Baagh Shikar: The Art Of Hunting The Royal Bengal Tiger

[Ruraldoc]

The story of the 280 Ross with its 140 grain bullet wounding the lion is pretty famous.

I was was surprised to find that my PH actually hunted with a rifle in 280 remington.

He said he a killed several lions with it and that he thought it was about perfect.

He used a PMP 170 grain soft point if I remember correctly.

He thought the 280 and the 30-06 were perfect for plains game as well as leopard and lion.

When I go for lion, the closest thing we have to tigers, I am debating in my head the 9.3x62 versus the 375 and 416.

Wally Johnson used a 30-30 for lion for years and lived to tell about it, just as our friend Habib used his 7x57. Lots of things can work in a pinch in the hands of real experts like Habib or Wally.

 

[leslie hetrick]

savage had a ad about a man useing a savage 99 in .22 high power for tigers, talk about a death wish.

 

[gcbailey]

Sir, this is a great wealth of information! There are no longer people who can provide recent information on hunting tigers, at least as far as I am aware. Your article helps preserve a part of history. For those of us who will most likely never get the opportunity to hunt such an amazing animal, your article affords one the ability to both understand and dream.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

What an amazing history and great read from Hunter Habib.

As a shooter of a Krieghoff 500/416 NE double rifle I have to say that I thought his experience and remarks about this gun and Hornady bullets was spot on.

He said:

"In a tragically ironical set of circumstances, just 23 years after hunting Royal Bengal tigers became outlawed in our part of the world… Kreighoff developed the perfect caliber for hunting the great cats- The .500/416 Nitro Express. Pushing 400 grain bullets at 2330 feet per second, this rimmed cartridge is the ideal double rifle caliber for hunting Royal Bengal tigers. Were I completely unburdened by any sort of constraint in regards to cost or availability… then my ideal rifle for hunting Royal Bengal tigers would hands down have to be a Heym Model 89B boxlock ejector in .500/416 Nitro Express with 26 inch barrels and a non-automatic safety.

In regards to the most appropriate choice of rifle ammunition to employ for Royal Bengal tigers, it is imperative that only the best quality soft nosed cartridges (i.e those loaded with premium grade lead cored expanding bullets) be used. Royal Bengal tigers are classified as soft skinned animals and a bullet which expands in diameter while still holding together, will provide the largest wound cavities while also offering optimum penetration

Based on my field experiences in hunting African lions & leopards, I would have to say that the finest bullets for hunting Royal Bengal tigers (in recent years) is the classic Nosler Partition. A 400 grain Nosler Partition bullet traveling at 2330 feet per second (fired from a .500/416 Nitro Express) is an absolutely unrivaled medicine for Royal Bengal tigers. Any reasonable hit to the creature’s vital organs is guaranteed to prove fatal (even if the tiger may not be killed outright).

Unfortunately (at this time of writing), Nosler has not been manufacturing Partition bullets for the last 4 years (constantly keeping on listing them as “Out of Stock” on their website). Based upon the bullets which are currently being manufactured and are available on the market today… my choice would have to be for the DGX (Dangerous Game eXpanding) Bonded bullets which Hornady has begun to manufacture since 2018. Fortunately, these are currently available in .416 caliber weighing 400 grains."

I was just trying out these Hornady 400 grain .416 DGX Bonded bullets on a large Australian buffalo cull hunt, shooting them from my Krieghoff .500/.416NE double rifle, they performed real well, the gun shoots well and is a great combination in this caliber and bullet selection. Here are a few recovered rounds in the photo below.

View attachment 694898

Now, if only Hornady did something to improve the jacket thickness of their Dangerous Game Solids !

 

[Hunter-Habib]

i don,t think the ted bundy,s or the john w. glacy,s of the world deserve life. or decent imprisionment, but a bullet to the head.

Nice & clean. No living on the taxpayer’s hard earned pennies.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

The story of the 280 Ross with its 140 grain bullet wounding the lion is pretty famous.

I was was surprised to find that my PH actually hunted with a rifle in 280 remington.

He said he a killed several lions with it and that he thought it was about perfect.

He used a PMP 170 grain soft point if I remember correctly.

He thought the 280 and the 30-06 were perfect for plains game as well as leopard and lion.

When I go for lion, the closest thing we have to tigers, I am debating in my head the 9.3x62 versus the 375 and 416.

Wally Johnson used a 30-30 for lion for years and lived to tell about it, just as our friend Habib used his 7x57. Lots of things can work in a pinch in the hands of real experts like Habib or Wally.

@Ruraldoc, were I absolutely unconstrained by factors such as budget or availability of ammunition, I’d highly recommend the .500/416 Nitro Express (400Gr bullets traveling at a velocity of 2330 FPS). The .375 Holland & Holland Magnum or even the 9.3x62mm Mauser are also perfectly adequate for the hunting of Royal Bengal tigers. But I would personally employ no caliber lighter than .338 Winchester Magnum.

If you’ve read my autobiography, then you’ll know exactly where the 7x57mm Mauser caliber’s shortcomings for tiger hunting begin to manifest itself. I had taken a double lung shot at the great cat with a Winchester Super X factory load (175Gr round nosed soft point traveling at a velocity of 2440 FPS), but the bullet stopped after only penetrating the first lung. As a result, the man eater succumbed to his gunshot wound an entire day after I shot him.

This section from Chapter V might interest you.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

savage had a ad about a man useing a savage 99 in .22 high power for tigers, talk about a death wish.

Ah, yes. That great American sportsman, Reverend Harry Caldwell (author of “The Blue Tiger”). He employed a .22 Hi Power on one Indochinese tiger (loaded with the 70Gr Winchester Western soft nosed cartridge). He had made a stomach shot on a tiger while the great cat’s belly was filled with food. The high velocity soft point set off a tremendous explosion of gases inside the tiger’s stomach… killing it outright.

The good Reverend wisely rationalized that this incident was a lucky fluke. And he then stepped up to a Savage Model 99 chambered in .250-3000 Savage.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Sir, this is a great wealth of information! There are no longer people who can provide recent information on hunting tigers, at least as far as I am aware. Your article helps preserve a part of history. For those of us who will most likely never get the opportunity to hunt such an amazing animal, your article affords one the ability to both understand and dream.

Why thank you so much, @gcbailey

It is a condensed portion of a chapter from my autobiography. And never say “Never”. Tiger hunting just might end up getting relegalized in our part of the world once again someday. Granted, the antis (and media supporting their crazed & uneducated agendas) will definitely try to publicly crucify us for our endeavors. But I can live with that…

 

[PerH]

Tried a Krieghoff .470 recently with Leupold scope on . It made the scope Scottish but it’s solid and work well . The red dot in it and way it goes on and off automatically is something that I would liked for jungle use and the Tiger .

 

[PerH]

Scoutish I meant after Saint Col Cooper’ Gospel .

And no risk of scope bite . I’m starting to be more of the 500 grain for stoppers and allround use thinking .