Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why big magnums for African leopard?

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Plus, and I guess this may qualify me as a “rifle looney”…….if I’m paying for an African (or any other hunt), part of the experience is taking game with “MY” rifle! I’m as passionate about that as I am about the damn guide shooting my game! memtb

Awesome!

My elk and grizzly round when I was young and immortal

Prehistoric saber-tooth!

Nice cat

Yes, a leopard weighs about the same as a man or a deer 130-200 pounds. Therefore, it logically does not take a .375 H&H to put one on the wall.

OTOH, You don't want one that does not drop dead on the spot. They have a nasty habit of maulling the s h i t out of trackers, PH's and intreped hunters. Dspecially if you take him at sundown and need to follow up in the waning daylight.

I've shot a deer in the heart with .257 Roy. If you believe what you read that should have not only dropped him on the spot from the hydrostatic shock, but field dressed and mounted him. Nope. It ran 100 yards.

Shot a leopard in hte heart with 9.3 x 62. It fell stone dead out of the tree. That's what you want.

There's just too much risk that a smaller caliber would not be a dead-right-there shot. And there's too much risk that if it's not killed straight away with that first shot, it will cause you or someone else serious problems. A .30 cal with 180's at 2700 fps would be the absolute minimum I'd consider, a .375 the largest. A 9.3 x 62 would be perfect, I'd feel most comfortable with a .338.

Shot two with 7mm RemMag, one with a .338 WinMag and one with a .44 Mag. All died on the spot. The .44 mag was a fluke as we caught it in daylight while checking baits. Still died an uneventful death. As you said, uneventful is best when shooting dangerous game.

I thought each African country set their hunting policy and minimum requirement. maybe I am wrong , but I think tanzania requires a minimum of 375HH ?

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^^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^

Plus, and I guess this may qualify me as a “rifle looney”…….if I’m paying for an African (or any other hunt), part of the experience is taking game with “MY” rifle! I’m as passionate about that as I am about the damn guide shooting my game! memtb[/quote]

Me too, I never liked the idea of "paying" for my PH to shoot my Game for me, and I lay it out up front. Only, if it looks like I wounded him and he might get away, then we all "rabbit" shoot him, ha Another reason I like big thumpers (we were around Buffalo, Hippo and Rhino here is what I used (35 Whelen AI/250x; 340 Wby/210 XBT; 300WM 180 XBT 375 H&H 270 FS; 338 WM/200X) is I used Barnes X, Xbt's and I could take an opportunity shot at a bad angle, insuring my success. 10,000 miles is a godawful long way to go. Whew! Again, while I never took anything bigger than Zebra, Blue Wildebeast, Black Wildebeast, Kudu, Impala, Blesbuck, Warthog, Hartebeast, SA Oryx, big Namibian Gemsbuck and Springbuck. I shot many GB/Springbuk with the 300WM in Namibia cause they were "out there" and the Afrikaaner Biltong hunters with us was like a truck load of monkeys! Shoot or they would "take their turn", not the "best folks" to hunt with out there. The ones in And around Joberg/Pretoria were more sophisticated, ha. Hey, "Good Ol Boys" are everywhere!

This pretty much sums it up......

I know of someone that shot a bobcat opening morning of deer season. He started trailing it. It bailed out of a tree onto his head. Clawed and bit his face and started digging at his neck with its back feet. I was on the next lease. I heard the shooting, I heard the man screaming and then calling for help. I heard a truck driving fast through the rocks. The victim went to church with one of our members. They barely got him to a hospital 15 minutes away in time. This was a little 20 pound cat shot poorly with a centerfire deer rifle.
I have 2 personal stories about 20 pound bobcats shot with 30-06s that required follow up shots.

I met a guy on my first trip to South Africa who was going for Leopard. He used a 240 wby with the 100gr Partition. He shot ten Impala and one zebra for bait. The grass was still high (hadn't been burned off yet) he said he could hear the cat growling, muttering, all around his blind, but only caught glimpsed of him on the bait. No leopard that trip.

I shot one with a 44 mag. Instant lights out.

I've always ruminated that a .444 Marlin in a Ruger #1 with hollow points would ruin Chui's day.

I don't have much experience with leopard, but I personally would feel more comfortable with a .270, .30-06 or .300 with a quicker expanding bullet than a larger bore. I've even talked to PHs that mentioned using .243s on them. They're not huge animals and I personally think expansion would be more important than penetration as compared to larger game. The one I shot was with a .300 and 165 TSXs because it's what I happened to have in my hand that day.

.308 Win
150g Hornady interlock.

DRT

Like DesertMuleDeer above.....I don't have much experience with leopards but I agree 100% with what he posted.

I'd say.....Don't overthink it. The leopard isn't a particularly tough animal. Wounded is another story Im told.....but any good deer bullet will do the job and it will do it well.

I killed a bobcat with my 338F once. Instant DRT. Might have to choose another bullet for my 338F bobcat load. Bullet penciled right through!

An overly tough large bore that doesn't expand well would be more hindrance than benefit I'd imagine. Just poking a hole through one would be my main concern.