1st. Buffalo 416 Rigby with 375H&H for backup
2nd Buffalo 416 Rigby
3rd Buffalo 375 H&H, 470NE Buffalo and Elephant 470NE

Next one in June 470 NE for Buffalo 375H&H for Leopard and Sable!


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I have only hunted DG in Africa twice so far. Both times for buff and PG.

1st - .338 Win. Mag. and .458 Win. Mag.
2nd - .338 Win. Mag. and .416 Rigby

If I ever manage to save enough disposable income to hunt DG again, and that is a big IF, I will most likely be using the same cartridges as my last DG hunt…………. unless of course an unknown relative dies and leaves me enough to afford both the DG hunt and a double in .500 NE.

All my bolts rifles are and always have been mauser 98 type actions. Most are put together on WWII vintage German mausers. With the exception of the Rigby, which is a Ruger RSM.

1. 375H&H (Leopard)
2. 450/400 Ruger No. 1 (Buff)
3. 375H&H (Asian Buff)
4. 375H&H (Buff)
5. .50/.45 Sabot Muzzleloader (Asian Buff)
6. 450/400 Merkel Double (Tuskless) & 375H&H (Buff)

Taking the double to Tanzania this summer for 3 more buffalo (but also taking 375H&H for lion, hippo, and PG).

My rifle of choice has migrated from a Ruger Mark II Safari to the Ruger No. 1 to the Merkel Double, and I have recently acquired the Blaser R8 with a 375H&H barrel and will be giving it a try.

1st dg safari I used a 375h&h, it worked great, zero problems.
Started planning my 2nd dg safari before I got home. Went & had a 416rm built for it.
Where's the logic in that?
I guess logic goes out the window when it comes to the things we want.
Haven't made my 2nd dg safari yet & already planning for a 404 Jeffrey for the 3rd one.

I have come to the realization that a scoped 375 bolt action and a 500 double will cover any DG hunting scenario that I may ever encounter!

Based on two pages of replies something has become clear to me! And that is most of us are all about the same.

Most of us took our first African dangerous hunt using some sort of the 375H&H rifle. Even though there was no problem with the use of the 375H&H rifle on any member of the dangerous game taken, most went to something larger for the next safari. Also in most cases, however, the 375H&H was kept as back-up for the larger change of choice.

Out of 44 replies:

21 took their first head of dangerous game with a 375H&H bolt or single shot rifle!

8 of those who started with something larger also took a 375H&H rifle along for back-up and for other game.

20 have since bought a double rifle of .400 or larger, and most still take a scoped bolt along in 9.3X62 or 375 H&H for other game and to use if something happens to their double.

Like most, my first two African dangerous game was taken with a scoped FN Mauser 375H&H rifle. I had a double rifle at the time but couldn’t get componants in time to load for it before my safari started, However, my first dangerous game was taken with a 30-30 mod 94 Winchester lever action, a large black bear in New Mexico at the age of 14 yrs. And the second with a 375H&H Whitworth bolt rifle in Alaska at the age of 40 yrs. There has been at least one double rifle and sometimes two on every other trip for DGR there after!
I tend to agree with JCS71 below on the opinion that there is no real need for anything other than a properly set up 375H&H bolt rifle and a 500NE double rifle for anything that walks, crawls, or flies on this planet!

On the over thinking of our rifles, I think that is built in to any rifleman, and is just part of the fact that man is a natural hunter, and is prone to constantly evolve as a more skilled hunter, and it is natural for a hunter to constantly try to improve his equipment. If that were not true we would all still be obtaining our meat with rocks and traps!

quote:

Originally posted by JCS271:
I have come to the realization that a scoped 375 bolt action and a 500 double will cover any DG hunting scenario that I may ever encounter!

.....................................................................

2 hunt, 3 Cape Buffalos, 1 M70 .375 H&H

Clearly, in the hands of a good shot the .375 H&H and the like are good enough. AIU

I forgot that I shot my brown bear with a .338 Win Mag. I intended to bring my .375H&H, but at the time the only .375 I had was wood stocked. My guide said he would prefer that I shoot the .338 (stainless with a synthetic stock). He carried a .338 for backup and said he felt it was a more than adequate caliber for a brown bear. And it was. One shot and that sucker rolled most of the way down the mountain to the beach.

But this doesn't throw off the observation that most people used a .375 for their first DG animal. I had already shot the leopard and a few buff before that bear.

I've kind of gone the other way. I used a 458 and a 416 early on and now have gravitated to a 375 for everything. If I hunt elephant again I'll probably take my 458 but otherwise I think I'll continue using the 375.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
I've kind of gone the other way. I used a 458 and a 416 early on and now have gravitated to a 375 for everything. If I hunt elephant again I'll probably take my 458 but otherwise I think I'll continue using the 375.

Mark

Mark, I've always said that if I could have only three firearms they would be a double rifle chambered for 450/400NE, a scoped double rifle chambered for 375H&H flanged, and a scoped CRF bolt rifle chambered for 30-06! And I'd likely carry the 375FL double most of all!

375H&H the rifle cartridge for the world!

I've evolved from a .375 to a .450-400, to a .450 no2, to a .600. I guess the evolution is related to my taste in doubles and what I can afford.
Cal

No 1 Leopard 375 H&H Brno 602 ZKK
No 2 Elephant 375 H&H Model 70
No 3 Buffalo 375 H&H Model 70
No 4 Elephant 470 Nitro Merkel
No 5 Elephant 416 Rigby CZ 550

First trip. 375H&H. Buffalo
second. 416rem. tuskless
Third one in 2015 will be a 416 Rigby for Buffalo
I like to bring/use different guns on each hunt both guns and calibres worked well.
Joe

1st- Model 70 375 H@H in Zambia's Luangwa Valley for buff, croc, hippo and PG. There was some precision prone and longer range shooting involved in this hunt and the 375 was perfect for me.


2015- Model 70 458 Win Mag in Zimbabwe for Bull Elephant.

I figure, why not step up to the 458 for the 5-25 yard offhand shot at the elephant.

1. Lion, 4 buff, puku, zebra, bushbuck, waterbuck: .375

2. 2 Ele, 1 buff, 1 impala: .475 Wilkes Double, .450 Rigby

3. Will be using 450-400 double, .500 double and .450 Rigby

All good medicine

1st .375 double
2nd .375 double
3rd .470 double
4th both of above
next probably just the .470

and as a footnote - the quality of bullets I am using has gone up considerably since the 1st hunt.

I went from a bolt to a double when I realized one 600 barrel wasn't enough.

quote:

Originally posted by CCMDoc:
I went from a bolt to a double when I realized one 600 barrel wasn't enough.

...................

Over time I have gone as small as .22 short, and up as high as a 577NE double, and it became clear to me that the gain with the 577NE over the 500NE was not worth the extra cost, weight, and recoil. So today for serious hunting I stop at a 500NE double!

IMO if NEED had anything to do with our firearm collection, we would have only a .22 rifle a 30 caliber of any make, a shotgun, a 375 H&H, and a 500NE double. It wouldn't take a very large gun vault to protect that collection, and you could take anything this planet offers.

1) buff 375HH
2) buff 375HH
3) buff lion 375H and give the PH my 360 Weath
4) leopard bow and 375HH and 416 Rig
5) buff ele bow and 375HH
6) ele (botched, partner quashed) hippo croc bow and Buzz's 375HH

I am afraid there is decrease toward the bow.

1 buff with 416 Rem. Mag.
1 buff with borrowed 375 H&H (was going to be my 9.3x62 but Delta left it in Atlanta.
416 got the job done quicker.