.308 Winchester for Eland and Argali Sheep

[crs]

"Hunt close and use enough gun with good bullets! Anything else could be called a stunt."
Indeed. Plus, hunting close is more fun!

Shot placement rules!

 

[Ridgewalker]

Use “appropriate” caliber/cartridge, which per my wallet is a minimum 375 H&H on eland. They are huge!

 

[Newboomer]

Amen! My eland weighed in at about 1900 lbs. I shot him with a 375HH Barnes 350 gr TSX head on at about 80 yards right under his chin. The bullet went into the lungs and he ran close to half a mile blowing blood like a firehose. It took two more to finish him when we found him lying down. Those guys are some kind of tough. I would recommend nothing less than 375 HH and a heavy premium bullet. I can't speak to sheep having never hunted them. I can say a 6.5 CR is great for pg like springbok, impala and up to kudu. I used Hornady 143 ELD-X and had one shot kills out to 286 yards.

 

[crs]

My buddy used my .338 with 230 grain WW Fail Safe bullets and when shot, the big bull just slowly settled on it's belly; dead as a hammer. It took 12 farm hands to load it while I took pix. On farm scale it went approx 2000 pounds; not exact because it was too long for the cattle scale. Eland are huge and pretty, but for me it would have been like shooting dairy cattle, so I passed on it.
This was the RSA farm on the Limpopo River where our PH grew up shooting them with his dad's .308 WITH 180 GRAIN BULLETS. They are big, but a properly placed bullet will do the job. He does know how to creep up on game as he has been doing it since he was 6 years old.

"Hunt close and use enough gun with good bullets!"

We took about twenty animals in two weeks(including two days shooting 13 species of birds) and most shots were less than 100 yards. The longest was 150 on a trotting gemsbok; same .338 rifle and bullet and it dropped at the shot. That bullet broke both shoulders and the back, so I used the PH's pistol to finish it.

 

[grand veneur]

"Hunt close and use enough gun with good bullets! Anything else could be called a stunt."
Indeed. Plus, hunting close is more fun!

Shot placement rules!

That's right , close hunting is the best you can do.

Unfortunately , game like Argali , Marco Polo or Ibex have to be shot very often at great distances because of the terrain in the high mountains that makes getting closer impossible.

500 yards should be the absolute highest limit for a shot and cartridges like the 340 Weatherby Magnum with 250gr bullets are almost ideal for this purpose.

 

[Fastrig]

As much a 308 win fan that I am, for what you are describing, it wouldn’t be the rifle I would grab from my gun case. At the size of those Elands and the distances to those sheep, I would say 300 win using 180 grain Norma Bondstrike Extreme or something in that realm. 308 win with the same Bondstrike rounds would probably handle the Eland inside 250-300 yards but the magnum would have better punch for a surer one shot kill. 308 at those distances for sheep, no way, use a magnum.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I was wondering would a .308 Winchester would be suitable for Eland (Giant and Common) and also for the Argali Sheep. I will be using Barnes TSX Bullets on both animals.

Something that somebody with more experience than I once said that you don't want to take a rifle that works when everything is exactly right, you want a rifle that works when things go wrong. Shot placement is everything, but do you really want to restrict yourself to a standing still, broadside shot in the open, inside 100 yards?
Also, some African countries do not allow the use of "military" calibers (ie: .308).