BLUE WILDEBEEST PRACTICAL CALIBERS

[bassasdaindia]

i have shot them with 30-06 but i far prefer my 338 win mag for BW,250g

 

[Poucher]

9,3x62 loaded with bullet in the 250-286 range will do it fine in the Bush country and you can strech the shoots up to 250 meters

 

[Spooksar]

75 Yards with a 9.3x62 using 250gr Nosler Accubond dropped first shot, put a second in for good measure

 

[Bushman10]

Shot a Blue Wildebeest at 350 meters with a .308 and a 130 grain Impala Bullets brass solid. Did not allow enough for the strong right to left wind drift and the shot was a back lung shot. We were on top of a small hill and the animal ran around the hill all the time while we were watching. Animal distance covered was about 150 meters before it went down but it was only about 40 meters from where we were.

Also shot a Black Wildebeest at a distance of 235 meters with the same .308 and the same 130 grain Impala Bullets brass solid. Animal only went 35 meters.

 

[Red Leg]

I think they have many of the characteristics of a buffalo - well placed shot and they are quickly dead. However, just slightly off and you are in for a long day. I lost the first one I ever shot. I made a deliberate neck shot at about 40 yds in very thick cover with a 250gr nosler partition from a .338. He went down like he had been poleaxed. As the PH and I were congratulating our great stalking and shooting, he got up just as quickly and was gone. We had a few drops of blood for the first hundred meters or so and then nothing. We followed the heard and we caught up with him and them about six hours later. We could see the bull had a dot on either side of the base of his neck and he was cavorting with his mates as if nothing was wrong. Couldn't close for a shot before it got dark. I am sure I touched neither spine nor major blood vessel and I am equally sure he is still running around with that waterbuck. PH didn't even charge me. The others I have taken (.338, 30-06, and .375) all had the courtesy to expire within a few yards. My son shot his quartering away with a 180 gr accubond at about 100 yards. Shot looked perfect, then and later, but a running gun battle ensued which ended two miles and four 30-06 rounds later. They are hard animals.

 

[Diamondhitch]

I think they have many of the characteristics of a buffalo - well placed shot and they are quickly dead. However, just slightly off and you are in for a long day. I lost the first one I ever shot. I made a deliberate neck shot at about 40 yds in very thick cover with a 250gr nosler partition from a .338. He went down like he had been poleaxed. As the PH and I were congratulating our great stalking and shooting, he got up just as quickly and was gone. We had a few drops of blood for the first hundred meters or so and then nothing. We followed the heard and we caught up with him and them about six hours later. We could see the bull had a dot on either side of the base of his neck and he was cavorting with his mates as if nothing was wrong. Couldn't close for a shot before it got dark. I am sure I touched neither spine nor major blood vessel and I am equally sure he is still running around with that waterbuck. PH didn't even charge me. The others I have taken (.338, 30-06, and .375) all had the courtesy to expire within a few yards. My son shot his quartering away with a 180 gr accubond at about 100 yards. Shot looked perfect, then and later, but a running gun battle ensued which ended two miles and four 30-06 rounds later. They are hard animals.

What you describe is certainly not uncommon with a near spine flesh wound. When they go down hind end first you really need to be ready for a follow up shot even though usually it will not be needed. I have seen it before as well as experiencing similar trauma myself. I was in a quad accident where I ended up flying off a 30 foot cliff and the force of coming down on the gas tank sent a shock up my spine and when I tried to sit back up I could not move. I tried again moments later and was able to get up, roll my quad over, rebead the tire and limp it out to the truck, unbeknownst to me I had compressed a disk. Spinal trauma is unpredictable.

 

[AZDAVE]

120 yards shot 250 gr Accubon 9.3x74, through left front shoulder, top of heart and found under the skin on the right rear hip, ran 55 yards. Tough critter

 

[35bore]

Love the way some of these old posts keep popping up. Must be a good topic. Where's BART?

 

[bassasdaindia]

BWB are tough animals ! shot placement is critical , I can speak from experience with them.

they still remain my favorite PG to hunt.

 

[Areaonereal]

Yep, got a really good bull running around the Limpopo from two weeks ago with a 210 gr ttsx 338 06 to far back, somewhere in the gut. 1 small drop of blood. Pulled the shot at 100 yds. Three days later too far forward on another good bull. Took out front right part of the lung. He ran 600 yds. Thanks to the rat terrier tracking and the PH with my rifle and a heart shot and left lung shot, he went down. I am too old for a foot race with them. Thanks to the 33 yr old PH and his long legs. They are tough......perfect shot placement is the answer, But how man times do we have perfect shot placement.

 

[buffybr]

Good example of why Momentum is a far better measure of power than KE. I would much rather have my arm hit by a bullet at 5000mph than a bus at 50mph.

If my math is correct, that 5000 mph bullet is traveling at 7333 fps. I think hit with a bullet traveling at 7333 fps or that 50 mph bus, your arm would be gone.

 

[Code4]

Frontal shot into the sternum. .308W with 165 Woodleigh PPSN. Went 200 yards and found stone dead.