Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Nilgai, How much gun is enough?

I'd like to do a Nilgai next year and I've been reading up. Some guides are recommending 338 Win Mag or 375 for bulls. I know Nilgai have large bones and thick rubbery skin so there are no blood trails.

Some act like they are bullet proof while others that have hunted them had great success with much smaller calibers. It's difficult to sort through it all. I've heard a consensus that shots are usually not that long and usually 100-200 yards.

I'd like to use a 338 Federal with either 210 Partitions or 200 Trophy Tipped. Is that a prudent choice for Nilgai? Should I just step up and bring my 9.3x62 for this one?

I'd like to hear opinions from people that have hunted them. I've heard Nilgai are tougher than Elk so more gun is recommended. Not sure if that is true because I haven't hunted either.

Bring your 45-70 with hard cast flat nosed bullets weighing 480 grains. That will get the job done.

I just looked in my safe and I don't see a 45-70.

I used a 300 Win Mag with 165gr Hornady Interbonds when I shot my cow Nilgai.She was about 150yds,complete pass through high lung shot,dropped right there.I'd go for a quartering away shot,tight up against the shoulder on the on side,taking out the offside shoulder.This way all your wound channel and bullets energy is directed into it's vital organs.If broadside,take just a little bit of the shoulder on each side.They are grazer,browser feeders.The stomachs are quite large and the vitals are well forward and protected by the shoulders.Get a bullet into the vitals as opposed to the stomach and you should do just fine with any of the larger rifles.Just remember,shot placement is everything.

Any good bullet ought turn the heart and or lungs to soup. If penetration is a concern, the TTSX is the answer. A Barnes may not leave a great blood trail, but it sounds like most bullets do not due to their hide. The Barnes will penetrate though! A 160gr moving real fast if you want to turn the inside to soup, or a 185 if you want to trade a little damage (maybe) for more penetration. If your shots are not too far, the TTSX will open really wide and you'll be surprised at the internal damage. The only TTSX I've recovered was a 160gr that penetrated ribs on both sides of a waterbuck and was caught in the thick far side hide. Internals were a complete mess.

If it were me, I'd load 160s to 3050+ and go hunt with zero doubts the bullets is going to do its job.

Thats a problem.

Scott, I havent hunted them, but most places Ive checked into for a hunt recommend or insist on at least a .300 mag
Im hoping to hunt them one day but the biggest gun in the house is my wifes .30-06...which I would use without hesitation.
Texanss can be funny...most Ive run into recommend the .300 WSM for their whitetails.......

If you don't have a 45-70, you need to get one.

I've hunted them. The cow is a good bit smaller than the bull and doesn't have the very thick skin of the bull.

Don't look for a lot of blood, that skin closes the hole.

My guide liked .375 and .338. If and when I go back, I'm packing my .375 H&H pushing the 250 gr. TTSX.

DF

Seventy-nine Nilgai were collected for research on food habits and meat quality on the King Ranch during a study in 1969-1972. Rifles used were chambered in .243, .270, 7mm Magnum and .30-06, all with factory ammunition. All were one-shot kills, mostly with neck shots. Another 15 were collected during a disease study in the winter of 1972-1973 using a .30-06 with 165-grain Nosler hand loads.

I have seen no evidence that they have somehow become bullet-proof since then. Take whatever rifle you can shoot accurately with a bullet that will reliably penetrate and expand.

From what I've seen, they don't give it up easily, especially when pursued.

A culling operation may be a bit different than hunting.

DF

From a post by JB a while back:

"I have done some nilgai hunting, usually with large groups of other hunters, so have gotten some data on what works and what doesn't.

One group was about a dozen people who went to the King Ranch several years ago to test the then-new .270 WSM with 140-grain Fail Safe bullets. The guides were NOT enthusiastic about this, since Winchester had also taken some people there a couple of years before to test the .300 WSM (though not entirely with Fail Safe bullets) and the results had been erratic.

By the end of the .270 WSM hunt the guides all agreed opinion that it was one of the best nilgai cartridges ever.
This was based on 24 nilgai being taken, both bulls and cows.

From my experience (not just that hunt) the bullet makes a much bigger difference in nilgai hunting than the cartridge--just as it does when hunting any other fairly large non-dangerous game. The 140 Fail Safes penetrated plenty, so did the job when placed right.

One of the other conclusions the guides came to was that the batch of hunters on the .270 WSM hunt were better shots overall than the hunters on the .300 WSM hunt. That makes a difference too.

I've also decided that one of the reasons nilgai got the reputation of being so hard to kill is that so many are chased around in pickup trucks and shot at long range on the run. A lot of animals are tough to kill when they get shot in the guts and legs. And yes, I have been on one of those so-called nilgai hunts too, and the outfitter not only encouraged those kinds of shots but the way his guides hunted virtually guaranteed them.

In fact most of his guides didn't think it's possible to stalk or still-hunt nilgai--which is BS, because it's done a lot on the King Ranch. Both of the nilgai I took on that hunt (a bull and cow) were still-hunted, and shot at ranges of 75 and 200 yards.

Another reason nilgai often seem tough is the same reason elk seem tough: People have heard they're tough, so they bring big rifles, which often turn out to be rifles they don't shoot very well.

So I agree with Mark, even though he's never hunted nilgai. Take any decent medium-game round with GOOD bullets, and the job will be done neatly if the shooter does his job."
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John

Better check with your guide. Mine wouldn't have been happy with a smaller bore.

And, I agree with pursuit, it does make a difference.

On a hunt, you don't have the time and convenience of a culling operation. You're going after a target within a certain time frame.

I'd still take my .375 H&H, but I can shoot it about as well as my other rifles.

And the guide can't be squawking about my puny rifle when the bull runs, as many do no matter what they're hit with. Hit right, they don't generally go that far.

And, I agree with bullet selection. To me, the 250 TTSX is a good choice, plenty of penetration, pretty good at longer ranges and tough. It should get their attention, good "wallop factor"...

DF

I have a friend. He has hunted them twice and, each time he used a .308 Win. which worked just fine for him. One shot each.
They are some tasty animals. Well, what I eat of it was good.

I'm sure you can kill them just fine with larger calibers too.

Note: I have never hunted them. If I did, I think it would be with something larger than a .308 Win. Maybe my 338-06

Have a good day.

I hunted Nilgai a few years ago, using my .375 Ruger, and 270 gr. Barnes TSX bullets.

My shot on a very nice bull was just shy of 200 yards, behind the shoulder hit, and the bull dropped in his tracks.

The bullet was recovered from under the hide on the far side, showing the typical, perfect Barnes mushroom.

I have other calibers that would probably have worked just as well, but this was a warm-up for Africa, so I used the .375.

I have taken two Nilgai cows, one with a 7mm Rem Mag and the other with a 338 Win Mag. My son took two young bulls with his 7mm Rem Mag. We both shot the same RWS 177GR Torpedo High Shock factory loads in our 7 RMs. In my 338 I used a Nosler 210GR Partition in a Federal factory load. The cow I shot with my 7 mag, was hit behind the shoulder like I would shoot a deer. She had to be tracked with a dog to find her. After that hunt I got some advice and hit my second cow thru the shoulder with my 338, putting her down. The difference in results was not the guns or bullets but the placement. When my son shot his two bulls, our guide told us to shoot them in the neck. That is what Rick did. Both bulls went right down. Of course he was in a blind and both shots were only around 150 yards. I had to shoot using scrub bush for a rest and at over 250 yards. That guide told us to bring a 7mm or up magnum that we could keep our shots in a six inch group (neck shot) at 200 yards with a rest. He also said to pick a tough, heavy bullet.

Nilgai is great table fare, cooked right it's hard to beat.

And they're rather large animals, lots of meat. Be sure the guide has plenty of ice and gets them skinned out and on ice ASAP, as it tends to be hot where they grow...

I think the bottom line is what you're comfortable with and what your guide is comfortable with. I'm going to go with the flow and not go trying to prove a point. He likes big stuff, I'll shoot big stuff. Not a problem.

DF

A friend of mine killed a Nilgaii bull with one shot into the rib cage with a Contender in 30/30. Put the bullet where it goes and all is good.

i've used a 270 and a 300rum, both work. the bull i killed with the 270 using 130gr corelokts didn't take step was dead before he collapsed.

.257 Weatherby, according to Roy.