I've got a box of 500s in .458 and a load developed that hits within an inch of my "working load" at 100. Unless they gut and cut and wrap a buffalo all by themselves there is no way they are worth 6 bucks apiece. There's just too many great bullets to get bent over like that.
458
- Thread starter brybenn
- Start date
I've got a box of 500s in .458 and a load developed that hits within an inch of my "working load" at 100. Unless they gut and cut and wrap a buffalo all by themselves there is no way they are worth 6 bucks apiece. There's just too many great bullets to get bent over like that.
Thanks for the heads up on the dgx. Are the solids from Hornady reliable? Or should I just use A frames?
Thru Facebook Ivan Carter recommended a solid as backup to a good expanding bullet. I've got 3-4 years to play before the buffalo hunt. I don't want to miss out an opportunity because of lack of funds so I started saving last year. I have several animals I want to hunt and the 458 may not be suited for all and I'm not sure all can be found in the cheaper buffalo concessions
Thru Facebook Ivan Carter recommended a solid as backup to a good expanding bullet. I've got 3-4 years to play before the buffalo hunt. I don't want to miss out an opportunity because of lack of funds so I started saving last year. I have several animals I want to hunt and the 458 may not be suited for all and I'm not sure all can be found in the cheaper buffalo concessions
Hornady has always made a good solid with the exception of the year or so that they tried that Encapsulated Solid that was a total failure. Having said that, you are likely better off without the solids for buffalo anyway. The list of great buffalo softs is long, and includes A-Frames, TSXs, Trophy-bonded, Woodleigh, CEBs, Partitions, Rhinos, G.S, North-fork and probably half a dozen others of impeccable credentials. The use of solids for follow up shots isn't universal and there are many who have long since gone to all softs.
Congrats on starting the saving process. A plane ticket will get you closer to your buffalo hunt than 10 rifles or 100. There's more to it than that, but without a bit of funding the rest doesn't matter.
Most African hunting can be easily handled with any rifle that you would use for elk under any and all conditions, then bumping up to something bigger for the biggest stuff. Or you can take a real stab at using a .375 for everything.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I acquire in the interim between every hunt, then purge down to just a .375 H&H as the only real choice to pack in the run up to the trips. It's a little like running home to the farm, it's familiar and hasn't let me down. Tried a lot of rifles, only end up keeping and using the .375's over there. A .375, or .458 for that matter if you're comfortable with it, will do absolutely anything, anywhere- but I'm not the first to mention that. Bigger always works, on everything. Something lost in all the CGN and elsewhere internet debates on magnums, and how nothing more than a .30-06 is ever needed, is that a bigger gun will never, ever let you down; if you can shoot it. As for bullets, I like Barnes, but I admittedly have dabbled in a far smaller selection than many here. Barnes also don't "shock" terribly hard from my experience, but they penetrate like mad for a "soft".
You don't get hit near as hard as the luckless mammal on the receiving end.
Cape buffalo
2 zebras
Oryx
Impala
Warthog
Baboon
Are what I'd like to hunt on my first safari. Other then the two zebras which I want both skinned. One as a rug and the other to fill in panels in the display that will house the European mounts of the other animals. I'm by no means a trophy hunter but I'd like some big bad ass warthog skulls
My second trip I wish to hunt black and blue wildebeest crocodile baboon and hyena if legal
These would be shoulder mounts except the baboon and hyena would be full body and the croc would be a skull mount
I'm not sure on shipping and trophy fees change but I'm thinking 30 grand will cover my first safari as European mounts are much cheaper
With the second costing all most the same
2 zebras
Oryx
Impala
Warthog
Baboon
Are what I'd like to hunt on my first safari. Other then the two zebras which I want both skinned. One as a rug and the other to fill in panels in the display that will house the European mounts of the other animals. I'm by no means a trophy hunter but I'd like some big bad ass warthog skulls
My second trip I wish to hunt black and blue wildebeest crocodile baboon and hyena if legal
These would be shoulder mounts except the baboon and hyena would be full body and the croc would be a skull mount
I'm not sure on shipping and trophy fees change but I'm thinking 30 grand will cover my first safari as European mounts are much cheaper
With the second costing all most the same
Yeah, 30 grand will take of it, maybe a bit less depending on country. Its the incidentals, extras and miscellaneous that get you, they add up fast.
The second trip shouldn't cost anywhere near 30.
Well, you can't take it with you.
The second trip shouldn't cost anywhere near 30.
Well, you can't take it with you.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Yep, you're being extremely realistic, you could even do it for less, but at your budget you're doing it right. Look into Zim in my opinion, RSA / South Africa is essentially all giant ranches. Some are good, some aren't.
In today's money I figured it to be $22000 plus airfare I figure 3-4 years $30 grand will be right. I'm hoping to have more saved in case of something
I figured $30 grand for my second trip because of the cost of taxidermy and I know things won't get cheaper. I can't anywhere find a trophy fee for a hyena. I know not all countries allow them to be hunted.
For now it's just a list. Africa is always changing but in the mean time if I can get a thousand rounds thru this 458 ill be extremely comfortable with it
Zebra oryx warthog wildebeest and baboons are all fairly long shots I read so I'm considering a 375 hh as well. I've heard mixed results of fast 30 s on wildebeest.
I figured $30 grand for my second trip because of the cost of taxidermy and I know things won't get cheaper. I can't anywhere find a trophy fee for a hyena. I know not all countries allow them to be hunted.
For now it's just a list. Africa is always changing but in the mean time if I can get a thousand rounds thru this 458 ill be extremely comfortable with it
Zebra oryx warthog wildebeest and baboons are all fairly long shots I read so I'm considering a 375 hh as well. I've heard mixed results of fast 30 s on wildebeest.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
My brother damn near lost his 29" Wildebeest, on a frontal shot with a .300 Weatherby. Even the PHs were blown away when we finally tipped it over at last with my .375, that was a good shot he said when he looked at it. Just barely missed the heart, bullet blew up, and destroyed one lung and stopped very shallow. A one lung wildebeest will go far enough to embarrass Terry Fox. Overall though, with good bullets, doubt you'll see much difference between a .300 mag and a .375 if both are placed right, on plains game. My brother was shooting junk, as I'm apt to as well, .375 just gets away with it so far for me.
I took my wildebeeste with a .375 and .416 Rigby. The first was a broadside shot through the bush with a 270 TSX and it ran about 1/4 mile shedding blood and chunks of lung out both sides the whole way. The second was with a 400 grain TSX, quartering toward at around 150 yards. It went straight down and bounced around until I got into a position where I could put one through both shoulders. Neither bullet exited. They can be rather tough; they aren't called "poor-mans buffalo" for nothing.
One advantage to using a .375 on up on plains game is that with good bullets there's seldom an angle that doesn't offer a good killing shot. Another is that no matter what animal you stumble onto next you are solidly in the game.
One advantage to using a .375 on up on plains game is that with good bullets there's seldom an angle that doesn't offer a good killing shot. Another is that no matter what animal you stumble onto next you are solidly in the game.
Brybenn..........You won't go wrong with a 300 mag Norma/Win/Wby but use 200 gn Nosler Parts, Swift A-Frames, or TSX. I know from experience that 180 gn Parts just aren't quite enough bullet for the Oryx or the Wildebeest. Last 2 trips I have taken only the 375 with 270 gn TSX, cause I'm getting lazy, and because of the ammo weight limitation on the plane. If you are considering taking the "significant other", who also is allowed 5Kgs of ammo on the plane, then by all means take 2 rifles...your 458 for the big boys and a good 300 for all the rest. Chances are you won't need 10 rounds of 458 for the buff, but you'll want to check your rifles once you arrive and this will burn up 3 or so if all arrives unmolested. Also you can buy 458 in SA very readily, so if you check and sight in with Win, or Rem or whatever ammo you can arrive with no ammo and have your PH grab you a box of what ever is available locally. This is a very practical solution to the ammo weight problem, and you can carry 5Kgs of your favorite 300 load.
If you're up for the recoil Brybenn, the 300 RUM is an absolutely devastating cartridge, with 200 gn bullets, and shoots like a lazer, it is truly a significant step up from the Norma/Win/Wby class of 300 Mags and you can pick up a decent rifle for around or even under a grand. My kids been killing stuff for years with his and it's a $600 700 SPS stainless, nothing fancy but it shoots several bullet weights under an inch (not all together, obviously) and he abuses the sh!t out of it, but hey it's stainless and plastic, who cares. Using 200 gn ABs it is an honest 700+ mtr rifle, and when it touches down sh!t dies !!! Just a thought.........I personally use my old 700 Stainless in 300 Wby, cause I've got indelible faith in her and I know how she shoots right out to 500+ mtrs, but this is after 25 years, 4 continents and God knows how many thousands of rounds and hundreds of animals. However the RUM still impresses me.
If you're up for the recoil Brybenn, the 300 RUM is an absolutely devastating cartridge, with 200 gn bullets, and shoots like a lazer, it is truly a significant step up from the Norma/Win/Wby class of 300 Mags and you can pick up a decent rifle for around or even under a grand. My kids been killing stuff for years with his and it's a $600 700 SPS stainless, nothing fancy but it shoots several bullet weights under an inch (not all together, obviously) and he abuses the sh!t out of it, but hey it's stainless and plastic, who cares. Using 200 gn ABs it is an honest 700+ mtr rifle, and when it touches down sh!t dies !!! Just a thought.........I personally use my old 700 Stainless in 300 Wby, cause I've got indelible faith in her and I know how she shoots right out to 500+ mtrs, but this is after 25 years, 4 continents and God knows how many thousands of rounds and hundreds of animals. However the RUM still impresses me.
Thanks for the input from all. Recoil doesn't seem to fizz me. I have a 300 Wm already. I'd like to use the 458 for more then just buffalo but it shots start to stretch over 200 yards I'd rather have something that shoots flatter. However once I decide on a scope and detachable mounts I'm going to play a lot with this 458. It fits perfectly and comes up better then a dream. 3 shot group were all touching at 25 yards offhand when I test fired it.
Do you guys prefer fixed power or low variable power scopes for Africa?
Do you guys prefer fixed power or low variable power scopes for Africa?
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
So far, I've only ever used iron sights, to a max of 200 yards. I enjoy stalking, and it's part of the fun for me, I also find a rifle sans scope a dream to carry. Most of your African shooting in my opinion will be 20-150 yards, so if you like glass, low power. Something that offers 1x for dangerous game would be a plus. Shot my Cape Buffalo in thick stuff at spitting distance.
I've got a 2.5-8 VX3 on mine, though a 1.75-6 just might be a tiny bit more appropriate. For hunting buffalo it won't make any difference, but for getting in a fight with one it might. I had enough time last year to wish I didn't have a scope at all before plastering an incomer at 10 yards. The trouble is; its the clients job to get a good, eventually fatal shot into the buffalo and a scope sighted rifle is the best way to do that. Hitting a buffalo at the typically very short ranges isn't the problem, its finding and threading a bullet through a tiny opening in the brush that's the trick. Its easier to do that if you can see what you're trying to miss.
Brybenn, if you're going to use the 458 for everything, you might try to get a good load worked up for a 350 TSX that shoots to the same point or a little high at 100 yds of your 450-500 gn thumper load. On rifles like this I like the 1.5-6x Zeiss, a good combo of low end and enough glass for precise 250 mtr shots. This is what my 375 H&H wears.
It is also very seldom that you would hunt your buff and plains game together or even on the same day so confusing ammo shouldn't be a problem. The PH is going to take you out after some lower priced and non dangerous game to see how you shoot and how you hunt (quietly or not), before he's gonna head after buff with you.
It is also very seldom that you would hunt your buff and plains game together or even on the same day so confusing ammo shouldn't be a problem. The PH is going to take you out after some lower priced and non dangerous game to see how you shoot and how you hunt (quietly or not), before he's gonna head after buff with you.
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BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
In the spirit of full disclosure it should be mentioned that Canadians are prohibited by law from exporting firearms, even temporarily, to Zimbabwe. I thoroughly enjoyed my hunt there in 2010 and would go again however if I wanted to use my own rifles and enjoy a true wild trip I would look at Northern Namibia or Mozambique, with the slight edge going toward Mozambique.
