Q: I recently bought a box of Woodleigh 225gn Hydrostatic bullets to reload in my .338 Win. Mag. for a buffalo hunt in the N.T. If you have had any experience with these odd-looking bullets, can you tell me if I need to reduce the powder charge? My regular load is 69gn of AR2209 behind the 225gn Hornady SP RP bullet which is giving me about 2750fps? How will the flat nose affect trajectory?
Roland Hill
A: I did load some of the original 225gn Woodleigh Hydrostatic bullets in my .338 Whitworth Express and they didn’t show any increase in chamber pressure above my regular load of 75gn of AR2209 which churns up 2912fps with the 225gn Barnes bullet. Nevertheless I decided to load one grain less with the 225gn Hydrostatic which clocked 2852fps. At 100 yards the Woodleigh dropped about a 1/2-inch more than the Barnes. Seeing that you are unlikely to be shooting a buffalo at 100yd (most are taken at nearer to 50yd.) trajectory wont be a problem. Accuracy had three shots in 1.25 MoA. If I were
you, I’d try within two grains of your regular powder charge with the Woodleigh 225gn bullet. You wont be able to use my loads as my rifle is built on a magnum length Mauser action and has a long throat that allows me to load to an overall cartridge length of 3.386″ (86mm). I hoped to test these bullets on a camel hunt, but never saw one. I did manage to shoot a couple of donkeys with it, but that’s all. However, I’ve heard good reports from other hunters of how well these bullets performed for them on NT buffalo.
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