Saeed,

I see you will be shooting the Walterhog monolithic HP.

I measured the depth of the 458 caliber Barnes X HP and it was 1/4 inch diameter and 1/2 inch deep.

What are you using for your 375 Walterhog???

Also, did you anneal the bullet or leave it work hardened like the Barnes X?

I am also curious how fast you are shooting them this year?

Best of luck to you all.

Andy

We increased both the size and depth of the HP in our bullets for this year.

The depth is 0.550"
The opening of the HP is flared slightly - 0.150" at the nose, and 0.125" for the rest of the cavity.

Velocity for this year's load is 2790 fps.

We did not anneal the bullets, and had them tested for hardness. It seems they have increased in hardness over normal copper by 6%.

Hopefully we will be able to recover more this year than we did last year.

Saeed,

When you return home, you may want to experiment with annealing those Walterhog bullets.

Then you would have the best monoilithic HP in the world!

Annealing would make the copper more ductile so the X petals bend backwards rather than fracturing like the Barnes X does.

I wanted to try this with the 450 gr Barnes X in my 450 Dakota but it fouls my barrel so badly, I cant bring myself to try it.

Maybe you could let Walter drop the hot bullets into the water bucket for you!

Good hunting.

Andy

I have just gotten off the phone with Saeed. It is about 10:30 PM local time, and they have just finished dinner after their first day of hunting. Here are the hi-lights:

• Everyone arrived safely in Dar Es Sallam yesterday. Nothing eventful to report, other than the security prior to boarding their charter flight. Everyone was scanned from top to bottom, and pockets were checked, etc, and then sent with their rifles and ammo to board their plane!
• The first day of hunting went very well. The grass is tall, thick and green, but they have tried to start some burning. They hunted buffalo mainly, walking approx 10 to 15 kms and getting very close to some buff (10 yards!), but unable to see them due to the grass. Todd managed to shoot one buffalo today.
  
  
• Saeed managed to test out the new Walterhog design on two Wildebeeste. He shot one in the backside and the bullet penetrated through the animal, coming out the neck, then re-entering the head under the chin, finally exiting through the top of the nose. It looks as though the larger cavity has not slowed penetration much, if at all!
• Their camp is very beautiful, situated right on the river. They were listening to lions and hyenas all night, and during dinner tonite. Walter is playing around with an elephant that has been visiting his toilet, and has borrowed Saeed's rifle in case it comes back during the night!
• They also encountered a black mamba today. The crew chased it to try and get it to stand up (presumably for a photo-op?). There was some dissapointment expressed re: the PH (Pierre) as apparently he would not grab it by the tail to slow it down!

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That's it for the first day. Saeed said he will try to call daily with updates, but failing that we will connect every other day. Check here daily about this time, as I will try to post the details up as soon as I get them.



As a side note, I couldn't believe the quality of the reception. It sounded like Saeed was in the same room as me. At one point he was walking to Alan Vincent's tent to pass on a message, and I could hear his footsteps on the African soil. Maybe I have lived a somewhat sheltered life, but I have to admit I thought that was pretty cool!



Cheers friends,

Canuck

I thought they were in Tanzania?? I do not know of any Blue Wildebeest in Tanzania! Must have been introduced there

Adam, I was pretty sure I heard Saeed say Blue Wildebeeste at first and didn't question it myself until later. It very well could have been my own mind playing tricks on me (I was pretty excited to be talking to someone in Tanzania - its the closest I've been to being there myself!)! Saeed mostly just referred to them as Wildebeeste, so I can only presume we are talking about White Bearded or Nyasaland or some such variety!

To be safe, I'll change it to just read Wildebeeste!!

Thanks!
Canuck

Say, Canuck,

Can you start a new sticky thread for Saeed's reports? We're on the fourth page of this thread and the first report just came in.

George

George, I wanted to do that, but unfortunately I can only do it on forums I am listed as a moderator for!

Cheers,
Canuck

Canuck, Just giving you a hard time. it is the Nyasaland Wildebeeest that they are shooting.

Hey George,

I'll start an new thread and send a PM to Don to make it sticky (and unstick the original to avoid confusion).

Cheers,
Canuck