I think I have a good plan for caliber and rifle selection for my safari in Zambia in late July and early August but wanted to see what you guys think. I will be hunting and traveling to three different areas to get the three lechwe species (Kafue, red and black) as well as sitatunga, roan, sable, puku, waterbuck, bushbuck, etc… plus I have reserved a buffalo for my father. I’m taking my parents on their first safari, mostly as observers. We are hunting Kasonso Busanga GMA bordering Kafue NP for most of the above species and then the Bangweulu Swamp for black lechwe. The “swamp species” such as the lechwe and sitatunga will be hunted in the open country of the swamps in these areas and shots could be a bit longer than encountered on most African safaris.
Rifles/calibers I am considering from my safe:
1. Tuebor Precision 6.5 GAP with titanium action with carbon wrapped barrel, Nightforce turret scope and 140gr Berger Hybrid bullets. Shot my Marco Polo sheep at 550 yards with this rifle. It’s a .300 RUM necked down to a 6.5. I was thinking of using this rifle in the swamps for the lechwe and sitatunga because shots can get long. I have shot this rifle out to 1500 yards but would never shoot an animal at more than half that distance. My PH owns a 6.5 and is impressed with the performance on smaller PG species so he is fine with my setup for the swamp hunting.
2. Custom Winchester M70 in .300 WSM with a Leupold scope with Premier Reticle dots out to 600 yards. This is my lightweight mountain rifle for most of my sheep hunting in North America. It’s very lightweight and hard to hold steady without a solid rest. Sighted in with 165 gr Nosler Accubond bullets.
3. Custom Winchester M70 in .338 WM with a Leupold scope with Premier Reticle dots out to 600 yards. This is the rifle I have used for most of my PG hunting and a lot of NA hunts. It has a heavy but fluted stainless Krieger barrel without iron sights. Very accurate for a medium bore caliber. Sighted in with 225 gr Swift A-Frame bullets.
4. Whitworth Interarms Model X in .375 H&H Mag with beautiful wood, iron sights, barrel band sling swivel with Leupold VX6 2-12x scope with adjustable illuminated reticle in Talley QD rings. Sighted in with Barnes 270 gr LRX bullets. I thought this would be great for PG and would work just fine for my dad’s buffalo. I know 300 gr bullets are normally recommended for buffalo but the 270 gr would work. This is a new rifle for me.
5. CZ550 Safari .458 Lott with several upgrades by Wayne at AHR with iron sights and a Leupold V6 2-12x scope in Talley QD rings. Composite stock and cerakote coating on all metal. This is my back up rifle for brown bear guiding and I have also shot two buffalo with it in Mozambique. Sighted in with 500 gr Barnes TTSX.
For the swamp hunting, I was thinking of taking the Tuebor 6.5 and for everything else, the Whitworth .375. Or should I take the .338 and .375? Or the .338 and .458? Or the .375 and .458? Or just the .375? I only want to take two rifles. My dad has never shot the .458 Lott.
Your thoughts?
