
Frontier makes
actually two large game bullets for the .454Casull/. The first is a 380gr CMJ
(complete metal jacket) bullet made to be used in both 45LC and 454 Casull. ”Click”
at the photo and you will get a short story about Frontier..
The bullet was
said to be 380gr but turned out to be 370gr with the extreme spread of 2,5gr.
It has two crimp groves so it is suited for both 45LC and .454 Casull.
The diameter
was .4515 and the bullet was extremely uniform, 10 bullets measuring exactly .4515.
The bullet is
of the “soft lead, water harden type” The bullet is in this case covered by
a thin copper layer measured to Brinell
35. The lead core Brinell 9 and the hardened outer layer was Brinell 14.
The
electroplated copper layer was .006” (0,15mm) thick and even if this copper
layer help to keep the bullet together, I must admit that I was a little
disappointed in the construction. I had hoped for a hard cast bullet of Brinell
15-17 with a thicker copper layer and a larger meplate.
Here the meplate of the 370 Frontier, compared
to the 378gr Caly bullet (the Modified
Lyman mould) Meplate of the 370 Frontier measured ,267” (6,7mm) and the 378gr
measured 0,315 (8mm).
Testing this
bullet showed that it still performed quite well.
In wet packs
the bullet travelled straight for 70-80cm before tumbling out of the wet pack,
but all the bullets held together with only minor pitting on the copper layer.
The precision was in the 2,3” (60mm) at 50 meter range. Not like a bench rest
rifle, but from my Freedomarms revolver, this is quite good. (My FA revolver
seldom produces groups tighter than that.) The load used for testing was 22gr
Vihtavuori (comparable with Alliant 2400) in Starline brass. This load produced
1340fps at 15 degrees Celsius.
Conclusion??:
It is quite cheap, do not break up in wet packs, quite precise, But it do not
have the straight line penetration required to go after the really big animals,
so even if the bullet held together thru the wet pack test (15 bullets were
tested) I still would not use this bullet for the really large game like
Giraffe, Buffalo, Elephant. This is a medium game bullet and the perfect big
game training bullet in my opinion.
What about the
last bullet from Frontier?
The 390gr Frontier CS GR Big 5!!
This is a
bullet made for the, 454 Casull and it is a joint effort between two
experienced South African handgun hunters (Sarel and Casper Badenhorst) and
Frontier.
There is a “no
bullshit” attitude to this bullet. If you advertise a “Big 5” bullet for Handgun hunting you have to
present something that works. Hunters are going to depend on it and hunt
dangerous game with it, so it better not fail!!
Let’s take a
look at the bullet: From
left to right 370gr Frontier, 378gr Caly, 390gr CS GR Frontier, and the 425gr Lyman
.458” sized down to .452 (The same is done with the 378gr bullet)
At the bench statistics: Average weight was 391,7gr with
the extreme spread of 1.8gr. This is better than the 370gr bullet that proved
to be quite precise.
390CSGR
(
The crimp is
quite shallow on both of them, but initial testing with “hot” loads crimped
separately in a RCBS die, proved no bullets creeping out of the brass. Why not
make the crimp groove deeper? Because deeper crimp groove will also make the
bullet more fragile at this point.
The crimp
grove was placed 0,630 (16mm) from the base of the bullet and that gave me an
OAL of 1,756” (44,6mm) with new Starline brass.
We
do not want that bullet to jam the cylinder when the
Jacket
on the 390Gr CSGR is 3 times thicker (0,45mm)than the 370gr bullet and this is
quite visible on this photo:
From left:
390CSGR, 370Frontier, 325gr Swift A frame, 300gr Hornady mag, 300gr Sierra and
300gr Speer.
From left
425gr Lyman, 390gr CSGR, 378gr Caly, 395gr Cast performance, 370gr frontier and
325gr Swift.
Meplate of the
390gr CSGR measured 0,291”(7,4mm)
Measuring uniformity
in diameter gave 10 bullets measuring on the spot .4512 Maybe a tad under the
dimension I prefer, but if the precision is ok this will probably give the
bullet less friction and more speed.
Muzzle velocity: 21gr Vihtavuori gave 1270fps and
with 22gr of Vihtavuori powder the 390gr bullet travelled at 1300fps. Shot some
370gr Frontier with 21gr Vihtavuori the same day (to compare) and the muzzle
velocity was 1330fps.
A 390gr all
lead bullet tested earlier clocked 1390 fps so the friction of the copper layer
will take off some speed but in my opinion the Elephant will not feel the
difference of 1300 and 1390fps. What is more important is for the bullet to
hold together and maintain a straight line penetration.
What about the
Lead core?: Still it seems like they like to use the water harden lead bullets
as a core. My test samples had a harden lead layer of Brinell 17 and a core of
Brinell 11. I still would rather like a hard cast bullet of 15-17 all the way
thru, but this bullet is harder than the 370gr, and with the heavy jacket of
the 390gr Bullet, this bullet will probably withstand a lot of abuse.
Ready for the range: 14.11.2004
I am only out
to test precision and functionality today. The weather is stable with no wind.
Usually I test all my guns at 100meters but for the big guns, meant for heavy
game I prefer to test them at 50 meters.
The
temperature is about 5 degrees Celsius. First
five shots from the Freedomarms revolver tell me that something is seriously
wrong.
After 3 shots
the cylinder jams with a bullet stuck between the cylinder and the barrel.
The crimp is quite heavy and after I return home I try to even crimp the bullet
harder but then the brass starts to show stress below the bullet base. I really
think the crimp grove is to shallow to give a bullet grip to trust in all
situations.
A
3” group
As if this is
not enough in one day to make me worry, the precision is nothing to brag about
either. 3X5 shots from both the Ruger Super Redhawk and the Freedomarms
revolver told the story. Fredomarms average of 3.01” (76mm) and for the Ruger:
3,3” (84mm)
First thing to
do after returning from the range was to send Frontier a mail with my opinion
about the crimp grove. Sarel and Casper contacted me and told that they had not
experienced the creep problem, but they had used Lee`s factory crimp die and
not the seater/crimpdie that was standard in RCBS set.
Frontier
agreed with me that a commercially sold bullet had to be reloaded safely with
the reloading tools from the known manufacturer of quality reloading tools so
they promised to send a new improved batch. Accuracy was at the time not an
issue since the first test had bullets creeping all over and could not be
trusted.
New bullets
arrived and the crimp grove was deeper than the first batch. In the mean time I
had bought a Lee Factory crimp die and as
The crimp with
the RCBS die looked ok with the new bullet
This is the
recoil calculation of a Rifle in cal 375 H&H magnum
This is the
Freedomarms .454 Casull revolver loaded with the Frontier bullet. The recoil
energy is practically the same as the 375 H&H but the revolver delivers the
recoil in half of the time!! It is not strange that the bullet wants to leave
the brass!!
A day at the
range did also prove that the new crimp grove was good enough to hold the
bullet during heavy recoil. The Fredomarms revolver with no optics does recoil
hard and if you want that bullet to stay inside the brass during recoil you
have to pay a lot of attention to that crimp. With new brass the Lee Factory
crimp die was turned ¾ turn after the die touched the mouth of the brass. The
RCBS was turned ½ turn. More than this and the brass started to deform. Start
with the mouth of the brass just covering the crimp grove.
So what about
the accuracy..?
The two loads I concentrated on were the 390gr
CSGR Frontier in front of 22gr of Vihtavuori N110 and the same 390gr bullet in
front of 23,5gr Hogdon H110. All loads shot at
The 22gr Vihtavuori load is on the edge of
what is practical, a very compressed load that left the muzzle at 1300 fps. The
23,5 gr Hogdon H110 was a tad slower at 1280fps but was only moderate
compressed so in the end I think that
the H110 powder from Hogdon is the better one when using the bullets from 370
and up to 425gr if maximum load is wanted. Even so I will still use the
Vihtavuori powder because of it is easier to get here.
The 22gr
Vihtavuori load tested at 50 meters measured exactly the same as the Fredomarms
revolver did in the first test. 3,01 inch (76mm) But this time tested with the
Ruger Super Redhawk with a 4X Leupold scope.
The 23,5gr
Hogdon H110 load was better with 2,42 Inch (61mm) from a 6 Inch Freedomarms
Revolver also topped by a Leupold 4X scope.
From the RCBS
External ballistics calculator the graph tells us that even with a heavy bullet
like this, with zero at 80 meters the bullet is not more than 1.34 inch high at
50 meters and -2.12 inches low at 100 meter.
This bullet is
made for hunting heavy and/or dangerous game and will not be used on distances
much above 100 meters (I hope) so with a load that is in the 1200-1300fps range
you do not need to think about trajectory at all.
Accuracy is
important but for a bullet made to perform from a revolver at moderate speed,
killing large animals and maybe large dangerous animals, deep and stable
penetration is more important than millimetre accuracy.
All bullets
used for hunting is tested in wet compressed telephone catalogues and I have to
say this before I continue. When testing premium solid (copper electroplated)
or hard cast bullets a minimum requirement is that there is no deformation of
the bullet in the wet pack. My experience is that most large animals will be
tougher on the bullet than the wet pack. My 378gr hard cast bullet have never
been deformed or even scratched in the wet pack test, but still had some
deformation after hitting Giraffe and Waterbuck.
But still the
wet pack test gives me important information about how deep the penetration is
relative to other tested bullets and also whether the bullet is stable all the
way thru the wet pack. Unstable bullets will of course penetrate less and will
probably also tend to be more unstable when hitting for instance a rib in a
ribcage or some other bone.
Before testing
the 390gr CSGR Frontier bullet I shot a couple of my 378gr Caly bullets that
usually will penetrate about 105-107cm (at 1350fps). This cold day the 378gr
Penetrated 95-100 cm (-3 Celsius).
Four 390gr
bullets (at 1250fps) were shot and were found between 90-95cm mark and they had
only started to tumble in the last catalogue. This indicates that they will
penetrate a little deeper under “normal condition” about 100cm is what I expect
from them. All the bullets looked better after shooting them in the wet pack,
than in the brass, The bullets were “picture perfect” and had only gotten a
polished look.
The
390 was “picture perfect” after 95cm in the Wet pack. This bullet with it’s
0.45mm copper coating covering the bullet completely should be very strong also
when comparing it to ordinary jacketed bullets that have an open jacket at the
base of the bullet.
In the time
between the first batch of 390gr and the second batch with the improved crimp
groove Frontier had made a 300gr CSGR that I also tested along the 390gr
At
1580 fps, this is what the 300gr bullets, looked like. When testing
bullets of this high quality, the wet pack test is not good enough to separate
the good bullets from the premium one. We need something that can give them
more of a challenge. This must be something that can simulate a hit in the
larger bones of an animal.
The Frontier
300gr bullet at 1580 fps penetrated 10 cm less than the 390gr bullet. This
shows that there is no use speeding up light bullets to get deep penetration.
We need weight at moderate speed, more than extreme velocity.
The 300gr at
1580fps did show no deformation whatsoever from the wet pack test so to find
out how tough these bullets really are I have to find something that will
destroy the bullets and then compare them with the 378gr Bullets that I have
shot a lot of animals with and then compare. The 378gr bullet is made from
wheel weights and linotype alloy and measure 15-17 Brinell .
A 510gr CSGR
Frontier bullet that I tested in a 45/70 double rifle showed that weight and
stability is important. Two shots at 15 meters entered the wet pack at 1400fps
with a centre to centre spread of 2 inches and after penetrating all the
catalogues I had that day (155cm)!! The bullets entered the target I had put
behind the wet pack with a centre to centre spread of 2.5”!! and none of the
holes in the target showed any signs of bullets tumbling !!.
Bullet destruction!!
As I said
earlier on, to determine how tough these CSGR bullets are we need more than wet
pack’s. An Elephant scull or A
After
shooting two of 390gr and two of the 378gr Caly I discovered an interesting
thing!
Look
at this. This is two 0.7 mm plates folded three times each. The two 390gr
Frontier bullets have kept their initial diameter thru both (3X0, 7mm. Total of
4,2mm) plates. The Hard cast lead bullet on the other hand, have rapidly
expanded to 18mm. This could be crucial when the bullet’s first impact in an
animal is the shoulder bone of a
And
this is how the bullets looked like when recovered from the sand (390gr at
1300fps and 378gr hard cast at 1350fps) . Even though I am very fond of my
378gr cast bullet I am not in doubt of what to use if I some day would have the
opportunity to hunt Elephant or Buffalo with my Freedomarms 454 Casull
revolver.
In this photo
we can see what the 300gr Frontier CSGR ended up like after smashing thru six
layers of 0,7mm mild steel and a lot of compressed sand, with a muzzle velocity
of nearly 1600fps!!
I will say
that if you do not need the ballistic advantage of the speed I would rather
slow it a little down to maybe 1400fps. There is actually a possibility to get
better penetration that way because the bullet will keep its initial diameter
better at lower speeds. The increase in diameter will quickly reduce
penetration much like a parachute will do when opening.
And so the
theory part had come to and end, so the 13 Feb in the pounding heat of African
summer both a Zebra and a 800kg Elan was taken with the 390CSGR bullet.
The Elan was
first shot standing broadside at 60 meters with a hit to far in front of the
chest to be instantly lethal, bullet penetrating the animal and disappearing. A
“following up” shot at 120 meters hit him on the hip at 45 degrees and after
hitting a bone was found under the skin on the opposite side. So far nothing
strange but when finishing him with a neck shot something strange happened. The
bullet hit him in the neck but did not exit the animal!! Why?? I can only
speculate about this. After some years of hunting I know how tough the bones in the neck are,
and I can only imagine that the neck being flexible will “suck” up a lot of
the bullets energy when it moves with
the bullet. (As the skin of an animal will do when stopping the bullet from
penetrating after the bullet has expanded). This also happened with the 378gr
Caly bullet later that week during a horseback hunt for Red Hartebeest. After a
successful hunt of the hartebeest I gave him a finishing shot in the neck from
slight an angle. This bullet (witch always produce over 100cm of straight-line
penetrations in wet pack’s) turned between 60-80 degrees in the Hartebeest and
was located under the skin in the rump of the animal penetrating the Hartebeest
lengthwise!
The Zebra was
not a match for the bullet. Shooting it behind the front legs clipped only one
lung and exited. Finishing shot was a raking shot where the bullet never was
recovered and that shot dropped him on the spot.
From left: 378
Caly after hitting the Hartebeest neck. Centre: 391 Frontier CSGR after hitting
a 800kg Elan in the neck. Right: 391gr Frontier CSGR hitting a running Elan on
the hip at ca 45 degrees angle at 120 meter.
Her
are a list over the rest of the CSGR bullets.
Caliber |
Grains
|
Shape
|
Qty/Box |
458 |
600 |
FP |
50 |
458 |
510 |
FP |
75 |
458 |
400 |
FP |
100 |
458 |
350 |
FP |
100 |
458 |
300 |
FP |
100 |
416 |
500 |
FP |
75 |
416 |
400 |
FP |
100 |
375 |
400 |
FP |
100 |
375 |
300 |
FP |
100 |
9.3mm |
396 |
FP |
100 |
9.3mm |
290 |
FP |
100 |
30 caliber |
260 |
FP |
150 |
30 caliber |
220 |
FP |
150 |
30 caliber |
180 |
FP |
150 |
30 caliber |
165 |
FP |
150 |
30 caliber |
150 |
FP |
150 |
303 |
230 |
FP |
150 |
303 |
174 |
FP |
150 |
454 |
390 |
FP |
100 |
454 |
340 |
FP |
100 |
454 |
290 |
FP |
100 |
Calibros