I just returned from a very productive and unforgetable 14-day plainsgame safari with Roger Whittal Safaris, hunting the Humani safari area on the Turwi and Save rivers, about 40 miles from the Mozambique border, taking 18 big game animals, including an incredible 30" nyala, which certainly ranks as one of my all-time greatest Africa trophy animals. I could write a lengthy post about the many positive aspects of this safari, including the fact that it was my distinct honor to have, as my Professional hunter, 72 year-old William Finaughty, grandson of THE William Finaughty who wrote the classic African hunting book, "Recollections of William Finaughty, Elephant Hunter, 1864-1875".
But for the sake of brevity, I'd like to talk about the bullets I used on this safari, which included the 225 gr. Nosler AccuBond, as well as the 225 gr. Swift A-Frame. The only rifle I used was my favorite, ultra-reliable, time-proven Echols-built custom Model 70 in 338 Win. Mag., topped with a Leupold Vari-X III 2.5-8x scope.
When we arrived in Harare, everything showed up except for my duffle bag, which contained most of my clothes, all of my ammunition, and all of my gear except for camera and binoculars. I had one change of clothes to go on from my carry-on, and since my hunting partner also brought a 338 Win. Mag., I borrowed a box of Remington 225 gr. Swift A-Frame factory loads from him to hunt with, at least until my duffle showed up, which it did some four days later, when it was then flown out to camp with some newly-arriving clients.
On paper, the Remington Swift ammo didn't hit exactly to the same point-of-impact as my AccuBond load, but they were printing close enough to hunt with, and for the 100-150 yd. opportunities I was presented with, they went where they needed to go and absolutely hammered everything stone-dead, including the previously mentioned nyala as well as a 150 yd. running shot on a huge bushpig, both of which were taken the first morning of the safari.
But when my duffle finally arrived, I dug into it like a kid would his presents on Christmas morning, and I immediately switched to my AccuBond loads. And I immediately began to have problems with bullet blow-ups and extremely poor penetration. I shot a pair of big zebra stallions with the Accubonds, and in both cases those bullets barely got inside on solid chest shots, where they simply disintegrated, and follow-up shots were required to finish things.
On another occasion, I had a chance at a huge and ancient Limpopo bushbuck, which we spotted across the Turwi river. After a careful stalk, we came within 200 yds. of the bushbuck, and I shot him off the sticks, at the point of the right shoulder. At the shot, the bushbuck nearly went down, then recovered enough to run into the brush on his side of the river. This greatly surprised me, as I saw the bullet hit him when the rifle went off, and the shot felt good anyway. After some four hours of wading through riverine brush, we finally recovered the bushbuck, which was running around on three legs. As it turns out, the first shot hit him exactly where I was aiming, but it blew up without getting inside. In contrast to this frustrating episode, my hunting partner had a 230 yd. shot at another stupendous old bushbuck along the same river, and his Swift load simply blew him to the ground and exited.
Big warthog were a bit tough to find in our hunting area, but finally I had the chance at a big old boar, which was a running away shot at about sixty yards. I hit him in the back with a 225 AccuBond and he kept on going. I finished him with a shot right behind the shoulder, but discovered (once again) that the first shot blew up without getting inside, creating one heck of an ugly mess.
At this point, I was extremely sour on those AccuBonds, as was my PH, who advised me to dump the rest of my ammo in the river and go back to my borrowed box of Swift A-Frames.
Which is exactly what I did for the rest of the tough stuff I had left to hunt, including Greater kudu, Livingston's eland, and a pair of Blue wildebeest, one of which was an absolute monster that scored 91 SCI points, 70 points being required to make the book. In ever case, those Swift A-Frame loads did stellar, deadly work, hammering everything in a most decisive manner that left absolutely no doubt about the efficiency and sufficiency of the 338 Win. Mag. for any and all African plainsgame IF.............you feed it good bullets that stay together!
All told I recovered six Swift A-Frames from various animals, and two AccuBonds. The AccuBonds I recovered looked pretty good, but the real story lies with the unrecovered ABs that blew up and didn't get inside. The recovered Swifts were beautifully mushroomed and uniform in their performance. They couldn't be faulted in any way..........
I don't have time to elaborate more at this time, but I'll say this: I've used some fabulous bullets in Africa over the last eleven years on over 200 big game animals on the Dark Continent, including the Nosler Partition, Winchester Fail-Safe, Trophy Bonded solids and softs, North Fork solids and softs, and Swift A-Frames.
After this safari, I came to two conclusions: The Swift A-Frame is just as good and effective as any bullet I've ever used for anything in Africa or anywhere else, and I'm a confirmed fan. My second conclusion is that the Nosler AccuBond is the absolute worst bullet I've ever used on safari. As far as I'm concerned, Nosler has produced a bullet that is in no way as good as their own fine Partition, and I will personally never use the AccuBond again for any hunting, anywhere. We called them "baboon bullets" mid-way through the hunt.
If anyone thinks that bullet construction doesn't matter, they had better guess again.................
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