Fellow members of the DRSS, I would never take a bolt rifle to Africa....
But my Bolt Rifle Trash Wife did. Here are the results.

We have shot a lot of game over the years with a 308. It is one of my favorite calibers.

For the past several years our favorite load has been Federal factory 165 gr Trophy Bonded Bearclaws.

My wife took a Blaser R 93 in 308.
A few days before we left I checked the zero on her rifle shooting with Evans 470.

I also shot some of the new Barnes 180gr MRX bullet.
I got a few boxes of these from Aleko at Heritage Arms when I was in Salt Lake City.

To my suprise they shot to point of aim at 100 yards [same as the TB] and made a very small group. So I took 40 of them to Africa with 100 rounds of the 165 TB.

Since we had already taken animals in NA with the TB I loaded the Barnes for the wife to use when we were in the DEKA.

She shot 2 kudu bull. The first at about 80 yards, mostly broad side. It ran about 30/40 yards and was down and dead.

She shot the second at about 45 yards almost broadside. At the shot it turned and ran right by us, I could see blood pouring out the exit. it stopped about 35 yards away behing some brush. She fired another shot which cut down a branch, never touching the kudu. He did not move. She worked the bolt and fired again hitting a branch, deflecting the bullet but it struck the kudu in the spine, hitting perfectly sideways, knocking him down. He was dead when we ran to him.

One MRX was recovered from the first kudu. It weighs 167.6 grains. One petal broke off. The mushroom is @ .631x.525.

A few hours later I shot a bush buck at about 100 yards. I hit him in the front of the shoulder. On the video you can see his back legs come off the ground first, then he goes straight down, DRT.

Later that day she shoots a giraffe, missing the brain, he runs I put in a couple of 450.400 solids, stopping him in his tracks, but he is still standing, she brains him from about 6 or 7 yards.

Later that night I shoot a Hyena at about 42 yards with a 165 TB. I hit the front of the shoulder, he is quartering toward me, the bullet exits a few inches behind the off shoulder, he goes right down, DRT.

We move to the SAVE.
With the 165 TB She shoots a widlebeest in the right fr=ont shoulder at about 120 yards.

He runs a short distance, she shoots again, quarting steeply away hitting about mid body.
He moves foward a short distance, she closes and from about 60 yards shoots him in the shnoulder knocking him down.

A few days later she shoots a zebra again with the 165 TB load. She hits him just behind the right shoulder at 60 yards. He goes 40 yards, her second shot hits just behind the left shoulder, he goes down.
First shot was a pass through.

I shot a honey badger at about 50 yards behind the shoulder with the 165 TB. He goes right down.

I was very impressed with the performance of the 308, especially on the kudu, wildbeest, and the zebra.

Also I was tickled that the hyena, bush buck and the honey badger did not take a step after being hit.

The Blaser R 93 performed perfectly. We used 2 different scopes, changing them out as the need occured. When hunting at night I installed my special low light scope, that is just too big for normal use on the little Blaser 308.

I used the big scope on the hyena and honey badger as well as in the leopard blind.

Baised in my wifes results I would not hisitate to recommend the 308 and those bullets on this type of game.

I think the 308 Winchester is probably the most unde-rated cartridge for big game hunting.

I load solid for a friend living in Africa, and he uses it to shoot all sort of animals - including buffalo.

He is a great advocate of nick shots, and that is how he clobbers them.

I used a 308 WCF for most of my early hunting years. It always did the job for me (couple moose, a couple bear, a few deer, lots of 'yotes), and is still one of my favorite cartridges.

Thanks for the great reports!

Cheers,
Canuck

The .308 has always been popular in SA for all game from springbok to kudu/Wildebeest.

I have used a Miroku levergun (BLR copy) for few impala and wathogs and a Rem mod 7 for two kudu and two springbuck. 165gr partition went into young kudu bull in front of the hip and exited the off side shoulder......

In bullet weights up to 180gr there no real major perfomance difference between it and the 30-06, IMO.

My daughter used her .308 for plainsgame on most recent hunt in Zim. Everyting was a 1 shot kill including wildebeest. I was impressed with the 165 TBBC.