Africa

[martinbns]

I wont be after buffalo or cats and the I want to use guns Im comfortable with like the 7mm mag, 257 wby mag, 300 win mag or the 45/70. I may go with a 375 Ruger if gemsbuck are tougher but I wouldnt have any use for a 416 rigby back here. A Kudu looks elk size and a gemsbuck looks moose size or a tad bigger.

Kudu are elk sized but small boned if that makes any sense. Gemsbuck are smaller that a Kudu, but thicker, pony size. A big gemsbuck goes about 550 lbs on the hoof, big Kudu 750ish. None of the animals you will be hunting except Eland which are much larger are comparable in size to a moose. Gemsbuck have a seriously thick hide though, well over an inch thick. Your 7mm mag or 300 is a great choice for these animals with good bullet, partitions, TSX etc. Depending where you are going shots can be somewhat long for a 45-70, I shot three of my animals at over 200 yards, my impala in a heavy wind at 259 lasered. I could not have made that shot or the one on my Kudu which was 220 yards with about a 30km an hour side wide with a 45-70.

 

[ben hunchak]

I've heard about the "no BP on planes" and yet many use it in africa including dave gullo of Buff.Arms, I'll have to find out more ways to get around this. I don't know why an airline would ban a superior to all propellant, do they not have any sense of history, do they not read this site??

 

[Demonical]

^ Maybe they allow the BP that is in disc form and not loose BP?

 

[Dogleg]

The only trouble with that is you can't take black powder on a plane, so unless you are going to cruise to the Dark Continent you would have to get the powder there.

Iffy proposition at best in some areas.

Black powder in loaded cartridges is OK. Loose powder or pellets isn't.

 

[Yeti]

I would check with the company putting your safari together. Some countries have a minimum caliber/power restriction. I believe (and I'm probably wrong) in many countries .375 H&H is the minimum cailber allowed.

 

[sheephunter]

I would check with the company putting your safari together. Some countries have a minimum caliber/power restriction. I believe (and I'm probably wrong) in many countries .375 H&H is the minimum cailber allowed.

Namibia for plains game is 7mm.....I'm not aware of any minimums for plains game in SA. You are likely thinking of dangerous game with the .375 minimum.

 

[sheephunter]

The only trouble with that is you can't take black powder on a plane, so unless you are going to cruise to the Dark Continent you would have to get the powder there.

Iffy proposition at best in some areas.

And if you do find it there....count on it being 3-4x the cost as it is here.

 

[JHC-II]

africa 2010

Going to SA in 2010 taking a 7x57 and a 6.5x55 6.5 for Impala, Warthog and Baboon and a 7x57 for Kudu, find out if you have minimum caliber restrictions, usually big medicine if going for the big 5.

 

[dan belisle]

375 is the minimum for the big 5 in SA. I've not heard of any minimums on plains game. I'll be back there next week, I'll ask around. - dan

 

[Curt]

African antelope have a 2 chambered lung, and don't react to a lung hit the same way as our deer species do.

That's very interesting.

 

[DirtyOldSix]

To shoot Kudu and Gemsbuck in africa Tikka T3 lite 7mm mag and a 300 win mag enough gun?

Kudu is usually in dense bush where you want to make sure you put him down on the spot to avoid a long tracking session. I have been hunting both species for about ten years with my cz550 in 30-06.

Fact: Most game farmers in South Africa are convinced that you can hunt anything with either a 308 or a 30-06! (I sort of agree)

Ideal calibre for Gemsbuck, in my opinion, is 338 winmag. A very popular gemsbuck calibre in Namibia is the 8x68S.

Ideal calibre for Kudu, in my opinion, 9,3x62.