4th Annual JRH Holiday Bovine Bash

I haven't posted in a while as I have been exceedingly busy (this is a gross understatement) this year, hence my absence. Anyhow, I thought this event may interest some here, so here it goes.

This year marked the 4th Anniversary of the JRH Holiday (Bovine Bash) that again took place at Action Outdoor Adventures of Hondo, Texas. It was another action-filled few days. Two bullets really stood out this year, Lehigh Defense's flat-nosed solids and Swift's ubiquitous A-frame. It took me a long time to warm up to jacketed expanding bullets in revolvers, but this is one that never seems to fail to impress in a number of different calibers. Tradmark, and the other attendees that are here can fill in any blanks.

Day one began with Tradmark's daughter Amanda wielding a Super Redhawk (7.5-inch barrel) in .480 Ruger. Keep in mind that she tips the scales at less than 100 pounds and yet she can handle the .480 like it's an extension of her hand. This should humble the recoil sensitive among us.

Anyhow, she put a perfect quartering away shot (offhand no less) through the heart of a beautiful Australian water buffalo bull. The bull piled up in short order, the Lehigh 330 grain solid doing exactly what it was supposed to do.



Tradmark's son Alex -- one of the most talented and natural handgun shooters I have been privileged to witness in action, took a water buffalo bull with his BFR in .500 JRH loaded with 325 grain Swift A-frames. A blood bath ensued.



I was up next with an animal we dubbed "Freakshow" as he was unusual to say the very least. He is a Gayal (domestic version of the Gaur)/ Watusi hybrid. He was chosen for his sheer size and the resistence he would offer to the relatively mild load I was using on him in .480 Ruger consisting of a Lehigh 330 grain solid at a moderate 1,330 fps (give or take). Freakshow weighed in an excess of 2,500 pounds. I punched him quartering away through the heart and he stumbled off maybe 30 yards before piling up. I shot him a couple more times as that is how I am programmed despite the lethality of the first shot.



More to come...

The rest are out of order, as I'm having trouble uploading photos.

This Tradmark's son Michael and the Spanish fighting bull they dispatched together (double-tap). Father and son both used Super Redhawks in .454 Casull. Michael shooting 300 grain A-frames, dad shooting an experimental CEB solid with a much larger than stock meplat. The results were dramatic.



Our very own Rey Garza took this Watusi/longhorn hybrid with his Bowen-built .475 Linebaugh loaded with Lehigh 330 grain solids at I believe 1,350 fps or thereabouts (am I right Rey?).



Jordan used his .357 Automag to take this "Yakalo" - a Yak/Bison hybrid. It had a beautiful coat.



More to follow...

Michael Sprys took two great animals over the weekend. This Watusi bull, with his .45/70 Guide Gun loaded with Lehigh X-treme Penetrators.



He also took this Eland with his Super Redhawk in .454 Casull, stoked with 325 grain Swift A-frames.




On another note, during my absence I hunted South Africa (Eastern Cape) last May and took the following three animals.

A Nyala with a BFR in .454 Casull shooting Federal 300 grain Swift A-frame loads.



A red lechwe also with the BFR in .454 with the same load.



And one Cape buffalo bull (at 15 yards) with my BFR in .500 JRH stoked with handloads consisting of a 420 grain Kodiak Punch bullet over a stiff charge of 296 (right around 1,400 fps). First shot was in the chest and I managed to put four more into him as he piled up in roughly 30 yards when I put another one in him for good measure. He was done at one, but again, I'm programmed to keep shooting until my animal is down and out for good.

Max Prasac you have been missed. This series of photographs are very much appreciated. That Cape Buffalo must be a thrilling story for publication in the making. You are the man of action with a revolver and I thank you!!! Congratulations you lucky dog!!!

good for you Max... your African animals are impressive

Nice going Max,you have been missed. Nice trophy's guys!

At least you've got some good excuses and PHOTOs to prove 'em!

Wow...don't post for a while and come back with post like this!

awesome shooting folks,the results and smiles speak for themself !

I HAVE SEEN A VIDEO OF MAX's CAPE BUFFALO HUNT. IT WAS A MOUNTAIN HUNT IN RSA FOR FREE RANGE CAPE BUFFALO. ONE OF THE NEATEST AND BEST CAPE BUFFALO HUNTS I HAVE EVER SEEN. THEY GOT LUCKY WITH WIND AND COVER AND GOT UP TO 15 YARDS OF THE BUFFALO.

MY 475L LOAD IN MY BOWEN RUGER NIMROD WAS WITH STARLINE BRASS, FED 155M PRIMERS, 25 GRAINS OF VVN110 AND THE 330gr LEHIGH WFN, CHRONO'ed @ 1,362fps. NOT A TOP END LOAD BUT IT WORKED WELL. FIRST SHOT ON THE LONGHORN/WATUSI CULL HYBRID WAS QUATERING AWAY, I WAS AIMING FOR THE OFF SHOULDER, BULLET WENT IN THE RIGHT HAM AND OUT THE LEFT SHOULDER AND THE ANIMAL WALKED OFF SLOWLY. NEXT SHOT WAS BROADSIDE, DEAD CENTER THRU THE SHOULDERS, AND THAT REALLY GOT HER ATTENTION, AND SHE WENT DOWN ASAP. I ALSO HAD SOME 340gr CAST THUMPERS LOADED THE SAME AS THE 330 LEHIGH's, AND THEY CHRONO'ed @ 1,398fps. 2 COUP DE GRACE TO THE HEAD DID NOT EXIT, I RECOVERED ONE AND IT WAS A MISERABLE FAILURE. WILL WEIGH IT AND POST A PICTURE OF IT. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THAT THUMPER LOAD FOR BIGGER ANIMALS. I AM THINKING OF REDUCING THE LOAD TO MAYBE 22gr OF VVN110 TO TRY AND GET VELOCITY TO AROUND 1,200fps FOR PLINKING AND GENERAL FIELD CARRY.

UNFORTUNEATELY, I MISSED THE FIRST COUPLE OF DAYS OF THE BASH BECAUSE OF UNFORSEEN MEDICAL EXAMS, BUT CAUGHT UP AS BEST I COULD ONCE I GOT THERE. I WAS PUMPED TO SHOOT A WATER BUFFALO BUT THE MEDICAL SAGA (THAT TURNED OUT OK), AND THE DELAY IN ARRIVAL, KINDA "TOOK THE WIND OUT'A MY SAILS". VERY NICE AND KNOWLEDGEABLE GROUP OF HANDGUNNERS.

Max as usual a great write-up. Glad to see the photos and beautiful animals. Those in Africa really brought a smile. The boss on the cape Buffalo is magnificent. I hope it is some kind of record for you.
Lots of fine guns in all the photos too.

Charles

Nice job Max, Mark, and Rey! Fantastic trophies both here and abroad!

Congrats guys and girl. Sounds like fun. Whit, congrats on the cape buffalo. When can we see the video?

It was great for you and charles to be there. Also of particlar happiness for all of us was that your tests did well and came out good and you were able to attend!!! I look forward to some deer hunting with you and charles this year. Great shooting my friend!!

Most hunts went as expected and certain findings were to be expected. If you push cup and core bullets to fast and hit bone they can blow up and not kill an animal. Not all cast bullets are made the same. One particluarly interesting finding was on the shoulder of a waterbuffalo. We placed the bullets at point blank range thru the shoulder where they would not hit bone. First up was the ceb 400gr solid at 1750 fps from a 500 smith lever action. A mild load and it blew thru and hit the dirt/mud after exiting and kicked up mud 10 ft into the air! The 440 underwood barely deformed at all, was over 100 fps faster but didnt exit! The 500 gr load literally ground down to nearly 1/2 the size deapit not hitting bone. When we took the animal apart it was verified that no bone was hit. I find the point blank testing useful because its a dg load and it better hold up on a charge. I was shocked the 500 gr had such little integrity when not hitting bone. The rimrocks have done well and so for anyone wanting to use commercial cast bullets, the rimrocks are a good affordable choice. Also, on my daughter buff it was interesting to see 480 lehigh at 1330 fps handily out penetrate the 440 cast at 1120 fps which goes against alot of conventional wisdom. Also the swift aframes just keep working, everytime! My son shot an aframe thru the skull of a bull and it went thru the skull and into the hide on the other side. Even going thru the heavy bone the expanded hollow point showed perfect expansion and looked like it went thru the lungs. The aframes also passed thru the shoulders of the eland, a 325 aframe at 1560 fps. Just some observations. My eldest shot the 325 gr aframes out of his 500 jrh at a rather sedate 1480 fps. The damage was remarkeable and in 3 shots taken in rapid succession, 2 while the bull was moving, passed thru and it died quickly in a shower of blood.

Also on a side note. We were fortunate enough to catch on video a theory many have had about bullets getting caught on the offside hide. It showed the hide expanding several inches and snapping back trapping the bullet. It just shows that the bullets dont slow so much they just make it to the hide, but rather they must have an ?escape? velocity to exit.

Well worth the wait for posts from you Max. Great write up and some excellent trophies.

Congratulations to all of you! Fine shooting with great results on all of those large bovines. The Cape Buffalo looks like a real monster, more photo's would be great. 15 yds is cutting it pretty close on an animal that enjoys stomping holes in your hide.

Dick

Very nice Max. Great to see you back on here. Congrats all around.

Excellent hunt!!! Congrats to all!

Please note the Bullet photo on the Bragging Board. A good description is entailed.

Wow, this is very cool. Caught the short segment on the TV show Shooting Gallery about this outing and was very impressed with Max and his BFR in 500JRH taking that big bovine. This just looks like all kinds of fun!!. Great shooting everyone!

Thanks Mike. That was from last year's Bash. Every year seems to get even better if that is possible.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words!

Glad to see you back! I can certainly see why you've been so busy, lol.



That's interesting. What kind of camera where y'all using to catch that? Standard camera, or something with a higher frame rate?

Thanks for posting the hunt and including your findings, very informative.
Congratulations on your hunt in Africa Max, can't wait to hear more.
Norm

You have been very busy, Max!

Congratulations and great job!

Congratulations to all! There were some very nice animals taken, and in quick fashion...very impressive! I'm telling y'all, someone needs to take a big Nilgai Bull...they are definitely smaller in weight than some of the really big animals taken, but they are tough as nails. Once again ladies and gentlemen, congratulations on some very impressive handgunned trophies.

IN THEIR ANCESTRAL AMERICAN HOME (SOUTH TEXAS COASTAL BRUSH COUNTRY) FREE RANGE NILGAI ARE WILDER THAN HELL, AND HAVE AN ALMOST MYTHICAL REPUTATION FOR TOUGHNESS. SOME OF THE RANCHES DO NOT ALLOW HANDGUN HUNTING AND SOME HAVE CALIBER MINIMUMS. THESE NILGAI ARE QUITE THE GAME ANIMAL. I HAVE KILLED 2 YOUNGER BULLS WITH HANDGUNS, 1 WITH A 375 JDJ AND ONE WITH A FA MODEL 83 USING 454 EQUIVALENT 45 COLT LOADS. I HAVE NEVER KILLED A BIG ONE. A BIG BULL NILGAI WILL GO 700 PLUS lbs.

Looks like several tons of fun! It seems to me that the bullets selected this time offered better performance than others used in the past.

I went thru campbell cameras and theres a canon that has a very fast frame
Rate and takes utterly fantastic quality vids for just over 200 bucks. Got some great videos!

I think one big thing we have done is to use bullets being tested for the first time on animals of this size on dead tissue first so you get a clean kill amd
Dont chase 3 legged wounded critters around for a bit. So i think everyone has gravitated to known quantities to make the kill shots for a humane kill right out of the gate.

I see which one you mean. Seems like it films 60 fps. That makes me kind of excited since I just bought one that will record at up to 120.

I would love to watch those videos if you decide to post them.

I cant for some reason but im a techno tard so who knows. I would love to show em

For the poor performers, my 500 gr hardcast at 1625 fps from a 500 smith lever gun. Ground away to nothing. The sierra 140gr 357 mag did not kill the yakalo well and had to be finished with a barnes from a 45 colt. Granted it was going much too fast from its intended velocity range so this is not an indictment. Also a 44 auto mag 240 sierra was shot into a watusi bull?s shoulder with a mv just over 1600 fps. It thumped the bull good and broke the onside shoulder. It was put down with a 375hh double rifle. The initial shot the bullet broke up and a couple small shards hit the lung and did no real appreciable damage to the vitals. Too fast and big bone so it wasnt surprising. Just pushed to fast.

Max - It is great seeing you back. This is wonderful stuff. Congratulations on your many trophies here.

Congratulations to you all for taking these BIG boys. Impressive kills all around.

Good shooting guys and gals!

I am sure I'm not speaking for myself when I say thank you for posting up your results. It really gives the rest of us confidence in what we are using even though we may not have had the opportunity to test them out on heavy critters

Beautiful looking cape buffalo Whit!

That?s a bunch of bull!!!














Literally!! 😁

Good job, guys and gals.

Your Bovine Bash's have helped prove that the premium bullets like the A Frames & the solid Copper style bullet lead the pack when it comes to the really, really big animals.
A cast bullet can only stand so much stress & then it will fail, we found that out back in the 70's shooting Handgun Silhouette, the hard way.
Most all of us were having trouble knocking down the 200 meter Rams with our 44 magnums & so we tried going faster & using harder bullets, all we did was make matters worse.
What you need with a big animal & a big cast bullet on really big game, if that's what you're using is to slow it down a bit & give it a chance to work. Run it too fast & it will fail, we found out that fast wasn't the answer, "dwell time" on the target was the answer.
Still, a cast bullet is no match for the premium bullets on the mega animals if you're hitting big bones, they just won't cut it. You've proven you're wasting your time.

Dick

AMEN!

I see you mentioned Barnes, what did you guys shoot for Barnes? any XPBs?

It was a handgun hunt, so only XPBs were used - granted a couple of leveractions made the scene that were chambered in revolver cartridges (with the exception of one .45/70).

Looks like it was a great time.
I've been swamped at work for a long time, so I haven't been here for way to long, but it's nice to see your back and posting again.

Thank you, sir!

Well yes, I knew it was a handgun hunt! you could have been shooting Busters

I only clarified as lots of folks use TSXs in their specialty pistols. We used busters last year a couple of times but their meplats are tiny, yet they do go deep.

Thank you!