For a plains game only hunt with a Kudua and Gemsbok the largest animals taken, is a 7mm mag sufficient or will it be viewed as marginal??

160gr Nosler Partition or any other premium your rifle likes and go hunting.jorge

Troglodyte,

7mm is great for those species...As long as there aren't any Elephants in the area...

...Last summer I was in N. Zim hunting for Sable with my 300 H&H....after a couple of really close encounters with testy cow Eles....I decided that I would not come back to Africa with anything less than a .375....You just never know what you might walk up on, or for that matter what might walk up on you!

IMHO,

JW

Good advise from Jeff, but in RSA a 7 mag with 160 or 175 gr. Noslers is effective...I like the 175 gr. Nosler myself, but I lean towards heavy for caliber bullets in jacketed type bullets and the opposite in monolithics.

As long as there is no DG around. But plainsgame drop to a 375 much better!

... worked for me...tho look for clean shot - avoid any obsticle such as branches and stuff when in the bush otherwise things might go strange way...

I never had a problem with the7x57 and 160 partitions, so I can't see why the Big 7 won't work just fine. In it I'd go up to the 175's just don't see a reason not to, you only lose 100 fps or less and pick up a lot of SD. I hate to change a good load, all I shoot in the 7Mag is 175 grain.

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
As long as there is no DG around. But plainsgame drop to a 375 much better!

Lets see now, my 7mm Mag has taken Cape Kudu, Southern Greater Kudu, Gemsbok, Springbok, Black Wildebeest, Vaal Rhebok, Impala, Warthog, Blesbok, Black Back Jackal, Burchell Zebra and Cape Bushbuck. I'd have to say it will work. All the above game fell to 160 gr Noslers.

That said, I still believe that while it works, there are better tools available. I think it is a little light for Gemsbok, Wildebeest and Zebra and it definately won't work for an area with dangerous game around. When I hunted Cameroon and got into a lot of lion and elephant sign, the 7mm stayed in camp and I toted a 375 H&H. My 7mm Mag will probably never see Africa again, but my 9.3x62 will.

Mac

I think that it is a good idea to ask your PH if he thinks that a 7 mag is a good choice.

When I hunted in the Northern Province last summer my PH wanted me to shoot a 30.06 or bigger and he wanted heavy for caliber bullets. He said that my shots would not be long so I would not need a fast cartridge and he wanted heavy bullets in case there was brush in the way.

I took a .338 with 250 gr bullets and all was fine, but he would not let take a shoot at a very nice Gemsbok that was 75 yds. away because in his mind there was too much brush between us. He said that if I had a .375 with 300 gr bullets he would have let me take the shot.

You can argue about whether he is right about how brush effects a bullet, but the bottom line is that he made the call on the shot and he didn't want me to take it. The lesson that I learned is to pay attention to the PH. His thought on your choice may matter.

Doug

The 7mm mag seems to be very popular in Namibia for all antilope, then again there aren´t many branches around in the Kalahari...

dougaboy: I'm no PH, but your PH was way off base in his assumptions. A 338 with 250gr bullets is a terrific cartridge. As a matter of fact, a 250gr 338 has greater SD than a 300 gr 375 for starters. Further, the issue of "brush-busting" bullets is an urban legend that has long since been disproven along with the "slower is better" adage. With the advent of premium bulets, velocity compliments the killing power of just about any caliber out there. Yes your PH dictates more or less the parameters to shoot, but it's your safari and your money. I wasn't there and don't know how much brush was in the way, but the fact that you had a 338 and not a 375 ( or 470 for that matter) is irrelevant. jorge

7MM enough??? you bet it is!! I know of alot of PG that died PDQ with a 270 in the boiler room not to mention the greatest ole timer ...the 30-06

Trog,
I've carried a 7mm Remington Magnum to Africa twice and was not disappointed. I shot the Federal Premium load pushing a 175 grain Trophy Bonded bullet and killed kudu and gemsbok with one shot apiece. At 5 grains lighter in weight and less than .02" in diameter (.284 vs .30) over the vaunted .300's, the 7mm will do the job if you do yours.

Good luck, shoot straight and good hunting.

jorge,

I think that you are 100% right. I knew that he didn't like the shot, but I didn't know what he was thinking until we were walking back to the car after blowing the stalk trying to get closer to the gemsbok. I disagreed with him then, but it didn't really matter as I was fine with trying to get closer because the shot from 75 yds. was marginal. As it turns out we caught up with the gemsbok the next day so there was a happy ending.

I didn't want to open up a can of worms about brush busting. I just found it instructive that his perception about my choice of rifle and bullet played into his decisions.

One other point. As we talked about caliber choices at DSC before the safari he kept steering me away from fast loads. I originally wanted to use my 300RUM because I love the gun and had done well with it on elk hunts. He kept telling me that there was no need for the flat shooting of such a caliber because we would not have long shots. He wanted a heavy bullet that left a big hole. He was dead on about the shot distances and I had no idea until we got there how thick the bush really is. Most of our shots were under 75 Yds. I came away thinking that if I go back to the same area a .375 would be an ideal choice.

Doug

Doug: Viewed from the perspective you now describe, the 375 or the 338 are perfect choices. On my first safari, I killed just about everything with a 375, at ranges from 40 to about 180 yards. My other rifle was a 300 Weatherby and it didn't get much use. During my second safari, I used the 300 to take four animals , the only exception being the buffalo.

On reflection, your 300 RUM 300 Weatherby or 300 Winnie would be excellent choices for plains game with good bullets of course and as much as I love the 375, the 338 is arguably a better choice for a plains game due to it's flatter trajectory. That 250grainer is a killer in the 338.

Regarding the velocity issue, I am at odds with most african PHs as I think they base their experiences on the checkered past history of conventional jacketed bullets. With a 180gr TSX, Partition, A Frame, TBBC, etc, there isn't a plains game animal out there that I would hesitate on -close or far. good luck. jorge

My last trip to Africa, I hunted with a bow, but my wife used her 30-06 very effectively. She had problems with it one day, and switched to her backup a 7 MM Rem using 150 Gr. X bullets. Later we were talking to some guys in the airport, and they were talking about how tough Waterbuck was and how it took them 4 shots with 375's to bring one down. I replied that Sue took hers down with one shot from the 7 MM Rem. Those guys didn't want to talk about their shooting anymore.

I would say load it with 160-175 Partitions or X bullets and go hunting.

On past trips, I have used .338 with 250 Partitions almost exclusively on plainsgame. The load was death on everything from duiker to eland.

This year my son and I went to Namibia. We took a .338 and I took my .264 Win Mag loaded with max loads pushing 140 grain Barnes XLCs. The plan was to use the .338 on the larger game, and the .264 on the smaller stuff.

Well, the .264 was killing so efficiently, I used it on everything. My son ended up using it on most of his. We took gemsbok, kudu, zebra, wildebeest, hartebeest, etc. Only 1 bullet was recovered- a frontal chest shot on a hartebeest.

My PH viewed the .264 as marginal until he saw how well it performed. A 7mm Mag should by plenty of gun. Use good loads and shoot well. They will fall down.