I have only been on 3 safaris. Two were for buff and one was for ellie with a buff add on.

These are backup guns my PHs carried.

RSA - .470 NE Double
Zim - .505 Gibbs
Zim - .458 Lott

What did your PHs carry as backup for DG hunts?

BH63

458 express
was plains game hunt though.

In no particular order;

Nicky Blunt: 458 Win. Mag. or 416 Remington Mag.
Gerard Ambrose: 458 Win. Mag.
George Angelides: 460 Weatherby Mag.
Mike Branham: 416 Remington Mag.
Ronnie McFarlane: 416 Rigby
Brian Van Blerk: 375 H&H
Paul Horsley: 458 Lott

land cruiser

In Zim mine used a 458 Lott.
In SA, a 404 J.

500 Nitro Tanzania
470 Nitro Zim
375 H&H Mozambique
470 Nitro Zim
505 Gibbs Zim
458 Lott Zim
505 Gibbs Zim
570 Nitro Zambia
I carried 375 H&H without a PH in Congo Brazzaville

416 Ruger Natal, RSA
458 Lott Zimbabwe
450 Rigby Zimbabwe

Predominantly they were 375 H&H, 458 WM and 470 Nitro. One guy did have a 465 and another a 450 Watts. No real cannons.

Mark

On my elephant and buffalo hunts,...
458 Lott
500 Jeffery
500 Nitro Express
470 Nitro Express

Winchester Model 70 458 WM
Rigby Double 470 NE

In SA for plains game he uses a 30-378 Weatherby.

He never carried it. It remained in the cruiser. It only came out once when we were looking for my badly shot Kudu.

His stilopoing rifle was a well worn Ruger in 458 Win Mag

His assistant PH who I hunted with a few days and thoroughly enjoyed carried a 9.3x74 Brenneke

When I came back a few years later the assistant PH carried a 460 Weatherby. He apparently also consisted Ele hunts in another country on his own.

George Angelides 500 NE
Nicky Blunt 416 Rem Mag

Keith Hakes 416 Weatherby Mag

Charl van Rooyen 458 Win Mag

fun exercise....in turn, I carried;

475 NE

416 Weatherby Mag

470 NE

As I recall: .375 H&H, .416 Rigby, .458 Lott bolt actions; 470 and .500 NE doubles.

Although Buzz carried a 218 Bee for a while.

My two PH's last fall in RSA carried doubles. One a Blaser S2 470NE, the other a VC round body 500NE.

NE .470, .458, .375 double. For buffalo and elephant.

Numorus 375H&Hs and 458Wins plus 425WR, three 458Acley's , 2 x 416Rigbys, 416Rem and a couple 500Js.

In SA - buff cow - none - the PH had a 375 HH, but put it away when searching for it as I wounded it. A situation that has been discussed a lot.. I killed it some hours later - from helicopter !!

In Zim - buff bull - 500 Jeff

In Zim - tuskless and buff cow - 500 Nitro Express



Morten

quote:

Originally posted by Bill C:
As I recall: .375 H&H, .416 Rigby, .458 Lott bolt actions; 470 and .500 NE doubles.

Although Buzz carried a 218 Bee for a while.

That must be before he lost his hair.....

[QUOTE]Originally posted by doubleboy:


Charl van Rooyen 458 Win Mag

I added a 470NE and a 450Rigby to the collection since then.

The 470NE is now my firm favorite!

Double in .50 cal

From a Helicopter....!!!!?????? brave PH !!!

quote:

Originally posted by The Norwegian:
In SA - buff cow - none - the PH had a 375 HH, but put it away when searching for it as I wounded it. A situation that has been discussed a lot.. I killed it some hours later - from helicopter !!

In Zim - buff bull - 500 Jeff

In Zim - tuskless and buff cow - 500 Nitro Express



Morten

For Buff
Mozambique- 458 Win Mag
Zimbabwe- 500 A Square
Larry

SA plains-416 rem mag
Zim Buff- 458 wm

RSA - 458 Win
Zim - 458 Win
Zim - 470
Zim - 505 Gibbs

The helicopter thing may sound strange but in the Old Transvaal the regulations called for the notification of the authorities when a buffalo was wounded and not shot with immediate follow up.

They ( the authorities ) would then locate and destroy that animal by any means and in the shortest possible time before it injured a person or persons. This action was basically taken to protect locals.


This often would include locating the animal by helicopter.

Once this notification occurred it ceased to be a hunt and was a seek and destroy mission. I was witness to it twice and in one instance dogs were also brought in to track the wounded buffalo.

In both instances that I witnessed it was basically a gong show with those employed by the authorities the least experienced at this kind of thing. Multiple shots, taken, dogs killing a bushbuck and forgetting about the buffalo they were supposed to track.

quote:

I added a 470NE and a 450Rigby to the collection since then.

I knew about the 470 NE, but not the 450 Rigby. Both doubles?

470 NE - Zim
458 Lott - Botswana
500 Jeff - Zim
500 NE - Zim

I believe that the .450 Rigby is a .416 Rigby necked up to .458 and is a bolt cartridge. I use one and love it.

Don Heath krieghoff 470 NE ,Willem de Jaeger mauser 458 winchester,Geoffroy de Gentile 500 me i believe a VC,dont remember my others friends i believe the late Theunis Botha a Blaser 470 ,....i use an argentine mauser 1909 .

My professional hunters never had to stop a charge.

I kill them all myself!

Using the smallest caliber allowed for dangerous game

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
My professional hunters never had to stop a charge.

I kill them all myself!

Using the smallest caliber allowed for dangerous game

Ny PHs never had to fire a shot either, but they still carried their stoppers for which I am grateful.

Better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it.

BH63

PS Come on Saeed, fess up. In your sleep I know you dream of being charged by a bull elephant and having it stopped by none other than M. Sullivan, who drops it with a single shot from his mighty .600 NE at 10 paces.

in CAR and Zambia the late R J montvoisin who was my boss too used a 460 wea in mark V. he had two loaners a 378 wea and a 460.

after some campfires and dicsussion he explained to me that in forest the 460 was really good to stop elephant charges.

but this is from memory and really few decades ago ...

Zim. - 458 win mag.

Burkina Faso - single shot 12 ga.

In africa they carried 375 h&h's and one carried a 450/400 3 1/4" all in DG areas. Two trips to the NT of Australia they both carried 458 win mags while hunting for water buff and banteng.

.458 Lott

My PH Jan du Plessis carries a Ruger Alaskan in Ruger .375 while we’re plains game hunting, plus a .44 Magnum on his hip.

Not quite.

It was designed with less taper.

quote:

Originally posted by Dutch44:
I believe that the .450 Rigby is a .416 Rigby necked up to .458 and is a bolt cartridge. I use one and love it.

I don't really remember all as well as I might.

07- .470 NE
08- .458 Lott
09- .470
10 (AK Brown Bear) .338 RUM- not African, but DG.
11- .500 NE
12- .500
13- .505 and .416 rem mag (2 hunts)
14- .500
15- .470 and .500 (2 hunts)
16- .460 WBY and .460 WBY (2 hunts)
17- .416 Rigby
18- .416 Rem mag (Aus buffalo) and upcoming uses either .416 or .500.

While I have had PH's comment that the .375 is adequate, none actually carried one with me.

458WM,458Lott,470NE,500JEFFREY,500NE

To my thinking there are three scenarios for PHs and their stopper guns.

Firstly those who regard their carry gun purely as a tool of trade and have chosen from what is legal e.g. 9.2mm calibre and above, and what was available or they could afford when they were purchasing a gun. The reality is that very PH could carry a cheap and readily available 458 WM and it would do the job perfectly.

Secondly those who have a real interest in firearms and choose because they particularly like/want a certain cartridge and gun combination thinking that this is a better combination for them and if things unravel.

Thirdly those that choose a gun based on image and nostalgia i.e. the classic African dangerous game gun. Nothing wrong with this scenario, just good marketing as many clients are on safari for the total African experience which for them may well be enhanced by their nostalgia of their great white hunter (PH) carrying something like a big double or 505 Gibbs bolt gun etc.

The answers to the OP's question certainly show a quite wide variety of guns and cartridges being used by PHs, unfortunately we don't know the reasoning behind the choices therefore can't draw any conclusions as to the better cartridge and gun combination for DG in Africa based on PH choices. Not that the OP necessarily asked the question for this reason.