If you were to shoot a load of buckshot at a leopard at say 4-5 yards, with the center mass being around the nose of the animal, would the pellets ruin the eyes and the mouth? I myself have shot a bobcat with a trap load of 8's at about 25 yards. The animal rolled over and started shaking. I walked up to it and put another round into his skull at point blank and I nearly took his head off. The entire skull was cleaned out of what was there before. I was amazed at the wound channel. About 3 inches in diameter through his head. That was with the muzzle at about a foot from his head. That leads me to think that say a heavly load of about 1 3/8's of buffered copper plated 5's at around 1350 FPS might do more damage to the face area of a leopard such as taking out his nose, eyes, and much of the mouth- that is if you shot him dead center in the head. Steel shot would even have a better chance of breaking the skull. I know a bobcat is not a good comparison a leopard, but I was truely amazed at how the damn thing just rolled over like that, dead I think but thats why I put another one into him. I have shot another bobcat with a 22LR at about 8 yards. I got him trough the vitals. When I shot him he jumped about 5 feet into the air and ran about 20 yards.

In my experience a load of OO or heavy shot at 4 to 5 yards would have a spread of around 4 to 5 ", anything within that circle would be unrecognizable. As penetration of the outter limits of the pattern would decrease and the center of the shot column would have the deepest penetration. Buckshot, birdshot at extremely close (point blank type) ranges would be little different to the penetration of a slug.

Hi
A while back, about 1980 or so, I helped do bench rest shooting for a 50 caliber, 500 grain, @ 1600 fps sabot round for a 12 gauge.
The guy with the patent, I think, sold it to Winchester, and bought a small island somewhere.

I was just checking the Win site, and the only sabot they list fitting that description is a police round.
I was thinking this would be the perfect round for the discussion here. You can put it in a shotgun, but, it's got the diameter of a big bore, Nitro, and the weight, and, should be sufficient on any cat.
Another plus is since the slug was over an inch long, it might tumble on impact, transferring more energy.

Seems like this would be a better solution then the standard slug.

s

hello,

excuse me as I know I certainly don't have the hunting experience as many of the people on this site. I can only say that the 454 cassuel has killed all the big five in Africa. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I am not suggesting to use this round, just making a point. I am a big advocate of the 50 Alaskan, which can push a 525 gr. bullet at close to 2000 fps and will penetrate up to five feet. And yet I still here that it would not be good enough for big game in Africa. I must admit I am a little confuse as lesser rounds have done the job and certainly the 50 Alaskan is a hell alot more than a shotgun. Perhaps shot placement is what really counts, like I have heard the man behind the gun is the most important thing. Then like I said I don't have the knowledge and experience that many people on this web site have. Thank you, Kevin

You guys should really check out "Blain"'s posts on HA African and Big Game. He's advocating a OOOO load for grizzlies and buffalo.

Mind, you, many others have already beat him up pretty good.

Jag,

I have no African experience, but I have taken more black bear then most and have used shotguns in the past. Years ago hunting with hounds back in N.C., buckshot was used almost exclusively. The only blacks I've taken myself with a shotgun were killed with Remington copper solid slugs, all one shot kills. I now live in Alaska and the only encounter I've had with a brownie occurred while steelhead fishing. We ran into each other at our mutual favorite hole and he charged, stopped, postured, charged again, stopped at twelve feet, turned and let me go. The 6 weight flyrod was not nearly enough gun. I now feel comfortable with a 1921 Parker Bros. with my Remington copper solids along with me now, although, my 338W would practically be a much better choice.