Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa 6.5 mm in Africa?

Has anyone had experiences hunting game in Africa with 6.5s like the 260rem, 6.5x55, 6.5 creedmoor, 6.5x47 ect, No dangerous game but Kudu and Gemsbok might be on the list.

Do a little research, and you'll see the 6.5x54 and Swede have been killing critters big and small in Africa for over a 100yrs. Considering the 260rem and creedmore are ballistic twins to the swede, they should work well.

I believe Col. Boddington[?] took his daughter to Africa and she killed quite a few critters with the 260 about 10yrs ago.

Yes it works well for most of our big game. Premium grade ammunition and shot placement assist.

I have an Italian hunter with a Swedish passport who uses a 6.5 X 55 with great effect over here up to kudu and gemsbok size.

What bullet(s) did your client use do you recall? Curious, thanks.

Just want to be sure that the country and/or province you are hunting it doesn't have a minimum caliber requirement. It might be a legal size for a "local" but not for a foreign guest hunter. Example is Namibia that has a 7mm caliber minimum.

I have shot a few head of plains game with a Winchester/USRA 70 FWt in 6.5x55 using Norman 156 grain SP factory ammo. The Eland took 3 shots before it went down, but any of the 3 would have killed it, Eland are big, tough, and Stubborn.

My PH was a little nervous at 1st, but I proved to him that I could shoot and wasn't affraid to ask his advice for the preferred POA.

Jeff

I took a Kimber Classic in 260 on a trip to RSA. I used it mostly culling blesbuck and impala at night but did shoot 2 kudu bulls, a few warthog, and springbuck as trophys.

I didn't intend to hunt the kudu with it but it was in my hand when I saw them.

I shot 120 Nosler BT's at right around 3000 fps.

If hunting kudu sized game I would sure opt for heavier and tougher bullets than the 120 Bt's but they worked on those 2 animals. A monster sample of 2!

On our trip to Namibia in Sept10, my mate used a Sako Finnlight in 6.5x55. He took kudu, red hartebeest, oryx and half a dozen springbok, all were DRT, in fact none of them even twitched after they went down.
He was using handloads with 140gr Accubonds and they were all pass thrus.

Yes, there is a 7mm minimum calibre restriction in Namibia but the only numbers the police officer at the airport was interested in the airport was serial numbers.

John:

Yes, the Namibian Police at the airport only concern themselves there with the serial numbers matching the 4457's. There is no restriction on caliber size of rifles temporarily entering the country so the police there at the airport don't give a rat....unless one of them simply decides to ask to see your "Invitation/Motivation Letter" that says anything about "hunting" and decides to pull your "Arrival/Departure" form to see what you stated your reason for requesting entry was.

Legally, you can even temporarily import semi-automatic long guns but don't get caught using a sub legal caliber or semi-auto long gun on game or heaven forbid have an "accident" with either, or caught at a random road block with a game carcass and an..."inappropriate" firearm.

I've been making the trip to Namibia every year for the past six years and only once did I have an "issue" with a Namibian police officer trying to nit-pic all my paperwork, firearms and ammo head-stamps and round count. I am sure he was looking for a "donation" but my documents and firearms were 100% correct and other than wasting my time he didn't get a dime.

Do as you wish but I just wanted to point out the each country and even the various provinces within a given country may have caliber, or bullet weight, velocity or muzzle energy requirements for specific "game" animals and it could be bad to paint "all" of Africa and what is legal for locals as it may not be legal for others.

Bell took a lot of jumbos with the 6.5 mannlicher.

If you have to take this calibre and hunt your mentioned game, I would recommend something like the TSX's or TTSX from Barnes. Atleast you can be asured that you will have the penetration and that the bullets will hold together.
Shot placement will be key and don't test the calibre's capabilities on too heavy angling shots.
It will be a great hunt non the less.

Take Care,
Marius Goosen

156 gr Norma Oryx and he is happy with them. Good advice from Marius about not trying to quarter the shots by too much of an angle on larger game like gemsbok and kudu.

Some provinces require a minimum caliber of 243. Nevertheless it is the landowner who has the final say where some require a minimum of 270.

I figured a 156 would be a top choice given test results:

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/4769172/1


https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth..._Huge_264_bullet_test_Part_D#Post4848762

The 156, 140 Partitions, and Barnes 120/130s would be my pick.

The former would be longish for most OEM short action mag boxes. Seafire here did throat his Rugers out for 156-160s and they seem to work fine in those 260s.

The reason that I shot Norma 156 grain ammo in my Winchester/USRA 70 Fwt was because the PH suggested that I bring ammo that was available in Maun, in case my ammo got separated from my rifles. I brought Norma for my 6.5x55 and Winchester for my 375 H&H, 40 rounds for each, and left with most of the ammo and all of the 1x fired brass.

Jeff

I really think the references to what Bell did must be the most out of context bit of folk lore in the history of the Internet hunting websites.

Bell was a poacher, he went deep into the bush with a wagon train to shoot elephants on month long or longer "safari's". The guns he used were not for hunting, they were for shooting bulls and allowing them to run off to die in parts unknown. The safari trip carried on following and shooting bulls along the way for weeks. Nothing was being tracked up, no trophies saved, no meat used, just shoot them and then let them run of to die of infection, or slowly bleeding to death.

Then when supplies were getting low for the staff, they would head back over the same track following their noses, or looking for vultures and hyenas to lead them to the rotting carcasses. You see,... the ivory slides out of a rotting carcass, where it must be chopped out with an axe for hours when fresh. That chopping also risked damage to the ivory.

It was much easier to just backtrack and fetch the ivory loading the wagon on the way back. If he did not find the bulls he wounded and they simply ran off he did not care! They simply picked up the ivory along the way that they could find. What was the percentage of bulls shot to those killed and ivory found? His claim was " probably more then half"

Wow, that 6.5 and 7mm was a dandy elephant rifle eh! what a load of BS going around with the claims that since Bell used it on Elephants, then it must be good enough for anything else.

Well, lets think about that, you have 7-14 days to hunt, 8-10 or more animals to harvest. With angles, distances, weather, fading light, and brush in the way you cannot predict. Not to mention you will most likely be wanting to hunt, not search for tracks and a non-existant blood trail for a whole day for the animals you hit.

Now, if all you wanna do is collect the horns from the rotting trophies when you eventually find them, ...... then you're good to go, Just like Bell!

Since you're replying to me, please point out where I have posted anything about Mr. W.D.M. Bell.

There is nothing comparable in 2012 to ahat Bell did, when he did it, and how he did it. But is Africa a better place today than it was in Bell's day?

Jeff

Mainly factory loads are used by most of the casual hunters over here.

It has been pointed out that some of our provinces here have different minimum required calibers where the 6.5 may be in dispute as to legality. Will try to get a list and make the info available.

Jeff,

This site has the awkward reply function to the last person that posted, rather then just a generic reply to the thread. You have to understand that many posts, maybe even most posts are replied to when the end of the thread is read, not replied to in the middle of a thread. With that,... almost every reply is posted at the end of reading, which makes them all seem to have been a deliberate reply to the previous poster.

This is not the case here as my post had nothing to do with yours. You were just simply the previous post!

Or, you could just go to the post that you're replying to and click on "reply".

Jeff