Post Hunt Update of Sept 2024 thread "The 308, 30-06, 7x57 Conundrum"

[Bill J H]

First, thanks to all on this Forum who commented on my thread "The 308, 30-06, 7x57 Conundrum".
We recently completed our 8 day Safari in northern Limpopo. We had a great time with Kwalata Safaris and I'm currently booking for July 2026.

In my original thread, I was trying to decide which gun to take and since I had never been to Africa, I was eliciting opinions regarding these cartridges. In the end I took 2 rifles: One for me and the other for my son.

I took my old Rem 700 CDL 30-06. It has a 22" barrel and I fun a light can on it. My load was Barnes 168gr TTSX, propelled by Ramshot Big Game at 2750 fps. I took the following animals:

• Kudu - 90 yds quartering to me. Shot just behind the point of the shoulder and the bullet was lodged in the offside hindquarter. Kudu dropped in its tracks and never got up. A nice clean kill. The bullet preformed flawlessly. The petals had sheared off and the face was beat up; I think it went thru several big bones to shear the petals.
• Zebra - 75 yds broadside. Shot a smidge behind the sweet spot on the shoulder took out top of the heart and double lunged; a complete pass thru. Zebra ran 45 yds and piled up.
• Impala - 140 yds quartering away; dropped in its tracks with complete pass thru.
• Blue Wildebeest - 75 yds quartering to me. Shot just behind the point of the shoulder and the bullet was lodged under the skin in the offside flank. Ran 75 yds and piled up. Bullet performed flawlessly petals intact.

My daughter used this gun to take the following:

• Waterbuck - he was a whopper 30.5" with a nice spread. 200 yds broadside on shoulder with complete pass thru. Animal ran 75 yds and piled up
• Impala - 120 yds quartering away. Pass thru and dropped in its tracks.

My son used his Sauer and Sohn 308 Win with my load of Swift A-Frame 165gr over Varget running 2725 fps. He took the following:

• Blesbuck - 200 yds broadside on the shoulder. Pass thru and dropped in its tracks.
• Impala - 75 yds broadside pass thru dropped in tracks.
• Zebra - 90 yds quartering to. Shot in shoulder and bullet lodged in hip; dropped in its tracks. Bullet performed flawlessly with nice mushroom.

My conclusions are that the 30-06 and 308 performed great and the bullets did their job with authority. All shots were placed well and lethal. As with anything - good shot placement it the catalyst for a successful, ethical kill.

Although one gun was a 30-06 and the other a 308, with almost identical weighted bullets, they were running within 25 fps of each other. Hence, no discernible difference except the launching platform. They will both ethically kill any Plaines Game I plan on hunting.

 

[Bill J H]

A few pics.

 

[Bill J H]

Bullets L to R:
Barnes 168 TTSX from Blue Wildebeest
Barnes 168 TTSX from Kudu
Swift A-Frame 165 from Zebra

 

[Bandera]

Congratulations on a successful hunt. Pretty awesome to be able to take the kids and have them want to participate.
I used a 308 on my trip in 23, took Wildebeest, Warthog, Zebra and Impala with it.
One Shot on all with the Barnes TTSX.

 

[Mekaniks]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing