My reading of Boddington and Robertson seem to suggest that common factory rounds for the thin skinned cats are preferable to the custom bullets. Anyone out there followed this advice?

No, I used 338 WM 225 BarnesX, he was dead when he hit the ground.

Shoot solids. Taxidermists like repairing tiny holes.

quote:

Originally posted by smarterthanu:
Shoot solids. Taxidermists like repairing tiny holes.

Not the holes in the cat that you should worry about - plastic surgeons do not like repairing large holes.

This is where taxidermists and plastic surgeons differ. Usually surgeons will be able to charge more the larger the hole.

Seriously I play the odds as best I can. And I try to use properly constructed bullets to do the job. However with cats bullet placement should allways take extreme prioity over bullet design. Once you have mastered your shooting why not try and keep the taxidermist's job easy and your trophy a little less beat up.

165 gr partition in an 06 works for me for spots, 300 gr a frame in a 9.3x74 for lion. cats are thin skined and you want to mess up their insides a bit to make sure the reverse isn't true

I shot my leopard with a .270, hand loaded 150gr Nosler bullet; my wife shot her leopard with a .308, 180gr Federal factory Nosler bullet.
In both cases...small hole in, small hole out. One shot each, and two very dead leopard.

Factory, or roll your own...they both work if the shooter does his/her part.

IMHO, regardless of bullet type, I'd be more concerned about bullet placement, and less concerned about patching holes in the leopard's hide. A friend of mine shot a big tom leopard in Zambia, and he used a .416 Rigby. The exit hole was about the size of a half dollar. He had a full mount done of the cat, and the exit hole is not observable to the untrained eye.

For both, a fairly soft "soft" is ideal for the first shot. After that the whole picture changes. Look at the ZP proficency photo's and note the exit wound from a 350grn "walterhog" pure copper hollow point on that lioness. Look a little further back and you will see the exit wound from the initail shot...the bullet had peeled right back and only the shank exited.

I like woodleigh 286grn softs in my 9,3 for cats. They are too soft for buff. If I could get the powder I would try and work up a load with 250 grn X , TSX or walterhog bullets.

Mr. tsibindi,

I think you are pretty much saying the same thing I am. What I worry about is not a 2-inch exit hole but cases where my client ends up with a leopard or lion with a 1 foot diameter hole in it. On the same note I have gotten in a couple of cats lately with their faces and necks shot to ribbons with buck shot. A well placed bullet with limited/controlled expansion is a blessing for both me and the trophy collector.

I used a 7x57 handload composed of 120grain Ballistic Tip at 3200 fps. Small hole in, no hole out, froth inside. Bang flop.

Cats? You can't lump Lions and Leopards together..If hunters start using solids on any of the cats then taxidermist are going to lose a lot of business and the medical profession is going to get busy in Dar es Salaam..

A 2 or 3 inch exit hole is not a problem for a good taxidermist...The use of too light bullets that explode inside is risky as they very well may explode on the outside..

Apparantly some have not seen a Leopard charge or a Lion intent on killing you. It is an awesome sight and one not to play games with..

Go with a good bullet that will work under all conditions..For Leopard I like a 200 gr. Nosler partition in my 300 H&H or 180s in an 06, and for Lion I would prefer the 350gr. PP Woodleigh or the 300 gr. Northforks. The 400 gr. Nosler in the .416 is an awesome bullet as are the Northforks and 450 gr. Woodleighs..

The bullet you use to follow up a wounded cat should be very different than the one you can use to whack him off a bait in a controlled situation. Don't confuse apples with oranges.

I agree that lion and leopard are two seperate animals completely especially when it comes to stamina and shock resistance. However in controlled hunting situations bullet performance should be weighed with probability of trophy destruction. With the wrong piece of copper you can do more damage than your taxidermist can fix and still make the animal look lifelike no matter which cat it is.

A lot of good comments by all. I would completely agree with ray that leopard and lion are different animals. (with regards to bullets)
I hear and agree with those who say that a perfectly placed shot from a 270 or 7mm will do the job. Being human, some of us fail. The cat may move, etc. That is where a soft, rapidly expanding higher velocity cartridge is likely to do more damage to the cat so there are fewer chances of being mauled when recovering the animal.

First obligation is to just put that animal down, PERIOD. Regardless of caliber it takes to do it, that's all. Taxi considerations should never enter into taking any animal down cleanly.

Would a 458 lott with the correct expanding bullet be way to much for Mr. Spots?

If it was only about putting the animal down we would be using land mines and booby traps against these things. The majority of hunters have a reasonable expectation of recovering a carcass usable for trophy purposes.

Carlos,

With the right bullet .458 probably isn't a problem. However two of the most horribly destroyed african animals I have seen were shot with softs in a .458. One was a leopard with a .458 Winchester and one was a warthog with a .458 Lott.

Bryan,

I personally think that you are better off with a bullet that will be adequate for everything you may use your rifle for rather than having a special load for leopard. First the leopard load may not shoot to the same POI as your other load requiring resighting. Second there is always a chance of getting the loads mixed up and having the leopard load up the spout when that giant buffalo presents itself. Lastly super premium bullets kill leopards very dead. Shot placement is far more critical than the perfect bullet.

Mark

I have a slightly different take on this than Ray. it is very possible to use 2 different QD scopes with two different zeros for buff and leopard. There are even single scopes that will let you zero for 4 different loads. Given this, why not use the optimum leopard bullet (fast, soft, quick expanding) and the optimal buff bullet (deep penetrating softs and solids). Point of impact is irrelevant since your scope will have the ability to compensate. since hunting felix pardus is a very deliberate exercise, i would load the fast expanding bullets only when in the blind.
True, thre is no substitute for correct bullet placement, and a perfectly placed barnes x or even solid will be sufficient; but nothing is certain in hunting, viz why we have wounded leopards and maulings. tis is probably greatly reduced by using the right bullet. will post some experiments with fast big bore bullets soon