I KNOW IT IS OVERKILL BUT WHAT BULLET AND WEIGHT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND IN .458 WIN MAG FOR LEOPARD?

[codofish]

OMG are you kidding me! Only someone who is from NY, California or Colorado would "overthink"
that one. Maybe Dirty Harry would try that. Take 2 rifles or borrow a suitable one.
Leopard hunting is a very specialized hunt on a Dangerous Game Animal that is likely the most dangerous you can ever hunt. If the first shot is not the kill shot, you, your PH, trackers, game ranger,
and anybody in the area's life is in danger, why would you risk that?
You should never consider shooting a leopard with anything that can't consistently hit a dime size target from 100yd or less!
I love my double rifles but would never consider using one on Leopard (except maybe a follow up tracking on a wounded one if a short barrel shotgun with buckshot isn't available)
Hunting them from a blind at night in minimal or no light and a PH would agree to having a client use
a 458 or double rifle or any other Big Bore, IMHO is not someone I'll hunt with!

I have lived my entire life at the end of a dirt road in Carolina but the best deer hunter I ever met was from New York and the best hunting guide I ever had was from Colorado, maybe they influenced me.

Like I said, I shoot this rifle one MOA at 100 yards with the 400 grain bear claw. Below is a 5 shot group from yesterday, you'll notice that just one hole is about the size of a dime.

If hitting a dime from 100 yards with a hunting rifle was prerequisite for hunting dangerous game this forum would have about 10 members and a lot of starving PHs.

 

[DLSJR]

All of those are kind of shit for light transmission, except maybe the 2-12 Leupold VX6.

I have killed exactly zero leopards.

But I have spent 100's of nights in a German tower blind waiting for Mr. Schwein to come in where I can see him.

You need the same scope I hunt with, and hundreds of thousands of other European hunters hunt with. Mine is a Zeiss V8 with a 50mm objective, but a 56 is better. It will probably give you the best light transmission at 8 power. As that is the design.

This is not going to be a good scope for buffalo.

This is why you would be better off with a 243, 308, 7x57, whatever has zero recoil with a 2.5-10x56 or a 3-12x56 or similar scope, from the best brand you can afford as long as it has the words Zeiss, Leica, Swarovski, Kahles, Minox, Schmidt Bender or Meopta on the side.

I believe these scopes mentioned are overkill for a leopard and they most definitely are for buffalo. I’ve found a Leupold VX5 in 2-10x with the red Firedot reticle to be about as close to perfect as you can get. It’s a 30mm tube and 42mm objective. This is plenty of light gathering and magnification, but that Firedot is the most important feature. It simply makes precise aiming much easier regardless of light conditions. You’re only going to shoot a leopard at 40-60 yards so you don’t need a ton of magnification but I think I had my scope on 6x for my last leopard, which was a 47 yard shot.

And it’s also a damned good scope for buffalo hunting.