Good article, which I obviously agree with, since I tell everyone that I felt my 35 Whelen with 250gr NF's was the perfect gun to have brought to africa. When I return to Limpopo for waterbuck and bushbuck I'll be carrying it again.

High Velocity works very well providing the bullet is designed to utilize it.

Don

More outdated theories regarding high-velocity-caused bullet failures and the "brush busting" qualities of slower, larger bulleted calibers. When will these finally die out?

We have more premium quality bullets these days than you can count. Many of them can and do easily hold together at the higher velocities the author claims will wreck bullets. He even admits this, but says not all hunters use the better bullets. Not all hunters can shoot straight either, but since when is the stupidity of some, or even the many, the standard?

As for the best brush-busters being big and slow bullets: this line of thinking has been refuted by empirical data collected by Ross Seyfried and others. First, no cartridge is a true brush buster, as any bullet at any velocity can be seriously deflected by striking even the thinnest of brush.

Interestingly, in Seyfried's tests, the full boat .338 Win. Mag. performed the best when shot at targets through his test "thicket" of dowel rods.

Penetration is something else, and depends on bullets with high SD and optimal velocity, which according to empirical data, would seem to be 2,400 fps or so. But why do you need more penetration at bushveld ranges than at longer range? The reasons for using high SD bullets apply across any variations in velocity. Of course, dangerous game is shot at bushveld ranges and calls for specialized equipment, but the focus of this article is not dangerous game.

He is right about meat damage. High velocity does do that in spades--but since when is that news?

Sorry to complain so much, but I haven't read an interesting magazine article about any of the "technical" aspects of African big game hunting in years.

Frances Szell did the same test as Seyfield about 30 years ago. His best performance was with a 6.5x54.

So, why not carry a HV caliber into thick brush?

Why carry a HV caliber to Africa at all, unless you're headed into the Kalahari or have the bucks to do Mountain Nyala? Moderate calibers kill just as well, don't kick as fast (and there is a difference between kicking hard and kicking fast) do less damage to your ears over time, are cheaper to feed, etc, etc, etc. Personally I like and admire things that have worked steadily for 100 years, or 200 years, or longer. I have no instant need for the whiz-bang new, even if it was whiz-bang in my long-ago youth. And meat damage is important to me.

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Contributed by WILL:

Bushveld Calibers

Wise words.

Those who worship at The Altar of High Velocity take note.