Tungsten buckshot for leopard follow up?

[Wyatt Smith]

Having never seen a leopard I may be completely wrong, but I would think at the range you would fire during follow up, the pattern would be so small it would have no advantage over a slug. The slug would obviously have more penetration.
There’s not much difference in a 3” pattern and 3/4” slug as far as aiming is concerned.
I may be wrong on my estimate of pattern diameter but it seems to be correct for 10-15 yards in my experience.

 

[Kevin375]

I have a buddy who is an avid duck hunter and he tells me everytime how impressive is the TSS on birds. For sure, it allows longer shot and it provides a tighter pattern, carrying more energy and momentum for an effective results, much further than the classic lead.
I have no experience with a wounded leopard because I was lucky enough to kill this animal instantely.
But I have spoken with several people about this subject and I saw several videos of course. Usually, when a leopard charge, it seems it's a very close shot, almost point blank very often. Most of the time, distances are less than 10 meters and at this distance, the pattern won't be very wide with a classic buckshot and with a TSS, it might be even tigther.
A good TSS load can crushed the head of the cat more easily than any other classic buckshots, including copper plated one, but because of the close shot, why not using directly a slug ?

If I have to use a shotgun in such situation, I would rather use a good Benelli and loaded with 600 gr, or even 666 gr, Brenneke slugs in 3" shell than any buckshots avalaible on the market.
https://www.brenneke-ammunition.de/en/brands/shotgun-ammunition/opal-magnum

SuperMagnum 12/76 39g/600grs

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They will be very effective for sure !

In both videos, shotguns are used but I don't know what kind of ammunition they loaded ?

In the first one, it seems the cat is stopped by Tanya Blake with her 416 Rigby and the man with the Weatherby Mark V shot just after her. One PH uses a Browning Over-under and a tracker carries a semi-automatic Remington.

In the second video, the man used a Remington 870 but once again, no precision about the ammunitions used. But once again, at such short distance, I don't think a buckshot is better than a slug.

The man attacked was very lucky, I almost thought he was also wounded by the shot.

 

[BJH65]

Interesting thread. I know nothing about leopard hunting or tracking a wounded leopard. I do know about the performance of traditional 12 gauge OO buckshot on human suspects and pitbull dogs in the ghetto and found it mostly effective within spitting distance only. I kept my shotgun in the police cruiser loaded with slugs but most often grabbed my AR-15 if a long gun was needed. Never been impressed with buckshot, perhaps because it was deployed at distances exceeding its effectiveness. Maybe tungsten performs differently, I dunno, no experience with it except on ducks and geese.

Tracking a wounded leopard in the thick bush, not sure it’s advisable for the PH to have an extremely nervous hunter with a loaded gun behind him.

 

[Sideshow]

F it, boys. If I ever have to do a followup, I am using a blowgun.

I was more along the lines of a net gun…….ill get back to my corner now

 

[IvW]

Both these was extremely lucky nobody got seriously injured.....glad nobody got injured....
I will rather refrain from further comment as both could have ending in a shitshow.......

 

[DLSJR]

OK, I spoke with Brice Hensley again today. I’m getting 12-15 Rounds of 12 gauge TSS 2’s, with some TSS BB loads included. I’m going to go to Nevada and try to call in a Mountain Lion, and if successful will shoot it with TSS. A lion would give a great comparison to what TSS would do to a leopard. Hopefully we can get one to come in to 40 yards or less and test some 2’s.

I’m also going to take most of that ammo with me to Zimbabwe and we will shoot a few animals with it to evaluate performance. I think a few warthogs and hopefully a hyena will make for interesting test subjects.

 

[HankBuck]

OK, I spoke with Brice Hensley again today. I’m getting 12-15 Rounds of 12 gauge TSS 2’s, with some TSS BB loads included. I’m going to go to Nevada and try to call in a Mountain Lion, and if successful will shoot it with TSS. A lion would give a great comparison to what TSS would do to a leopard. Hopefully we can get one to come in to 40 yards or less and test some 2’s.

I’m also going to take most of that ammo with me to Zimbabwe and we will shoot a few animals with it to evaluate performance. I think a few warthogs and hopefully a hyena will make for interesting test subjects.

@DLSJR: Although a Mountain Lion is a similar size cat to a Leopard they are Not known to be a dangerous cat and not an especially tough cat…..from what I’ve read and been told. I have no experience with Leopard but I do have a little with Mountain Lion - easy to kill and Guides I’ve used very comfortable with .243 rifle or .44 mag handgun. I think a better test would be on a Hyena - very tough animal, solid muscle & bone — a 100 lbs of “nasty”….(Although if I was ever lucky enough to ‘Call In’ a Mountain Lion I wouldn’t be “testing” anything on it - I’d use a rifle .243 or larger, as it might hang up at 100 yrds and never come into shotgun range.)

 

[DLSJR]

@DLSJR: Although a Mountain Lion is a similar size cat to a Leopard they are Not known to be a dangerous cat and not an especially tough cat…..from what I’ve read and been told. I have no experience with Leopard but I do have a little with Mountain Lion - easy to kill and Guides I’ve used very comfortable with .243 rifle or .44 mag handgun. I think a better test would be on a Hyena - very tough animal, solid muscle & bone — a 100 lbs of “nasty”….(Although if I was ever lucky enough to ‘Call In’ a Mountain Lion I wouldn’t be “testing” anything on it - I’d use a rifle .243 or larger, as it might hang up at 100 yrds and never come into shotgun range.)

Oh dont worry, there will be a rifle along for that very reason you mention. If we are able to call up a lion (where I’ll be hunting has a strong lion population) my main interest will be to see how much damage the TSS does, how well it breaks bones, how deep it penetrates. If we can’t get one into shotgun range (50 yards or less) then the rifle will come in handy. Fortunately, Nevada is easy to get lion tags and where my son and I will hunt is only about 4 hours from our homes.

 

[HankBuck]

@DLSJR = sounds like you are lucky to live near good mountain lion areas. I do a good amount of predator calling and while my best success has been in Wyoming & Texas — Never called in a Mountain Lion, even in Idaho (Salmon River valley area = good lion population) with fresh tracks snow “good conditions”….fortunately we got one over hounds. I believe calling in a Mountain Lion is the “pinnacle” of predator calling in North America — a great accomplishment —- good luck !

 

[DLSJR]

@DLSJR = sounds like you are lucky to live near good mountain lion areas. I do a good amount of predator calling and while my best success has been in Wyoming & Texas — Never called in a Mountain Lion, even in Idaho (Salmon River valley area = good lion population) with fresh tracks snow “good conditions”….fortunately we got one over hounds. I believe calling in a Mountain Lion is the “pinnacle” of predator calling in North America — a great accomplishment —- good luck !

Northwest Nevada has a very good lion population. So much that some of the best trophy mule deer hunting in the USA now sucks, big time. A friend shared a trail camera picture a few years ago that had 4 lions at a tank, all together. And the 3 younger lions were not kittens, but 60-100 pound juveniles along with an adult. That same buddy has shot 2 lions that he glassed up while deer hunting. Lots of lions, relatively speaking, in northwest Nevada. It’s big, wild, lonely country.