Buffalo SSB

[Rob220swift]

I just bought a box of the 375 grain Buffalo Bullet SSB's and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this bullet.  I've had good results with 250 grain Barnes MZ's with 110 gr. 777 powder, but have yet to try any other bullets in my Hunterbolt.

[slave]

I have not shot any myself but a sabot manufacture told me they were outstanding bullets. May want to start out at 110gr 777 but give them a try at 115 and 120 as well. My gun groups 200 gr bullets with 95 to 100 of 777, 250 gr bullets 105 to 110 of 777 and 300 gr bullets 105 to 115 gr powder ranges.

[samchap]

Rob,   I use them in my Rem 700 mls, 6x Bushnell, with 90 gr of ts. I rarely get to shoot long with most of my shooting at ~60 yards. 2004 I got a 115 pound deer with a shot straight on that went entire length of the deer and caught under the hide on the back side of the left ham. Dropped in its tracks. Two other deer taken at ~same distance, different years, HL shot with big holes on both sides. Both, 40 yard run then dropped. Works for me.

I use the 90 gr of ts because it is fine for hunting power and gives accurate grouping at 100 yards with my gun. I have found that I get more consistant tight grouping with ffg powder vs the pellets becuse I use #11 mag caps. I have seen recommendation to use the ts in fffg powder because the sizing tends to run coarser. ffg works for me but I am going to try the fffg. Look for powder sales in wal-mart about now for best prices.

I loaded my rifle with ts on November 28, 2005, hunted 3 days got sick and didn't go back out until the 5th of December, shot my deer in a snowstorm on the 9th. The same charge had been in the rifle the whole time and the shot went off as expected when I pulled the trigger. I hunted in cold weather and brought the rifle in at night. FYI

[Rob220swift]

I'm with ya on the Wal Mart prices on 777.  Picked up a lb of ffg at about $5 less than the usual price a few weeks ago.  Thanks for the information on the bullet performance.

[lonewolf5348]

I use the 375 grain SSB in my 54 cal. thunderhawk I find the 50 cal. ssb not to be .451 diameter more like .449
I swap the black sabot with harvester red 54 cal sabot.I find they are tack drivers with 90 grains of goex 3f.I also wrap one turn to the bullet with packing tape to increase the bullet diameter.I find without the tape they are a little to loose.
I was at walmart the other day and pick up a can of triple 777 cost $9.00 a pound ,when the spring comes around I would like to work up a load   using triple 777.I have used this powder before and found that my t/c thunderhawk does favor 85 grains of the stuff,no more and recoil to me is a lot sharper then real black powder loads.

[lonewolf5348]

I use the 375 grain SSB in my 54 cal. thunderhawk I find the 50 cal. ssb not to be .451 diameter more like .449
I swap the black sabot with harvester red 54 cal sabot.I find they are tack drivers with 90 grains of goex 3f.I also wrap one turn to the bullet with packing tape to increase the bullet diameter.I find without the tape they are a little to loose.
I was at walmart the other day and pick up a can of triple 777 cost $9.00 a pound ,when the spring comes around I would like to work up a load   using triple 777.I have used this powder before and found that my t/c thunderhawk does favor 85 grains of the stuff,no more and recoil to me is a lot sharper then real black powder loads.

[lonewolf5348]

I use the 375 grain SSB in my 54 cal. thunderhawk I find the 50 cal. ssb not to be .451 diameter more like .449
I swap the black sabot with harvester red 54 cal sabot.I find they are tack drivers with 90 grains of goex 3f.I also wrap one turn to the bullet with packing tape to increase the bullet diameter.I find without the tape they are a little to loose.
I was at walmart the other day and pick up a can of triple 777 cost $9.00 a pound ,when the spring comes around I would like to work up a load   using triple 777.I have used this powder before and found that my t/c thunderhawk does favor 85 grains of the stuff,no more and recoil to me is a lot sharper then real black powder loads.

[lonewolf5348]

I use the 375 grain SSB in my 54 cal. thunderhawk I find the 50 cal. ssb not to be .451 diameter more like .449
I swap the black sabot with harvester red 54 cal sabot.I find they are tack drivers with 90 grains of goex 3f.I also wrap one turn to the bullet with packing tape to increase the bullet diameter.I find without the tape they are a little to loose.
I was at walmart the other day and pick up a can of triple 777 cost $9.00 a pound ,when the spring comes around I would like to work up a load   using triple 777.I have used this powder before and found that my t/c thunderhawk does favor 85 grains of the stuff,no more and recoil to me is a lot sharper then real black powder loads.

[lonewolf5348]

Seem there is still something wrong with the software,sorry for the same post 4 times,but each time I entered the post I got an error :-D

[J.P. Harrington]

I haven't shot the 375 yet -- hope to soon. I've done some chrono work with the 325 SSB, and have had good results. I'm still working up loads, but I can tell you that about 90 grns of Trip-7 FFg will push the 325 out of my Omega at a very consistent 1640 fps (Std. Dev. of only 11 fps).

Buffalo Bullets also makes a 285 grn SSB, but I haven't tried those either. Don't know if I ever will -- the 285 has a sectional density of .200, and that's on the skinny edge of drop-em-dead-in-their-tracks. The 375, in comparison, has a whopping SD of .263 -- compare that to, oh, say a 245 grn PowerBelt at a pitiful .140.

According to Ron Dahlitz, founder and owner of Buffalo Bullets, the 375 SSB is their most popular saboted bullet. He said that the 375 SSB is a longer bullet with corresponding longer sabot than the lighter SSBs, giving more surface area to grab the rifling. He also said that the SSB, like other sabot bullets, is designed for faster twist barrels like 1:28. Mr. Dahlitz knows his stuff, and even went so far as to have the ballistic coefficient for the 375 independently verified -- it has a "real-world, G1 BC value of .296." (http://www.chuckhawks.com/buffalo_bullet_king.htm)

Just for fun, I ran some numbers on the 375 SSB. If you push it out the muzzle at 2000 fps, you should have a six-inch kill zone point blank range of about 190 yards. At 200 yards, it'll deliver over 1900 ft. lbs. of energy, and over 2500 ft. lbs. at 100 yards. Now that's serious.

It all comes down to whether your gun likes them or not. Good luck and good hunting.

[Busta]

J.P.,

The SSB's are outstanding bullets. I have been shooting the 435 grain White Shooting Star/Power Star bullets (SSB's) made by Buffalo Bullets in my Whites (1-24 twist) for over 10 years. The 375 SSB is also an outstanding bullet and shoot very well in my 1-28 twist Knight and NEF. I shoot lots of muzzleloader bullets in different types of media and the SSB/White's hold together better than anything else, Bar-None!

[harvester]

i have shot the 285's and the 325's.  both group excellent out of my omega.

i shoot winchester 209's, and 85 grains of 777 with the 325's.  (with 80 grains of 777, i get the same POI using the 285's.)

my best with the 325's was a 4 shot group that was nearly a ragged hole at 100 yards.

shot a doe this year in the corn with the 325's at about 25-30 yards.  entered the brisket, and lodged in the inside thigh of the rear haunch.  nearly traveled the length of the deer.

the bullet was recovered and it had retained 87% of its weight when i put it on the scales.  pretty damn good performance for such close range work, if you ask me.

[J.P. Harrington]

Busta and Harvester,

My limited experience with the Buffalo Bullet SSBs has been very good so far. I'm glad to see that y'all have had such good experience with them for so long. I've yet to hear something negative about Buffalo SSBs that made intelligent sense.

I've had nothing but trouble finding a sabot/bullet combo for my Omega. My son-in-law shoots an Encore, and has had very good luck with the Hornady 250 SSTs (same as the T/C Shockwaves). I can't get those darned things down the barrel without a five-pound sledge hammer! The BB 325 SSBs are snug, but easily seated without standing on the ramrod.

I had to settle for the PR Dead Center 240 last year, as it was the only one I could find that grouped OK and didn't require a hydraulic press and arbor to seat it. Shot a smallish doe at about 25 yds, and despite almost knocking it on it's rump (frontal quartering shot) it still managed to run about 20 yds before it dropped dead. It was a clean, humane harvest, but I prefer to drop them where they stand. (Don't we all?) After seeing what a swaged lead bullet does to a deer's boiler room, I was convinced that an all-lead bullet was best for my hunting needs.

Thanks for the real world reports. Harvester, you've convinced me to give the 285s a try. I can post my chrono workups later, if anyone is interested.

[Busta]

This is another option for swadged bullets, he makes very good bullets and he is gearing up for .50 caliber conicals now. Mark has been making .40 - .452 caliber saboted bullets and conicals for a couple years and can make just about any weight and type bullet you could want. His bullets get real world testing on real animals. Check him out.

http://www.huntermanbullets.com/

[J.P. Harrington]

Busta,

Thanks for the tip. I've read that folks really like Hunterman bullets. He has a good reputation, and that's worth a lot. Although I prefer high-pressure swaged bullets because there's less chance of voids or inclusions in the metal, I am definitely not ruling out cast bullets.

I just received a box of BB 375 SSBs and I couldn't resist having a closer look. They mic'ed out at .504, compared to .501 with the 325 SSB (bullet + sabot). I thought I might have trouble and sure enough, I had to stand on the ramrod to get the 375 down. I use a Power Rod ramrod as my field rod, and it noticeably deformed the tip of the 375. I tried a different jag, and that didn't hurt the nose that I could tell. (I've yet to actually shoot the 375 -- I just wanted to see how they fit my Omega. I'm done wasting bullets on fit testing for now.)

I'm still going to try the 285 SSB too. Sooner or later I'll find a perfect load combo -- even if it means spending countless hours at the range. Oh, darn!  :grin:

[Busta]

Just in case I misunderstood you, all Hunterman bullets are swaged, not cast. You will find his prices way less than PR too.

The heavier SSB's are geared for Whites .504 bore and 1-24 twist and my White will shoot them very well. My Knight and NEF bores run around .502 and will shoot the 375's good. Thompsons bores are usually much thighter at around .500 but if you can get them down without deforming the tips I am sure they will shoot well.

[J.P. Harrington]

Just in case I misunderstood you, all Hunterman bullets are swaged, not cast. You will find his prices way less than PR too.

My apologies. I had assumed that Hunterman bullets were cast (I misunderstood some background info on his site). It says right on his home page, "Custom swaged bullets for your muzzleloader". I didn't pay attention when I first looked at the site.
You're absolutely right about the prices. Hunterman bullets are a great value, assuming I can find one that shoots well out of my Omega. I will definitely keep these in mind.

[lonewolf5348]

Mark: is a great guy to deal with,I purchase some of his 250 and 300 grainers mag tip boolets and they performed excellent.
I was lucky to purchase a couple of boxes of buffalo SSB 375 grainers on closeout $0.99 cents a box,how could you go wrong so I jump on them.
I tried percision bullet and after testing there QT'S 45 in 350 grains on a huge 8 pointer was not thet happy ,it did the job but trcing was a nitemare due to only one hole.I also tried here silverlighting in 300 grain and they did perform well took a huge doe and she never took a step .