I`m planning my first trip too SA on a plains game safari!

I have a custom build 6,5-284 that shoots very well that i would like too bring with me.

So, is this enough gun for oryx and kudu??
I`m planning on using the 130grs TSX

Thanks!

Do a search for the 6.5 and 260 and those animals an I think you will feel good about the choice. Confidence goes a long way.

Always room for another Norge here

Welcome

sounds like a very fine plan good luck to you.

Welcome to the Board.

Consensus as I understand it is that 6.5 and 7 mm work well on game up to eland but you must be careful with angles as gemsbok, in particular, can be very unforgiving of poor shot placement/inadequate penetration.

I myself have so far only used 200 gr. 30 caliber ammunition (30-06 and 300H&H) or bigger on gemsbok. but would readily use a 175 head in, say, 7x57 or 7X64/7x65R

Regards

If you want "see how well it works" then take it. My personal opinion is that it is on the light side for the bigger plains game and I feel a minimum caliber is .308 class calibers (Starting with 308 win).It is doubtful that you'll get every shot as a nice clean broadside behind the shoulder, both lungs, etc. Most likely there will be some frontal shots and quartering shots and they may be your only opportunity at a great trophy. That being said though you will have a better chance at finding wounded game in South Africa then just about anywhere else because there are high fences and by and large most ranches can be effectively searched by a competent PH.Trophy fees can add up and of course you pay the same money for blood as you do the dead at your feet animal.

how aout some 160 grainers???

LHO, Pathfinder offers some good advice there.
I did a PG hunt a few years back using my 270. Fine for Kudu, but I cannot comment on Oryx.
However, I did have to pass up a few shots that I would have been able to take with more gun. In hindsight I would have taken a 300 mag, to provide more options.
Up to you, if you are happy with your 6.5, then take it, and good luck!

Let us know how you get on?

I think that 6.5-284 will do just fine. I suspect a 130 grain TSX will penetrate at least as far as a 180 grain Nosler Partition from a .300. It has a better sectional density to start with and the only Partition I recovered weighed around 110 grains anyway. The TSX will hold its weight better.

I think the reason Oryx (Gemsbok) and some other game is considered hard to kill is because about half the chest is above the spine. Thus a hunter shooting at the "center of things" is likely to shoot too high to kill. Get a copy of "The Perfect Shot" by Kevin Robertson and you will see what I mean.

I would not use 160s because they only come round nosed. I shot my Gemsbok at about 250 yards, dead in one shot.

LHO,

I have done 4 or 5 trips to SA and Zim for PG using as a light rifle a 257 or 264 Win Mag and they were fine.

However; in Namibia last year I took my 264 loaded with 140 XLC's and I had a monster Kudu get up after a perfect broadside shoulder shot! I hit him again on the run with a going away neck shot, breaking his spine.

After that little episode, I used my mate's 300RUM with 180 TSX's from then on for the bigger animals; and it was noticably more harder hitting, but even it would have been better with 200grain bullets.

Take a 300 magnum of some sort with at least 180's and use your 6.5-284 for the lighter stuff, it's a great calibre.

You will have a great time!!!

I let 130 grain .270 slugs almost ruin my safari back in May. I'll never use a light weight bullet in Africa again, I'm going back to .30-06 and 180gr plus slugs!!! They have been one shot splat down every time. Enough said.
LLS

I think your 6.5 will perform well. Remember the golden hunting rule "Shot placement is everything", use good 140gr bullet, and have a great time.

The 6.5 mm will work well used with premium bullets with game up to red hartebeest. Caution should then be taken for bigger game and shot placement will have to be perfect.

For game bigger than red hartebeest I would rather recommend a .30 with 180-200 gr bullets.

Thanks for your comments everyone!

I agree that its in the situaitions were I don`t get a perfect angel I can come a little short with the 6,5mm, and that worries me a little.
But on a broadside shot at a fare range I feel more confident wit this rifle than one of my other rifles.
And with a good hit, it`s only a matter of time beefore it hits the ground..

LHO,

I would suggest you consider super premium bullets, ie: NorthFork, TBBC or the Lapua Naturalis in 140 grain weight.

Make sure you post up a hunt report when you get back.

Cheers,

quote:

Originally posted by LHO:
I`m planning my first trip too SA on a plains game safari!

I have a custom build 6,5-284 that shoots very well that i would like too bring with me.

So, is this enough gun for oryx and kudu??
I`m planning on using the 130grs TSX

Thanks!

Go ahead and use it. Just make sure of your shot placement.

I have shot several hunderd plains game - including sable, zebra oryx etc - with a 130 grain Barnes X in a 270.

Never felt I needed any more power.

Look at an oryx or kudu front on, neither is a very thick animal from side to side.
I shot a kudu on the shoulder with an 8x68 that got back up and ran, does that mean it's no good for kudu? no, it means I had a fluky bullet reaction.
I chuckle whenever I read about how tough kudu and oryx are as I look at the photo's of my farmer friends grandson in Namibia. Picture after picture of him with hartebeast, kudu, oryx and even eland cows all 1 shot kills with a ...... .223!

QUOTE]

Go ahead and use it. Just make sure of your shot placement.

I have shot several hunderd plains game - including sable, zebra oryx etc - with a 130 grain Barnes X in a 270.

Never felt I needed any more power.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, that did convince me, nothing beat`s the knowlegde from practical use..

Now I can keep my mind on shootig alot towards my safari + reading the perfect shot over again

I'm sorry, but I can't join the "go ahead" side of this thread. This cartridge is a great flat shooting long range item, even to 1,000 yards in competition. Most plains game is taken at much closer ranges and flat shooting is very rarely needed. It might work for you with super tough bullets, and probably will nearly every time if the placement is fine. But are you experimenting or taking game cleanly? My advice is to take something tried, time tested and proven. There are too many better choices available IMhO. But hey! I'm conservative.
Gary

quote:

It might work for you with super tough bullets, and probably will nearly every time if the placement is fine. But are you experimenting or taking game cleanly? My advice is to take something tried, time tested and proven. There are too many better choices available IMhO. But hey! I'm conservative.

160 grainers @ 2700 fps is not "magnum" velocity but is high sd. woodleigh and lapua bullets would be perfect no?

quote:

Originally posted by TSJ:
Look at an oryx or kudu front on, neither is a very thick animal from side to side.
I shot a kudu on the shoulder with an 8x68 that got back up and ran, does that mean it's no good for kudu? no, it means I had a fluky bullet reaction.
I chuckle whenever I read about how tough kudu and oryx are as I look at the photo's of my farmer friends grandson in Namibia. Picture after picture of him with hartebeast, kudu, oryx and even eland cows all 1 shot kills with a ...... .223!

TSJ,

Were they headshot? From a vehicle with a bipod or sandbags?

My friends in Namibia cull Red Hartebeast etc in that fashion with a 243........good on them

Not the same sort of conditions LHO will be up against.

Welcome onbord LHO.
Lots of good advice here already by people who really know hunting in Southern Africa.

What was paramount for me on my first and only trip so far, was to make sure that my hard earned money and the little time I had aviable, would come to good use.

That ment choosing a caliber/rifle combo that dind´t handicap me when the "one and only chance" came in the bushveld.
My pick of my trusty M70 in 375H&H was perhaps a bit on the heavy side for plains game, but it didn´t let me down

Next year my 338 Winmag wil hopefully sing in the Limpopo bushveld

Here at home I have plenty time for hunting, and can pick and choose from from my gun cabinet.
Not so on a Safari. When one is there and the clock is tickin the hours away, one has to make good with the rifle at hand.

Its your call, and if you are comfortable with your choice of rifle, I can only whish you a splended trip...it´s well worth the time and savings

quote:

Were they headshot? From a vehicle with a bipod or sandbags?

Nope, a few were neck shot, but mostly high lung shots. The pixs usually had a little dribble comeing out of the entrance hole,and gobs of bloody froth from the mouth. He just sits in the brush by a worn crossing, or waterhole, usually a 30-50 yd shot.

quote:

Originally posted by TSJ:

quote:

Were they headshot? From a vehicle with a bipod or sandbags?

Nope, a few were neck shot, but mostly high lung shots. The pixs usually had a little dribble comeing out of the entrance hole,and gobs of bloody froth from the mouth. He just sits in the brush by a worn crossing, or waterhole, usually a 30-50 yd shot.

Bloody hell and we have trouble dropping big red 'roos with high lung shots from 224 centerfires

He's not using a R4 or R6 on full auto with AP ammo, is he?

Be sure the caliber is legal for the bigger plains game. I think it's on the "light" side but shot-placement will get the job done.