I just wanted to know the personal opinion of the members of this forum on rifle and bullet choice for these animals, i want to know what rifle and bullet combo you would use regardless other game being hunted and why.
My personal choice

leopard: .30-06 spr loaded with 180 gr nosler accubond

lion: .375 h&h loaded with 300 gr nosler partitions

buffalo: .375 h&h loaded with 300 gr barnes triple shocks

elephant: .450 nitro express loaded with 500 gr CEB solids

hippo: .375 h&h 300 gr barnes triple shocks

rhino: .375 h&h 300 gr barnes triple shocks

crocodile: .30-06 spr loaded with 180 gr nosler accubond



hope to see your choices

Leopard - .300 Win Mag with 180g Nosler partitions

Lion - .375 with 300g swift A Frames or Noslers

Buffalo - .416 with 400g swift a frames or bear claws

Elephant - .458 Lott with 500g Barnes solids or sledgehammers

Rhino - .458 Lott with .500g Barnes x

Hippo - .375 with 300g Barnes x or bear claws

Croc - same as my leopard choice

Hello Manuel,
that's what I used on my hunts

Lion - .458 Win Mag with Hornady DGX
Buffalo - .458 Win Mag with Hornady DGX
Croc - .30-06 with PMP softs

If I ever hunt the rest:

Elephant,Rhino, Hippo - .458 Win Mag with Hornady DGS (or DGX)

Leopard - .30-06 with Prvi Partizan softpoint

Leopard - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Lion - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Buffalo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Elephant - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog Solid bullets.

Rhino -
375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Hippo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Croc - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Saeed, if you can't afford more than one rifle you may want to consider selling off some of your used shirts!

Bill

quote:

Originally posted by BillsBillsBills:
Saeed, if you can't afford more than one rifle you may want to consider selling off some of your used shirts!

Bill

Sadly, I got on the wrong side of Conrad Evart, otherwise I would have asked him to sell them for me

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Leopard - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Lion - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Buffalo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Elephant - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog Solid bullets.

Rhino -
375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Hippo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Croc - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

How boring!

quote:

Originally posted by BillsBillsBills:
Saeed, if you can't afford more than one rifle you may want to consider selling off some of your used shirts!

Bill

Better yet, I would bid on "used Walter shirts" when he wears one!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Leopard - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Lion - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Buffalo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Elephant - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog Solid bullets.

Rhino -
375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Hippo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Croc - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

How boring!

+1

But I do like the T-Shirt idea! Seems like I've heard of that one somewhere recently.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by BillsBillsBills:
Saeed, if you can't afford more than one rifle you may want to consider selling off some of your used shirts!

Bill

Sadly, I got on the wrong side of Conrad Evart, otherwise I would have asked him to sell them for me

I am sure we can form an AR-Team to organize a donation campaign for you. I think we can sell Walters used shirts for high prices and make big $

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Leopard - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Lion - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Buffalo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Elephant - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog Solid bullets.

Rhino -
375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Hippo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Croc - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

How boring!

You are echoing what Walter keeps saying.

I have practically every caliber from the 17 all the way to the 700.

But, I have not found any better suited for all my hunting requirements than the above mentioned rifle and ammo combination.

Years of experience has taught me to keep things as simple as possible.

One rifle
One bullet.
One load.

Everything falls dead without any drama.

First Safari for me in a few weeks, so this is a wish list based on guns I will take with me, or own, or will soon own

Leopard - .375 H&H

Lion - .375 H&H

Buffalo - .500NE

Elephant - .500NE or .577NE

Rhino - .500NE

Hippo - .500NE

Croc - .375 H&H

416 Rem Mag: 400 Grain A-Frames/400 grain Barnes solids: Used successfully on all listed animals

quote:

Originally posted by Thierry Labat:
Leopard - .300 Win Mag with 180g Nosler partitions

Lion - .375 with 300g swift A Frames or Noslers

Buffalo - .416 with 400g swift a frames or bear claws

Elephant - .458 Lott with 500g Barnes solids or sledgehammers

Rhino - .458 Lott with .500g Barnes x

Hippo - .375 with 300g Barnes x or bear claws

Croc - same as my leopard choice

+1 Love the TBBearclaws and Sledgehammer solids.

For me, for 6 of the 7 species, it was a 416 Rem and a handful of barnes solids and swift a-frames.

Leopard - .416 Rem

Lion - .416 Rem

Buffalo - .500 NE

Elephant - .500 NE

Rhino - .500 NE

Hippo - .416 Rem

Croc - .416 Rem

Today, my answer would be 9.3X64 for the Leopard and Croc with a 404 for the remainder.

Tomorrow my answer may vary.

I am no expert, but I have hunted Africa three times in the last five years.

Two rifles will do everything.

1. A CRF 375 H&H with irons and a good 4-12X scope. You can't beat a clean old model 70.

2. A .470 NE double. I would get one of Butch Searcy's PH models.

If you are on the backside of sixty, as I and a lot of others here are; stick a good red dot sight on the double.

I think it would be hard to beat this combo.

Rich

Cats, croc, hippo and buffalo: 375 WBY with 300 TSX or Northfork

Rhino and ele: 458 WM with 450 Barnes solids.

Mark

470 can be substituted for 458 below, smoke em if ya got em.

leopard: .338 - .375 H&H
with dogs: 12ga semi auto 3 1/2"

lion: 416-.458 Swift A-Frames

buffalo: .416 to .458 Barnes TSX or Swift A-Frame

elephant: a .458 with Barnes Solids

rhino: a .416-.458 Barnes Solids

hippo: a .375-.416

croc: a .338-.375 cal any premium soft/TSX

In my limited experiance I would say 375 H&H and 416 Rigby for a Combo for anywhere or anything in Africa
With a scoped 375 you can reasonably snipe something out to about 300 yards and the 416 can handle anything hairy, scary or ugly in Africa.
For referance of hairy, scary and ugly see Andrews picture of his sister in a prior post about a female PH

With a whole gun safe full of different rifles/calibers from .222 up to 450 NE I find myself using just a 300 WM single shot TC with 175 Triple Shocks more and more for just about everything. Only gun I took to New Zealand last year. Shot 5 times-killed five animals. I still have to put the 450 to use on something,(Pimp Daddy Wendell - Elephant) otherwise everything I own has taken something at one time or another. Most everything in Africa I have used a 375 H&H or 416 Rigby - both bolts, with the exception of Wildebeast and a few other PG in Namibia which I used a 300 WSM. Accubonds, Triple Shocks, Swift A Frames, Fail Safes and Hornady Solids from little to big animals.
Oddly enough I have not really ever had to shoot anything twice considering my piss poor shooting ability, with the exception of a leopard that just would not die. Must be the self guiding laser optics.
I would like to note that in my defense a 375 is to much gun for leopards, especially with any bullet that does not practically explode on impact. I shot mine with a 375 with 300 grain Swift A frame bullet, perfect frontal shot. Went right thru him, broke his spine but did not kill it immediantly. I think a less potent caliber like a 270 would have left enough shock in its body to kill it on the spot. I could be wrong. Anywho I would vote 270 - 300 for leopard with a Accubond or Scirocco or even a plain silver tip.

I also have a Beaman Air Rifle, used on practically everything from tweeties to badgers. I was thinking about taking it to africa one day. Hell, elephant are not that much bigger than a badger

For those who commented that Saeed's choices were "boring." There's an old saying, "Beware of the man with one rifle."

My choices so far have been a .416 Rem. for just about everything. Will take a .300 WSM for leopard this year. And, while I have an elephant on ticket this year, if elephant was the focus, I'd probably take a Lott or a .500 double. But I haven't done that yet. In a pinch, I'm sure my old .416 will do just fine.

What!?
No .600 NE guys out there?
Cal

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
What!?
No .600 NE guys out there?
Cal

We were waiting for you Cal .....

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
For those who commented that Saeed's choices were "boring." There's an old saying, "Beware of the man with one rifle."

I think we all know one rifle could do all. There are many notable examples in the past of that method working just fine.

However, for most of us our choice of guns and calibres is a personal thing and adds an interesting dimension to a hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by Maximus Brutus:

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
For those who commented that Saeed's choices were "boring." There's an old saying, "Beware of the man with one rifle."

I think we all know one rifle could do all. There are many notable examples in the past of that method working just fine.

However, for most of us our choice of guns and calibres is a personal thing and adds an interesting dimension to a hunt.

You can say that one again pardner!

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
What!?
No .600 NE guys out there?
Cal

Proof positive that the cold is bad for your brains!

Now, take two hunters for example.

Cal and me.

Walter keeps telling me that I have had all my brains evaporated through my ear holes because of all the time I spend in the sun.

I am not doubting that he is completely wrong.

We have Cal who lives in frozen solid Alaska.

So whatever he has between his ears must be completely solid - and little gray atoms cannot move around to think logically!

Hence my decision to use a 375 for all my hunting, while Cal is trying to use a 600 in the hope of juggling that solid matter in life

Saeed - what commercial bullet is closest to walterhog - barnes tsx?

I have not seen any Barnes TSX bullets, so cannot compare them to ours.

But, all we do is make them from pure copper rod, and drill a hole in the front.

They were designed this way after we have had great success with the original Barnes X.

Brutus and Todd:

All true. I like playing with different rifles too, but when traveling, different calibres, different ammunition, are a pain and smaller rifles that won't handle the heaviest game I'm after are just excess baggage.

Major exception this year, I'm taking a particular rifle/scope combination for leopard, but that's unusual. One of the guys is likely to be carrying it in a slip while we are tracking other game and I might shoot a small antelope with it as well if the opportunity presents and time allows.

Otherwise, I'm pretty much good with a .416.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Leopard - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Lion - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Buffalo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Elephant - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog Solid bullets.

Rhino -
375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Hippo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Croc - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Funny post lol

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
What!?
No .600 NE guys out there?
Cal

Proof positive that the cold is bad for your brains!

Now, take two hunters for example.

Cal and me.

Walter keeps telling me that I have had all my brains evaporated through my ear holes because of all the time I spend in the sun.

I am not doubting that he is completely wrong.

We have Cal who lives in frozen solid Alaska.

So whatever he has between his ears must be completely solid - and little gray atoms cannot move around to think logically!

Saeed:
Is this your explanation for my admiration of Mark Sullivan and your view of MS also?
Cheers, mate.
Cal
PS. Middle of summer, 24 hour daylight, temp hit 18C the other day. Hot as the blazes of hell. Winter hit -47C. That I can live with.

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
What!?
No .600 NE guys out there?
Cal

Proof positive that the cold is bad for your brains!

Now, take two hunters for example.

Cal and me.

Walter keeps telling me that I have had all my brains evaporated through my ear holes because of all the time I spend in the sun.

I am not doubting that he is completely wrong.

We have Cal who lives in frozen solid Alaska.

So whatever he has between his ears must be completely solid - and little gray atoms cannot move around to think logically!

Saeed:
Is this your explanation for my admiration of Mark Sullivan and your view of MS also?
Cheers, mate.
Cal
PS. Middle of summer, 24 hour daylight, temp hit 18C the other day. Hot as the blazes of hell. Winter hit -47C. That I can live with.

It is approaching 40C right now here in Dubai, and people are starting to complain.

But, I just LOVE it!

In July and August, I have my lunch by the pool. I jump in with a t-shirt on, and then put my feet up wet and read an old African hunting book. I look around and see addax, dorca, black buck, schimitar horned oryx and cheetah around.

Heaven on earth short of being in the Zambezi valley, Deka or the Selous.

Having shot and killed all of them at least once (and some of them more than once), here are mine from personal experience:

Leopard: 375 H&H with Trophy Bonded Bear Claw Softs or Nosler Partitions
Lion: 375 H&H with Trophy Bonded Bear Claw Softs
Rhino: 375 H&H with Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solids
Croc: 375 H&H with Trophy Bonded Bear Claw Softs
Cape Buffalo: 450-400 Double Rifle with custom loaded Hornadys by Butch Searcy
Hippo: 375 H&H with Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solids
Elephant: 458 Lott with Barnes Banded Solids or 470 NE Double Rifle with Federal Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solids

I agree with Saeed with the "Heaven On Earth" comment of his.

Leopard: .300 Win Mag with 180 grain TSX or MRX

Lion: .375 H&H with 300 grain TSX

Buffalo: .416 Rigby with 400 grain TSX

Elephant: a.416 Rigby with 400 grain Barnes Banded FN solids

Rhino: .416 Rigby with 400 grain Barnes Banded FN solids

Hippo: 375 H&H with 300 grain TSX

Croc: 300 Win Mag with 180 grain TSX/MRX or .375 H&H with 300 grain TSX

I like this combo, each one is a pretty decent backup for the other. The 375 works OK if the 416 goes down, the 300 WM is OK for head shots on the two heavy critters, and the 416 can do most everything, but mine is open sights, no scope, so not quite as sharp for precision engagements.

Most of Africa has the ammo for these three pretty available too.

quote:

Originally posted by Wendell Reich:
470 can be substituted for 458 below, smoke em if ya got em.

leopard: .338 - .375 H&H
with dogs: 12ga semi auto 3 1/2"

lion: 416-.458 Swift A-Frames

buffalo: .416 to .458 Barnes TSX or Swift A-Frame

elephant: a .458 with Barnes Solids

rhino: a .416-.458 Barnes Solids

hippo: a .375-.416

croc: a .338-.375 cal any premium soft/TSX

I just did smoke it - the last of my Cubans brought in from my April trip.

Only for ELEPHANT does Saeed have SOLID as his choice.
I'd have thought follow up shots at buff, rhino and hippo might
call for SOLIDS in Saeed's opinion. I'd like to ask him to com-
ment further based on his personal experiences.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Leopard - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Lion - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Buffalo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Elephant - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog SOLID bullets.

Rhino -
375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Hippo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Croc - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

quote:

Originally posted by D R Hunter:
Only for ELEPHANT does Saeed have SOLID as his choice.
I'd have thought follow up shots at buff, rhino and hippo might
call for SOLIDS in Saeed's opinion. I'd like to ask him to com-
ment further based on his personal experiences.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Leopard - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Lion - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Buffalo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Elephant - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog SOLID bullets.

Rhino -
375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Hippo - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

Croc - 375/404 and 300 grain Walterhog bullets.

I have never found the need to use solids except for elephants.

In fact, on a side brain shot, I will be happy to use our normal Walterhog bullets.

I have shot a cape buffalo bull in the rear end, hitting him in the left rear leg, and the bullet went all the way to stop under the skin of his neck on the right hand side.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
I am no expert, but I have hunted Africa three times in the last five years.

Two rifles will do everything.

1. A CRF 375 H&H with irons and a good 4-12X scope. You can't beat a clean old model 70.

2. A .470 NE double. I would get one of Butch Searcy's PH models.

If you are on the backside of sixty, as I and a lot of others here are; stick a good red dot sight on the double.

I think it would be hard to beat this combo.

Rich

What do you mean, the "backside" of sixty? i can barely remember it, but I'm hearing that based on life expectancies, 80 is the new 65.

I have a nice flip-up ivory front bead on my H&H double 500/450 so I think I'm all set on the big stuff, were I ever inclined to go after any.

For caffer and below, I could use either my custom-built LH 375 H&H on a 700 action that I had Butch Searcy convert to a CRF, or my newly acquired and very sweet looking New Haven LH Model 70 Classic Safari Express in the same caliber. I've told the story before about how the 700 action froze after shooting a buff, which prompted me to get the CRF job done. What a stupid feeling to be standing there with a bolt that wouldn't open.