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

If I ever had the wherewithal and the desire to hunt Africa, I daresay that I would do pretty much the same as Sharpsguy.

a 9.3 is a super calibre and talk about one gun doing it all , well mostly very good all tehe way up to buffalo , had a european client shoot his first buffalo at 60 yards with his 9.3 ( lung shot ) using a 280 grain that he had made or him in europe and a second just in case in the spine and that was it gameover....

Again it is where you put the bullet that counts , must remeber that ernst van abeslever ( spelling ) hunted for years with a 9.3 very effectively in Mozambique and other places just after the first world war to name one of the big hunting names,

A CALIBRE that has impressed in general for all the plains game and doing it properly is a 338 .... have had clients bring out a 338 / 375 and thats just amazing to see distance with hitting power...

A rifle i found that has all the power and not so much kick and is affordable across the board ( bass pro / cabelas and local gun shops) is the 416 ,, very imnpressive , seen dust fly on the other side of buffalo when they have been administered with a solid through the shoulder and elephant just drop when administered a headache remedy at 30 yards.

As they say the debate continues and hopefully it shall for years to come..

ET, I respect and admire both you and SG for your prowess with the Sharps and the cartridge. I know it will kill anything. That said, the recent incident of a PH killed by a buffalo after a fusilade of bullets, cured me of any possibility of hinting DG with a single shot weapon. jorge

Brother Jorge, I believe that if it is your time,it is your time and it wouldn't matter if you used a Browning M2 cal 50.

I ain't buying that.

As for rifles: in Africa my light is a .375 H&H and the heavy is a 458 Lott. There are many great calibres for hunting. These just happen to be the ones I choose. They cover the waterfront.

Tex, I have seen too much to believe otherwise. Every precaution one could take means absolutely nothing when Schithouse Luck attacks.

Use a bullet of sufficient wieght, SD and construction to get TWO holes. Then use the largest caliber that you can shoot well so that those holes are as big as possible. I also do not want to waste gobs of time on a Safari tracking animals or worse yet losing them and having to pay the trophy fee. Easy as that.

If the biggest thing you can shoot well is a 270, load it with heavy Barnes bullets, TSX or TTSX, and go forth. If you can shoot a 340 WBY well, then load it with good bullets and go hunting.

I am in the camp of African animals having somewhat tougher intestinal fortitude and physiology because there are so many more things there trying to eat them and many more thorns etc. Even if that was not the case, the herd issue and terrian combined with the high cost and rarity of a Safari makes me want to err on the side of bigger holes and TWO of them, every time. Smallest rifle I have ever taken and will ever take is a 300 Weatherby with 180gr TSX's.

I will aquiesce a little and state that I think some of the afircan animals being tougher idea comes form the fact that most African Animals carry thier critical gear further forward and lower than do most animals form here. This makes many hunters shooting "right behind the forleg or shoulder" think that the african animal is immeasurably tougher as it then runs a LONG ways with that not so lethal wound than would a deer that carris its lung right where the hunter aimed.

Well of course an animal is tougher if you don't hit them right and they run off. Early in life I was told how tough pheasants are, yada yada yada, till I figured out that if you put shot in from of them you can kill them with a 410 thou I thought then and still do now, Low base 20 ga and number 6 shot is plenty. Know were to put the bullet and wait for a good shot. It also helps a lot if you know how to shoot in the first place.

You have not shot many pheasants.....

Im pretty solid on the opinion that each case is a world of its own. Ive seen whitetails that didn't quit, but I just think they didn't know they were dead. Not tough. My limed experience gave me a gemsbok, shot running at 60yd. 7mmWSM, 160 TSX. Both shoulders, bullet impacted on bound so nearside humerus fractured and offside shoulder fractured. Should go down ,huh, well no. Strategic impact low in chest cavity, so blood loss not maximal. Animal went somewhat over 1/4 mi with 2broken legs, held itself up and ran with muscles only. Wasn't going a step further when we caught up, but required 2 finishers, hard quarter behind. PH didn't want it facing, Iagreed. Zebra stud , same 160TSX, 130 yd, in the triangle. Jumped 6 ft in air , darted 30yd and game over. PM, 2 1/2- 3" hole in heart, exit about 2" +/- Limited experience 2 toughies, different results. Hope I haven't over stepped

I am off to Zim in August for plains game and buffalo. My rifles will be a .338 Win and a .416 Rem, both loaded down a bit to make more tolerable recoil. While a 30-06 and 375 H&H can be a perfect pairing (one I took on my first trip to South Africa), this time I am going for a little more bullet weight.

Sounds like two good choices to me.

I used a 9,3X74R and a 416 each time, and a cape gun in 8X57JR on one, also.

The 338 is a great all around choice, and in a pinch it will do for buffalo. Nobody really cares, and it does work.

Friend of mine is the head Game Ranger and PH at the Sandveld nature reserve in the N-west. they were out working the ever present jackal problem when they came acros a ill baffalo cow. killed it with one shot to the head with a 308 and 150grn Sierra gameking.

I think that the tougher African game is beside the point. The main reason for using a bigger gun when on safari is the importance of Dead Right There. First, your paying for the game you shoot whether you wound and lose the game or not. Second, how often will you go to Africa on safari? Not many times for most of us and do you want to have to pass up a shot because it's marginal given the gun you have or do you want to have enought gun so that you won't have to pass up on a great animal. Lastly, lots of the animals are in herds that make it hard to track a specific wounded animal. Better off shooting the biggest gun that you can accurately shoot then something that is just capable.

" .338 Win and a .416 Rem, both loaded down a bit to make more tolerable recoil. While a 30-06 and 375 H&H can be a perfect pairing (one I took on my first trip to South Africa), this time I am going for a little more bullet weight."

great choice , both guns admirable and just the right guns to do the job... for plainsgame and buff ,,, good luck and have a blast

I just bought my first 1903 Springfield last week and dusted off my reloading manuals to look at .30-06 loads. I read in one manual that Craig Boddington took his .30-06 to Africa because Teddy Roosevelt did. He killed countless numbers of game with it and as Boddington said, he didn't have the bullets we do now. I'm not going to Africa, but I'd bring my Sako .30-06 with me because it shoots well and I know I can get ammo for it just about anywhere.

I saw a video Peter Capstick did where a client went with him to shoot a leopard. He had brought with him a .30 - 06. Capstick offered him his .375 H&H which the guy gladly accepted. Well, he blew the kitty out of the tree. I don't know if the cat was any more dead. I'd have "06'd" him without a lot of thought on it.

"Who are you calling a kitty?"



This was, when I mentioned Ingwe...

Dude...I hate seeing them from that angle...flashbacks....

Actually his ears aren't laid back, so he's coming to 'play'....

Takes more man than me to "play" with a leopard. Karl Stumpfe comes to mind...

I do doubt that there are to many pictures anywhere in the world from an angle like that in a serious leopard charge...

ingwe, excellent observation, exactly what I saw first when I looked at that photo. There is a huge difference in the entire expression between that leopard and one with the intent to harm.

Once you have seen their "intent to do harm" expression few predators or animals period have a more intimidating look. Only wolves and even coyotes come to mind with an expression that makes you pucker up the same way.

Not many animals have the control over the expressions they display. Bears for example don't have the same intimidating look when aggressive as a leopard or the canines. Nothing covers the first 50 yards of ground faster then a leopard either.