Want to take a Steenbok and Duiker for full body mounts. I am thinking about a .223 with 62gr TSX. Planning on shooting some coyotes and jackrabbits with it to see how bad it tears them up. Any experience or suggestions on caliber and bullets that won't tear up the hide would be appreciated.

TJH, welcome to AR. I'm sure there are quite a number of small African antelope accounted for by the members on this website. I believe most of us have taken the Duikers, Grysbuck, Steenbucks, Suni, and other small antelope with the calibers we were using at the time we encountered them. For me, that was a 375, 416 or 458. A heavy bonded bullet won't usually encounter enough resistance in a small animal to do much damage, but will "pencil" through leaving a caliber-size hole. This may not be the case if shot straight on, but all my small antelope were full-body mounted without issue. Have fun!

I took both of mine with my 6.5/.284 XP-100 handgun and Hornady 129 gr. GMXs. Very small exits, both DOA with one shot each. No hide damage.

I have shot a lot of the small animals. Duikers,steenbuck,honey badger,civet,genet,dik dik and more porcupines than i can remember.
Most with a 30 06 with 150 gr solids.
They work great, very little damage.

It is nice to be able to shoot them with the gun you are hunting with for the plains game.

I shot my Steenbok with a .22 Hornet with cheap South African Ammunition. I didn't want a full mount but my taxidermy friend was really happy for the skin. The whole was tiny and pretty perfect for a full mounts.

I have taken several of the Tiny Ten with my 30.06 and a 180 grain TSX.

These were all for shoulder mounts - I was careful to place the shots behind the front leg and they were fine for SM purposes. some would have needed some good work to repair for a full body mount.

I would go with a bigger calibre and a solid.

A solid will do the least damage.

I've used a .375 H&H with solids for duiker and suni, no problems and they make great full mounts.

Best option any calibre with a solid . If anything that expands hit the least bit of bone you will end up with a half mount !

Happy hunting !

My experience is a solid (either .416 or .375) doesn't beat them up much, but any expanding bullet can- I had to go with a shoulder pedestal of my Southern Duiker because the .416 Rigby TSX all but blew it apart- even though I shot further back to avoid hitting a bone.

Solids in any medium caliber you are already hunting PG with will work. I have taken them with .300wm rifle and 480RUG/500S&W revolvers. Clean entry and exit holes without hide damage.

All good advice, which is only what you get on AR!

I shot some small stuff with my .458Win Mag and used Hornady 500grains DGS. Works on elephant and oribi

I've often wondered if a .223 with a 62 gr. FMJ would work well for this purpose as well. Anyone tried it?

I suggest a 375 or bigger with a solid. I makes a small hole and the animal goes down on the spot.

I shot a common duiker at roughly 30 yards with a 300 WM using a 180 gr TSX. The duiker was standing at a quartering towards angle. The bullet entered behind the shoulder and exited behind the rib cage pulling about half of the intestines out of the exit hole as it passed thru. I guess the high speed at such short range caused this. However, there was very little damage to the skin. If using an expanding bullet, be sure and don't hit the shoulder, or you might have a mess on your hands.

I'll be hunting red duiker in June and will be using my 375 H&H with 300 gr Hornady DGS as requested by my PH.

By the way, here is a picture of my duiker. The side showing is the exit side.



Good luck on your trip!

I have taken a .223 to africa for some small guys. It was in essence a specialized safari for me. In 2011 I had an ele on quota and took my 458Lott; also had a Grysbok and a Klipspringer to add to my Little Guys and so decided to take a 223 bolt gun with a high powered scope on it. I used Hornady 223 Varmint loads. Carl used it to take a Duiker and I was successful with it on both my little guys (and my ele with the Lott). My other Tiny 10 animals on other safaris were all taken with a 300wm shooting solids.

I've taken a few small antelopes and Jackals. I wouldn't use the TSX. My personal experience is with an 8x57, 200 gr TSX. It really tore up the Jackals and Klipspringer. I shot my Damara Dik Dik with a 9.3x74 using a sold, which worked perfectly. I've also shot Jackal and Steenbok with a 22 K Hornet with a 50 gr Vmax, which also worked well. I would be nervous about shooting anything small with a high velocity rifle with anything other than a solid.

If you are going to try it out over here, I would test your load out on foxes, which to me would give you a closer idea to what you will be hunting.