On my first hunt in South Africa some 20 years ago, I was in the middle of a very nasty divorce and I couldn't get to my guns so I borrowed a 7 mm Rem mag from a friend. I was a last minute addition to our hunting group, so I also didn't have much time to try different bullets in my borrowed rifle. My friend had some 140 grain Ballistic Tips and some 150 grain bullet loads. The 140 grainers were the most accurate so that's what I took to hunt with.
When we got to the hunting camp, the outfitter and the guides saw my 140 grain BT bullets and said they were too light for their African animals. We had a 10 day hunt and in the first few days I took a Kudu, Impala, Blesbok, and a Black Wildebeest, all with one shot kills. So I was feeling pretty good about my shooting.
Two of the animals that I had on my "list" were a Bushbuck and a Waterbuck which weren't available on the home ranch, so we had to hunt a different ranch about a 1 1/2 hour drive from the home ranch. The first day there we spotted a nice Waterbuck bull and I thought that put a good shot on him, right behind his shoulder. At the shot he stumbled, then disappeared in the bush. We spent the next 5 days returning to that ranch, looking for that wounded Waterbuck bull. All the while the outfitter gave me a hard time for not using a big enough gun and bullets. And he would say things like "My grandfather used to say 'If you can't shoot good, you should use gun and bullets big enough to kill with a poorly placed shot.' "
Several times while we were looking for my wounded Waterbuck we saw a herd of Waterbucks with a bull, but we didn't think it was the one that I shot as it was easily running with the herd and we didn't see any blood on it. And during that time I was able to shoot a Bushbuck and a Gemsbok, both with one shot kills.
Then on the last day of our hunt, the outfitter was getting pretty frustrated and said that if he had to, he would shoot my waterbuck. Late that afternoon we spotted a herd of waterbucks moving through the brush. My outfitter told me to hold on an opening and he would call the shot. He was right next to me and as the animals came into the opening he said "cow"...."cow"....BOOM his .375 H&H went off right next to my ear. The animals took off running but before the bull reached the brush I fired, and he went down.
When we got up to the fallen bull we found a .375 caliber hole in his right front foot, and two 7 mm holes in his chest. We also found the exit hole from my first shot that had completely penetrated his chest, and he had licked it clean.
Bullet placement trumps caliber almost every time.
