These are fun, so for the hellavit, post yer Zebra pics.....



mine, with the .45-70 guide gun [ahem ]



my son, taken with NEF Handi Rifle, .30-06,[and Ricco the wonder dog]



Doc's, taken with Marlin XLR .308MX.



Adam's taken with .338 WM.

maddog

When I was in the Serengetti on Camera Safari we joked that the darn things were blocking the view.

Heres another one of a really young Ingwe with a Hartmanns Zebra..back in the day..



More recent Ingwewife with a nice Burchell's..



Ingwe

Here's mine. Hartman's from Namibia. To the guy that thinks they are simply "in the way", you should try and hunt them. I shot nothing else for 4 days trying to get one. Saw lots of sign and knew they were there but couldn't get on one. Of course, I had the bow which made it a little harder. Just picking a little but these guys are tough to hunt!

Taken in May 2009, Limpopo region of SA.

Zim Lowveldt. jorge

do want one of those.......grew up around horses but unlike some that have the thought of shooting one dont bug me.....to me once something is wild its fair game.....wouldnt shoot someones pet dog for the most part but wont hesitate on a feral one.....have the same view of horses....besides im told horse is good eats

Is zebra ever served while you are over there? If so, how is it? If not, what do they do with it?

When I shot my zebra in the Selous in 2004, we used him for lion bait. I'd post a picture of my zebra (I had him pedestal mounted) but (a) I don't own a camera and (b) even if I did, I'm not smart enough to figure out how to post photos here.

Cool pictures. A zebra will be on my short list when I go someday. The zebra taken by Kodiakisland looks more black with white stripes. The others look white with black stripes. What variety of zebra is his? Thanks, Dean

Zebra is definitely on my list for this year. Don't think I will have it mounted because I want the full backskin.

Thanks guys for wetting my appetite even further.

Mine from 2006 - definely not on flat ground. Shot it above and it very kindly came down hill.

Taken with an Encore in 460 S&W Magnum.

Maddog,

It looks like you and your group wiped out the "pyjama donkeys"...............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This stallion ruined a 2 hour stalk on Livingstone Eland, so he copped a 231gr Naturalis for being a kill joy

Cool pics. Zebra is at the top of my list for 2011. I am planning to have a full rug for the trophy. This stuff just helps me get my priorities straight.

If you had ever seen the stomach worms that come out of one, I'd give it a miss. Though zebra is quite popular at Joes's Beerhouse in Windhoek

Just found this pic..........it really gives you an idea of the terrain the Hartmann's Zebra like to play in, being the Khomas Hochland in this case.

The pic was taken from where I made the shot........the skinned carcass is right in the middle of the photo.

One of the best stalks I had in Africa was the Zebra. There were a lot of Leopard in the area we hunted in Zim and every animal stayed on automatic to run...but I got a eleven and a half foot rug out of it..I'm happy

The Zebra tenderloin on the barbie was my absolute favorite out of the 8 or so "wild game" I tried while in Namib.
When I mention this people make a face and ask "Does it taste like horse?" Heck, I don't know, never could bring myself to eat a trusted steed!

elkjaeger

If any of those people making a face over Zebra have been to Europe they have probably eaten horse. Google horse meat.

Anyone with pics of their zebra with a levergun?

Ya did'nt look close enough at my 1st pic. Taken with a Marlin 45-70 Guide Gun, and Doc's was taken with a Marlin XLR 308 MX. Evidently yer bifocals are as dirty as mine.

maddog

Damn, I hate when I don't pay attention. My apologies! That's what I get for running through these too fast. Awesome!

Now that I've been suitably chastised, and, boy I hope I didn't miss anything so,

How about shooting one with open sights?

Don't see why not, just get close enough. Of all the plains game I shot over there, them zebra are tough boogers, if you don't place yer 1st. shot right...and I didn't.

maddog

Zebra tastes good. I have had both burgers and steaks. It tastes like, uh, meat.

BUt there are prejudices against eating zebra even among many Africans, both black and white. I took part in a big commercial meat hunt in South Africa in 2007, and heard that the local game-meat shop had a hard time selling zebra until they advertised it as "Zeebok," whereupon it sold out quickly--and customers came back for more.

I can't post pictures, BUT. I got my zebra on the Eastern Cape of RSA in April, 2008 with a 45-110 Sharps and a paper patched bullet. 96 yards, and open barrel sights.

That sounds like a story. From load development to kill, I would love to read the details.

taken 2008 with 375h&h m 70 235 gn tsx

HS, Ive only shot two zebra...both with open sights....one a .300 Win and one with a 7x57...of course...

And yeah...they taste GREAT!!!


Ingwe

HS--I don't know that it is that much of a story, as I have used a Sharps as my rifle of choice for over 20 years.

I took the zebra on my second trip to South Africa, using a Shiloh Sharps Business Rifle in 45 2 7/8, often called a 45-110. The load was 106 grains of 2f black powder pushing a 511 grain round nosed paper patched bullet out of one of my Steve Brooks molds. It pushes the bullet to 1380 fps. This is pretty much the old buffalo killing load from the American west in the 1870s. I use the standard buckhorn barrel sights and a blade front sight made from a copper penny. The Sharps sights are a buckhorn with a ladder that stands up and a sliding leaf for long range. I have correlated it with a Leica CRF 1200 rangefinder. These sights are much more capable than most people suspect and in conjunction with the excellent set trigger give the Sharps its well earned reputation for long range accuracy.

I have had good results with the Sharps, and had gotten complete pass through penetration on every animal I had shot on the first safari. I had shot a blesbok from end to end the previous day,in the chest and out the base of the tail on this second trip. When we spotted the herd of zebra and began the stalk, my PH commented that he thought my string of pass throughs was about to come to an end. I asked him why, and he said that his 375H&H would not consistently shoot all the way through a zebra and he doubted the Sharps would.

I had a pretty good string of pass throughs going, and I told him that I would shoot the zebra on an angle to maximize the penetration distance as a sort of penetration test. We got within 96 yards, and I shot the zebra from sitting cross sticks as it quartered toward me, taking it on the left shoulder. The paper patch bullet exited just in front of its left ham after traversing the body from front to back on a diagonal path. The animal went a bit over 100 yards before it died on its feet.

It is a beautiful skin, and I had it made into a rug. It covers the bed in our guest bedroom.

This one in Limpopo SA in 2007

This in Namibia 2008

It's a hard animal to hunt.

B&W sepia tone pic is really nice.

That's really neat. I plan on using a Model 71 on my hunt, but I now feel like I'm cheating a bit after reading your description!

HS--You're not cheating. When you take a zebra with your Model 71, you will have earned it. I actually feel the Sharps gives me an advantage.

O I am a hunter I know that when you have a tag anything your after gets scarce - it was just a joke because we caught them during a migration period.

Believe me I will be thrilled when my day to take one finally comes.

Thank you all for sharing your pics.

There's nothing like having confidence in your rifle.

So how accurate are you with that Sharpes, what is the furthest you would confidently shoot game?

Have a picture of the rifle?

thanks.

Barkoff--I have a number of pictures of myself and the Sharps, both with and without game taken with it. I can't post pictures as I am on dial up and absolutely can't get off of it.

I shoot a lot. I try to shoot a few shots every day, and I have a range at my house that goes to 504 yards. I have steel animal silhouettes placed at various distances from 100 to 500 yards, and I shoot at these. It trains the eye. Sitting off cross sticks I can shoot 2 inch groups at 100 yards, 3 1/2 inches at 200 yards and 4 inches at 300 yards on these silhouettes. It is easy to stay in the heart/lung area of an elk at three to four hundred yards with the Sharps.

The Sharps will shoot through and kill anything I can hit as far as I can hit it. This is determined by how well I can see the target, and the quality of sight picture I can generate. The rifle is indifferent to the distance. If you have the sights set correctly, have a good sight picture and break a good shot, The Sharps will put a 511 grain bullet on the target.

In RSA on the first safari I took a kudu at 302 yards, a black wildebeast at 225, a springbuck at 327, a blue wildebeast at 312 a gemsbok at 196 and an impala at 229. I also took a second kudu at 70 yards. I have all of this on DVD.

On the second trip I took a really nice steenbuck at 49 yards as well as the zebra and the blesbok. I also took another springbuck at 526 yards which is the farthest I have taken a game animal.

Barkoff: I can most assuredly attest to Sharpsguy's shooting prowess with those Sharps. AA good friend of mine who posts here under the "Evil Twin" moniker, gave me a lovely Shiloh-Sharps as a retirement gift. I had no clue (still don't) as to the art/science involved with these rifles so Sharpsguy kindly invited me to his place in Texas for a two day crash course in advanced riflery. He lives the dream baby! His reloading house is but a short walk from his FIVE HUNDRED yard range! Anyhow I couldn't believe what I accomplished. In just a few short sessions, I was hitting the metallic Ram sihlouette at 500. If I can do it, just imagine what he can do with these rifles, he's probably shot a few hundred thousand rounds in his career with them! Further, he has a neat video when he used to be a sponsor for Goex that shows him taking a springbok at an incredible (and lazered) 525 yards! He's the real deal and made me into a convert. jorge

Not exactly what you were looking for I'm sure, but there is a tiny lever under the action...


This was the best stalk of my life!!! We crawled up to 45 yards of this guy in thick brush and the 458Lott No.1 dropped him with a single shot (350gr. Barnes TSX @ 2750fps). We thought he was alone, but at the shot...a second Zebra took off from about 40 yards to our right!!! It's funny....Zebra wasn't high on my "priority" list when we left the states...but when we arrived in the Limpopo, I became infatuated with finding a good one!!! It turned out to be the highlight of the week!!!

Take Care!!!

Stump

Mountain Zebra Namibia 2008

Does one need exceptional eyesight for shots like those? Next time I see somebody out at the range with a sight set-up as described, I think I'm going to ask to look through the iron sights.

P.S Based on your reply it sounded as if you thought I was skeptical of the original poster, in noway did I mean to sound as if I was, just amazed that some can do what they can do.

thanks for the reply.

Barkoff--Good eyesight helps, for sure. I am farsighted and have astigmatism, and have slightly blurred vision without my glasses. Having said that, my vision corrects to 20/15 with glasses. Jorge is a retired Naval Aviator, so his eyesight can't be what you might call bad.

What it amounts to is that after years of study and research, I finally figured out how the old buffalo (bison) hunters of the old west used their rifles and sights. Anyone with normal eyesight can do it. All you have to do is see the front sight as clearly as possible and the animal. The animal can be blurred a bit, and it still works. The problem today is that no one wants to learn how to use these sights correctly and grew up using scopes. There is a system and a slight learning curve, but most people with average eyesight would be able to do it if they knew how.

How much does a Sharpes weigh? I'm guessing most who hunted with such rifles back in the day had a horse to handle the weight?

Here's my baby, think it weighs around 11lb but it only has a 28" barrel. I took the Vernier sight off though. The barrel sights are better for hunting. jorge

Barkoff- My 45-110 Business Rifle weighs 11 pounds, 8 ounces. I have a 45-90 that weighs 12 pounds 2 ounces. I would say that most of my hunting Sharps weigh 11 to 12 pounds. I do have have a couple of heavy barreled Sharps that weigh at or just over 15 pounds. Almost all of my rifles have 30 inch barrels.

Not all of the original buffalo hunters used 15 pound rifles, although a great many did. There were a lot of rifles on the buffalo range that weighed 12 to 13 pounds.

The reason for the heavy rifles on the buffalo range was three fold. The first was that the heavier weight tames the recoil somewhat and makes them easier to shoot for an extended string of shots. These guys regularly shot 50 to 100 shots a day, so this was important. The second reason was that the heavier guns are more accurate and absolutely go to sleep on the cross sticks. They are so steady that you think you are on a bench rest with sand bags. The third reason for the heavy barrel is that it doesn't get hot as quickly as does a light barrel. This makes fouling managment of black powder loads much easier on a long string of shots.

Hunting bison in the west was very different from what we do today with their long shot strings, and these bull barrel guns were purpose built for it.

My normal hunting Sharps at 11 to 12 pounds are not so heavy that you can't carry them on a day's hunt, but their weight does make them a bit easier to shoot than say an eight or nine pound rifle.

Here's one with a shadow stripe from Zim followed by another without it from the long grass of Tanzania:

Spring,

Never seen a common without shadow stripes!

Is that a custom?

Thanks to the two of you for all in info. I see guys shooting them once in a while at the range, I'm going to see if I can talk one of them out of a shot or two.

Are most Sharpes you see out there authentic, or are there more replicas than originals?

Spring,

I really like the one without the shadow stripe, but I get the feeling they aren't that common.

Any Zebra beats my current one, nada.

Charles

The shadow stripe looks great as a rug in places that can benefit from the hint of brown. The ones I've gotten in Tanzania look great, too, but they are truly a stark black and white.

Shadow Stripes are usually absent on the Hartmann's Zebra but found on burchell's. THere are other varities of Zebra but soembody a lot smarter than me will need to tell you about them.
Lee

We need Shakari to settle this one.............

I thought only the Hartmann's and Grevy's didn't have shadow stripes

I'll bite. I took this one in 08.

Never seen shadow stripes on a Hartmans, Ive never seen a Grevy's Zebra, except on film, but they dont have room for shadow striping...The Burchells seem to have it in varying degrees...and it seems to me it becomes more prevalent the farther south one goes....just my observation..


Ingwe

Before:



After:




After:

Big Burchell's taken in the middle of Hartmann country, Namibia 2008

On my first African hunt I didn't want to shoot a Zebra. One of the guys I was hunting with decided at the end of the hunt that he wanted one. We spent the entire last day stalking various herds through the brush, and never did get a shot.

Zebra is one of the animals that just "says Africa", and I wanted one on my second trip in 2005.

I shot this one in KwaZulu Natal with my .375 Ultra Mag with 300 gr TSX bullets. We hunted them for three days before I got a shot.

Zebra are always an interesting hunt....


Ingwe

here are mine
338wm

30-06

338wm

buffbr,

As another RUM fan I was wondering how you like the performance of the 375RUM?

Did you shoot your buff with it? How did it work?

Regards,

Blair.

Then:


Now:

My lovely bride shot this one in June at Rudman's with a 257 weatherby,115 tsx at 3300. Through both shoulders and spine,exited and still going.

Toughest yet most memorable and gratifying animal I hunted - took 3 days and I got him literally in the last few hours of my safari - you can tell by my facial expression how joyous the moment was!





Taken from a height of about 50 feet, angled down about 25 degrees, at a distance of around 100 yards. He was in a group of 8 mares. We were crouched on the rocks for 10 minutes, leg muscles burning, and I had my rifle barrel resting on my PH's shoulder - our tracker finally threw a rock to get the zebra to give us a good shot - one round from my .30-06 Tikka was all it took.

Blair, As to your questions about my .375 RUM, basically, it's one of my favorite rifles. I've taken it to Africa twice. The first time was for my Buffalo hunt in Zimbabwe where I shot 300 gr TSX bullets for the buffalo and 4 Plains Game animals with it. The 300 gr TSX bullets chronographed 2830 fps and shoots 3 shot MOA groups at 200 yds.

Yes, I shot my buffalo with it. It was a 50 yd broadside double shoulder, double lung shot. The recovered bullet was a perfect Barnes mushroom.

My second hunt with this rifle was for Plains Game in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa. It was the only rifle that I took on this hunt and I was 100% satisfied with it's performance. I shot 13 animals with this rifle varying from an Eland at 30 yds to a Vaal Rhebuck at 250 yds and a Gemsbok at 348 yds. My load on that hunt was the 270 gr TSX at 3043 fps that also shoots 3 shot MOA groups at 200 yds.

The rifle is a Remington 700 stainless that I restocked with a laminated stock that fits me. I pillar and glass bedded the barrel and action and floated the barrel, installed a mechanical recoil reducer in the stock, and added a Limbsaver recoil pad. I also had a KDF muzzle brake installed on it.

I shot three of the animals from a prone position, and recoil was not an issue.