Bullet recommendations for .300 Weatherby MAG leopard hunt? I would also be hunting Nyala & Waterbuck.

MC

Any premium bullet of 180-200 gr. will be fine but the Nosler Partition migh be perfect. It will give the initial violent expansion for the a quick kill on the leopard and all the penetration you might need for larger plains game.

Mark

A Nosler 180 grain Accubond would also be a good choice for the game you will hunt. Can't go wrong with partitions, however.

Barnes TSX or the new TTSX in 165gr or 180gr will handle it all just fine. Lots of good options, let your rifle tell you which one it prefers.

Leopards are thin-skinned, light-boned animals that weigh about as much as a medium-sized whitetail deer. A quick-opening bullet will stop them more rapidly than a "hard" bullet. Both the Nyala and the Waterbuck probably need more bullet than the leopard, so adjust accordingly. The only deep-penetrating bullet that also provides dependably quick initial expansion is the Nosler Partition. A 180gr NP would be hard to argue with.

Choice of bullets always bring forth a lot of strong opinions and I'm sure this thread won't be any different. Personally, for Leopard, I like fast opening bullets such as Woodleigh SP (NOT PSP) or the Winchester Silvertip..... if you use the silvertip, you'll have to slow it down though. - In fact, my advice would be that whatever bullet you use, you try to slow it down with that particular calibre.

A Frames seem to work with most animals and would also be a pretty good choice.

10 to 1 says you put a hole the size of your head on the off side if you use that cartridge.

I share the a concern for my May Namibia Leopard hunt as DC300 said. I shot a coyote at 100 yards with a 180 TSX from my Wby 300 and it blew the off front quarter completely off the animal. If I get a chance at a Leopard, I going to use a 180 Partition. The TSX and the Partition have the same point of impact on at 50 yards and are within 1 inch a 100 yards. Otherwise, I am sighting my rifle in at 200 yards using the TSX.

The 180 grain Nosler Partition would be great and work on everything a light rifle should be turned on during a safari. My favorite load is 85 grains of IMR-7828 lit by a Fed. 215 in Weatherby cases for just a hair over 3200 fps.

BARNES TSX!!!!!Hands down.

The above Barnes bullet (165 gr) penetrated my zebra front right shoulder all the way thru to the left shoulder at just inside 200 yards, and dropped it in its tracks!!!

Forgot to mention: It was a .300 win Mag, and all the barnes bullets recovered from most of my animals, had 100% weight retention.

I'm with Steve, I'd go for the Woodleigh Round Nose and if you want to slow it down use the 200 grainer...........

I used the 168 TSX at 3200 FPS on my leopard and the pelt damage was minimal. He was also dead under the tree!

I must be buying bad TSX bullets. I have shot three deer with 180 TSX bullets from my 300 WSM and all ran quite a distance with lung shots and they appeared to have been shot with solids when we gutted them. IMHO too tough for a leopard. I have switched to Accubonds and much prefer them for deer sized game which is about what a leopard represents body wise.

200 grain lead core premium bullets such as the A-frame or Nosler Partition will give the initial shock you need without the dramatic exit wounds you lothe. 3020 fps versus 3240 fps makes a huge difference in bullet performance. You could stop a lion with the 200 grain load.

I don't consider the 300 wby a very good choice Leopard caliber because you can do a lot of hide damage with it unless you load it down to 06 balistics and haveing to do that isn't a good practice on an African safari...

I would just use whatever your gun is sighted in with and hope for the best. If your shot is perfectly broadside then you should be OK, the more angle you get then the more rip your going to get.

I am going to try the 200 grain Nosler partition with my 300 wby, there is a chance I might go next month If I go next year I will take my 375 H & H.

quote:

Originally posted by LJS:
I must be buying bad TSX bullets. I have shot three deer with 180 TSX bullets from my 300 WSM and all ran quite a distance with lung shots and they appeared to have been shot with solids when we gutted them. IMHO too tough for a leopard. I have switched to Accubonds and much prefer them for deer sized game which is about what a leopard represents body wise.

My experience with the Barnes bullets and the 300wby is limited to the original X-Bullet. I understand the TSXs are a great improvement over that original cartridge. But I have heard complaints from people I hunt with regularly some of the very same inconsistent results with TSXs I experienced with the X-bullets. I'm not out to bash the Barnes stuff just relating that it may truly not be all roses.

The 200gr partitions work very nicely in the 300WBY. The heavy partitions perform very nicely at WBY speeds. The 165gr partitions though much faster don't seem to deliver nearly as much shock in that cartridge. Although the 180gr Hornady factory loads are typically considered too lightly a constructed bullet for Weatherby velocities, I have found they work like a deathray in that cartridge on medium sized game. The 180gr Hornady's are my absolute favorite projectile on top of the 300WBY for deer. They defy all logic why they work so well but experience has taught me they absolutely do.

If you're nervous about the 180gr Hornady's (which I can certainly understand) the 200gr Partition is a safe and logically justifiable bet.

In the for what it is worth column -- I shot a pretty good sized leopard out of a tree last November -- 35 yds +/- -- slight uphill angle -- 30 caliber, 180 gr Bear Claw at 3100fps -- cat was stone dead at the moment of impact -- shot was just a touch higher than I wanted (cat laying on limb behind foliage is hard to judge) but the point of all this is that the bullet did not pass through!!!! -- found it under the skin in the off shoulder.

Blowing a bullet up inside the cat is ideal but you just can't depend on it, and if that fast expanding bullet goes through then you have a torn up hide...

I have seen the 200 gr. Nosler really tear up deer and plainsgame on ocassion..

I think I would opt for a Monolithic HP of some kind with the 300 WBY..

That is why I like the .375 and .416 on Leopard, I use a heavy tough bullet and cookie cut a big hole in them that is easy to patch..

I shot mine with a 200gr Trophy Bonded soft from a Federal Safari Premium cartridge...did the trick, one shot and NO DAMAGE on the off shoulder, just a nice clean hole of about 1". I think the 200 is slow enough to be perfect and not blow up as some have mentioned. BTW, my VERY Expereinced PH was not happy about using the 300WEA...bad taste as many do, he wanted me to use a 375. It worked perfect and he was impressed. They don't load that round any longer but I have a stash as well as the equally good Swift 200 in the Remington Safari Premium loads. If you don't load them, you might look around at the old favorite gun shoppe and find a dusty box or so...they weren't popular but I use them for everything in this rifle...a pre-64 Mod 70 300H&H punched out!! Good Luck.