Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa ENOUGH CALIBER

Given the "popularity" of killing, stopping, enough power etc, threads, I thought to start one here and hopefully avoid the freak show and the usual suspects with this example: Let's say you just dropped large coin on a deposit for Lord Derby Eland in the CAR. BIG COIN. You have just about every caliber/rifle available in your arsenal. So, do you take the "only shot placement/bullet construction" matters angle and take your 243 or whatever "AI" or your 375 H&H with (my choices) 270gr Barnes Triple Shocks, Swift AFrame ? Fire away....

PS: My philosophy:
In my experience, which is of course limited, all else being equal - and by that I mean equal bullet performance and shot placement, and non-CNS hits - bigger diameter bullets at higher velocities kill faster.

I would take a .375 H&H and use the 270 gr Swift A-Frame. The .375 would break both shoulders and be better for the frontal or quartering angle shots. In other words,the .375 would be better for the less than perfect shots that may arise when hunting.

That would finally give my .375 H&H Model 70 something worthwhile to do!

I've got a bunch of 300 gr Nosler Partitions on hand that shoot well, so I'd use them.

ZERO experience hunting in Africa, but that's what I'd grab from my gun safe.

Regards, Guy

I'd be more concerned about the platform and the bullet than I would be the caliber, within reason.

Id guess 243 would certainly work, but I'd be more inclined to 270/280, 30/06, or even 338 WM type rounds. Maybe a 9.3 or 375 if it was in a special rifle I had to take.

I'd go 9.3x62 and 286TSX on a Win 70, 338-06 and a 225 TSX on custom 98 Mannlicher, or 338WM and 250 NP on a Win 70.

Good Bullet weight, moderate caliber size at moderate velocity just works

Trapr

375 H&H. Only change I would consider is the bullet - 300 grain North Fork would be my choice, given the quarry and setting.

Of separate concern: Has the CAR calmed down some? It's been spooky there recently.

Take the .375, 270 gr. Barnes TSXes, game over......

Another vote for the .375, and I like swift A-Frames mucho.....

CAR is still an active war zone. I used a .375 for LDE in Cameroon because savannah buffalo was also on license and I wanted something suitable for both( although LDE are as large as the buffalo, they don't try to kill you if a dense cover follow up is necessary). As it turned out, I got the buff and not the eland. As an aside, I used a .338WM to take an eland in RSA- the 230 gr Failsafe broke both shoulders and lodges under the offside skin. It's plenty of power, IMHO.....

I always err on the side of bullet weight, diameter, momentum and penetration, too many things can happen to only rely on surgical placement.

LOL, I have been repeatedly denied a "Stunt Shooter" license ;]

As much as a hunt cost and the time invested makes me want to have more than just enough gun, but one that I can shoot well, have all the confidence in.

That gun, in this case, would be my NH M-70 SS .375 H&H. It's chopped, flutted with NECG irons and a Victory 1.5-6x42 glass. It's slick and it shoots. I'd work up some good loads and go hunting.

DF

You bet DF, 270 gr TSX's, 300 gr NPT's or SAF's wont let a man down if placed correctly.

Haven't done a vast amount of eland hunting, but have done enough in three countries to know they're not hard to kill, but a really big one requires plenty of penetration, both on bone and angling shots. The hunting also often involves long tracking, with the shot finally coming at an alarmed eland, heading the other way. I would personally choose a relatively lightweight rifle in any medium-bore cartridge from the .338 Winchester up with monolithic bullets, or near-monolithic bullets like the North Fork. Such bullets penetrate noticeably deeper than wider-expanding lead-cores like the A-Frame and Woodleigh, no matter how much weight the lead-cores retain.

The reason for the lightweight rifle isn't just carrying it on a long track, but the higher likelihood of having it in your hands, and then getting the rifle up and aimed quickly, when the chance comes--which may be brief. If I had the chance to go right now would probably pick my 8-pound 9.3x62 with 286-grain TSX's, or possibly 286 North Forks.

Thanks for that real world experience MD, I'm thinking hard about the 275 gr old style Bitterroot Bonded Cores at 2700 fps in a pre-64 375 H&H using a fast 1.5-5 Leupold.

The Bitterroots, like Woodleighs, didn't penetrate super-deeply because, again, they expanded widely.

Bob Hagel explained that in his book, GAME LOADS AND PRACTICAL BALLISTICS, which probably made more hunters aware of the advantages of controlled-expansion bullets than any other single source. It was published in 1978, back when Bitterroots and Nosler Partitions were the only reasonably available premium bullets in America, and Hagel had done considerable testing of both bullets in media and big game. He firmly stated Partitions would out-penetrate Bitterroots of the same weight and caliber, because Partitions opened into a narrower mushroom.

In fact, I'd rather use 286 Partitions when desiring deep penetration from my 9.3x62 than 250 TSX's. Heavier, larger-caliber Partitions are designed to retain at least 75% of their weight, even if they lose all the front core, and usually retain 85-90%. As a result 286 Partitions penetrate somewhere between the depth of 250 and 286 TSX's.

Thanks for that too, it's filed in the load workup memory banks.

I have never shot an Eland but just getting back from my 3rd plains game hunt, and were I to have booked your hunt, I would say 286 TSX in a 9.3, 250 TSX in. .338 or 300 TSX in a .375. I shot an Oryx with a 180 TTSX on a moderate quartering shot and the bullet did not reach the lungs. My dad made a similar shot on a 120-pound Blesbok with no exit (both left side which are tougher on penetration because of having to go through dry grass in stomach). Most broadside shots I have seen on Oryx and Wildebeast with Barnes bullets have not exited, probably because of robust muscle structure and 3/4" hide over the shoulders. I am starting to see why PHs preach tough bullets in really heavy weights.

To further clarify, I personally would go 300 grains in .375 and choose Barnes over a Swift.