Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Boom-flop Nilgai

bang flop with a wait for it.....270. and cows are much better eating not nearly as tough as an old bull.

Mr Kaywoodie,

Thanks for posting the fine picture of your brother's success. He is a smart man, smart enough to not know that you can't kill stuff without the latest "slick bullet" 6.5 or some super fast magnum.

Geno

PS, I bet you think those SMLE's you've worked on go fashionably well with those funny pants you sometimes wear!
PPS, I kinda like the white spots on the lower legs. I wonder why that adaptation?

Excellent! I'd enjoy that hunt.

Could have sworn I'd read that minimum for a bull was a 300 magnum, with 338's and 375's preferred!

Good job.

Guy

Guy,
You likely have read such misinformation about Nilgai. They are just a big antelope and as such can be taken with many popular cartridges.
Think Eland - some hunters like to say magnum cartridges are needed, but a PH friend of mine in RSA grew up taking all African plains game with a .308.

Like all critters, they will fall to most modern big game rifles if the bullet is put in the right place. Naturally, if you plan to shoot them from a quarter mile away (or further) you need the appropriate rifle and skills.

Nilgai are fun to hunt and good to eat., so go get one!

verhoositz,

It's been a LONG time (40 years plus) since I was there but I "think I remember" that the man's name was Tony.

And NO, I can't remember that BBQ joint's name either. = In those long ago days, my dad was still alive & always wanted to eat at Johnny Cace's Cajun place, anytime we went to Longview..

yours, tex

Only time I've had bad nilgai is just when the juisache greened out. It made the meat very bitter.

Other than that I"d shoot one any day. And I have no need for a bull ever again. Have one with a rifle and one with a pistol and you can't eat those horns...

Very true Jeff!!

And I stick to my earlier comments, and also agree with you! Cow, all the way. They are delicious!!! And generally a bit easiery to deal with!

I've eaten bulls that tasted fine but I shot an old rutted bull a couple years that I couldn't give away. Cows are the way to go unless your looking to put one on the wall. And a cow hunt is half the price

I love the old classics.
I am building 2 Lee Sporters now. One is a 1900 Irish Constabulary action and the other is an Aussi Lithgow. Both have new barrels and new wood done in the style of the classic Speed Sporters. Here is a link to an NRA article for a picture of what they will look like. https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2016/8/5/i-have-this-old-gun-lee-speed-sporting-rifle/

The later Aussi rifle is made with a charger guide but the Lee made for the Irish is actually a restored Metford and dates before the use of chargers.

Here is the Irish rifle before I started, with it's super-bubba'd stock and bent barrel.
100_1752 by Steve Zihn, on Flickr
100_1750 by Steve Zihn, on Flickr

The Lithgow was just an action when I got it. No barrel and no wood. No pictures taken of it because there was no reason to

My departure from originality is that my rifles will be made with classic pancake cheek pieces. The Lithgow will have a military style rear sight and the Irish will have a 3 leaf express sight. I got the 1900 Irish from a friend as a junker and it was a gift, so I will work it over and keep it, and hunt with it myself.
The Lithgow will be sold.

If there are any Lee/Speed lovers out there let me know, and when I get then done I'll post some pics.

My dad had a 300 Savage when I was a young boy. If loaded with 180 grain bullets it would shoot about 2350 FPS and I saw how well it killed things. I know the 303 will do about the same thing, if I give it a good bullet. I know Woodleigh makes good ones and Barnes made one in 150 grain.

Anyone out there recommend a good tough bullet in .310,.311" diameter of 180 or heavier? I am betting the Core-Lokt is good, but I don't know if Remington will still sell them. Bullets only, not ammo. I have no feedback on the Hornady, Speer or Sierra 303 bullets.

Gonna be nice Steve! Please post pics! There are several Lee-Speed rifle admirers here! Young son has been fashioning up one for himself from and old #1. I suppose is more of a vintage sporter than anyrhing else. Now that I have a sort of mill set up I can prolly get his express sight on the barrel for him!

Here's a pic of the cow I shot back in Dec 2016. This one is perfect size. Now before y'all go harping on me for gut shootin' her I really didn't. She cut and run across in front of me at about 50-60 yards. I thought at first she was a big doe as it was a foggy morning. Made a quick shot and she hit the dirt. Hit her high in back at back of ribs. Around kidney. Went up in lung and stopped in a rib. She got up and run about 100 yards and died. Was using my old 9.3 x 62.





They are not blue like the bulls.

Wow, with the 9.3X62 I am a bit surprised you recovered the bullet at all.

Great info.. I would like one for meat.. Looks like NO elk this season.. K and szihn nice rifles... Also the .270!!! How much do the eating cows weight!!

Steve, they have thick hide! Bulls hide can be over an inch thick on back! Someone here on forum posted a pic of a quarter up against the hide on a bull once! Was a good comparison. Cows not as thick but still tough. . Honestly I was surprised when I found the bullet too. I suppose it went in at the back of rib cage on right and traversed to the left lung thru a rib and I found it against the hide. She hit the ground like a Sack of potatoes. Got up and ran a good 100 yards thru thick brush to a clearing. Then died.

WCH a good cow can be about the size of a big mule deer buck. Least all the ones I've seen or helped clean have been about that size. They dont get near as big as the bills. Two years ago I walked up on a damn BIG pretty dark blue bull brousing on a tree at the edge of a clearing about 7 one foggy morning in as attempt to get to this open area for some quail. All I had was my Model 12 and 7 1/2 shot! . He was a gorgeous bull!!!

My next adventure there will be with one of my flintlock Jäger rifles!

This wasn't my pic but I found it. They just don't leave much of a blood trail and often run a good ways. It isn't fun tracking them through thick mesquite and cactus. It's less fun cutting a trail to get them out. I shot mine a in the crease of the shoulder per the guides suggestion with a 300 win mag and 165 grain Barnes. I got a pass through but we only found a few specs of blood in the hunted or so yards he ran. I've seen one shot 2 times with a 375 h&h and was still trucking when the 3rd shot spined him.

Thanks Txhunter80! Thats the pic. They can be tough critters!

TxHunter80,
That is my pic from several years ago. Nilgai are dang tough and as others have said, they just don’t bleed a lot. We generally did not let cup and core bullets be used and preferred Trophy Bonded or Swift A-frames, although I do have a recovered Sierra 170 grain RN bullet fired in a 7x57.

Here is a pic of a Barnes TSX 270 gr. fired from my .375 Ruger, recovered from a bull Nilgai shot at a range a bit over 200 yards. Bull dropped in his tracks. This is one of only two TSXes I have ever recovered from a game animal.

Kaywoody (and anyone else who could help too)
Do you have any left over Lee magazines?
I am looking for one so I can cut it down to a 5 shot like what most of the English gunmakers did on their Lee Sporters.
Like this one.
http://www.highwoodclassicarms.co.uk/Firerms%20For%20Sale/smlei/6.JPG


The Irish gun had no magazine when I got it. Originals came with a 7 round. Yeah......7. Why they did that I have no idea, but that's what they were made with.

I want to make one that is a copy of the round belly 5 round mags used on so many of these old guns, and when I get it done I'll engrave the floor plate as they did. But I need something to start with.
Can anyone out there help?

No i have no #1 magazines left at all! Sorry!