Search results

I am taking my Sako 85 338wm loaded with 225g TTSX ammo and a 2nd rifle is a Husqvarna Swedish Mauser in 30-06 loaded with 180g Swift Scirocco. Either is capable but the 338 is my go to for larger North American game. Recoil is no worse than my 375HH despite it being a bit lighter overall...

308 was my PG rifle on my first Safari and took five animals all with one shot each. I friend took a huge Bison bull with his 308 two yrs ago with one shot using the Hornady SST cup n core round. I it is a good hunting round as are 30-06 and many others. First shot placement is far more...

"Yes Lads, There I was alone with only Sgt Duffy to back me up. Me, a young Leftanant assigned to the trenches near Ypres in France. The Jerries had started another offensive that morning and had shelled our lines for over an hour at sunrise. That was when I saw them, a gaggle of deadly...

I have been told that Moose is not hard to kill. Interesting.

Welcome to AH - What is your "Go-To" cartridge and bullet for large Canadian Moose? Headed that way in a few weeks to hunt for one. As for the 9.3mm for Cape Buffalo? First I would discuss it with your chosen PH. He will know more than any of us. IMO-the mid bores like the 9.3 (,366cal)...

Same here, but what is ok to the locals can still impact the health of visitors. Our bodies adapt to whatever we are regularly exposed to and while the water might not affect your PH and his staff, it can still knock you on your butt if your gut is the least bit susceptible. We spend too much...

Nice goat. Being in the Eastern states, I have led a sheltered life and have never gotten to hunt Pronghorn. Now, I am getting interested. How's about some of you guys who have done a few non-resident goat hunts, start a thread about how to's for us newb's? When I looked at the Wyoming regs...

I think I can relate. The one really nice Mauser that I found at a gun show was priced higher than I expected so, I walked away. Then the next morning, I decided that I wanted to buy it and returned to the gun show only to find that the seller had packed up and went home early. !@#$% While I...

TSX or Scirocco? Both will work but I would choose TTSX over the TSX if I had the option. I have used the TSX and TTSX to take a number of animals from Nilgai to Kudu and Cape Buffalo. It worked well in all cases. Calibers were 7mm, 338 and 375. I have some Sciroccos in a few calibers but...

I take a med kit that besides first aid supplies, also contains a broad spectrum antibiotic and a small tube of Ivermectin. My Doc said that if I was exposed to or exhibited symptoms of malaria, amoebic dysentery or parasitic infection that I was to take a dose of the Ivermectin immediately and...

Nice find. I rarely see things that nice at gun shows anymore. You done good. The 9.3 is one of them do all cartridges. You can hunt deer, moose, elk, bears in NA as well as Kudu, Eland, Lion, and Buffalo in Africa. What is not to like. I have an old WWII era Mauser that was sporterized...

Same - I have found the 338wm loaded with the Barnes 225g TTSX to be most effective. Am taking it after Moose in a few weeks with that same load. I have also had great results with the 200g Trophy Bonded Tip ammo in that rifle. Both hit HARD.

This might be a clue to the root of the problem. The only true bullet failure, I have ever experienced was with Winchester ammo. That is why I stopped using all of their ammo products. If you are willing to consider input from others, I would offer my thoughts? First, I am not a fanboy of...

This has been my experience also with several calibers. A finisher at 60-80y is a pass thru but the final finisher at 10y is found under the skin on the opposite side. Happens a lot with the Barnes bullets since they seem to be very sensitive to impact velocity.

Justin - That was one of the most detailed forensic report I have ever seen here on AH. Very will written Sir. Thank you for taking the time to share the results with the various rifles and game animals. Curious how the shots with the 375 careened off course but bullets in game often do wonky...

Congrats on your Safari. Great that you got to both hunt and spread the Lord's word. That is special. That is also a nice bull. Which rifle did you end up using on him? Bandur is only about 40mi East of where I have been hunting in Limpopo on the Sterk River. Super nice area. Thx for...

Nice trophy room. Love the Buff. Impressed by the size of the Wolf. We converted my attached garage into a new living room/trophy room last year. I have some of my critters on display there but am still waiting to ship home the ones from last year's safari. It is an ever changing work in...

I obtained some North Fork CPS rounds and some Woodleigh Hydro solids both in 300g for my first buffalo hunt. I had planned on using Barnes TSX for my first two rounds and having one of the solids loaded for the last 2 or 3 in the mag. To me, it sounded like a good plan. But, a couple of...

When I shoot a deer here in KY and it runs away, I almost never have opportunities to make a 2nd shot. I will sit tight and wait at least 30 min for it to bed down and bleed out. As well stated by others, this is a good practice and about all I can do. When I wounded a Kudu last year it...

So true!!!

With dangerous game such as Cape Buffalo we focus first on making a good first shot. That is the most important step. However, when you are stalking a few buffalo and they have already become aware of your presence, they rarely give you much time to aim and fire. I understand the desire to...

I have only one Hawke scope and it is on a CZ452 22lr rimfire rifle that I sometimes use for squirrel hunting. It works great and has more clarity than most of my budget scopes. I cannot comment on its recoil stability. If for some reason you cannot make the Hawke work and do not want to...

Thank you. It is a '63 vintage Medallion Grade FN Browning made in Belgium with a CRF action wearing a 60's era B&L Balvar 2.5-8x optic. I killed my first African animal with it, a Nyala using 180g Federal Fusion. My PH says it is too pretty to hunt with but that is what it was meant to do...

Yes - Good eye Ontario. It is a clunky, obsolete design but the glass in that old optic is as good as any modern scope that I own. Being an old Vintage design from the late 50's to early 60's, it was a good fit on the 63 era FN Browning. It is a bitch to adjust but once you get is sorted, you...

Matt85 - I agree 100% with your assessment. Recoil management is a learned skill just like marksmanship. Practice and training to get accustomed to it is critical. Being motivated helps. Prior to my first Safari, I had never fired any hunting rifle larger than a 30-06. Mind you I had fired...

I can imagine the legal beagles at Federal being a bit uneasy about the potential liability of putting out ammo running 23% higher pressures than the rifles intended to shoot it were designed for. Even new rifles with modern manufacturing and QC will be subjected to more stress than the design...

If her rifle shoots the terminal ascents well you have a good option there. Most of the rifles, I have tried them in did not shoot them nearly as well as some other options. For what it is worth, Federal also makes a factory load with the Trophy Bonded Tip bullets. I have not tried them in...

I have some 30-06 factory loads from Double Tap that chrono 2782fps ave with a 180g Swift Scirocco bullet. They also are consistent with SD's in the single digits. These will maintain 2000+ fps out past 400y and are accurate enough in my Husqvarna Swedish Mauser to shoot 12" steel out to 400y...

I would have to respectfully, disagree Sir. If you look at the variables that affect recoil impulse it includes bullet weight, bullet velocity, powder charge, and firearm weight. Federal is running up to 155g bullets in the new +Peak ammo, and is also claiming 300fps more velocity in the std...

Sadly, I do not take the time to photograph my rifles much. These two are exceptional. The 375 had lived a long and useful life in Alaska before I got it but fortunately, the 375 is not hard on bbls or the owner was just frugal with his ammo. When I scoped it, the throat looked like new but...

When I 1st read your title, I misunderstood the term "Beater". I envisioned long lines of Gurkas beating on metal pans while seeking to drive the Bengal Tiger to my hunting stand atop the Elephant. I missed the mark by a mile or two, lol. Instead of a 416 Rigby or a nice 450NE double rifle, I...

I am not a fan of the 6.5CM but nobody can deny the precision that can be had from the little cartridge. Recently, I was reviewing the new Federal +Peak technology applied to the 6.5CM cartridge and was well and truly impressed. This +Peak metallurgy enables the cartridge to run higher...

Adding weight to any rifle can reduce the felt recoil to a degree based on the weight added. But this comes at the penalty of having to lug an already heavy rifle around all day that is now heavier only to reduce the impulse from one or two shots. The juice ain't worth the squeeze in my...

Any rumors that Sako stopped making great rifles in the 1980's are ill founded. Of my most accurate rifles, four of the best are all Sako or Sako based rifles. Sako Quad in 22lr - This is a custom rifle built by GA Precision and was one of only 49 built in a series for Euro-Optik. It has a...

Africa is Magical. Well done on the Buff. How did you like Free State? I hunted there last year and it felt too much like Kansas to me. Much preferred the terrain of Limpopo. Super nice bull you bagged though. Perfect curl.

Welcome Sir - We look forward to hearing from you. I am in the USA in KY and while I have hunted some other parts of the world that is not my home range. Locally, my big game hunting is confined mostly to Eastern Whitetail deer and wild boar which originated from European black boar...

Wildebeest and Cape Buffalo have been the two species, I have hunted that were the toughest overall. Both required multiple shots with 375HH using 300g TSX bullets and of all the shots only one exited the Wildebeest and none passed thru the Buff. They are simply about as dense as any flesh &...

No, we did not use TX processor. The ranch skinned and quartered them and left them in the walk-in cooler overnight and we iced them down in huge coolers for the two day trip home where a local processer cut, packaged and froze everything. To date my favorite recipe is my version of Kudu pot...

My greatest concerns when I went on my first Safari were: Venomous snakes scare the hell out of me. The PH assured me that we would be hunting during their winter and while Mambas are there, they are less active and not all that common. I have never since seen a snake in Africa. Traveling...

Thank you for the reply and input. The range of PG for that hunted ranged from the little Springbok and Warthog, to the Black Wildebeest and Zebra. I was also in pursuit of Kudu but used my 375 on it. The 7mm mag has more oomph for sure than the 08. The load that I liked the most for it was...

As stated, I would love to try the 243 on croc but would not because I already have better options in hand. Cup & core bullets work great on most game... until they don't. And I agree with you that any bullet can work well in most cases and any bullet can fail in some cases. We are all...

With the right bullet such as bonded fusion or TSX for example, I would expect the 243 to work as well. However, the 220 Swift running a 110g bullet is not any faster than a 90g 243 and might even be a few fps slower depending on the load. Ruark's and Selby's poor results with the 220 Swift is...

Interesting topic. As a normal rule, looking at small & fast vs big and slow, I firmly prefer the big & fast option for all forms of hunting in relative terms. As for African PG being tougher than North American game, that is in my opinion not true. The African game is harder to kill only...

This is spot on. My load out is similar: Rifle with sling carried Rhodesia style on weakside shoulder muzzle down. Extra ammo numbering 6-10rds carried in either a belt slide pouch or in the ammo loops of my hunting vest. I have seen hunters using the rifle butt loops have all or most of...

I do not consider gold or silver to be great speculative investments. Collectible coins are not going to hold value above their metal weight price in SHIF scenarios, so I avoid them as investments. Where precious metals shine is they create a relatively stable valuable asset that is not going...

Thank You - no worries. Unfortunately, I did not get any direct damage assessment data from the hunting so far with the 7/08 simply because it was all in Africa and the skinners did all the field dressing and skinning back at home base and I was usually off with the PH at the time doing...

Your apparent sarcastic tone suggests you did not want a reply, but... As for shot placement data, looking back, none of my shots were perfect with either rifle. Some shots with each were very well placed. The rest/most were not. As a former National Champion rifle marksman, I strive for...

I looked on Euro-Optics for the Mauser and found the 18 but not the newer 25. Perhaps it will be available soon. I liked it.

Are you selling because the commies are taking over your state and plan to outlaw hunting and gun ownership? Inquiring minds want to know? You are on the political front lines at the moment. Godspeed.

You Sir are quite correct in your assessment. Both the 7x57 and the 270 out perform the 7/08 by a marginal amount. My 270 does not like the heavy bullets either but gets good speed from the smaller 130's and is a very efficient killer. I missed a chance to buy a lovely 7x57 custom Mauser...