Lion Hunting-Cartridge

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As longwalker mentioned check out the Africahunting forum. Lots of good info on Lion hunting, and on doubles.
 
DGY said:
If I would be buying a double for an African hunt it would be rimmed cartridge the 375 flemged nitro express!!
Man that would cool!!
Good luck and if you end up buying a new gun please share cause I like to see your guns!!
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I'm only in the infancy of planning a lion hunt. If my 9.3x74R is accepted in the country/province /state, then I will save about $15,000 on a new sxs double rifle. I've reloaded 250 grain Nosler Accubonds with it and it's very accurate at 100 yards, bullets overlapping each-other. I killed one bull moose with it so-far.
Great information from people already, thanks!
 

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I thought the proper way to take a lion was a harried horseback pursuit until Simba is ready to charge whence you dismount and shoot him with your light sporting rigby.
 
Africa is on my bucket list.

I'll visit Namibia once I go there. From what I've heard they have a good supply of European inspired cartridges...
 
The most common, as already mentioned is the 375H&H but each country has different laws and rules. There are many exceptions, by region and by application permit, as I know a regular on the safari hunt circuit that used a 270Win for two lion hunts.
 
track said:
I'm only in the infancy of planning a lion hunt. If my 9.3x74R is accepted in the country/province /state, then I will save about $15,000 on a new sxs double rifle. I've reloaded 250 grain Nosler Accubonds with it and it's very accurate at 100 yards, bullets overlapping each-other. I killed one bull moose with it so-far.
Great information from people already, thanks!
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Wow! :D

What a nice looking sxs Track!:love:

If it shoots as good as you say, you should definitely take that bad boy!......:):)
 
starvin said:
I thought the proper way to take a lion was a harried horseback pursuit until Simba is ready to charge whence you dismount and shoot him with your light sporting rigby.
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Well, yeah...doesn't everybody do it that way? I know that's how I did it...

...well, except for the fact that I was on foot, rather than horseback...and the lion was a porcupine out in the fields behind the house...and I used my .22...and of course, I was 12 at the time... :LOL:

Regarding the .375 as a minimum for lion: isn't/wasn't it the minimum for any of the Big 5 in many countries, for many years? If I have that right...and I'm way too lazy to check...then that means that the .375 was considered the minimum even for leopard. :oops:
 
hoytcanon said:
No PH is going to recommend mono's or solids for lions... premium softs are the way to go.
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Certainly that would be the case for traditional solids and mono's...if there is such a thing as a "traditional" mono...but a "modern" mono like one of the descendants of the Barnes X-bullet family is designed to function as the ultimate soft-point expanding bullet, is it not? Penetration and expansion all in one package. Perfect lion medicine, no?

Please feel free to flame me if I am wrong; I'll just claim somebody else said it...:)
 
jjohnwm said:
Certainly that would be the case for traditional solids and mono's...if there is such a thing as a "traditional" mono...but a "modern" mono like one of the descendants of the Barnes X-bullet family is designed to function as the ultimate soft-point expanding bullet, is it not? Penetration and expansion all in one package. Perfect lion medicine, no?

Please feel free to flame me if I am wrong; I'll just claim somebody else said it...:)
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That may be true, particularly with the LRX type, designed to expand at lower velocity... however what they don't do is come apart, and nothing is more devastating on a soft animal (cats), than internal shrapnel. There are the new breed of "break-away" solids, but I have no experience with them, some swear by them, some swear at them, I have no opinion on them.
I had lengthy campfire discussions on the subject with a group of PH's, but it was specific to leopards, although they did say it applied to lions aswell... they all liked classic cup & core softs, and/or partitioned softs for cats.
 
hoytcanon said:
That may be true, particularly with the LRX type, designed to expand at lower velocity... however what they don't do is come apart, and nothing is more devastating on a soft animal (cats), than internal shrapnel. There are the new breed of "break-away" solids, but I have no experience with them, some swear by them, some swear at them, I have no opinion on them.
I had lengthy campfire discussions on the subject with a group of PH's, but it was specific to leopards, although they did say it applied to lions aswell... they all liked classic cup & core softs, and/or partitioned softs for cats.
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That makes sense, thanks! Fragmentation/shrapnel isn't something I normally think of or strive for; I grew up reading all about weight retention and how the Nosler Partition was the then-ultimate due to its fancy-shmancy new-age design. :)

I've never been a bullet nerd. I'll always feel comfortable with an old-fashioned bullet that starts out at .45-cal...as opposed to a more modern design that expands to .45-cal from smaller diameters. The new whiz-kids all know their bullets' weight, ogive profile, BC, SD, ideal expansion velocity range, inches of penetration in ballistic gel, the names of the designers kids and their favourite colours, etc. Hell, I wouldn't wear a Berger cap if you gave it to me for free!

I just like to shoot. :)
 
track said:
Does anyone know what the legal minimal cartridge to hunt lions in Aftrica? I have a Merkel 9.3x74R SXS double rifle.
Thanks!
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Decide where you are going. No flys on your 9.3x74 for lion, just is it legal where you want to go? Talk to your outfitter. Writers like Jim Carmichael have killed lions with 338WM and have opined that with the right bullet, the 338WM is about a perfect lion cartridge. It's just not legal in some areas.
 
Neo said:
While it's true that .375 H&H is frequently the legally stipulated minimum for lion, I've yet to meet a PH who felt that made a lot of sense. Cats of all sizes are made the same way -- they're designed to dish out damage, but they're not really made to take it. Moreover, their highly attuned nervous system does seem to make them more susceptible to system shock than many similar sized animals. At least, that's been a notable observation in my own experience having shot lynx, cougar, caracal, leopard, lioness and lion.
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Ross Seyfried wrote in Guns & Ammo many years ago that for a big money bet he would be willing to shoot a lion with a .222. They really just aren't that hard to kill.

He also said that under any other circumstances he would use a .375 H&H.
 
jjohnwm said:
That makes sense, thanks! Fragmentation/shrapnel isn't something I normally think of or strive for; I grew up reading all about weight retention and how the Nosler Partition was the then-ultimate due to its fancy-shmancy new-age design. :)

I've never been a bullet nerd. I'll always feel comfortable with an old-fashioned bullet that starts out at .45-cal...as opposed to a more modern design that expands to .45-cal from smaller diameters. The new whiz-kids all know their bullets' weight, ogive profile, BC, SD, ideal expansion velocity range, inches of penetration in ballistic gel, the names of the designers kids and their favourite colours, etc. Hell, I wouldn't wear a Berger cap if you gave it to me for free!

I just like to shoot. :)
Click to expand...

I'm more in your camp, when push comes to shove... but I do like experimenting... some times the experiments don't go well, mostly they do.
 
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