Best caliber and bullet for African Hunt

[AZ_Hunter]

@Liftman101 I'd highly recommend staying away from cup and core bullets like Eld-X and I will be sticking to solid coppers next time.

I shot a large waterbuck at 127 yards with a 24'' barrel 270 win with factory precision hunter ammo 145gr eld-x. The bullet hit the shoulder and was found on the inside of the shoulder meat. It only cracked the scapula. It did not go into the chest cavity! If it wasn't for my follow up shot, that waterbuck would have never been found.

That’s interesting.

 

[gtriple]

@Liftman101 I'd highly recommend staying away from cup and core bullets like Eld-X and I will be sticking to solid coppers next time.

I shot a large waterbuck at 127 yards with a 24'' barrel 270 win with factory precision hunter ammo 145gr eld-x. The bullet hit the shoulder and was found on the inside of the shoulder meat. It only cracked the scapula. It did not go into the chest cavity! If it wasn't for my follow up shot, that waterbuck would have never been found.

And I've had the opposite with solid coppers. I shot a sable at 50 yards perfectly broadside with the 127gr ELD-X out of the 6.5WBY RPM. I put 2 shots straight through it behind the shoulder. Put a third further back once we had caught up with it half an hour later. The coppers just don't cause a lot of damage.

The same 270 win with 145gr ELD-X dropped a different sable where it stood.

The outfitter we hunted with nearly exclusively used a 308 with 178gr ELD-X on everything short of cape buffalo, eland, and dangerous game.

 

[HNTR918]

That is pretty incredible
Can you tell us a bit more about it please

The first shot was slightly quartered to.
I had climbed up the mountain behind it, so I was 10-15 degrees above it.
After the shot it walked with a limp about 40 yards.
It stood in place quartered away with no signs of going down.
Head was up, looking around, and lifting its leg off the ground.
Second shot was hard quartered away, went in behind the ribs and the eld-x grenaded and lead and jacket were found separated in the chest cavity.
Lungs and liver were mush.
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would have never believed a shoulder could stop a rifle round that large and that fast.
I will say out of the plains game, the waterbuck definitely seemed the most solid in terms of muscle and bone when we were quartering it up.

 

[HNTR918]

Picture below. This is the side of the first shot.

 

[Liftman101]

And I've had the opposite with solid coppers. I shot a sable at 50 yards perfectly broadside with the 127gr ELD-X out of the 6.5WBY RPM. I put 2 shots straight through it behind the shoulder. Put a third further back once we had caught up with it half an hour later. The coppers just don't cause a lot of damage.

The same 270 win with 145gr ELD-X dropped a different sable where it stood.

The outfitter we hunted with nearly exclusively used a 308 with 178gr ELD-X on everything short of cape buffalo, eland, and dangerous game.

I assume you meant a 127 LRX in the 6.5 Weatherby RPM. Did it expand at all?

 

[gtriple]

I assume you meant a 127 LRX in the 6.5 Weatherby RPM. Did it expand at all?

Yes, the LRX, sorry.

We never found the bullet, but the exit hole was not much bigger than the entrance hole. I didn't get pictures of the carcass because it was dark when we took it out.

I've since shot a bull elk with the same bullet out of a 6.5PRC.... It may be anecdotal evidence, but it was very unimpressive. I'm moving to match/cup and core bullets.

 

[antaresproper]

4 pages and no one asked about the 260 yard turkey shot?

 

[Erebor]

I take a 300 win mag and would say use barnes 180ttsx if it work well out of your gun, Have taken a lot of plains gam with barnes vortex in 180 grain from my 300. I also take my 257 weatherby and have taken zebra and kudu with that gun and 100 grain ttsx. Only other bullet I would use and have used in Africa in swift a frames.

 

[goodlife]

For Africa I now use the 300 and a bow. Too many large game animals for the 308…just have to settle for a 4 star hunt rating for smaller game like springbok and warthogs when I can’t get close enough for a bow shot.

 

[SDHNTR]

.375 HH and a .308 win. Hunt the world.

 

[Hooknbullet2]

I was in Africa last month. I harvested a Wildebeest and 6 other plains game animals with a 308. All one shot kills. I was shooting the 130 grain Barnes TTSX bullet.

I also took my 300 Win Mag shooting 180 grain TTSX bullets and used it to harvest an Eland.

By the way, both rifles are Tikka T3’s from Hill Country Rifles.

 

[Liftman101]

4 pages and no one asked about the 260 yard turkey shot?

Florida allows harvesting Turkey with a rifle. I have a rifle range on the cattle ranch my friend and I own. I was out with my favorite rifle, a 6 mm Creedmoor, shooting from a bench. I noticed a nice gobbler in the pasture. Ranged him at 267 yards. Made a good shot taking out the undercarriage and leaving the breasts untouched. Fired up the deep fryer and ate well.

 

[Boltgun]

Outfitter/PH: Before you pay a dime, definitely ask for references from previous hunters. Any quality safari company will have clients that you can call, and you can ensure the hunt is what you are looking for.

Fences: Poaching is a SERIOUS problem in SA. Without the fences, all the animals would get poached. It sounds like an exaggeration, but many of these places are employing full time armed squads of anti-poaching teams to keep their animals alive.

Additionally, consider the size of the outfit when assessing whether the fences mean “shooting fish in a barrel.” Many of these outfits have huge areas, (80+ sq. miles.) and many of our western “wild” hunting units are boxed in by impassable interstates, effectively fencing the animals into much smaller areas.

As an example: One outfit may have 80+ sq. miles fences in, with only animals indigenous to the area. In years that the conditions are right, they may need to reduce animals numbers by large numbers. (The same way that the DNR sets harvest quotas in the US.) Since the outfitter can’t suddenly increase his clients by a hundred to match the animal population increase, he either culls the animals or rounds them up, tranquilizers them and sells them. They are still very much wild animals. They sell those animals, and a local outfit with 2 sq. miles purchases them and releases them. Hunting on the first outfit’s property is hunting wild animals. Hunting on the second outfits property is hunting wild animals in a barrel.

Bullets: most PH’s are incredibly experienced, but often that experience is not with modern bullet technology. Our PH’s were very open to new things, and after seeing ELDX perform, were very pleased with that bullet. In Rokslide fashion, I used a too-small cartridge and it did great. 6.5 Creedmoor with ELDX.

 

[JGRaider]

Most of SA hunting can be compared to the TX Hill Country HF hunts, not the wide open West. There are a few areas in SA that are the exception (Eastern Cape), but not many. The vast majority are smaller, HF properties.

 

[Hydra6]

I went to SA last year and hunted plains game. I rented a rifle and bought ammo from the PH. Howa 1500 3006 with Zeiss 3-9 scope and suppressor (local manufacturer) using Hammer projectiles (180?). I was very pleased with the performance of 3006 and the Hammers on basic plains game from 85 to 250 yards. Largest animal was Blue Wildebeest.

 

[KenLee]

"The Eland is a big critter. We put 5 rounds of 375 H&H into one. 2 double lungs and 1 single lung."

My 5th shot would have been at his head.
Picturing this gave me flashbacks of mid-late 80s barfights vs dudes on pcp. Couldn't stop em.