Cape buffalo with an air rifle

[PeteG]

I don't believe there is much wrong with shooting a pig with a headshot from an air rifle, but dont believe you should be trying to shoot bigger, more dangerous animals with an air rifle.
It is asking for trouble that someone else must fix and putting someone else in danger.
The buff in the first post looks like a young animal, definitely not a big old bull that most would take as a trophy animal.

If you think that technology has surpassed the regulations, then you are deluded. In that case, why not drop the minimum regs for DG to a 243 win or similar? which i assume would have more muzzle energy than an air rifle?
I have no issues taking a head shot on a buff with a 243, it wont go anywhere with a scrambled brain, then if it goes wrong, i should just send in the ph to go fix the injured animal.
Think about this for a second and ask yourself if you would go on a buff, lion, leopard, ele, hippo follow up with an airgun...

 

[mdwest]

I could care less if the propellent is IMR 4064 or Hydrogen.. 1200fps is just WAAAAYYYYY too slow with a 350gr 458 caliber projectile in my opinion...

Can it be done? obviously.. this guy has done it..

Should it be done? I dont think so.. if he wants to put his own life at unnecessary risk, have at it.. its his life to give.. but he also put the lives of several other people on the line with a tool he should have known was inadequate for the task...

That said, I suppose the PH knew what the hunter wanted to do and what he wanted to do it with, and accepted that risk for himself, his tracker, his dog, and whoever/whatever else was in the hunting party... nonetheless, I think its inappropriate for the hunter to ask the PH to accept that risk to begin with..

Cool technological development... and maybe one day if they get that thing up to about 2100 FPS or better I'd give it some consideration.. but for now, I'd personally limit using it to things like hogs, deer, etc..

If you were shooting a large caliber revolver like a 500 S&W you'd be sending a 350gr projectile between 1900-2000 FPS, and you would have multiple follow up shots available...

With this thing you've got one pull of the trigger.. then the task gets turned over to someone else if you dont drop that buff on the spot..