Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Large Cat Caliber

gotta weigh-in all risk factors....

In all seriousness, while everyone has the right to live their own life as they see fit, your neighbor's big cat collection has no place in the USA. One of the great problems in ecology is the introduction of non-native species. Witness the infestation of pythons in the Florida Everglades. It is estimated that there are over 100,000 pythons living in the Everglades now and they have decimated the wild pig, deer and small mammal population in what used to be a pristine wilderness. This infestation began by people releasing their no longer wanted pet pythons into the Everglades.

I strongly suggest you contact the USFWS and bring your cat problem to their attention. These animals do pose a serious threat to people and livestock. The escape of these apex predators would be costly to both populations. And a nasty mess to clean up, especially if they start breeding.

For your peace of mind, my suggestion is a .375 H&H or .416 CRF rifle loaded with Woodleigh Weldcore softs. You can buy cartridges loaded with Woodleighs from Superior Ammunition. The Kimber Caprivi .375 has a four round magazine. The less expensive Winchester Safari Express is also a good choice and Dakota, at a higher price point, makes a superb rifle as well. If you must have a .458, Kimber does also chamber their Caprivi in .458 Lott. The Lott is, IMO, preferable to the .458 Winchester and will chamber .458 Winchester ammunition in a pinch.

If rapidity of followup shots is an issue that concerns you, consider a Blaser R93 in .375 H&H. The straight pull bolt can be operated very quickly from the shoulder and the interchangeable barrel feature allows you a wide choice of calibers. The newer Blaser R8 can be had in calibers all the way up to .505 Gibbs. However, if you decide on an R8, special order it, specifically deleting the detachable trigger/magazine feature. A detachable trigger/magazine can detach at an inopportune time, rendering the rifle useless. I watched a friend's video of his hog and deer hunt, as he become extremely frustrated on two occasions when the trigger/magazine assembly fell out of his R8. That feature is an ingenious solution to a nonexistent problem. Fortunately, the trigger and magazine on the R93 do not detach.

You will want a lower power scope with a wide field of view, illuminated reticle and good light gathering capability should you have to shoot in low light. Swarovski and Zeiss come to mind, but an excellent scope at a lower price point is the 1.5-6 x42 Meopta, with an illuminated reticle. You may need to use the rifle's express sights at some point, so QD mounts are essential on a DG magazine rifle. I have found EAW's to work well, but they are overly complex and require periodic maintenance. A better choice, IMO, is the Recknagel. I have both EAW and Recknagel mounts on my rifles and prefer the Recknagel by far. Blaser has an excellent QD mount that is proprietary to their R93/R8 series rifles.

I have taken the Big Five and have found the most intense hunting experience of the five to be the leopard and lion. A wounded cat is quite an event, so use enough rifle to put them down quickly with the first shot if at all possible. My lion weighed 450 lbs. I am informed that a large male tiger can approach 600 lbs. I would not suggest a .30/06, .35 Whelen or 9.3x62 for an angry, hungry 600 lb apex predator. Considering a .375 to be your minimum would be prudent. Again, I don't know about tigers, but an angry wounded lion or leopard is unlikely to be turned away during a charge. You must kill it to stop it. The best insurance against a charge is a well placed first shot with a quickly expanding soft that will still hold together and punch through, imparting lots of shock along the way. A fast stepping .375 loaded with a Woodleigh soft will do just that.

From what I have read, tiger hunts in India were either conducted from the backs of elephants or from a machan or high hide. Since you are unlikely to have elephants and beaters at your disposal, consider building several machans in advance at likely spots, near cover and water and with a silent and concealed approach path for your entry. Leopards and lions are opportunistic scavengers, as well as being hunters. They can be baited by placing the bait in an appropriate tree and shot from ground level blinds. I don't know that a tiger can be baited and have read somewhere (Corbett?) that wild tigers only feed on their own fresh kills, though captive tigers must assuredly eat dead meat that is fed to them by their handlers. That may mean that escaped captive tigers can be baited as well, but that is pure supposition. According to the literature, tigers are fond of attacking from behind. That is likely why tiger hunters favored machans instead of ground level blinds, but again, this is conjecture.

For further details, I strongly suggest you obtain a copy of "The Perfect Shot II" by Kevin "Doctari" Robertson and a copy of "Chui" by Lou Hallamore. These excellent books discuss shot placement, hunting techniques, rifles, cartridges, bullets and hunting strategies in depth.

Ironic given that pigs aren't native either..........

I don't have a cat problem, the facility is USDA licensed and as far as I know completely legal.

As I've said, I intend to add a rifle in a caliber that is interesting to me and I don't currently have, it might as well be cat capable just on the one in a few million chance. And, I have nothing between 308 and 458 so there ya go.

I was hoping to not come off via the typed word as a paranoid, apocalyptic drama queen : )

Have a good weekend.

J

And even tho we have quite a bit of odd and unusual things around my place you're right, no elephants available : )

And.... there's been quite a bit of real world caliber choice information in this thread and that is exactly what I was searching for, many thanks too all.

Put a fence around your homestead and keep your children inside with a pack of dogs.

Some of these posts are getting bit bizarre.

I have shot only one lion, through the top of the heart. Since this organ is farther behind the legs than for herbivores, there was no danger of breaking bone, except that it hit the elbow on the way out. The lion ran off about 30 yards and expired.

I used a .375 H&H. Based on my experience with other game of the same approximate weight, I think that almost any caliber from .270 to .458 would have had the same result.

If I were you, I would just keep the .308, given the total unlikelihood it would ever be necessary to use it for this purpose.

Fail.

I agree. Drama Queen. No doubt.

Is JTMcC the same poster who reported seeing the T Rex on his property about six weeks ago? Did he say these tigers were of the bengal, siberian or saber toothed varieties?

Were I to hunt Africa alone and lion were on the menu, although I have no desire to kill one, it'd get my plains game rifle, thats a 300 H&H firing 200 gr NPT's at 2900 fps.

The big doubles are for cape buffalo and hippo, plains game and a nice leopard would be hunted with the old 300 H&H.

Gunner

No doubt it would work- in many countries in Africa, you would be doing so illegally, for lion. Many have a .375 cal. minimum.

Well then, I'd pack my heavy double and a 375 H&H, 270 TSX's at 2800 should knock the starch outta any big kitty.

Gunner

Any rifle I would trust for Brown Bear or grizz would satisfy me as to effectiveness on any cat.

Gunner, I would go old school colonial and hunt tigers with your .303�..should a drove of them escape from the local tiger emporium �..

It would be really cool if the elephants also escaped, and you could hunt the tigers from atop an elephant, with .303 and Howdah pistol in hand........

Sweeeeeet�..

Now you all are talking real high-top adventure.

Gunner

I had a thought, my dad's got an old Hakim...8x57 with 10 196gr PRVI soft points and another 10 in a spare mag...that ought to do it eh?

Is a big tiger bigger than a big black bear?

Siberian tigers can get up to almost 700 pounds, Bengals which are what most have for "pets" get up to 600.....granted this is up towards the maximum and average will be a bit smaller, but with a well fed captive cat who knows, they could be on the upper end

So about like a black bear which any old deer rifle will work on.