TOBY458
AH legend
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2014
- Messages
- 4,553
- Reaction score
- 13,081
- Location
- Madison Georgia, USA
- Media
- 204
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- 3
They use many calibers under 375 on Australian Buffalo. Many of the outfitters recommend minimum of 338 Win Mag on their websites, but I doubt it's a requirement. That said, why not just use a 375? It's more than just adequate on Buffalo, and meets the requirements for elephant as well. The 338 seems to recoil about the same as a 375, and you don't need a long-ish range caliber for Buffalo, so I just don't see the need to go under 375.I have a feeling that both 35 Whelen and 338 WinMag would perform just fine on cape buffalo. I wonder if anyone here has used either on dangerous game either before caliber restrictions were put in place or in countries that don't maintain the 375 minimum rule.
Craig Boddington did mention killing a Buffalo with a 338, and said it did a great job, but he still doesn't really recommend it. I'm sure it would penetrate as well or even better than a 375 with good bullets, but you're starting to lose a lot of frontal/caliber size once you go down that far below 375. Heck, the 375 is pretty small itself, when compared to something like a 458 or larger. Many people say that caliber size is very important when dealing with big tough animals such as Buffalo. Probably not because the smaller calibers won't kill well, but because the larger calibers kill more quickly.