Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa .338 in Africa

does the .338 win mag ever make appearances in Africa against buffalo,rhino,or hippo?or rather,would it do the job with solids,or is it too small? The 9.3 served well,is why i ask.

no im not planning on bringing one,and i know the laws.its just a curious question.

Nope. Not legal anywhere I know of for those animals. The usual minimum is 9.3 or .375, depending on the country.

i realize that. but the 9.3x62 has killed everything there. i was asking if you all thought the .338 would be up to the task.

Been used (not by me) many times and with good success. BTW, if THIS can work, you know a 338 will!

Wow! thats good stuff. yeah i figured a .338 Win with Barnes solids would do at least as good as a 9.3.
Ive got more Africa questions to come.
thanks for your input!

If memory serves correctly, Alan Day once used a .338WM (or was it a .300WM??) to kill a cape buffalo.

Some years ago Jim Carmichael took a buff with a 338, single shot, 250 partition if I remember correctly.

That would have been a 300 win mag.

I know several PH's who've used the 7mm Remington Magnum, .30-06 and .300 Winchester on buffalo during control shooting. This doesn't always mean shooting them in the ear or spine, either. One of the most experienced PH's I've hunted with (he started out as a Rhodesian game ranger at age 17) says he's killed a bunch with basic chest shots, including frontal, with a .30-06 and 180 Partitions, including some mature bulls.

Last August (2012) I had dinner and a long visit with a man who was the SCI African professional hunter of the year around 5-8 years ago. He worked in Zim. He said he really liked the 338. He encouraged his hunters to use a 338 with heavy bullets on buffalo. He liked the fact that they were more likely to put their first shot in the right place. He thought it was easier to shoot well than a 375. He said it worked "just fine".

I have a feeling bordering on awestruck devotion for the superb .338WM, loaded with 250NPs at 2700-2800 fps.-mv. I feel that in a GOOD, TUNED and TESTED CRF rifle, as all of my six so chambered are, there is nothing quite so useful for me and most hunting.

I have two custom P-64 .375 H&H rifles, have owned and used five other good CRF rifles in that legendary round, but, I CAN shoot better, a bit faster, with my .338s and they are lighter to carry.

So, Mr. RinB's post above is VERY much "music to my ears" as I am now selling a rather large and valuable gun collection due to age and health, but, WILL keep at least three of my .338s, until I head to "Valhalla", where only bearded axes and swords are allowed.

.338 with 250 gr Bitterroot works fine on buffalo, black rhino and hippo. Well, actually the rhino bullet was the 250 gr Hornady solid, but I believe the Bitterroot would have worked as well or, more likely, better at the 5 yard range we encountered.

I had several discussions with Alan Day about the .338. We were both positive on it.

Bill Steigers, the maker of BBC's, told me about a client who killed quite a few buffalo with 338-250 BBC's @ 2800. The used a magnum Mauser which allowed seating the bullets way out to an OAL of 3.6" or so. The twist was either 1-8 or
1-9. He loaded to " Sieigers/Hagel" pressures as well. HOT!

toltec where do you aim to kill a hippo with a 338? Do you chest shoot them? My gawd they look so......BIG!

Guys, we all know this. Just because something CAN be done doesn't make it a good idea. To some degree it's going to depend entirely on the PH (*and then the Law). Some PH's might be lenient on the rules...others may not be. The simple truth is that a .22LR in the right spot can kill a Buff.

The real issue with Dangerous Game is when things don't quite go as intended.

The Nations decided that primarily .375's were necessary...and to a lesser degree the 9.3's in some countries.

(*Personally I'd think a .338 would be fine. Having said that, you REALLY don't want to break the law in the a 3rd world country. If you get caught the end result is usually...well...less than average.)

You are completely correct, of course, in your secondary point, only a fool would argue in favour of deliberate flaunting of ANY law in ANY country, one's own or a foreign nation. This, is why, since our tragic and extremist gun laws were brutally imposed on us by a total of five of, not surprisingly, the WORST Prime Ministers in Canada's history, I will no longer carry a handgun to shoot Grouse with, as many did in earlier days when things were less "up tight" here.

However, NO offence intended, your main thesis is a bit contradictory and tends to advance the opinions of legislators over those of working ptofessionals who deal with "DG" as a part of their daily lives. I cannot really agree that the former have the same credibility as the latter, especially in today's largely "urbanized" world.

I am certainly NO "expert" or "professional", however, I spent years working alone in some of the most densely populated, wilderness Grizzly habitat in the world, the middle and northern BC coast and the Flathead and certain parts of the West Kootenays. I have never bothered to "count" the exact number of these great creatures I have seen, but, have had some dozens of encounters, both armed and unarmed with them and also been "in at the kill" of perhaps a dozen.

I have been, on several occasions, from my early "20s" until well into my "40s", asked to guide by some of BC's top "Guide-Outfitters" and one working professional in resource industries here, who knows me, when considering the purchase of one of the best northern BC "GO" concessions, asked me if I would operate it for him. So, I have some basis for my opinions on such matters.

The whole point HERE, IMHO, and what I addressed, is the actual performance of the .338WM on "DG" and I think that these professionals very likely are just pointing out that it WORKS and VERY WELL in this use. Sure, as one who has never been "recoil shy" and up to quite recently was comfortable with my .375s in extended sessions from the bench and also with the nice, old, Browning FN-LE Safari-.458WM that I had, I CAN use a .375, BUT, given perfectly acceptable performance as validated by professionals, I and perhaps many others just prefer the .338 for several practical reasons.

That said, it really IS best to have a couple .375s, 3-4 .338s and I also have a few good, CRF 9.3x62s, just "in case" as "you never know" and we all know that "you can't have too many guns"!

I shot him in the head at about ten yards as he was making for the river. DRT
I wouldn't have hesitated to put one in the boiler room in a different circumstance.

BTW, .338 was legal in Zambia at the time.

A good friend of mine used a .338 WM on a Cape buffalo a few decades ago. The story, as he told me, was that he saw the bull moving away at fairly close range (50-75 yards?) and sent a 250 grain Hornady FMJ round nose from his M70 pre-64 right up the tail pipe. The animal went down right away, but then got up, staggering. A second (broadside) shot put him down for good.

Craig Boddington has taken buff with a .33 cal (not sure which one).

If you check carefully, I believe you will discover that Mozambique does not by law have a minimum for dangerous game.

405wcf

The old .318 Wesley Richards and the 250 gr Kynoch accounted for legions of buffalo. It is essentially a mild mannered .338. The solid will whistle right through anything from almost any angle and I can personally testify that the softs bore large round holes to the far side eland. I have used mine (a twenties era takedown which will fit into a really small case)on PG and wouldn't hesitate to shoot buff with the solids. That said, it would indeed be illegal most places. Moreover, the .375 is hard to beat as a PG/DG option for a one rifle trip.