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PH was Nixon Dzingai of SSG Safaris on the Malipah Concession next to Gona Re Zhou Park. I killed 2 buffalo, impala, kudu bull, and a kudu cow for the trackers. I used my Chapuis 9.3 x 74R double with 286 grain Woodleigh bullets (both solids and softs). The first buff, shot in the shoulder, went down within approx 50 yards. Soft was found under the skin on the opposite side. It weighed 247 grains. A solid was also put into him as insurance. I shot him while we were tracking a herd. He had had a hard life as he was missing half his tail,(lion?), he once had a snare around his hind leg and had a fresh wound and a healed wound next to his tail. I said I wanted character and he had it. The second buff, a lone daggaboy, was shot in the shoulder with a soft, he ran about 50 yards or so, and I put 2 more solids into his opposite shoulder. Then as he was facing me, I shot him where the neck joins the shoulder and put him down. I recovered the three solids but didn't find the soft. The soft bullets were the Woodleigh 286 grain Protected Point Soft Points. Bullets were running about 2300 fps out of my rifle.

First Buffalo

Half of tail gone

Old snare wound

Second Buffalo


Chapuis Double Rifle

Soft and Solid from the first; 3 Solids from the 2nd
[img:center]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-4/1174034/.366Woodleighs.jpg[/img]
[img:center]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-4/1174034/impala.jpg[/img]
[img:center]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-4/1174034/kudu.jpg[/img]

Really nice Kudu..good buffs....congratulations.

Your experience witht the 9.3x74 about clones most buffalo that I have shot over the years with many different calibers from 8x57, as well as the 9.3x62 to 500 Jefferys and several in between..They run about 50 yards and expire.

The only observation I can see with your experience is the one that got into a position to be looking at you, which is a pretty good case for the larger calibers. I have, however, noticed on several ocassions that a larger bore would have been a better antedote for the situation that developed, thus my preference for a .416 or 404. Not to say that I would hesitate to use my 9.3x62 again, I would without hesitation. I would hesitate to ever use the 30-06, 8x57, 308 and 7x57 again, once was enough with these light calibers, unless they were all I had.

Roger, Congratulations! Helluva trip and nice pics!

maddog

RAC,
Looks like a fantastic hunt. Good Buff! I bet it was fun. Thanks for the pictures. Can you tell us a little more about how things seem to be in Zim these days? I've been wondering if things have improved any for the people of if they are still as bad as they were the past few years.
Test

+1. Great pics of what sounds like a really good hunt. Did you find much evidence of ongoing poaching in the area?

Great hunt and photos. I would like to hear of your observations from there as well. Miss the place, will have to go back soon.

That old boy is a real beaut!

I'm an inveterate bullet digger. Nice to see the real-world performance. Are those softs a RN like the solids? Might find a use for such things in my x62.

This was a quick post as I have been trying to get my act together this week. I landed in Harare and spent the night in the Bronte Hotel. Next day I was picked up and driven 4 1/2 hours to Nixon's house in Cheredzi. From there we drove another 2 hours over dirt roads with a lot of bumps and potholes. My impression of Harare is that it is held together by bailing wire and duct tape. Nobody looks like they are starving but they don't look like they are having much fun either. The countryside was nicer once we got out of the urban areas. On the way back home, I bet I saw 1000's of school children walking on the side of the roads to school. Zim has gone over to the US dollar as their official currency. Even the gas stations advertise their gas in US dollars. I wanted some Zim money but nobody had any at our camp. I did manage to buy some at the airport shop, though. They were selling 100 Trillion dollar notes for $5, so I bought 3 of them. Their money has worth, but only as a novelty.

I was really impressed with the amount of bleeding in the bull and cow kudu. Big exit hole, too. The softs that I used were the Protected Point softs. I e-mailed the company and they said with the P.P. the velocity range for expansion would be better for a big animal like a buffalo. http://www.woodleighbullets.com.au/PP3.html

By coincidence, there was another guy at camp with an Italian 9.3 x74R double who was also using Woodleigh bullets. I believe he was using their conventional SP and he killed a buffalo right at dark. They went back the next day and he was dead, having traveled about 200 yards. He shot him slightly quartering away.

While tracking a head we literally came up on a cow buff that had just got her horns in a snare. I asked Nixon what we would do and he smiled and said you don't want 3 buffalo. About 45 minutes or so later when we came back she had broken the cable and got away. Good thing as I don't think I would want to take a pair of wire cutters and set her free! We found another snare on a different day and my 1st buff had been snared at one time.

REALLY Beautiful Buffalo, especially the old boy with the big boss.....
Coooool Schitt, for sure..
Ingwe

Cool! Congrats.

Great buff......sounds like a great hunt....

rej

I agree with Ingwe, that second buff is a really nice old warrior with character and shows a life of survival that only an old dagga boy can have, an awesome bull, the first buff is a bit young and soft for my taste..

RAC you got PM

MM

RAC you hAVE ANOTHER PM

That's a great looking double barrel rig! Looks right at home in those pix. Congrats!

Good Job! I wouldn't mind hanging either of those buff heads over my fireplace.

Nice buff, particularly the old boy. A real character. And the kudu's beautiful, also. I've loaded up some 350 Woodleigh PP's for my .375 for next time, but I'm going to use a .458. There ain't no flies on Woodleighs, for certain. PH on my last trip was using them in his .470 and swore by them.

I was somewhat instagative in the developement of the 350 gr. 375 Woodleighs and the 450 gr. 416 Woodleighs and Geoff sent me 4 boxes of RN softs, 4 boxes of PP in both calibers along with a couple of boxes of solids in those weights to field test in Africa...I shot them all up on African game and was certainly impressed with the results, especiall on cape buffalo.Both the 375 and the 416 excelled on all counts, especially the .416 Rem. with the 450 gr. PP..

I wanted the RN and Geoff wanted to produce the PP and as it turned out the PP was probably the best bullet, but in herd shooting the RN proved a real dandy as it always stops on the off side skin as opposed to getting an exit and hitting another buffalo..so the equasion is simple use PPs on the dagga boys (bachlor bulls) and use the RN when shooting in the herd..

Great bullets for sure..