Having watched Under Wild Skies on ESPN Sunday, you may have seen the Cape Buffalo go down with 2 shots from a Westley Richards Explorer Paradox gun. The shells looked like Twelve gauge, two and a half inchers, probably from WR as well. Wouldn't the X slugs from Federal in 10 or 12 gauge modern slug gun work as well? Is it legal to use these on Buff? Do any PH's guide shotgunners for DG? If this is the case, why did I just add a 458 Lott to my collection? Thanks for your help

Minkman:



The Barnes slugs are reputed to be very soft and expand to double diameter in thin-skinned game... in other words... just perfect for deer and not so good for buffalo. I'd think that you'd need pretty hard cast slugs to get much penetration in mbogo!



I'll even go out on a limb.... A .458 Lott is a better buffalo gun than a 100 year-old slug gun!



How's that for a courageous opinion.



I say this and am in the middle of arranging import from RSA of a Coggie Paradox gun (with a set of "regular" barrels, too). Go Figure?

According to Gregor Woods, arms of that sort fired 730 gr. conical bullet at between 1,250 and 1,500 fps. I don't think that the 12 gauge X slugs quite meet that, though I may be mistaken. In any case, they were rated as effective on game up to the size of buffalo within 100 yards.

Now, could you use one on safari? You'd probably have to pay off the game scout because they simply don't meet the legal requirements of today. Would your PH let you give it a try if the game scout turned his back? I dunno.