I am planning my for my hunt in two years, and I will most likely be taking my father and we will hunt with HHK safaris. I will be hunting Buff, hopefully a cow elephant, and plains game. He will be going after leopard, sable and plains game.

Question:

My father is getting older, and he is starting to get a little more recoil sensitive. He currently shoots a .300 Win mag and a .340 Weatherby. Would a .300 Win Mag work for leopard, or should he take the .340 Weatherby. The problem with the .340 is that it is ported which would piss the PH's off. Would it be better to put on a thread protector and use the .340 or is the .300 ok??? Or should I buy him a specific caliber??

Thanks for the help.

A .300 Win. Mag. is more than enough for leopard. It would do nicely for the sable and plains game, too.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
A .300 Win. Mag. is more than enough for leopard. It would do nicely for the sable and plains game, too.

Would you bump up to a 200 Grain Bullet or would a 180 Grainer be OK.

The 300 WM will work for everything he is after. I would go for a 200 grain bullet in the 300 WM.

I would get rid of the 340 Weatherby and never look back.

In fact, you could sell both the 340 Weatherby and the 300 Win Mag and then buy him a really nice 30-06. Load the 30-06 with 180 grain Nosler Partions (or Northforks, Swifts, etc., etc.) and it will do everything you need it to do on your safari.

Tim

What Shumba said............

And if not just keep he .300 it's a great round as well.

There is no need for a .340 Weatherby in the area you will hunt.

I should first admit that I don't own a .300 Mag. I have a .30-40 Krag, a .30-06 and a .308 Win. My next step up is a .338 Win. Mag.

And I should add that I think Shumba is right. There really isn't much an '06 won't do. That's why I don't own a .300 Mag.!

But I don't mean to suggest that the .300 Win. Mag. isn't a fine cartridge. It surely is.

If I were your dad, I'd go with a premium 180 grain bullet, say the Nosler Partition or the Swift A-Frame or the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw or the Barnes TSX. Any of those would be perfect, IMO. I'd just use whatever shot best in my rifle.

If you can't iron-out any leopard in Africa with a 30-06 or 300 Win. Mag. and kill him dead on the spot with any good, premium 180 gr. bullet, you're not going to be able to collect him with anything else......

AD

Thanks for the Help....

One More Question: What Scope Recomendation for Power. He currently has a Leupold 4.5x14x40mm on it. He took it to RSA for plains game and it worked great...Is this to much magnification?? or what would you guys recommend. I don't know much about Leopard hunting such as normal shot distance and conditions.

Since you have a 300 WM I'd use it, but with 180gr premium bullets. A nosler or woodleigh will answer your needs very nicely. Cats are not tough and the distances are not long. Take something you are very good with and very comfortable shooting. And practice a lot with the rifle you are taking and a 22lr that has sights similar to your hunting rifle. Shooting shilouettes is the best practice there is. Kudude

SB you can use the 14 power at last light. The leopard may look like just a gray blob. I had to turn my Leupold 50 mm LPS up to 14 to find all the landmarks to figure out where to shoot at the absolute last bit of shooting light. Then turned it back down to about 7 for the shot. The 300 wm is plenty, plenty, of juice for a spotted cat. I would use a Nosler partition for the cat. It will splatter inside the thing and the back half will follow through. If Pop will just put that first bullet where it belongs, it will be in the salt. Good hunting.

I have not been leopard hunting but from what most PH's have told me a illuminated reticle is a big asset.

The PH I had on my hunt this year is a well known cat guide as is his friend Anderw Dawson. He recomends the 30mm European scopes like Zeiss, Schmidt&Bender and Swarovski in 1.5to6x42, 2.5to10x50 and 3to12x40 power.
I found the S&B 1.5-6X42 MAGNUM EYE RELIEF Illuminated scope great for this.

quote:

Originally posted by Shumba:
The 300 WM will work for everything he is after. I would go for a 200 grain bullet in the 300 WM.

I would get rid of the 340 Weatherby and never look back.

In fact, you could sell both the 340 Weatherby and the 300 Win Mag and then buy him a really nice 30-06. Load the 30-06 with 180 grain Nosler Partions (or Northforks, Swifts, etc., etc.) and it will do everything you need it to do on your safari.

Tim

I have to agree 100%. You sure got it right

quote:

Originally posted by Shumba:
The 300 WM will work for everything he is after. I would go for a 200 grain bullet in the 300 WM.

I would get rid of the 340 Weatherby and never look back.

In fact, you could sell both the 340 Weatherby and the 300 Win Mag and then buy him a really nice 30-06. Load the 30-06 with 180 grain Nosler Partions (or Northforks, Swifts, etc., etc.) and it will do everything you need it to do on your safari.

Tim

Sierrabravo45

This is very good advice.

Brad

sierrabravo45

I personally think that the 4.5 X 14 is too high on the low end. My own choice would be 2.5 X 8 VXIII. As already discussed, either the .300 WM or a new .30-06 is the way to go

Rich Elliott

I'd say, if he is getting recoil shy, then I'd get rid of both magnums, and buy a quality 30-06, use a 180 gr Nosler Partition, under a 2.5-8X40 Illuminated reticle Luepold scope. Practice shooting at a 2" spot on a target at 40 yds, in low light, for the leopard. My opinion only!

quote:

Originally posted by Shumba:
The 300 WM will work for everything he is after. I would go for a 200 grain bullet in the 300 WM.

I would get rid of the 340 Weatherby and never look back.

In fact, you could sell both the 340 Weatherby and the 300 Win Mag and then buy him a really nice 30-06. Load the 30-06 with 180 grain Nosler Partions (or Northforks, Swifts, etc., etc.) and it will do everything you need it to do on your safari.

Tim

Why sell the 300WM if he already owns it and is confortable with it? Was it Capstick that said anything a 20 guage can do a 12 can so better? I would say the same analogy is true here, anything the 06 can do, the 300WM can do better!

I built a pair of the .300 Win Mags for Africa last year and hunting all over. Here are the specs.

Winchester Model 70 Classic CRF SS in .300 Win

McMillan Stock

Triggers tuned to 3.5 pounds

Leupold Dual Dovetail Bases taken out to 8-40 screws

Leupold Dual Dovetail Rings

Leupold 4.5x14x40mm Scopes

(I am going to rebarrel both with Lilja Barrels, and then have a solid matte finish put on both.) They shoot well now 3/4 at 100, but I would like better.

The .300's are light, handy and don't kick all that much. I have a -06 that I love, but these guns worked great. Shoot I killed 11 animals with 12 shots, the Kudu took 2 through the boiler room before he went down....I was mad.

I have an extra Leupold 4.5x14x50 illuminated reticle. I might put this on for him and he can start practicing. Thanks for the help.

Don't bad mouth the .340 so far its taken:

2 Shiras Moose
4 Elk (2 bulls and two cows)
1 Black Bear
1 Kodiak Bear
A couple of Coyotes
A few deer also...
A Raccoon...Used the .250 Grain Noslers...Better Penetration.

Its loud, but he and I always slip on ears before shooting, actually he wears the Pro Ears all the time since he has hearing aids. The gun works well, plus it was in the first few made in the USA it wasn't a Japan one. Yes other guns could have taken that game, but the feel of the rifle is nice, I'm not going to stop borrowing it..

There is a notion with many first-time African hunters that all African game is so very tough that just about anything short of a 300 gr. bullet out of a 375 H&H just sort of bounces off or otherwise fails, and Elmer Keith used to perpetuate this bull$hit in some of his 'Guns & Ammo' articles, plus others. And a lot of guys took that sauce seriously, then handicapped themselves with plainsgame and leopard rifles that they were afraid of, and that they didn't shoot all that well.

In reality, a good 30-06 load with premium 180s, or else some sort of a 300 magnum, 7mm magnum, or 338 with well-selected bullets is good for at least 90% of all African big game, and most guys will shoot them better than they will the bigger cartridges.

I've used the 300 Win. Mag. for 73 species of big game in Africa, always with premium 180 gr. bullets, and if it's not big enough for everything short of Cape buffalo, hippo, etc. -- the big stuff that can fight back -- I have failed to see it.........

AD

Allen Day:

You wrote: "If you can't iron out a leopard with a 30-06...etc".

I am a "one trip" hunter to Africa (for buff) and I was so happy to see you write that. I go back far enough as a reader of Field & Stream aqnd Outdoor Life as to remember when a big argument years ago (to sell magazines) was whether the 30-06 or the 270 Win. was better on Alaskan brown bear.(Younger generations raised on "Mags" may hardly be able to believe this!) (The 300 H&H.Mag which was around as was the 375 H&H then barely weighed in) I discussed the question of leopard calibers with my PH. ( did not want to shoot a leopard. So sue me!) He acknowledged that my own favorite caliber in the US (the 7mm Mauser) redaily killed leopard. So why the hype to use calibers that would zip through a leopard in my view? He couldn't say. Of course, a leopard is extremely dangerous when wounded -but doesn't that say more about marksmanship - and the need to practice? (BTW, aren't most leopards shot from a stand where a "client" can rest the rifle on something? I mean that the client simply has to be very still and shoot a rifle through a fixed sight picture. I don't mind "clients" wanting to make the shooting of an animal that never would weigh even 200 lbs look like they had stopped a charging elephant (so they needed a real cannon)but to some of us North American shooters it does begin to look a little ridiculous - and, yes, I fully agree that big animals in Africa shopuld be shot at with as big a rifle as can be handled - but, c'mon! We have hunters in the US who routinely knock off 500 lb black bears with a 30-30 or 35 Rem. I'll even bet that we have Eskimo hunters in our Arctic who routinely shoot one ton walruses and half ton polar bears with weapons far lighter than what I have read about on this site to shoot a really not very large animal. (and before I hear any war stories about wounded leopards, I hasten to say that I would want a shotgun or a Colt Python, 357 Mag at close quarters with a leopard! But that's a matter of marksmanship in the first place - and marksmanship does depend, doesn't it, on being comfortable with shooting a rifle - and not a cannon. Just my thoughts)

What about a 45-70?

Again -the devil made me do it.

This is going to get me in trouble one of these days...