Talk to Me About African Cartridges

Are you going to buy, build it yourself or have it built?

Building yourself is an option that is good and can get you the rifle in time for you to have some months to practice.

Buying now is good for the same reason.

Having it built may not be a good way to go in this case because a lot of gunsmiths who are good at the work will have back-logs too long to work for you.

I am not taking on any more work now, so this is not a solicitation, but I have been making such guns for a very long time, and I may have some good insights for you that might be helpful.
PM me and I'll give you my number if you want to call.
 
Just curious but does the PH have a suitable rifle you could rent? If going to Africa is going to be a regular thing for you I could see buying a special rifle. But a once only trip I would be seeing about using one of their guns.

In the reading I have done written by Finn Aagaard renting a rifle is a common practice. Or at least it used to be. Did you ever read the article by Brian Pearce of his hunt in Africa using a 45-70? It caused a bit of discussion when it came out. He shot one Cape Buffalo and when the bullet passed through he killed a second unseen Buff standing behind it. It was a good read. You could propably find a back issue from Rifle Magazine on their website.

A CZ in about any caliber you could ask for.

http://cz-usa.com/product/cz-550-american-safari-magnum-375-hh-5-rd-fixed-mag/
 
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I am going to buy the rifle. I know I could rent one, but like I said, any excuse for me to buy a new gun and develop a load and I will do it!

As for the 45-70. I have a 45-70 Marlin GBL....Its a fine rifle and I like it, and it would probably take a buffalo with a 525 gr pile driver pushed to around 1550 fps.

As far as a custom rifle, I was thinking about just buying a Model 70 safari, CZ 550, or something in that $1,300- $1,500 price range.
 
Hey Mississippi I updated my post while you were posting. I thought Howa used to offer a reasonable priced 375 but I couldn't find it on their website. I did post a link to the CZ rifles. I wish I had an excuse to buy one. What nice looking rifles.
 
the 300 win mag with the right bullets will do for 90 percent of the plains game animals, hit them right and they will die. the 55" kudu my friend killed was with a 180gr corlock rem bullet from a howa 3006 at 50 yards walking towards him, the bullet took his heart apart and ended up in its guts. the kudu made about 40-50 yards stumbleing before going down for good. eastbank.
 
The ridiculous collections in my family, and aspirations of dangerous game hunting in Africa by said owners, have allowed me to play with a half a dozen or so suitable cartridges and maybe twice as many rifles.

While my father's .450 Nitro double would be "fun" to take and use, it wouldn't be my first choice.
Plenty of .458 WMs have been passed around. Decent enough.
But I'd be looking at .416 Rigby. Great performer. Easier to deal with than .416 Remington, and you can (where legal) actually obtain ammunition in-country if needed.


For plains game, I'd grab the best .300 WM or .338 WM that I had, and run with it. Good bullets and knowing the rifle and load well are all that's needed.
I believe my father actually managed to talk the PH into allowing a .243 Win for warthog on his last trip for plains game, but I cannot recall if it was actually fired (I think a .270 Win was already out for the "small stuff", and used by default).
 
I saw Finn Aagaard mentioned in one of the above posts. He grew up in Kenya and was a professional hunter there for many years. His recommendation to hunters was to bring a scoped 375. He said the typical hunter could shoot that better than the bigger bore guns. He was OK with the bigger ones if they could shoot them well. Between himself and those who borrowed it, his 375 was used to kill 48 buffalo. He seemed to have a fondness for the 416 Rem Mag as well and thought it an excellent choice for those who could shoot it effectively.

That was back in the early '90s. Mr Aagaard died in 2000.

Added later: For lesser game not needing the big stuff, Aagaard said those who used calibers in the .270 to 30-06 range seemed to be the most successful. He said many of those bringing 300 Mags couldn't shoot them well enough. Where he hunted most shots on plains game were under 300 yds.
 
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I saw Finn Aagaard mentioned in one of the above posts. He grew up in Kenya and was a professional hunter there for many years. His recommendation to hunters was to bring a scoped 375. He said the typical hunter could shoot that better than the bigger bore guns. He was OK with the bigger ones if they could shoot them well. Between himself and those who borrowed it, his 375 was used to kill 48 buffalo. He seemed to have a fondness for the 416 Rem Mag as well and thought it an excellent choice for those who could shoot it effectively.

That was back in the early '90s. Mr Aagaard died in 2000.

Added later: For lesser game not needing the big stuff, Aagaard said those who used calibers in the .270 to 30-06 range seemed to be the most successful. He said many of those bringing 300 Mags couldn't shoot them well enough. Where he hunted most shots on plains game were under 300 yds.
Click to expand...

I actually believe I could just use my .300wm and borrow my brothers .375HH and not spend another dime. Or use my 45-70. But the search is part of the fun, and load development is one of my favorite pastimes.

I have been shooting a .300 win mag since I was 14 years old....I have an F-Class .300wm, a Model 70 Super Grade .300wm and my original Savage 110F .300wm. In other words, my ability to handle one isn't an issue.

But, again, I love the search....but practically speaking, the .416 Remington/Rigby are hard to beat as they are plenty of gun and not difficult to find ammo for. The .416 Ruger is interesting, but I am afraid if something happens while I am in country, I may not be able to find ammo where .416 Remington/Rigby ammo will be easy enough to come by according the African fellas who are setting me up. They said in an email last night that the .416 Ruger isn't very prevalent down there. But Rigby and Remington IS VERY prevalent.
 
The one advantage the 416s have over the 458 is that you can use the one rifle for everything, plains game included. With the proper 300 gr bullet the trajectory is almost identical to a 30-06, so easily a 300 yd rifle.
 
Ok then....if I'm going 416 Remington/Rigby. Go with a Model 70 Safari? CZ550? Weatherby mk V? Montana Rifle? Ruger M77

Ruger #1's and 3's are nice but I don't think I want a single shot
 
.404 Jeffery.

The classic "magazine rifle" cartridge for dangerous African game. (Obligatory pic attached). Read up on it.

Historic, venerable, deadly. The 404 Jeff has taken down countless elephants, lions, leopards, rhino, and water buffalo.

Perhaps its chief virtue is that it imparts the least felt-recoil of the various .40-magnum class of African cartridges - e.g., less than the 416s and 458s, and 460WB. The .404's recoil is more like a 375's, while throwing a larger, heavier projectile (.423 dia./400gns).

If you want to tread in the footsteps of Selulous, Taylor, Roosevelt, and Hemingway, ... well, you need to do it proper and traditional. ;)
 

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The .416 Rigby in my family was chosen in a CZ 550 American Safari Magnum, because it was going to be scoped. (Vs the standard 'Safari' w/ lower comb.)

It's a decent rifle and has printed some very impressive groups ... but it's heavier than I like, at something like 12.5 lbs. (Yea, yea, it helps with recoil. But I'd rather take a little more punishment from a trigger pull than haul the weight around.)
 
Agree with m&p45acp10+1. I would use a 45/70 using 450 or 500 grin hard cast bullets, or Hornady's 500 grainers.
 
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