Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa African Myths about big calibers.

though I named this topic African Myths. it should be explained that the last place these myths started was Africa. rather these myths are from salesman that have never set foot in Africa. I am proud to say that I have a handful of friends that are foreign to Africa of which 50% are probably from the US alone. I am fortunate to say that all of these friends are good people. my kind of people. no nonsense down to the wire lets get the job done with the least amount of who ha and hi-vife's. in short decent hard working God fearing folks.

what simply irritates me is the lies they are exposed to, and with which they confront you with when they bless you with their presence over here.

I will sum this up by simply explaining that foreign hunters are told that to be the best hunter you can be(for Africa) you have to have the uber killing cannon. this is Bulls$#@^&%T!!!
it seems to me hunters are being taken advantage of by salesman.
when talking about plains game my pet peeve is the so called:" big boned thick skinned animals" what the hell is that???

I recently red an article in a very celebrated American hunting mag. in this article the author states that from Gemsbuck and bigger ABSOLUTE MINIMUM is 338wm. BULLs@#$%T.

I have said this before and as a local hunter I will say it again, if you are a good hunter with a 30-06(in America) why in the world on plains game in Africa do you need anything bigger??? If you do whant to to spend anything do it on premium bullets, thats it.

I would put my money on a hunter that knows his 30-06 vs the hunter that has n new unproven untested 338 any day.

if you do know your 338 or 325 or 375 well that is a bonus but it is not the min requirement such as the salesman would let you to believe.

sorry for the rant, but I have just seen a good man been had again by this old African Myth that did not start in Africa.

as far as the local hunters the advice would be: 270, if you whant more: 30-06.

personally I use 308 for most of my hunts/culls and 300mag for Eland with 150 tsx. though my 308 has taken it 's fair share of eland with shelf ammo.

all I am saying is double check the so called expert advice, rather mind the advice from your PH.

Well, along the same line (almost), but I will toss in my 2 cents. I am planning my first trip to Africa (this October)and I made up my mind, not to take one of my rifles, but to rent from the PH. Many folks (& some friends) tell me not to do this. However, one friend (Tom) told me the following: Look to the big picture, it does not matter what rifle you use or what ammo you use, or if you hunt Springbok, or Cape Buffalo or Leopard. Just go and Hunt Africa. He says I will never forget the adventure.
So, when people see my photos and ask about the rifle, I will say it belonged to the PH.

That's what we did on a Canadian hunt. We wanted the baggage capacity saved for cape, horns, backstrap and tenderloins. I'm sure one could do all that and the guns, it just costs more.

It seemed a lot less trouble, although I would loved to have had my own gun, which is nicer than the one I used.

But the elk ended up just as dead...

DF

I agree with your personal decision 30mm, but am a firm believer in proving myself with the rifle I hunt. I am in no way questioniing the PH's calibre or platform choice, but rather my comfort level with the platform. I have a 12.5" LOP which makes most rifles too long in the wheel base for me. I really want the rifle to fit so that I can do my part.

Lt Dan makes a valid point that your normal hunting rifle is a good choice. I took a 338Winmag and a 3006. The win mag I loaded down so the trajectories of the two rifles were within a 1" path out to 400yds(proven by target). Neither rifle was wanting in the efficiency department. I took the 338 because it has been an old friend for thirty some years and is really just an extention of me when I want to shoot.

Too often the new rifle buyer does not do due diligence about need and performance level meeting. African animals have a physiological or more specifically anatomical difference when compared to NA game. Their vitals are typically further forward but blaming a calibre for the failure of the shot placement is far easier than taking personal responsibility.

I pooched the shot on a white tailed gnu and we followed him 5 miles before he laid down. I shot a killing shot on a moose body that did eventually kill the wildebeast. It hit the lower portion of both lungs rather than heart and lungs. I had done the research before the hunt, but in the excitement of my first African anmal, I had reverted to old habits.

Lt Dan is right. There is no need for wonder cannons on plains game.

30mm trusting your PH and his choices is the right first step. Have a great hunt.

I just got back from Africa. While there I used the PH's 375. I had my choice between that and a 308. I took the 375. Why? Not because I thought the 308 couldn't do the job but rather because the 375 had a good Leupold scope on it and the 308 had an inferior xxxxx scope on it. Plus, since I have never owned a 375 and this was the 100 th anniversary of it's development, I thought it would be cool to use it to hunt in 2012. My particular gun was loaded down some but it did do the job. I used and recommend ear protection also.

I figure my 270 Weatherby shooting 160g Partitions at 3150 fps will do fine for plains game. My 500 Jeffery will do for everything else.

One of the guys I hunted with in RSA in 2002 took a .270 Weatherby. It worked fine on a variety of plains game, including some of the supposedly super-tough ones.

There are a few American gun writers who don't promote the old super-tough plains game myth, and think a .30-06 is plenty. Of course, they've hunted with one a few times--or a .308 or 7x57....

I even heard tell of one idiot that went over with a spruced up .303 british...killed schitt with it too...or so the legend goes......

Just back and the 7x57, 8x57 and 358 Win worked. Imagine that...

http://www.huntingadventures.net/index.php?nav=gunsandammo

One of our own states it well:

"Of the caliber's I have seen used the 270, 7mm magnum, .30/06, the various .30 caliber magnums, .338's and the .375 H&H are about the most popular. The .300 Winchester magnum is without question the most popular rifle used on plains game by American hunters. I have never seen any of these cartridges fail to harvest game when they are hit correctly. I prefer to plan for the worst of circumstances, not the best when hunting, so I often times only bring my .375 H&H. Unlike hunting in the USA, when hunting in Africa for an impala you never know when the buffalo of your dreams will walk out in front of you. Or when hunting buffalo you might see that 60" kudu bull at 320 yards. You might need a bit more range then the .458 Winchester magnum you're carrying. I have learned over the years to stick with an all around caliber, because there are so many different species you're likely to run into. I have not yet found a cartridge I like better then either the .375 H&H or the .30/06. I know they are an old and boring pair, but they have served me and countless others very well for nearly 100 years now."

It is not a legend when you have participated in it. Them is just good memories, much like the leopard skin bikini briefs. You were on the development team for the Lee Metford were you not?"

I am fond of the old calibres too. I own 5 303 Br chambered rifles so I don't need hero shots to convince me. I only have one 7x57 and a 275 Rigby on order so it seems I need to pick up the pace. My 4 6.5x55 filled my metric desire until I bought my first 7x57.

Randy
wishing I had a bunch more trips in me to blood my old war horses in Africa. The 303 and 375 are the next two to make the trip.

Randy

I musta been doin' it all wrong all along...shot my first kudu with an 8x57...my 7x57 has made four trips over the pond, as did the .303
Sure...Ive also used a .300 Win, and of course a .375H&H...and did some culling with a .30-06, and even took a .22-250 last time with TSXs in it

I know you all are gonna hate this, but if I had to grab-n-go with one it would be the .30-06 and a premium 180 gr. bullet for everything.....

Dis one...

For PG, I wouldn't hesitate to do it all with a 7x57 loaded with 175gr. Nosler Partitions. Penetration seems to be on par with a 30-06, but without the extra felt recoil.

A couple I know went to Namibia a few years ago. He took his .30-06 with 180 Partitions, which of course worked fine, but talked her into letting him also take along her 7x57 as a back-up. She used it in Montana to hunt everything from pronghorn to elk, but was just going along as an observer in Africa. So he loaded up some 175 Partitions and brought it too.

Well, after a few days of going along, seeing all these nifty animals and eating them every night at dinner, all of a sudden she said she wanted gemsbok of her very own. So the PH got out Kevin Robertson's book and showed her where to shoot one, and they went hunting. The shot was just about 100 yards, and the gemsbok went down pretty much right there with one shot.

An example of one, to be sure, but backed up by a lot of other African animals killed neatly with the 7x57 over quite a few years.

While that is a fine wildebeest and a worthy enough gun, that statement above will not pass.

I own, you had the good sense to handle that rifle striktly with gloves, as a -06 should only ever be.

First time I went, I took a .300 Mag and a .375 H&H, the latter, "just because it was Africa". Something happened to the scope on the .300 and I ended up shooting everything with the .375. I could just as easily taken everything I shot with any cartridge in the .270/.30-06 class. Having scratched my itch, I sold the .375 not long after.

The second time I went, I took a .30-06 and a .338 Win Mag. I shot one animal (a waterbuck) with the .338, as the PH's son had never seen one and wanted to see what it would do. He then used it a couple of days in some culling that he was doing, even shooting an eland with it at an estimated 400 meters. Then, he went back to his .308 which he said was much more comfortable to shoot.

On the other hand, I've known a few born-in-Africa PH's who insist African game is tougher than similar-sized North American game. How do they know this? Not because they've hunted here, but because they've been told so by American hunters--who came over to hunt wildebeest, zebra, gemsbok etc., bringing .338's and 375's because THEY'D been told about the toughness of African game.

Of course, some PH's have hunted over. I just haven't run into any yet.

I would not rule that out completely. African plains game have evolved to cope with many high order predators that are not really found in North America or Europe. I suspect also that as many species of plains game are herd animals, if they are wounded in any way, their instinct is to run with the herd for protection, although the herd usually eventually pushes them out...

While I am not sure these factors amount to much if a plains game animal takes a well placed shot with an adequate calibre, I suspect things are not so clear cut when dealing with a poorly placed shot. For instance, I suspect a zebra may run a lot further with a poor shot than say a feral burro??

I certaintly can't prove this, and don't know of any scientific studies into the matter.

That said, I do agree a .270win or 30-06 with suitable bullets is more than adequate for most plains game in most circumstances..

Pete,

That's a common theory on the toughness of African game, and may have some validity. Especially since elk are herd animals and evolved in Asia with brown bears and wolves--and are considered among the toughest of North American game.

But unless somebody has experience with both elk and similar-sized African plains game, how is the comparison made?

Personally, I haven't found gemsbok, zebra and blue wildebeest any tougher than elk, and haven't found any of the 200-350 pound plains game any tougher than a big northern whitetail, especially during the rut. And I have seen pronghorns packing far more lead than springbok, impala, etc.

Also, caribou are herd animals and evolved with the same big Asian predators as the elk, but aren't particularly hard to kill. Moose aren't considered as tough as elk, despite their size, and the same can be said about eland compared to blue wildebeest. Kudu are considered "softer" than gemsbok, wildebeest and zebra, even though they're similar in size and are at least as much herd animals as gemsbok.

Which is why I'm very skeptical of theories, especially from people who haven't hunted a variety of animals on both continents.

I wish I could have gotten my rifles to So Africa when I went. I was taking an '06 and 7mm Mag. I used the PH's .243 and .375 to take an impala and warthog respectively.

We borrowed another guides '06 when our baggage finally arrived and fired 6 shots, one at a box and 5 at game. We took impala, kudu, gemsbok, blue wildebeest and zebra, one shot each.

I believe they were tough, but lung shots are deadly.

KC