Thread: oryx projectiles

Just wondering if any of you blokes in NZ have used or have any information on the Norma Oryx bullet
and its performance on medium to heavy game
I'm looking at running 156gr oryx in my 7mm rem mag on scrub cattle and was hoping someone may have used them
If the write ups on them can be believed then they would be ideal for my purpose
At present i'm running 162 eld-x and 168 vld but not convinced they are good enough for wild cattle as I'm using several
shots at times to pull them up so i'm looking for a tougher bullet
Any info would be appreciated

Thanks

Not sure about oryx but have you considered a similar weight in Hornady Interlocks?

I am using 156gr Oryx in my 7x64, only shot one deer with it so far and that was a large Red Hind that my mate had wounded, punched through both shoulders and exited and put her down on the spot.

Not much to go on but reports from Africa seem to indicate that they are very tough.

Accuracy is very good in my rifle.

To be honest though, I would be more inclined to go heavier and slower for scrub cattle, short distances (I would imagine) so ballistics is not an issue, but you would want the penetration of a slower heavier bullet with a high SD like a 175gr swift A-Frame or Nosler Partition.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oryx designed for moose etc so should be good.

G'Day Rigga

I've used Oryx on scrub cattle, in the Northern Territory. 30 cal from a .308 Winchester, factory ammo, weight was 165gr if I remember correctly.

There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever about penetration, it is a hard bullet. The ranges we were shooting could be quite long for scrub cattle, as they had been shot at a fair bit already. 100m+ was normal, 200m+ fairly frequent. We had a 300 Win Mag for the proper long shots. In the East Cape Raukumaras which is the only place I've done scrub cattle in NZ, it tended to be all sub-100m in thickish scrub.

What I found is that the placement was absolutely critical. To far back behind the shoulder, and / or too low, and the Oryx would pass right through and the animal would run, fast and sometimes very far. You don't want that happening in thick bush, especially if the bull knows where you are. It was really important to place the bullet well forward into the shoulder, in the front line of the foreleg, slap bang in the middle of the torso vertically. The anatomy is different to large deer or antelope. Probably not telling you anything you don't already know but worth mentioning anyway. The Oryx had no problems knocking them over with good placement, a solid shoulder strike would stop the beast from running far and it would drop quickly.

The one guy we shot with used Sierra ProHunter round nose 180gr in his .308 Win, so heavy for calibre and quite slow (2400fps?) and overall I'd say that bullet was more forgiving and that's what I ended up using for everything up there, scrub cattle, big pigs, camels, donkeys, when using the .308 Win. The bullets we recovered had shed more weight than the Oryx and the radius of damage was greater.

But at the end of the day, most of the animals were head shot. As long as a good rest was available and they weren't too far away. They are not hard to head shoot with a decent rifle. I'll say this and risk getting a hard time from one or two, but we head shot a lot of cull animals with my .223 T3 Super Varmint using 64gr protected points. Absolutely clinical. I think that's the key for scrub cattle, no matter what rifle & cartridge you're using, if you can reliably shoot proper sub-MOA with it in the field within 300m, a head or neck shot is a bloody good option. Anything a bit iffy, then with a 7mm or .30cal just make sure you smack it hard in the right place.

I think this one was shot with an Oryx, may have been a ProHunter, head shot from about 100m, standing, using a staunch branch as a rest off the side of a tree.



I've got this in my photo library, I think this is what we were given by the station guys.

Some very good info there Flyblown

These are the .223 bullets I used for head shooting cattle, amongst other things.

https://winchester.com/Products/Ammu...onded/X223R2BP

These were easily tough enough for the biggest bull skull from any angle. A particularly good angle was from behind, quartering strongly away, into the base of the skull. Very humane, it would destroy the cerebellum and brain stem and turn the brains into soup. It would exit from time to time depending exactly how it hit and how far away I was, but most of the shots resulted in it opening right up and partially fragmenting, and bouncing around inside the skull, which is pretty much perfect.

Ragga, stupidly earlier I told you to look at a bullet in a different calibre to your rifle, which isn’t available in 7mm. Sorry about that. So another option for you to consider in 7mm Rem Mag, which at 3000-3100fps might be a bit fast for closer range bull shooting, is the 154gr Hornady Interbond. Reason I suggest this bullet is that I’ve seen them do very well at magnum velocities at closer range, compared to some of the more common bullets which if too hard can over penetrate, which would be my concern with the Oryx, or if too soft can blow up on hide and fat and under penetrate. We used the Interbond in the 300 Win Mag and it dealt maximum death to anything it hit, particularly horrible big pigs and scrub cattle. Whilst it wasn’t the intention to use it sub ~300m cos it wasn’t a carry rifle by any means, sometimes something popped out much closer and the Win Mag was all that was ready or whatever.

The 180gr Interbond would rarely exit a cattle beast or big pig with a solid shoulder shot, but fark me the hole it made on the way through to the hide on the other side... One of my mates will have pics of the pills we dug out of the hide and some of the internal wounding, I sent an email tonight to see if I can retrieve one or two. The Interbond / 300 Win Mag combo is one of only a handful that I’ve ever seen reliably produce full on ripple effect shock powered drop ‘em kills with shoulder shots, all 4 legs folding and down they go, man it hit hard. I can’t imagine that a 7mm Rem Mag would be that much less effective, the SD is about the same. I don’t know anyone who has used them in 7mm, maybe someone else here can comment. But personally in 7mm RM I wouldn’t hesitate to point it at a cattle beast.

Thanks all of you for the feed back much appreciated
I haven't tried the interlocks as i'm a fair way out of town and had trouble getting them without having to order them and it took 3mths to get some vld's last time
the oryx seemed easier to get so I thought i'd try them
The wild cattle are very touchy and a lot of the shots are from 150m-350m head shots are taken when possible but that is not often as the cattle hang to the scrubs
shoulder and heart-lung are more frequent shots
I'm not rapped in the eld-x 162gr or the vld 168gr because I've done good hits on neck only to have the bullet blow before peno was achieved
As you said Flyblown quartering shots should be good for the oryx as they are most of the shots I can get because the scrubbers hear a vehicle or tractor they're off
then stand in the scrubs so then you have to get the best shot you can and some times or I should say most times its a shoulder or front on shot with it's head held high
making it impossible for a head shot
I've shot them with 22-250 but care was taken for the head shot at close range also shot them with 25-06 as well but sold the 25-06 and bought the 7mm last year
That's why i'm looking for a fairly tough bullet for it , I used interlocks in the 25-06 as well as others and from memory they were the toughest I used in that caliber
I might take the advice I've received and buy some interlocks as well , I've tried partitions and can't get them to shoot below 2''group used 2217, 2213,RL 22, 2225
the best was with 69gr 2217 cci250 primers for 2''group but all the others like vld,eld shoot .3'' @ 100yds
By reading the info on here the oryx sounds tough and some times too tough but it sounds like its one I should try so thanks again

cheers

Here is a couple I shot a week ago

@Ragga
I know someone recommended Interlocks earlier, but I’m recommending a totally different bullet that I’ve used myself on scrub cattle.

Interbonds.

Completely different to the -lock, stupid for Hornady to confuse them. On scrub cattle, driven fast, these were peerless. Might prove difficult to get, give it a go. With the Superformance powder, they are excellent.

If I were you I’d buy a box of factory ammo and see how a new bullet works, before I try and reload them.

Barnes? No issues with penetration or weight retention with them even at high MVs.

I've shot a reasonable amount of cattle both wild and domestic. The wild ones were bush animals and generally under 100 yards. All of the wild cattle were taken with Hornady 174 gr round nose projectiles doing roughly 2400 fps out of a.... tadaar 303. Any angle in the chest dropped them with no fuss from yearlings to full grown bulls.
Ive shot over thirty domestic beef with everything from a bolt gun to a 300 winchester magnum. If a head shot can be taken with a good angle and the appropriate projectile there should not be a problem. Having said that I did have a rising two year old Hereford steer get up after having a 150 gr sierra from a 308 put right between the eyes at about 40 yards (slightly from above). He went down as expected and then got straight back up looking abit bemused (as was I) and got another one just to the left which did the job. I talked to a vet about it and he said the projectile more than like went between the hemispheres of the brain but didnt quite destroy them. Ive taken his advice since and if head shooting front on I shoot an inch to the left or right and have not had an issue, side ways is better.
A bit of advice for the inexperienced with this type of shooting is to bare in mind what could happen when shooting for the head with a marginal calibre or regardless of calibre poor placement and getting it wrong. The chances of another shot are close to none in the bush.

Troy

Yeah Flyblown sorry mate for the mix up on interbonds and interlocks it was someone else that mentioned them
The oryx turned up today and I made two lots of three one with 64gr 2217 shot 11/2'' and one with 65gr 2217 shot 1'' will do 66gr and 67gr tomorrow
after 67gr i'll go up 2gr at a time but so far they're looking good

cheers

Thanks for that info Troy
I to have shot a lot of cattle but the old 7mm is new to me as i'm 64yrs old and the old 303 was the go to rifle for me

cheers

Originally Posted by rigga

Yeah Flyblown sorry mate for the mix up on interbonds and interlocks it was someone else that mentioned them
The oryx turned up today and I made two lots of three one with 64gr 2217 shot 11/2'' and one with 65gr 2217 shot 1'' will do 66gr and 67gr tomorrow
after 67gr i'll go up 2gr at a time but so far they're looking good

cheers

Shouldn't you be reducing the amount you increase the charge as you get closer to maximum?