Your preferred DG cartridge

What is your preferred DG caliber

  • 375

    Votes: 20 23.3%
  • 410

    Votes: 3 3.5%
  • 416

    Votes: 24 27.9%
  • 404

    Votes: 8 9.3%
  • 458

    Votes: 18 20.9%
  • 470

    Votes: 3 3.5%
  • 505

    Votes: 4 4.7%
  • 510

    Votes: 4 4.7%
  • 584

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • other

    Votes: 2 2.3%

  • Total voters
    86
I have two a 375 and a 404, all things being equal I,ll choose the Jeff
 
I've only killed 2 of the African Big 5, both were one shot kills...
My Cape buffalo with a 300 gr Barnes TSX bullet from my .375 RUM,
and my Leopard with a 168 gr Barnes TTSX bllet from my .300 Wby.

If I were to hunt any of the other Big 5 animals I would use my .375 RUM.
 
If only one I’d pick what Mike Lagrange, Ron Thompson, Richard Harland, and now both Dalton and York use… The 458 WinMag!
With just the first three they took over 15,000 elephants with it, if it’s good enough for those guys it good enough me!
 
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If you only get 1 gun for all of Africa, there are 2 or 3 real choices...375, 404 or 416. I shoot more DG than PG so it's the 416 for me. Happy to use it or the 375 on any one gun hunt...have done so and will do it again.
 
Since I use a Blaser R8, I get 2 choices. .375 is really the one but I'll add a .416. Lol
 
I voted for the 458. On a recent podcast, Dr. Kevin Robertson highly recommended a 500 gr .458 at 2150-2200 fps as the ideal buffalo caliber. I reckon that'll work really well on the other dangerous game animals too.
 
1. 416 Remington magnum
2. 470 Nitro
3. 375. H&H
^^^^ I like less than 60-70 Foot pounds of recoil ^^^^
But think.40 cal + is a better starting Point over .375 on buffalo, and the just in case factor on dry hippo and Ill tempered elephants.
 
450/400 NE for buffalo and smaller,
500 NE for bigger than buffalo
 
I owe most of my success against African dangerous game over the years, to the one and only…
.375 Holland & Holland Magnum

I’ve always exclusively preferred the 300Gr bullet for everything and have my rifle zeroed in for it’s maximum point blank range.

Barring body shots on bull elephant, this caliber could hardly be improved upon. Perfect combination of punch, accuracy, recoil & flat trajectory.
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