Gentlemen,

After receiving many replies to my thread on using a 338/378WBY on Giraffe, it seems that a 45 calibre rifle is the more viable option for Giraffe.

Whilst, I feel a 458 Lott is the perfect calibre, I have the opportunity to borrow a custom shop Weatherby 460 from a mate of mine (another AR member) and being basically an easy going type of bloke, I feel the 460 WBY is much easier proposition than trying to build or buy a Lott off the shelf...............

And from my observations the 460 Custom is more than equal to a Ruger RSM in 458 Lott, in quality, feeding etc for example...................

Once again, your thoughts on projectile type etc would be appreciated....

Blair,

I'd think that any halfway-decent bullet from a .460 would sort any Giraffe out 'on the spot'.

Having said that, a good .338 would do the trick too, if placed correctly. And therein lies the rub - the Giraffe's vitals are placed well forward, and higher than you might think. Kevin Robertson's book 'The Perfect Shot' might be a very good investment.

Now you have the right rifle, good decission

Hopefully you friend has already done all the benchwork needed for the 460. That could be a major consideration. It would be for me. Good hunting and show us pictures of your stink bull. Better yet video of that big rascal toppling would be something. D

The .338 would have worked perfectly but I am am always for using the biggest caliber you can handle.

The 338 worked perfectly for me on my big stink bull. Using Barnes X 225gr it had one petal and 95% of the shank left. He walked about 50 yds and piled up.

quote:

Kevin Robertson's book 'The Perfect Shot' might be a very good investment.

That is an excellent book. Interestingly, he says the 378 and 460 Weatherby Magnums have a poor reputation among PHs because of excessive velocity and poor control by the shooters thereof.

Why suffer all that recoil when you do not have to?

quote:

Originally posted by Rikkie:
Blair,

I'd think that any halfway-decent bullet from a .460 would sort any Giraffe out 'on the spot'.

Having said that, a good .338 would do the trick too, if placed correctly. And therein lies the rub - the Giraffe's vitals are placed well forward, and higher than you might think. Kevin Robertson's book 'The Perfect Shot' might be a very good investment.

Rikkie,

I had a well worn copy, which I gave to a friend in Namibia. I don't want her to return it, so I have ordered a new copy!!

Thanks mate......

quote:

Originally posted by D Hunter:
Hopefully you friend has already done all the benchwork needed for the 460. That could be a major consideration. It would be for me. Good hunting and show us pictures of your stink bull. Better yet video of that big rascal toppling would be something. D

I'll see what we can arrange mate.

quote:

Originally posted by Grumulkin:

quote:

Kevin Robertson's book 'The Perfect Shot' might be a very good investment.

That is an excellent book. Interestingly, he says the 378 and 460 Weatherby Magnums have a poor reputation among PHs because of excessive velocity and poor control by the shooters thereof.

Grumulkin,

He has a great number of reduced loads. I would imagine we'd go for a 450 TSX cruising along at a sedate 2450fps or so

460 WBY ........

I'd say a full 90% of the people who reccomend a 460 WBY for anything, have never even shot one, nor any of the animals, they reccomend it for!

A 338, or 375 H&H will take care of the big
J-raf just fine! There's not any animal on the face of the Earth that requires a 460 WBY, and certainly not in a push feed WBY rifle!

OH, did I mention I don't like WBY rifles, or cartridges?

Blair,

I think you've made a prudent choice.

Mark

I'm in the game with Mac. Last guy I saw shoot a full house 460, his false teeth came out. It was funny but a follow up shot would have been a joke too!

quote:

Originally posted by Pegleg:
I'm in the game with Mac. Last guy I saw shoot a full house 460, his false teeth came out. It was funny but a follow up shot would have been a joke too!

Talk about getting the snot knocked out of you, um I mean teeth

Blair,

If you are going to use a 460 Wby, then I suggest you load it up to full factory specs with a 500 grain bullet so that we can see what it really does. Can you get a full 2700 fps? Let's see what that famous cartridge can really do.

You might want to chrony some of the factory Weatherby/Norma ammo just to set a benchmark for reloading development. Of course Norma may even have a 600 grain PH load that you could try.

My wife shot a big stink bull in 2005 in the Limpopo area with a friend's .30-378 Weatherby. It was all the Weatherby gun that she needed for the big giraffe. It was a one shot kill right through the heart. After seeing what the .30-378 Weatherby can do, I think that the .460 Weatherby is way too much gun. But, that's only my own humble opinion as based upon actual fact.

Blair,

Once again I have NIL Experience yet I still have an opnion

I would opt for either the Barnes X 500 gr bullet at Full Throttle

Or the woodleigh 550 gr softs at Full throttle.

When did the Big G's start wearing Kevlar?
GS
PS
Might be a good idea to carry the WBY since you don't know what you are going to run into that might not be enough for the lower caliber, and, might have a lot of friends:

the 460 wby might be good on this one the 338 might just bounce off

quote:

Originally posted by PC:
Blair,

Once again I have NIL Experience yet I still have an opnion

I would opt for either the Barnes X 500 gr bullet at Full Throttle

Or the woodleigh 550 gr softs at Full throttle.

PC

I like a man with an opinion, regardless

quote:

Originally posted by 500grains:
Blair,

If you are going to use a 460 Wby, then I suggest you load it up to full factory specs with a 500 grain bullet so that we can see what it really does. Can you get a full 2700 fps? Let's see what that famous cartridge can really do.

Dan,

I'll have to consult Mike, as it will be his rifle and he has had extensive experience loading for this round, er (cannon)

Do you feel that the WBY rifle is a major problem as it is a push feed? I know that Giraffe are not DG game, but I don't want the big bastard to fall on me.

Especially if it the size of the one Boomy keeps posting up!

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
You might want chrony some of the factory Weatherby/Norma ammo just to set a benchmark for reloading development. Of course Norma may even have a 600 grain PH load that you could try.

Wink,

I'm starting to suspect that you are a bloody sadist

Placement is everything. The debate about various calibers, as long as they're in the right ball park of "enough gun" borders on esoterica. Haven't been convinced that debates about push feeds versus CF in well engineered & manufactured rifles don't fall into the same category. Most of those debates would be better spent focusing on the archer instead of the arrow.....

I've shot nearly 2,000 rounds through my 460, including all of the Big Five along the way. If it doesn't make you flinch, it's a reliable choice.

I'm always surprised, up close, at just how big bodied Giraffe really are. Please post pictures when you get back!

You know me - solids solids solids.

No. 1 choice TB sledgehammer.

.460 Wby is a lot of gun at both ends, but if you can use it well - great.

Don't listen to all the push feed yah yah above either. I have carried one for 21 years as a full time dangerous game PH without one misfeed, bad extraction or indeed any problem whatsoever.

That last should set the cat amongst the pigeons but its true.

quote:

Originally posted by JTHunt:
You know me - solids solids solids.

No. 1 choice TB sledgehammer.

.460 Wby is a lot of gun at both ends, but if you can use it well - great.

Don't listen to all the push feed yah yah above either. I have carried one for 21 years as a full time dangerous game PH without one misfeed, bad extraction or indeed any problem whatsoever.

That last should set the cat amongst the pigeons but its true.

JT,

What was the rifle if I may ask?

That's a hell of a record!!

Hi Blair

Winchester Model 70 in .458 Win Mag.

Done the job for me many many times - utterly reliable when used with good ammo.

Stand by when the U.S.A. guys come on line just now......theory tells people carrying a push feed is tantamount to carrying a black mamba on your back!!!

I don´t want to bad mouth the .460 but since when Have giraffe become so hard to kill? They are big but with good shot placement and a good bullet I´d think that a 9.3x62 would work fine.

Now I´ve never shot a giraffe, and I never will (personal reasons), but if an eland can be killed with a lot less gun then what´s the problem?

quote:

Originally posted by GS:

Saeed shot these buffalo with one shot broadside with his 404/375. At least, that is the only explanation I have for how they all died next to each other.

Mr. Cewe giraffe and eland are not even in the same ball park with each other. Under perfect coditions with the right bullet I think a girrafe can easily be killed with a .243. However that doesn't mean we should go hunting giraffe with such weapons. Anatomy of giraffe are such that in most situations, mainly shots to the heart/lung vicinity, we are pushing the capabilities of most calibers under .416 diameter even with propper bullet selection. I personally would shoot a load designed for dangerous game topped with a good solid bullet.

A .416 / 450-400 3" would be my choices....Will do in that "Reffe and anything else that you might unexpectedly encounter.

JW

But how are bowhunters able to bag giraffes? I mean an arrow has to have more "weak points" than a bullet of a "lesser" caliber.

I´m not being cheeky and I´m not looking for a contest! Just interested.

Cewe,

Just like anything else, it all comes down to shot placement.

JW

Jeff: Which brings us back to base one

I´ve handled giraffe bones and they don´t seem any heavier than other bones. The animal is big but buff are taken with the .375 H&H on a regular basis so what makes a giraffe so tough?

I've never shot a giraffe, but hope to change that in 6 weeks. The two rifles that will be with me are a .375 H&H and .416 Rigby both with TSXs. Necessary, sensible or not, I don't have any problems shooting what may be the largest animal of my life with the biggest gun I have. That makes a sort of primitive sense to me, or what else are the big guns for?

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:

quote:

Originally posted by GS:

Saeed shot these buffalo with one shot broadside with his 404/375. At least, that is the only explanation I have for how they all died next to each other.

WINK, he used a Walter HOG bullet, in that 404/375, and shot through all of them side be side!

quote:

Originally posted by Gerard:
Why suffer all that recoil when you do not have to?

I would have left that bullet in the rib, and put it in a shadow box. That would be a cool little momento.

Hi Blair:

I shot a big Black Stink Bull in 2004. My PH was sort of a gamey fellow. After 7 straight one shot kills with my 300 RUM, he said why don't you use that rifle to shoot The Black Bull of Dingwall.... LOL that is the nickname that the locals gave to my Giraffe.

Anyway, my PH said just shoot him in the neck about two feet down from his head and he will drop like a ton of bricks. Well I did, I shot him in the neck 1.5 feet down from his head at 100 yards. He dropped like a stone, but when I walked up to him to finish him off, I shot him in the chest as he was lying down, he jumped to his feet and started to run. Another quick shot to the neck, about 3 inches from the first and down he went again. I reloaded and walked up to him again, another shot in the chest and he jumped to his feet again, two more shots to the chest, he spun around and was heading for me, two more quick shots in the chest and he was still going. He finally ran into a tree, got his neck caught in the branches fell backwards and crashed to the ground. If you were counting that was two shots to the neck, four in the chest on the run, and two as he was lying down as finishers. Don't get me wrong a 300 RUM shooting a 180 grain Nosler partition bullet at 3300 FPS is no slouch, but it didn't have enough punch or bullet weight to beak the huge neck bones.

Finally the Black Bull of Dingwall was dead.... LOL I wrote a published story and posted it on AR about 3 years ago.

The Giraffe's skin is like an inch and a half thick. Funny I had a 375 Mag with me for the ocassion, but thought the 300 RUM could handel it with a 180 grain Nosler partition in the neck, boy was I wrong.

By the way, I have the whole thing on video, it is really a hoot to watch. My wife was with me carrying the 375 Mag as my backup, when that Giraffe jumped to his feet, she was headed for the hills, taking my 375 with her.

You can see a shoulder mount picture of my old Sting Bull in the Trophy Room Pictures forum. Half way down the first page look for PA Hunter, finally 2.5 years to finish trophy room.

If I ever shoot another one, it is the 458 Lott for me with 500 grain slugs. It took 9 guys to skin my big boy, and they needed a tractor to pull him over to do the other side. I have the legs and hooves also, along with the full back cape, it covers a whole room floor.

Good luck and shoot straight....

PAHunter..

PAHunter,

That's a hell of a story.............Hmm the 460 is sounding better.........loaded back to Lott velocities.

Thanks for the story and advice