Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Here's a good one for the 45/70 crowd

LT_DAN--I'm not trying to start a pissing contest, but I would say that someone who has taken 5 Cape Buffalo is at least qualified to comment on the performance of his bullets on the animals he has taken as compared to what he saw of the 45-70 on an American bison bull. If someone has taken 5 whitetail deer, he is at least qualified to comment on his bullet performance on those animals.

FWIW, I have never taken a Cape Buffalo, but I certainly intend to, if not in 2010, at least by 2011. And I intend to use my 45-70. Here's why. It is damned accurate. I can hit eggs all day long at 50 yards with it with open iron sights. And shooting cast bullets in the 500 grain weight range it will penetrate with most of the vaunted African cartridges, and out penetrate most of them.

In Africa,I have killed two kudu, a blue wildebeast, a black wildebeast, a gemsbok and a zebra as well as a number of smaller animals with the Sharps. I have shot ALL THE WAY THROUGH all of them, and have not recovered a single bullet. I shot the black wildebeast in the rear end for a finishing shot after I broke both of his front shoulders on the first shot. The second shot passed completely through him lengthwise, and exited his chest. That is roughly 70 inches of penetration. Before I shot the zebra, my PH commented that he thought my string of pass throughs would be broken. I asked him why, and he said that "a 375 H&H wouldn't do it." I told him I would shoot the zebra on an angle from shoulder to ham to see if I could shoot through him on a diagonal. I did, and got a complete pass through with a 511 grain paper patched bullet. After he saw that, the PH said that I would have no problem whatever with a Cape Buffalo with the Sharps.

I understand about tradition. I also understand that this grand old American rifle has plenty of horsepower and range if it is loaded properly and shot by a man who truly knows how to use it. Bison can be damned hard to kill. Just ask the Namibian PH that shot one six times over here last year with a 458 Win. He is a friend of mine, and was astounded that the animal took six good hits before it went down.

You boys that have your knickers in a wad need to back up and take a deep breath. The Good Old Boy Club in Africa doesn't have the only rifles and cartridges in the world that will take dangerous game. There are a couple of 130 year old rifles and cartridges on this side of the pond that work pretty well, too.