I m sure we all develop our biases on this subject. If you agree then it s because I ve learnt from some of the best in the business, including Kevin Robertson, including from his excellent book Africa’s Most Dangerous, Brent Hein who taught me to hunt buffalo and has personally guided over 800 ( and 136 leopard and 86 lion), and John Luyt who s guided over 500 and has worked as a game ranger for years in South Africa. Both are also expert elephant PH hunting guides.

Both Brent and John recommend for the first time buffalo hunter a .375 with TSX. Kevin s book speaks for it self. John carefully documented rifle , bullet, and injury , wounding etc for his first 70. His conclusion was there were less wounded animals with .375 perhaps because people were more comfortable and aimed better for the heart. The most common wounding were from frontal shot or frontal quartering. Unless you ve looked carefully you need to be aware there s about 8-10” of muscle in the brisket protecting the front, the chest bone wall is like a Boat bow with clinker overlapping ribs. Indeed the chest up front Is quite narrow and the only sure opening is the relatively small thoracic inlet which is high in the chest. Hence, one well known writer of books who s hunted with PH s I know only takes side shots.

Having said this, even a dhaka boy shot in the heart can keep going quite a distance. I shot a tsotsie bull with Brent through the heart with a .375 TSX and he still ran in total some 120-140 yd and then Brent lent me his .470 double to put him down. In the excellent book Nyati, the rule was with a .375 a bull will run 150 yd, big bore .400 about 100 yd and .500 s 20-50 yd. I just shot with a Brent a bull with my .577 VC double twice through the left ventricle with 750 gr TSX, and I presume my first two shots, and with a heart in shreds he still ran another 30 yd. ...man are they tough! We had tracked them, or rather Brent and William had, at a fast pace where I could hardly see anything, for 3-4 km. My heavy belt back pack holster allowed me to keep up. I highly recommend Brent and the Fimbiri camp in BVC. Please support the research and anti poaching. They ve had 31 rhino killed in the first half of the year and are doubling their anti poaching unit with the help of Mark Walker.

John setup this traditional tented camp on the Klaserie river. We had elephant, leopard, hippo, lion, and of course hyaena around. We walked some 30 km the first three days and tracked two old management bull that had been harassing the workers at a camp. We bumped them many times but they were very wary. While walking a leopard walked along for awhile on the other side of the stream and then made a break. Eventually on a hot morning we sent the rest of the team off in the truck and they the buff thought the hunt was off and lay down for a sleep. As we got closer, one stood up and looked left in the direction the truck left. The other faced right, sleeping lying down. John asked in a whisper if I was confident I could put a round under his horn and into his neck spine at 50-60 yd. about 4x 6” target. I affirmed. The old Dhaka boy just dropped his head and went to buffalo Valhalla. My only buffalo DRT. Brent says that only happens 1%, John 2%. John says it can happen when the buffalo are unaware and thinks the heart is relaxed in diastole. Maybe a shock wave effect into the brain knocks them out. Anyway other than brain, or spine shot, less likely with heart. Note in Saaed s video of the frontal shot and DRT that it looks like a spinal shot but he can confirm. John asked me to put two in insurance shots from the right at 30 yd. Note, it s the dead ones that kill you. All TSX in both buff opened up perfectly with flower petals and the two that hit the spine both went through the vertebrae although a little buckled. The second finishing off solid CEB 650 gr shot went also through the spine but ended up under the skin on the far side. Usually the .577 solids just whistle through although a shot through the rear ends up under the skin of the front.

Since there s been some discussion about .45-70, I tested the Punch solids. From the side they whistled through but from a quartering frontal shot I could not find an entry into the chest. Can do but not reliable.

I ve also used a Gibbs .505 with Brent for buffalo. I asked Kevin, Brent, and John about the bigger bores. All three agreed, if you use them, you must know how to handle them accurately. We all a I think agree on that but it’s also true with a marginal shot, the big bores are helpful. All thing being equal, a .577 makes a bigger hole than a .505, or smaller rifle etc.

Interesting, a well known KP game warden for elephant management prefers a Winchester or Lott .458 at 2150 fps with 600 gr solids. In thick bush he says he d like a .577 double....all depends on how close you are or want to get to trouble. Shot an elephant from the rear through to the base of the trunk with a .450 Rigby. John also uses a .458 Custom Lott.

I highly recommend BVC, Klaserie, and free range buff in Namibia but I ve also been to areas in SA and Namibia I would not

Ok I m sure the experts will add their views. Happy hunting

Love the BVC and the Klaserie. I've killed a number of bulls from the two, using either a .375, a .450-400 or a .470NE.

My first and only Buff was this past September in Zim with Buzz.

Borrowed his camp .375hh with tsx. After 3-4 days of great hunting and tracking and being in close but not sealing the deal. We finally had a good Dugga boy stick around. Frontal but we had talked about it prior as the days progressed. It was frontal quartering but I was comfortable to take the shot. Aimed a little to the right of center.




After the shot only heard one or two small grunts. Not much of a death bellow. Tracked 150 yards up a hill into thicker scrub brush and it was stone dead on the ground.





The TSX was found in the guts and missing the front petals. The heart had a big hole in it and even more the lungs behind it looked like shrapnel. I guess the pedals coming apart did massive trauma Impressed to say the least.

I have seen one or two Buff die.

Me likes them .400gr Swift A-frames out of a 416 Remmington plenty!

Nothing wrong with a 300gr Barnes or Swift out of . 375 either!

As long as you shoot the rifle well.

John is a top PH and I enjoy hunting the Klaserie with him a lot!