Why is the 300H&H a better buff. cartridge than the win. 338 ultra mag..It has less puch I believe. Is it a matter of familiararity? Maybe it's my misunderstanding of "top". I am thinking best when I read "top." take care.

j. lawrence:

Read the submissions carefully. I don’t think anyone here is recommending the .300 H&H, they’re recommending the .375 H&H, which is a whole different kettle of fish.

The only Ultra Mag that is legal in most of DG country would be the .375 RUM, which will work spectacularly for anyone that chooses to use it. Our esteemed host uses a wildcat .375 based on a .404 case, which is exactly the process that Remington used to make the .375 RUM. I think he’s killed enough buffalo with it to qualify it as a very, very successful round.

375
416
404

In any flavour you fancy, in a rifle you can carry all day in the african heat.

Personal choice would be a 375/404. It will kill buffalo just as dead as any other caliber. Without rattling ones brains out. Not that we have any left. If we did we would not chase buffalo in grass where one cannot see the end of his barrel.

416 Rem Mag. The only buffalo caliber rifle I own.

I've got the pieces for a 375H&H and a 458 Lott, but have never gotten them assembled.

375
416
458

My choices but I hunt primarily with bolt action rifles.

470 for close shots (under 100 yds) and 378 or 416 for longer shots / plains game.

458 Win or 458 Lott would also be great choices, but the 470 implies (to me) a double rifle. Nothing better if it's close shooting.

I go to Mozambique next year and am taking a 470 and 378 combo. If it's not yet dry and we can't hunt the forest edges very well, the 300 grain 375 bullet will work wonderfully.

378 is a bit of a beast to shoot, but flinching and worrying about that is a result of conditioning at the range / bench. In hunting, ya' never even notice....

quote:

Originally posted by j. lawrence:
do you guys use cartridges like the big ultra mags. in controlled feed winchesters and such. 338 ultra mag is fairly well the 300H&H equal I think. What's the criterea? some of you may find me a pest. and your information won't ever help me harvest an African critter. but I'm a bllodhound for good information and hunting hangs right there with drift boat fishing for slamon and steelhead for my interests. thanks.

Jawrence, the 338s, and 300s are not legal for cape buffalo! The absolute minimum is .366 (9.3) up!

quote:

Not a single Weatherby. Hmmm. Is there an Anti-Weatherby bias on this site? Any reason W'by isn't included in anyone's list?

My choices; 470NE, 458WM & 416W'by

S.

SEG, this is not the only place where Weatherbys are not considered for dangerous game. It is not as much the over bore capacity cartridges, as it is the push feed rifle systems!

I don't think it is simple "NAME" bias, that causes this! It is that everything about Weatherby is contrary to what 90% of the dangerous game hunters/PHs consider to be a properly designed DGR rifle/cartridge combination. Of course this is only my opinion, but I know a lot of dangerous game hunters, and PHs, and not one, in my aquaintence, uses, or even owns a Weatherby rifle, in a DG chambering.

I used to use a Mauser 98 heavy barreled to 240 WBY to shoot P-dogs, and I had a 375WBY when they were made on FN Mauser actions, and stocked in a classic designed stock.

As to what I think is the most used chamberings for Cape Buffalo over the time from the 40s to today, would be ther 375 H&H, 458 Win Mag, and the 470NE! My choices, however would be a CRF actioned 375 H&H, a CRF actioned 458 LOTT, in bolt rifles, and my first choice for a double would be a nice S/S double rifle chambered for 450/400NE 3". However, I now have a S/S 470NE double for Buffalo, but the 450/400 is still my favorite!

I'm not a Weatherby fan for dangerous game but Paul Grobler of Zim used a 460 Weatherby and Billy Leamon currently operating as a PH in Zim used one a couple of years ago and I believe still uses one.

465H&H

My favorite PH uses a 460 Weatherby as his back up rifle.

I used a 416 Weatherby on one hunt, shot one elephant and several buffalos with it.

I would be more than happy to use a Weatherby, or a Remington for that matter, on any game animal out there.

I actually think the 460 Weatherby is favored by several well known PH's but not necessarily in a Weatherby rifle. Nicky Blunt and George Angelides if I remember right both shoot one. Personally I think my 375 Weatherby that is being built should work pretty well for everything.

Mark

The best are;

I) 450 Ackley (because you can shoot 450 watts, 458 Lotts and 458 in it)
2) 450 watts (because you can shoot 458 Lott and 458 Win in it.
3)458 Lott (because you can also shoot 458 Win in it.

As you can see getting ammo has been a problem for me.

But those three, with mono solids, are all ideal because on a charge they will go through the skull, and on missing the brain, penetrate well enough to carry on and hit the spine behind. Anything up to and including the 375 H&H sometimes bend on hitting bone.