I'm preparing to start building a load for my upcoming leopard hunt. While not on the menu, the area we're hunting also contains elephant, lion and buffalo.

My rifle will be a Whinchester Mdl 70 Safari Express in 375 H&H. My bullets will be 300 grain Nosler Partitions.

What velocity should I target?

I would say as much as possible as cats are susceptible to shock. I shot my first Leopard with a 375H&H with the 300gr TSX. It isn't the optimal rifle or load for Leopard which are quite soft if hit right, but it certainly will do, and the 375 may even be required as a minimum depending on the country you hunt.

Using the 375, you might consider the 270gr in order to get a bit more velocity. Good luck on your spotted tree cat!

They're a very thin-skinned, soft, target, so I load to a slower velocity -- about 2450fps. It works perfectly for me.

By the by, I use the 260gr Accubond for that application. The Accubond seems to work best at the slower velocities -- partitions need a tad more in my experience.

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They're a very thin-skinned, soft, target, so I load to a slower velocity -- about 2450fps. It works perfectly for me.

There it is in a nutshell!

Slower, large expanding prpojectile = big nasty wound channel and more energy retained within the animal = DEAD CAT!

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Originally posted by SBT:
I'm preparing to start building a load for my upcoming leopard hunt. While not on the menu, the area we're hunting also contains elephant, lion and buffalo.

My rifle will be a Whinchester Mdl 70 Safari Express in 375 H&H. My bullets will be 300 grain Nosler Partitions.

What velocity should I target?

Partition is a good bullet for the application...albeit I would choose a lighter rifle if leopard was all I was shooting...maybe a .308 Winchester with 165 gr NP's...but...~2500 fps for the 300 gr .375 is a good goal for velocity.

275 grain CEB #13 Non-Con over 86 grains of Reloder 25 out of a 375 Flanged Magnum worked perfectly for us just last week.

Leopards are generally about the size of a typical whitetail deer and are made of the same mammalian flesh, ie., mostly water. They also have relatively light cat bones, not so much different from those of a deer's frame. So for the best performance on a leopard, you want something very similar in a rifle and bullet that you would use for the best performance on a whitetail.

You want a leopard to go down immediately and stay down, right? A big, slow-moving bullet will certainly kill a leopard, but it is also certainly not the best choice to anchor it on the spot. If you just have to use your .375, something like the Hornady or Speer bullets in 225/235 grains pushed at 2700 fps + would probably give the quickest, surest kill.

But as ledvm points out, why not simply use a .30 caliber with a good, medium weight bullet. Accuracy is much more important than big momentum in this instance, and nearly everyone can shoot a medium .30 better than a magnum .375.

I've choosen the 375 as we will be in dangerous game country. The buffalo and elephants by Gonerezhou can be very cheeky. At least one AR member was the subject of an unprovoked elephant charge in the same concession that resulted in his having to kill an elephant. I don't want to have an '06 in my hands should the need arise.

And, I might just add a buffalo to the hunt.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say if you pop it in the lungs it won't matter. Just a hunch...

I like a 375 for leopard as I shot my first leopard with a 375 loaded with 300 grain TBBCs. DRT, less than five feet from the bait.

Other two have been with 338 loaded with NPs (210 and 250 gr). One was dead within 20 yards and the other made it 120 yards before he died, although he was well shot and "should have" died sooner.

If I'm lucky enough to get a fourth cat in June, it will be with a 416 Rem. and 400 gr bullets.

Shot placement is the key. I'd not hesitate to shoot one with a 270 Win, but most PHs will appreciate a 30 caliber or bigger. I think a 300 Win Mag would be hydrostatic shock nirvana and pure hell on ol' Mr. Spots, but I've not tried it yet.

375 behind the shoulder will work fine. Just "make the shot" as my friend Retreever says.

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Originally posted by SBT:
I've choosen the 375 as we will be in dangerous game country. The buffalo and elephants by Gonerezhou can be very cheeky. At least one AR member was the subject of an unprovoked elephant charge in the same concession that resulted in his having to kill an elephant. I don't want to have an '06 in my hands should the need arise.

And, I might just add a buffalo to the hunt.

Like you, we were in elephant country and while I was carrying my 600NE with solids for jumbo, my dad had the 375 with solids for elephant.

I bring this up because like a few others I have found that the CEB solids and Non-Cons (hollow-point, non-conventional) shoot to the same point of aim with the same load. So, for the 375 I had both expanding bullets for the cat and solids for an elephant should the need arise and both shooting to the same POA.

Yep, we could have used my dad's 300SAUM or even a 260Rem but there is no such thing as too dead and an unexpanded .375 is what an expanded .308 hopes to grow up to be ...

Good luck and use the rifle that makes you happy.

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Originally posted by safari-lawyer:
I like a 375 for leopard as I shot my first leopard with a 375 loaded with 300 grain TBBCs. DRT, less than five feet from the bait.

Other two have been with 338 loaded with NPs (210 and 250 gr). One was dead within 20 yards and the other made it 120 yards before he died, although he was well shot and "should have" died sooner.

If I'm lucky enough to get a fourth cat in June, it will be with a 416 Rem. and 400 gr bullets.

Shot placement is the key. I'd not hesitate to shoot one with a 270 Win, but most PHs will appreciate a 30 caliber or bigger. I think a 300 Win Mag would be hydrostatic shock nirvana and pure hell on ol' Mr. Spots, but I've not tried it yet.

375 behind the shoulder will work fine. Just "make the shot" as my friend Retreever says.

Will, I shot my first leopard with a 300 win mag and handloaded 180gr nosler partitions. That big kitty came off the limb upside down and never moved, other than maybe bouncing when he hit the ground. DRT.

What a great line:

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...there is no such thing as too dead and an unexpanded .375 is what an expanded .308 hopes to grow up to be ...

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Originally posted by SBT:
What a great line:

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...there is no such thing as too dead and an unexpanded .375 is what an expanded .308 hopes to grow up to be ...

I am going to quote Craig Boddington and maybe he will read and opine.

Craig told me once that he conducted a little research project and found that the most wounded leopards that ran off and had to be followed up and killed later were shot with the .375.

If I were worried about cheeky ele...would carry my .500 NE to the blind with my .308 Winchester.

Damn Lane, I didn't need to hear that.

I am also taking my Remington Mdl 700 Mtn Rifle in 30-06 with a leopold 2.5-8. I'm taking that for bait.

My 375 is topped with the Leopold 1.5-5 illuminated reticle which I bought specifically for the leopard.

I guess I could swith things over, but I actually shoot the 375 better than the '06.

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Originally posted by SBT:
Damn Lane, I didn't need to hear that.

I am also taking my Remington Mdl 700 Mtn Rifle in 30-06 with a leopold 2.5-8. I'm taking that for bait.

My 375 is topped with the Leopold 1.5-5 illuminated reticle which I bought specifically for the leopard.

I guess I could swith things over, but I actually shoot the 375 better than the '06.

Which is exactly why you should use your 375 and not worry about people who say otherwise.

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Originally posted by SBT:
Damn Lane, I didn't need to hear that.

I am also taking my Remington Mdl 700 Mtn Rifle in 30-06 with a leopold 2.5-8. I'm taking that for bait.

My 375 is topped with the Leopold 1.5-5 illuminated reticle which I bought specifically for the leopard.

I guess I could swith things over, but I actually shoot the 375 better than the '06.

I am sure you'll put whatever you shoot through the sweet spot!

My point was that a .375 while fine...might not be the optimal caliber for a leopard. Your 30-06 probably is. A .300 grain .375 Partition going at least 2500 fps will be fine but maybe not the optimal choice.

I only say this as you were looking for an "optimal velocity".

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Originally posted by OldHandgunHunter:
They're a very thin-skinned, soft, target, so I load to a slower velocity -- about 2450fps. It works perfectly for me.

By the by, I use the 260gr Accubond for that application. The Accubond seems to work best at the slower velocities -- partitions need a tad more in my experience.

The Leopard is a very thin skinned, soft target - agreed, but I doubt there will be many experienced cat hunters that agree that lower velocity is a good thing on them. There are certainly situations where large, slow moving bullets are ideal in Africa on DG. Cat's ain't one of them!

Not ever having taken a leopard, I may be speaking out of school. For the .375 H & H, now on 2 different trips to Africa I have taken 235 Barnes TSX for all of the non dangerous game up to and including zebra. IMHO the 235 does a fantastic job and is moving around 3000 fps out of my Remington 24" heavy barrel. I honestly believe that if you want massive trauma, velocity is the way you get it. This bullet fills that bill quite nicely. One shot kills on everything I shot except for a poorly placed shot on a Wildebeest. I only recovered 2 of the bullets. One of them from the Wildebeest, and it was shot from stem to stern, still weighed exactly 235 grains. Opened up more than twice it's size and certainly had an effect on the wildebeest. The other that was recovered, from an 80 yard walking shot on a Blesbok. I couldn't believe it wasn't a pass through until we noticed it had gone through a mopane tree before dropping the Blesbok. My PH told me they would never work, He changed his mind and was going to have to think again about lighter bullets. It opened up on an impala at 100 yards, dropped my last year's elk at 172. Almost everything I have shot with it is DRT. Oh yeah, after going through a mopane tree and killing the Blesbok, the bullet looks absolutely perfect and still weighs 235 grains. Just my .02 Todd.

in my extensive experience of 1 leopard kill, 12 gauge Brenneke stuffed with SSG worked fine with no over penetration/expansion but a massive wound channel to the neck/frontal chest at 10 feet. not sure of the muzzle velocity, however- bottom line is that leopard are not that hard to kill with anything assuming proper shot placement. good luck and whack him properly.

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Originally posted by Todd Williams:

quote:

Originally posted by OldHandgunHunter:
They're a very thin-skinned, soft, target, so I load to a slower velocity -- about 2450fps. It works perfectly for me.

By the by, I use the 260gr Accubond for that application. The Accubond seems to work best at the slower velocities -- partitions need a tad more in my experience.

The Leopard is a very thin skinned, soft target - agreed, but I doubt there will be many experienced cat hunters that agree that lower velocity is a good thing on them. There are certainly situations where large, slow moving bullets are ideal in Africa on DG. Cat's ain't one of them!

Hell, if we all had the same convictions there would only be two loadings produced for each caliber -- one solid and one expanding.

Fortunately, we all have our own views and experiences, so we get lots of choices about what to shoot in different situations.

I'm not a proponent of high velocity loadings for Leopard, but they're what floats your boat. That's what makes the world turn. As long as Mr. Spots continues to cooperate with my formula for me, I'll stay with it --- as I'm sure you will with yours.

When you skin and butcher your Leopard (We ate mine the next night) you will realize how small they really are...even a big one.

I wouldn't hesitate to use a 30'06 to kill the biggest Leopard alive.

I shot mine with a 7mm Rem Mag Federal 160gr Accubonds. Bullet broke his leg, penetrated lungs an exited with massive exit hole. The Leopard fell straight down and never moved

Scott,

I would imagine that Craig's research would also problably bear out that more people that hunted leopard used the 375 because that's what they had to use so maybe more leopards are hunted with a 375 and therefore wounded with that caliber. I've had quite few clients kill leopards with a 375 and shot one myself with a 375 and a 300gr TBBC lengthwise and it just relax in the tree and died. IMO a 300 gr Nosler is great bullet for your purposes and will cause extensive tissue destruction.

Personally I think your scope choice could be more ideal for leopard as the small variable will have limited light gathering ability at max magnification. I think you'd be better served with a little larger scope with the illuminated reticle. Take the 1.5x5 outside just at dusk and turn it up to 5 and watch it go dim.

Mark

Mark,
In hind sight, I think you are right about the scope. What's your recommendation?

+1 on Mark's scope comment.

When I shot my leopard in 2010, I had a 1-6X24mm Swarovski Z6i (illuminated reticle) on my .375, and I had a tough time seeing my target in the last minute or two of daylight. Had I used my other gun, which had a 2.5-10X42mm scope on it, I know there would have been no problem. I am certainly convinced that the small objective "African" scopes are not good for leopards, especially if you aren't using lights.

I shot my leopard through the top of the lungs with a .270 grain Hornady RP-SP from my 375 Ruger. The cat ran something like 100 yards before dying. I can't help but think it would have died faster had the shot been with my .280 AI with 140 grain Accubonds (which was the gun with the larger objective scope).

I'm not sure it's fair to suggest that a larger bullet is just as deadly as a smaller bullet that expands to the same diameter. The process by which that smaller bullet expands leads to a lot more tissue damage than a hole being punched straight through by the larger bullet.

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Originally posted by SBT:
Mark,
In hind sight, I think you are right about the scope. What's your recommendation?

My Zeiss 2.5-10 X 50 IR is just about purrr-fect for cats at night.

There are two or three leupold's with 50mm objective lenses, 30mm tubes, and IR for about 1/4 the cost of the Zeiss that should work just as well.

Thanks Will, I'm considering a switch.

Scott,

As your 375 might be used for something other than leopard I think a really big scope might not be necessary and could be a hinderance.

I personally bought a 3-9 Trijicon recently and when I take it outside at dusk and test it against comparable Leupolds, Swarovski, Kahles and Zeiss I'm not picking up a distinct difference. The BUT here is that Leupold now has the VXR series with the Fire Dot and I bet it might just be an affordable alterantive in 2x7 or 3x9.

Mark

quote:

I would imagine that Craig's research would also problably bear out that more people that hunted leopard used the 375 because that's what they had to use so maybe more leopards are hunted with a 375 and therefore wounded with that caliber.

Again...I am talking from memory and stand to be corrected...but even when corrected for numbers shot...the .375 was still over-represented. It was summarized that it penetrated to well and exited with too little trauma. Bullet selection will definitely make a difference and the NP is a good choice. Maybe smaller and faster might be more optimal. I would put a 3ish X 9ish 50 mm objective with some type of illiminated reticle on the .30-06 and shoot both bait and leopard with it and take the .375 for back-up and other use. Put a 165 or 180 NP on the 06.

All good points. I'm going to e-mail my outfitter and ask him which one he would prefer me to use.

My first leopard hunt I used a Leupold 1.5x5 scope. My second hunt I used a 1.5x6 Zeiss 30MM scope. It was a huge improvement. Take your scope choice into a forested area to make your determination. Thats where the 30MM scopes with a larger objective lens earn their keep! If I ever go for leopard again, my 375 will wear a Schmidt & Bender 1.5x6 Zenith with an illuminated reticle. I can't imagine anything better!

My PH said the 30-06 would be fine, but "I love the 375 H&H on leopard". So, 375 it is.

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Originally posted by SBT:
My PH said the 30-06 would be fine, but "I love the 375 H&H on leopard". So, 375 it is.

With a bigger IR scope?

For my first leopard I used a 375 with 270 gr Nosler Partition. It was very effective and I would certainly reccomend the combination.

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With a bigger IR scope?

Yes.

SBT:

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I'm preparing to start building a load for my upcoming leopard hunt

Would be interesting to know what kind of a load you have in mind to shoot a soft-skinned, light boned animal at a distance ranging between 30 - 70 yards; dead rest and all the time in the world.

yep, exactly what to you need to kill a deer sized animal at 75 yards, considering you won't be tracking him during the day and possibly bumping into other critters. i think ANYTHING SOFT out of a .375 will do the job.

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Originally posted by SBT:
I'm preparing to start building a load for my upcoming leopard hunt. While not on the menu, the area we're hunting also contains elephant, lion and buffalo.

My rifle will be a Whinchester Mdl 70 Safari Express in 375 H&H. My bullets will be 300 grain Nosler Partitions.

What velocity should I target?

Zone Five Afterburner....

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Originally posted by CCMDoc:
275 grain CEB #13 Non-Con over 86 grains of Reloder 25 out of a 375 Flanged Magnum worked perfectly for us just last week.

CCMDOC,

Shipment of that CEB bullet just arrived and will be loaded for a 375 flanged that is a-building right now. On looking at the literature, 'tho seems clear that the bullet produces major meat damage that may rule it out for me to use on large plains game.

As for dangerous game, did it exit on your leopard and, if so, what kind of challenge did it create for the taxidermist? Results on buffalo, especially the question of meat damage?

Best of the Season, Tim

if a .375 doesn't exit on a leopard, i would be mightly surprised( even if shot end-to-end). not sure i would worry about meat/hide damage. taxidermists can do amazing things. can't say i ever gave a thought about meat damage, either. just shoot him in the boiler room with any decent softpoint and the game ends.