Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Best cartridge for Sambar, Nilgi, Aoudad etc 270 or 6.5x55 or 7x57?

The OP's thread is adequate cartridges to kill a Nilgai, Aoudad and sambar for which I know Aussies that have taken them all. Because of the inclusion of sambar, the intended communication from the Aussies who have more familiarity with them, is that stopping a sambar holds the same priority as killing him or he may be lost. We all know and accept what is being presented and I too know Aussies that have used cartridges as small as the commonly deer associated .308 Winchester for sambar but that is not the intent of the communication.

The terrain in Oz combined with the tenacity of the sambar dictates dropping the deer as fast as possible from a less than ideal shot presentation by using larger caliber or powered rifles. I realize this steps on a few toes on other threads covering similar/same topics but a 100yard death run is likely a lost sambar, especially if he enters or crosses the many creeks and streams there. (A side bar is that when Aussies speak of "dogwood" it has no similarity to the dogwood growing in the US. Australian high country dogwood is a chest to head high clump of brush you cannot go around that breaks up like dead sticks. It is thick and noisy to break through if you cannot get around it.) Because of that stopping power emphasis, heavier caliber cartridges are the more common choice downunder. The legal minimum cartridge when I lived there was .270 Winchester, but I never knew or even heard second hand information on anyone who carried that small a cartridge.

One of my late buddies killed more sambar than anyone else at the time and he used the .308 and the .9.3x62. Kurt was a biologist and studied every plant in the habitat so could track memory laced with smoke but because he spent so much time in the bush, separated cartridges from adequacy to ideal. The 9.3 fit the ideal category.

Always remember the same argument goes on with fishermen. There are those that like spiderweb 3-4lb lines and those who won't have anything lighter than 8-10lb on their reels.