In about a month, I will be going on my first elephant hunt, a non-trophy hunt in the Caprivi. After 7 days in the Caprivi, we will be moving down to Central Namibia for plains game. Right now I'm planning on taking a 416 Rigby and a 338 Win Mag.

I weighed my ammo tonight, and it sure doesn't take many rounds to hit the 5 Kg mark.

Over the previous two summers, I took my father, son and a nephew to Namibia. We brought 4 rifles but only 2 different calibers. My father and I each used a 300 win mag. The two boys both used 7mm-08. This made it very easy to stay under the airlines 5 kg per person limit.

On this trip, I'm traveling alone. There is definitely a little more to think about. I hit 5Kg/11 pounds exactly with 50 rounds of 416, and 60 rounds of 338.

How does that split sound??? Should I go 40/70??

Thanks for the advice.

How many elephants are you planning to shoot?

Unless you're planning to use the 416 on PG I think 40rds would be 20 too many.

Leave the 338 at home.
Get to know the 416 better and focus on the elephant hunt. Plains game is a side show and the 416 is more than capable of doing it all with ease
Good Luck
HQ

Figure 3 rounds to check zero, 4 rounds for the Elephant and 3 rounds per head of PG. Use the .416 for everything. 2 boxes consisting of 10 solids and 30 softs should be more than enough. You'll be well under the 5 kilos/11 lbs limit.

There's nothing wrong with your split, just make sure you take some softs for the .416. You won't shoot half of it, but that's beside the point. You can plink of the remainder, give it away or take it home again.

I take 20 rds of .470 10 soft and 10 solids, 500 gr Bullets. I take 60 rds of .416, 300 gr bullets and 10 more 400 gr solids. This is right at 10 lbs without the Box that I pack them in.

My approach would be to take as much as you are allowed. That way even if you drop your rifle and knock the sights and have to re-zero you won't run out. You will probably take most of them home unfired, but at least you are covered for contingencies.

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My approach would be to take as much as you are allowed. That way even if you drop your rifle and knock the sights and have to re-zero you won't run out. You will probably take most of them home unfired, but at least you are covered for contingencies.

Excellant Advice. Also you could leave the extra with the PH as a partial tip.

Devil, are you gpoing with Karl Stumpfe? I did this exact trip last year...Elephant and Hippo in the Caprivi, then down south for 5 or 6 Plains Game. I took a 416 Rigby and did it all with that rifle. No sense confusing the issue.

I just got back from an 18 day hunt in the Save'.
I took 30 rounds for my Lott which was used for buffalo and brought back 25 rounds.
I took 60 rounds for my 338 which I used to take an additional 15 animals and brought back 26 rounds.
I would deffinately take plenty for the 338 as shots in Namibia can be longer than normal for Africa hunting. Your 338 is the perfect plains game rifle. Can you imagine taking 50 shots at any elephant?

psssst....Pegleg...

We're all waiting on your Hunting Report and you're screwing around with ammo numbers??

To paraphrase what my wife just told me: Get to work, Mister.

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To paraphrase what my wife just told me: Get to work, Mister.

Except your instructions had something to do with cleaning toilets, didn't it? :-)

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Originally posted by Biebs:

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To paraphrase what my wife just told me: Get to work, Mister.

Except your instructions had something to do with cleaning toilets, didn't it? :-)

Actually it was concerning getting her pick-up running so she doesn't have to walk your check to the mailbox tomorrow morning.

Then, the toilets.

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Originally posted by 338User:
My approach would be to take as much as you are allowed. That way even if you drop your rifle and knock the sights and have to re-zero you won't run out. You will probably take most of them home unfired, but at least you are covered for contingencies.

Why not have too many, than to take a chance of needing any?

My husband and I each always take the max. and leave it in camp if necessary. It is always appreciated.

Regards, D. Nelson

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he doesn't have to walk your check to the mailbox tomorrow morning. rotflmo

Certainly don't want to interfere with that!

I take 4boxes for my light rifle 375 1solids 3 softs... 4 boxes heavy rifle 30solids and 50 softs 450#2 double.
I also split ammo inhalf with half of each caliber in two suitcases if one baggoes missing you have the other....

Mike

I take a lot less ammo now than I ever did. I honestly think 1 box for your 416 and 2 boxes for your 338 will be plenty. To me the extra weight is just not worth it.

Mark

I think differently than you Mark. If I am going to fly 9,000 miles and spend $50,000 or more, I am not going to worry about a few pounds.

I think the number you take should vary based upon the number of animals that you expect to take. Last year, I went for buff and elephant. I took 40 rounds for my 416 and 20 for my 375 (backup gun). I never fired the 375 and brought back about 30 rounds for the 416 ( I shot a kudu, a zebra and 2 bush pigs in addition to the elephant and buff).

I am heading over in a few weeks. I am going for elephant, buff, leopard and some plains game. I am going to take 40 rounds each for my 416 & my 458 Lott. I know I will have to whack a few bait animals.

Whoever had the idea of splitting the ammo between bags had a great idea.

I would take most or all of what you're allowed. Back in 1989, I was on safari in Botswana, and took a .416 hoffman and .338 win mag. I only intended to use the .416 on buffalo and maybe lion, so didn't take more than about 30 rounds. I took about 40 rounds for the .338 and thought I had way more ammo than I needed. What I did not plan on was someone knocking my gun case over in Gaberone and damaging the scope on my .338. When we got out into the Kalahari, I couldn't hit the target worth a darn with my .338 and just thought it was me. So, the first day of hunting, I missed an easy shot at a large gemsbok which surprised me. Later that day, I shot a leopard at about 25 yards and hit it very poorly, needing several more shots to finish it. After that, we checked my .338 again and determined that the scope was broken. So, now I had 23 days to go with a full license, and was using only my .416.

We got into quite a bit of game, and unfortunately my shooting was not all that good so I used a few more rounds than I should have. By the time we headed north to the delta, I was concerned about having enough ammunition, and finding .416 hoffman was not going to be a sure thing. Fortunately, Neville Peake shot a hoffman also, and he kindly gave me a box of ammo. I did finish with much of the extra ammo left over, but would have run out were it not for Neville's generosity.

With that in mind, I will always take more ammo rather than less, and split it into more than one piece of luggage. It's easier to leave extra ammo in Africa than it is to go searching for it when you need some, especially if it isn't a widely used caliber.

DLS:

Very valid point. I have had scopes break twice.

I took 100 rounds of .375 and shot a bull elephant, buffalo, hippo, lion, zebra, and three impala for bait.

I used a total of 31 rounds including sighting in and insurance shots on the elephant and buffalo.

I agree you should take all the ammo you're allowed, though. You don't want to be thinking about saving ammo and pass up an insurance shot.

I don't take a backup rifle, there is always one in camp but I ALWAYS take a backup scope. 60 rounds of ammo, .375 H & H or 9.3 X 62 and that has always been more than adequate.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

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Originally posted by larryshores:
DLS:

Very valid point. I have had scopes break twice.