Aside from the 375H&H, which dangerous game cartridge has taken the most game?

[Wishfulthinker580]

I wonder to what extent the 425 WR was used among game departments..

 

[Hunter-Habib]

It had widespread use among game departments didn’t it? Almost standard issue?

Very good, Wishful Thinker. That's correct.

 

[grand veneur]

I wonder to what extent the 425 WR was used among game departments..

In Uganda and partly too in Rhodesia.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

In Uganda and partly too in Rhodesia.

Game department in Uganda. Tsetse Fly Control staff in Rhodesia, according to invoice records from Bulawayo General Supplies.

 

[revturbo9967]

It had widespread use among game departments didn’t it? Almost standard issue?

I think it’s still used in Kruger

 

[Wheels]

I wonder to what extent the 425 WR was used among game departments..

In Uganda and partly too in Rhodesia.

Game department in Uganda. Tsetse Fly Control staff in Rhodesia, according to invoice records from Bulawayo General Supplies.

Agree with all who mentioned the 425wr being used by the game department of Uganda. I didn't know they were used in Rhodesia. Thanks for the education.

 

[John Telford]

Pre WW1 I would surmise that it would be :
.577 Martini, and 7x57 in RSA . 8x57 in Namibia with 9.3x62 being the heavy gun.
Inter wars: .303 and 12br hands down.
My great grand father farmed in the Kalahari and bought a.303 from the local magistrate for the equivalent of $10 license issued on the spot circa 1930. We still have the rifle.
These ex war rifles were issued all over the British colonies.
Very little big game hunting in RSA during this period. Post WW2 .404 Jeffery for all British game departments until 1970 then .458 win and 375.

 

[Desperatezulu]

In countries that experienced civil wars - undoubtedly 7.62x39.

A few things to keep in mind:
Pre-1890s the 'cartridge' was in its infancy and thus unlikely to have claimed that much game, purely because cartridges hadn't been around too long and there weren't that many people toting (cartridge-firing) guns in Africa - compared to the mid-20th century.

Rinderpest in late 1890s wiped out an estimated 90 to 98% of cloven hooved animals in sub-saharan Africa. So in the settler era around the turn of the 20th century, there was very little game to be killed (I note the title here is game, not limited to DG) so while some of the larger DG was running around, rhino, elephant and hippo have never made up a significant fraction of the overall game numbers. How long it took for game populations to recover I don't know but it seems fair to estimate at least a few decades to approach pre-rinderpest levels. So in the colonial era when centrefire guns were readily available, game simply wasn't numerous enough until the 1930s(?) for the bag numbers to be huge in my estimation.

Independence of former colonies is likely to be the period when the biggest game numbers were taken - wildlife protection/conservation was minimal, game numbers were high due to regulation of hunting and poaching by the colonial masters and 'modern' firearms were widespread. So then the question is which round was most ubiquitous? Undoubtedly something military-issue.
For me the 303 most likely overlapped with the rinderpest era. Nato 308 is a good call but to my mind the AK was most widespread amongst the people doing the indiscriminate shooting.
None of these are traditional DG cartridges though.

What is a dangerous game cartridge anyway?

 

[PerH]

That Ovundo 9,3x74 mentioned I saw in e-gun sale page . It was a very fine rifle . And something different

 

[Don458]

Post WWII it has definitely killed a lot of animals in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola, Congo, Sudan, etc.

View attachment 548176

That is the HkG3

 

[Don458]

Basically what's second runner to the 375H&H in terms of popularity and African game taken?

416 Rem Mag?

458 Win Mag?

470 Nitro Express?

There is a time frame, 375 H&H is over 100 yrs old. 1912. So to compare 458WM is from 1956

 

[PCC600]

A number of years ago I had the opportunity to look through the firearms registration ledgers from Colonial Kenya. Everyone who had a firearm(s) theoretically was registered. My preconceived notion was that it would be full of .375, 425, 404, 9.3, .470. I was way wrong. If a page contained 15 lines, probably 13-14 lines were the good old .303. There was an occasional shotgun, .22 or maybe a .375. In talking with some old time Tanzanians, they figured the ratio was probably accurate throughout East Africa. The professional hunters would have used mid/large bore but it seems the settlers used the .303 for all animals including lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and elephant. There were a lot more settlers than professional hunters.

It would be interesting to know if those numbers could be extrapolated throughout all of British Colonial Africa.

I would guess that the .303 has taken more DG than even the .375. At least in British Africa.

Not the good old 303 - the great old 303. Love this cartridge .

 

[Forrest Halley]

The 123 gr 7.62x39 has killed the most game in Africa by now. Before that the 7x57 born 1892 and .303 Born 1888 duked it out. It is romantic to dream of a big safari caliber taking the honors, but the truth is as unattractive and desperate as so many full metal jackets fired without regard to licensure and regulations.

 

[Simon Catinski]

Basically what's second runner to the 375H&H in terms of popularity and African game taken?

416 Rem Mag?

458 Win Mag?

470 Nitro Express?

450 Nitro, .470 Nitro probably they were pretty common back in the golden days of African safaris.

 

[Simon Catinski]

Almost certainly the 9.3x62. I’ll bet it surpasses the .375 H&H given its history.

9.3x62 does wonders on deer too, drops em with almost no meat loss

 

[shark_za]

The 123 gr 7.62x39 has killed the most game in Africa by now. Before that the 7x57 born 1892 and .303 Born 1888 duked it out. It is romantic to dream of a big safari caliber taking the honors, but the truth is as unattractive and desperate as so many full metal jackets fired without regard to licensure and regulations.

I dont even think the 7.62x39 has caught up to the .303 at this point. You have no idea of the scale of .303 that is/was out there.
Even if a person fights with an AK there is usually a Lee Enfield and ammo lying around somewhere to hunt with.
9.3 was niche, not as widespread as the romantic lore would suggest.

Likely .404 out of the traditional big game cartridges. Working rifles.

 

[Forrest Halley]

I dont even think the 7.62x39 has caught up to the .303 at this point. You have no idea of the scale of .303 that is/was out there.
Even if a person fights with an AK there is usually a Lee Enfield and ammo lying around somewhere to hunt with.

I don't think that has anything to do with it. You're dealing with people that run the tangent sights up on the rifle to make it more powerful. If they have an intermediate rifle that shoots thirty bullets on one trigger pull do you really think they are going to put that down to go poach with a .303? Maybe if it was a Vickers or Bren...vehicle mounted...
SMLE production estimates: 17-71 Million.
AK -47 production estimates: 35-150 Million.

 

[AES]

303 British, legally; AK, otherwise.