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If I decide on the leopard hunt, I also hope to take an eland, a zebra and maybe wildebeest, which of these scope and rifle combos would you use. Option A: Take only one rifle, a 375 H&H, with 2 scopes in QR rings. The scopes are a 2.5-8x36 for the plains game and a 1.5-5x20mm with the illuminated reticle for the leopard. Option B: Take 2 rifles, the 375 with the 2.5-8x36 for plains game and a 300 with the 1.5-5x20 for the leopard. ______________________ | ||
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| <allen day> |
I'd just take the .300 and leave the .375 at home. AD | ||
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Take both in case something happens to one. | |||
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Hell take me I'll bring the back-ups  | |||
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Either would be fine, but I would use the bigger scope for Leopard. | |||
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Mark Either rifle will do the work but you need the bigger scope for the leopard. I've used nothing but a 2.5x8 on a couple of safaris and not found it lacking in any area. Regards, Mark MARK H. YOUNG MARK'S EXCLUSIVE ADVENTURES 7094 Oakleigh Dr. Las Vegas, NV 89110 Office 702-848-1693 Cell, Whats App, Signal 307-250-1156 PREFERRED E-mail markttc@msn.com Website: myexclusiveadventures.com Skype: markhyhunter Check us out on https://www.facebook.com/pages...ures/627027353990716 | |||
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| Moderator |
Mark, Although I have never hunted leopard, I would tend to agree with the Mike & other Mark and suggest 20mm scope is going to have very poor light gather ability, thats assuming your going to be sitting in a blind at dawn and dusk of course or perhaps even at night???. Regards, Pete | |||
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I would probably take the 375 plus a shotgun. As for scopes, how long of a shot do you expect? Unless you expect to take shots at 300+ yards, the low powered scope will work fine. You don't have to crank a scope up to 20 to see a Zebra or Eland. Of course if you want to take them both, go ahead, a little redundancy can't hurt. On my first hunt I took a 30-06 and a 375. On my second I took a 375. I haven't decided on this years gun, but it probably will be a 300, either win mag or H&H, and a 12 ga. I'm doing plainsgame, including Zebra and possibly Eland. I'll probably have a 3X9 scope mounted. TerryR | |||
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Hi Mark: Swap the scopes..... bigger scope.... on the 300... lesser scope on the 375... but bring both rifles. I NEVER go on safari with just ONE RIFLE.... did you ever get a good look at your PH's extra rifles..??? No Thanks, bring my own, always two... Murphy does not take holidays on African safaris... Regards... Jim P. The Hunters Hut Firearms Sales & Service PAHunter/ The Head Hunter DRSS,NRA,SCI,NAHC www.huntershut1.com | |||
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PAHunter - send me a private message. I have Tanzania videos for you. | |||
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Hi Dogcat: You have Private mail... Thanks.. Jim P. The Hunters Hut Firearms Sales & Service PAHunter/ The Head Hunter DRSS,NRA,SCI,NAHC www.huntershut1.com | |||
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I would switch the scopes on those rifles and take them both.... As for a Leopard, he will be 50 to 75 yards away, so it makes little difference what scope or rifle you use... Too much is made of shooting Leopards, they are about the easiest thing I know to hunt or rather bushwack...it just takes a lot of freezing, taking on several armies of one kind of a bug or another, or sweating your butt off and being bored to death...Any decent scope will work...I like the 1.5x5, 1x4 and fixed 3X Leupolds for all my hunting, some seem to think they need more Xs...but they don't...I can see a deer well enough to shoot at 1000 yards with a 2.5X scope and the longest shot I ever made was with a 3X... But todays shooters go for bigger is better on about everything and thats their perogative...I like lighter and thinner and thats mine!  Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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I would take the .375 loaded with a 300 gr woodleigh soft or a 270 gr woodleigh soft. Good Luck !! | |||
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.300 mag for all. Scope is irrelevant - I like the leopold 1-4 or the nikkon 1.5-6- but not really important provided it gives a very sharp immage. .375 on leopard either doesn't open which leaves a lovely follow up - invarably in the dark, or if you use the .235 grn bullets you need a fantastic taxidermist to put the poor thing back togeather! I want enough hydrostatic shock to ensure that spots falls off the bait and lands and stays landed at the foot of the tree. On all three hunts where a client has used a .375 with 300grn softs the leopard disapeared after the shot, even though two of them were shot through the heart and only went 40 paces. The third lad switched to .235grn bullets after wounding his leopard and blew it appart nicely when it charged - gutted and skinned in one burst of kynetic energy. Good job he only wanted a rug mount because the belly line was shreded (he hit it low in the chest). If you are using the .300 on eland go with 220grn softs or X bullets (or similar) | |||
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Mark, There is hardly any point in asking these kind of questions, because every response is going to be different! If it was me, I'd go with option A, with 300 gr. Nosler Partitions. ------------------------------- Will Stewart / Once you've been amongst them, there is no such thing as too much gun. --------------------------------------- and, God Bless John Wayne. NRA Benefactor Member, GOA, N.A.G.R. _________________________ "Elephant and Elephant Guns" $99 shipped “Hunting Africa's Dangerous Game" $20 shipped. red.dirt.elephant@gmail.com _________________________ Hoping to wind up where elephant hunters go. | |||
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Let's revive this great thread a little. If for a leopard and going to use a swaro 30mm tube would you get the plex or heavy plex? "In these days of mouth-foaming Disneyism......"--- Capstick Don't blame the hunters for what the poachers do!---me Benefactor Member NRA | |||
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I've nevewr hunted africa yet but i see no reason the 300 with the 2.5-8 scope shouldn't do just fine. " Knowledge without experience is just information. " - Mark Twain | |||
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Take the .375 only but a scope with larger objective bell. example: 3.5-10x50. | |||
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Option B seems very logical... Rich | |||
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Standard Plex. | |||
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Thanks Buliwyf. I bet you speak from experience. "In these days of mouth-foaming Disneyism......"--- Capstick Don't blame the hunters for what the poachers do!---me Benefactor Member NRA | |||
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I would prefer a heavy plex. I've used them in low-light conditions and for me they're better. _______________________________________________________ Hunt Report - South Africa 2022 Wade Abadie - Wild Shot Photography Website | Facebook | Instagram | |||
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hmm. Thank you kudu4u. Yes, I do speak from experience. I have a heavy plex on a .416 Remington. I like the scope but it is specialized for heavy game at close range. The leopard requires an exact shot placement. The standard plex will give you an advantage. | |||
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Heavy, heavier, and heaviest. I owe a 10pm, no spotlight leopard to a super heavy reticle. Were it a fine reticle, I couldn't have seen it. Go heavy. Will J. Parks, III | |||
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Then go illuminated reticle. | |||
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Take the .300 and scope it with a Trijicon 3 X 9 with the post reticle. This scope is without a doubt the best of both Worlds. No batteries, no switches, it's always on and ready. In the daylight it stands out great, quick target accusition and the 3 X 9 makes it dead on for your plains game. At night the tritium on the post is the "cats meow" for your Leopard. Mount it in QD mounts and take one of your other scopes along in case something should go astray in the travel or day to day roughousing it may be subjected to. Larry Sellers SCI Life Member | |||
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Terrific advice all! Thanks so much! "In these days of mouth-foaming Disneyism......"--- Capstick Don't blame the hunters for what the poachers do!---me Benefactor Member NRA | |||
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In my experience (and looking through my eyes), the illuminated reticle is a good option in low light. In darkness, however, the light from the illumunated reticle, eventhough it is very faint at its lowest settings, can reduce your night vision or cause your eyes to focus on the reticle rather than the shape you are trying to shoot. The challenge in true night conditions is to identify the target, then to identify the crosshairs. For purposes of this post, the leopard rifle needs to be a combo of a rifle you shoot very well, a good light gathering scope through which you see the target very well, and a expanding bullet that shoots and performs very well. Will J. Parks, III | |||
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The last time I tried for Leopard, I had a Swaro Z6I 2-12 on my .375. This worked well. I never got a shot at a tom, but there was a female in the tree a couple times, and the resolution in my scope was such that I knew it was a female before the PH did, and even had him look at it in the scope to be sure because he wasn't sure with his binoculars to that point (although he knew it was small.) The point being, the better the glass and light amplification, the better off you will be. I don't think the heavy plex reticle works as well with the precision you want for cats as the fine or a good illuminated reticle will, but it is easier to see. That being said, I still use the #4 reticle for the buffalo gun (.416) and I've never had a problem with that. I've also found that using the QD rings and taking the scopes off the guns while in transit on the airlines seems to keep from having the zero drift off. I don't know how well you shoot the .375, but would suggest if your load, rifle and you cannot work to within 1" from a rest at 100, then look at something else for the cat. It's not that hard of a shot, but it has a lot of adrenalin, and every bit helps. Leopard are not hard to put down, if well hit from everything I've heard, but you will want something that will work on the other game you will be shooting. If the accuracy is there, pretty much any hunting, (ie not a match or a light varmint bullet) will do. | |||
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The finer the reticle the better for leopard. A general broad shot at a leopard is a potential loss of life. 10 PM shooting at leopard with a heavy plex reticle is a formula for a PH to join the Silent Majority. | |||
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I think this gets the record of reviving a 5 yr old thread Mike Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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