I hunt with a S&W 629 Classic in .44 mag and I typically use 300 gr. Federal CastCore ammo, and I like to keep shots under 75 yards. Do you guys feel this load is capable of CLEANLY and EFFECTIVELY taking both American Bison and Asian Water Buffalo? (I'm referring to chest shots on mature bulls over 2,000 lbs)

I am very interested in your opinions on the subject.....

no comment on the bullet choice as i have never heard of it.
but if you can get good placement and the bullet will penetrate the 44 should do fine.
i have seen 2-1/2 yo's taken with the 6.8 spc.

Why a chest shot? These large animals don't succumb to shock from a handgun very quickly...you will empty your gun before they fall over. Take the "behind the ear" shot and it's all over in a few seconds instead of 10 minutes. That's what I call clean and effective. Body shot's with the 44...regardless what your using won't be a quick kill...plan on following the buffalo around for awhile...even after you shoot his heart in half.

quote:

Originally posted by Eland Slayer:
I hunt with a S&W 629 Classic in .44 mag and I typically use 300 gr. Federal CastCore ammo, and I like to keep shots under 75 yards. Do you guys feel this load is capable of CLEANLY and EFFECTIVELY taking both American Bison and Asian Water Buffalo? (I'm referring to chest shots on mature bulls over 2,000 lbs)

I am very interested in your opinions on the subject.....

My plan is to try and take a cape buffalo with a Ruger Super Redhawk in .480 Ruger using 400 gr. solids. I mentioned this to my taxidermist, who has been over to Africa around a dozen times, and he indicated that I should have no problem taking one with it. I don't expect the critter to fall in its tracks, but I do expect adequate penetration with that setup to hit and damage the vitals.

quote:

My plan is to try and take a cape buffalo with a Ruger Super Redhawk in .480 Ruger using 400 gr. solids. I mentioned this to my taxidermist, who has been over to Africa around a dozen times, and he indicated that I should have no problem taking one with it. I don't expect the critter to fall in its tracks, but I do expect adequate penetration with that setup to hit and damage the vitals.

Certainly a 400gr bullet at 1200-1300fps should do well on a Cape Buff -- The shock value, however, is somewhat limited and you'll want to be very careful with shot placement, there's little room for error with any handgun hunting of Cape Buff - and it gets exponentially harder with the slower bullet speeds you'll have with a revolver.

A small miss will inevitably result in a very mad Buff, full of adrenaline, and resistant to practically anything you throw at him after that point. But, of course, that's what hunting the Cape Buff is all about.

Have you cronographed that load from your gun?

I have used the 250 grain Castcore in the 41 mag and I got 1050 fps from my 4" Taurus Titanium.

I shot a moose at around 80 yards right in the ball joint of the shoulder with it. The bullet made it to the opposite side of the joint and dislocated the shoulder. The bullet did not go farther than that. The ball joint of the a mooses shoulder is about the size of soft ball. Good peformance but certainly not buffalo shooting performance.

I would expect that if the 300 grain 44 mag load does 1100+ that it would be a whole level higher peformance than my 41 load was. I would expect it to do damage beyond a ball joint.

A 44 mag 320+ at 1200 would be what I would look for for shooting buffalo.

my 293 grain 41 mags at 1275 (Ruger Blackhawk 4-5/8") would go right through 8" bone in a mooses head.

i have taken many water buffalo with my 44 magnum sw629 6 inch barrel use solids and mantain your shot at less than 25 mts .I took a lot of clients to hunt buffalos with revolvers always have great succes the best the 500 sw .

Like Juan said....Shots less than 25 meters. Beyond that, you're giving up too much, and showing less respect for the animal than it deserves. I've hunted dangerous game with a handgun. (14" .375 JDJ Contender). When we do this kind of stuff...we accept the limitations and the possibility of not getting a sufficiently "ideal" set-up to take a shot.

quote:

Originally posted by Ske1eter:

quote:

Originally posted by Eland Slayer:
I hunt with a S&W 629 Classic in .44 mag and I typically use 300 gr. Federal CastCore ammo, and I like to keep shots under 75 yards. Do you guys feel this load is capable of CLEANLY and EFFECTIVELY taking both American Bison and Asian Water Buffalo? (I'm referring to chest shots on mature bulls over 2,000 lbs)

I am very interested in your opinions on the subject.....

My plan is to try and take a cape buffalo with a Ruger Super Redhawk in .480 Ruger using 400 gr. solids. I mentioned this to my taxidermist, who has been over to Africa around a dozen times, and he indicated that I should have no problem taking one with it. I don't expect the critter to fall in its tracks, but I do expect adequate penetration with that setup to hit and damage the vitals.

So Cool

Wade buffalo of any kind do not fall over from a frontal chest shot from a big bore rifle, let alone a pistol. I would advise against a frontal chest shot with your .44mag pistol.

You would be much better off with a broadside presentation! I have shot only 1 bison with my model 29 with 8" barrel. The bullets were hard cast and it took 2 shots and the bull still trotted off for 40 yards. I want something larger than a .44mag next time out.

quote:

Originally posted by Blue Dog:
Wade buffalo of any kind do not fall over from a frontal chest shot from a big bore rifle, let alone a pistol. I would advise against a frontal chest shot with your .44mag pistol.

You would be much better off with a broadside presentation! I have shot only 1 bison with my model 29 with 8" barrel. The bullets were hard cast and it took 2 shots and the bull still trotted off for 40 yards. I want something larger than a .44mag next time out.

I never said anything about taking a frontal chest shot. I have no intentions of doing that with either a rifle or a handgun.....

I will more than likely just wait until I buy a .500 S&W before I start chasing Buffalo with a handgun.

quote:

Originally posted by Eland Slayer:
I will more than likely just wait until I buy a .500 S&W before I start chasing Buffalo with a handgun.

There are plenty of other options that are viable for buffalo that you can explore. The .475 LInebaugh is one game-getting SOB to consider. Just throwing that out there.......

I brained one with a 45 auto at 35 yards. It was stone dead instantly. I have also killed them with a variety of other guns including 500 S & W's with 465 gr. hardcast gas checked slugs. When a chest shot is taken it takes a while for them to bleed enough to go down. Keep shooting!

Blake

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Originally posted by Whitworth:

quote:

Originally posted by Eland Slayer:
I will more than likely just wait until I buy a .500 S&W before I start chasing Buffalo with a handgun.

There are plenty of other options that are viable for buffalo that you can explore. The .475 LInebaugh is one game-getting SOB to consider. Just throwing that out there.......

I'm sure there are other good options.....but I will probably just end up going with the 500 S&W since I do not handload.

The .475 is not a handload only proposition -- not any more so than the .500 Smith. There are a number of manufacturers of quality .475 ammo including Hornady. The advantage you have over the .500 Smith is that you will not have the shear bulk of the revolver to deal with. A .475 is in the same realm as the .44 from a size standpoint. Food for thought -- though it seems you've made up your mind.

I have shot exactly one bison with a .44 magnum pistol. I used Hornady 300 grain XTP bullets. The bison was broadside at 60 yards. As the first bullet ripped through his lungs he just stood there and started pissing. The next five found their mark as well. After the sixth shot landed he fell over. A couple of the bullets had complete penetration and the rest were found on the offside hide.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodrow S:
Why a chest shot? These large animals don't succumb to shock from a handgun very quickly...you will empty your gun before they fall over. Take the "behind the ear" shot and it's all over in a few seconds instead of 10 minutes. That's what I call clean and effective. Body shot's with the 44...regardless what your using won't be a quick kill...plan on following the buffalo around for awhile...even after you shoot his heart in half.

I don't know how many bison, water buffalo, or Cape buffalo you've shot, but based on my own experiences, blanket statements like this are simply not true.
Personally, I prefer to use a .475 Linebaugh or .500 Wyoming Express, rather than a .44 Magnum, but if that's what I had, I'd use it. A bunch of bison and buffalo have certainly been taken with that cartridge by experienced hunters.
In my own case, although I've used other cartridges, all my buffalo or hollow horned ruminants have been taken with heart / lung shots.

Bison bull .500 WE, 350 XTP @ 1350 fps,1 shot, 55 yds:


Himalayan Yak .45-70, 400 gr. SP @ 1110 fps 1 shot 40 yds.:


Bison bull .500WE 350 XTP @ 1350 fps 2 shots 35-40 yds.:


Bison .475 Linebaugh 400 XTP @ 1375 fps. 1 shot 76 yds.


Argentine water buffalo bull .475 Linebaugh 85-25 yds. 400 gr. XTP, 420 WFN 2 shots each.


Australian water buffalo bull, .375 JDJ, 270 Horn spire @ 1900 fps, 35 yds. 2 shots.:


Actually, the 2 buffalo I've shot that travelled the farthest were shot with the most powerful gun, a Rem. 700 in .416 Rem. Mag. 400 gr. softnose @ 2265 fps. These were cape buffalo, with their photos shown below at the end of this post. Each travelled about 100 yds and each died after the first shot. One waited, watching his back trail, but died before we got to him. I was hunting in Tanzania where handgun hunting was not permitted.

Every hunt and every animal can be different, and I dislike blanket or absolute statements.
Lynn Thompson has killed a number of Australian water buffalo using a .44 Magnum, some with head shots, some not. Personally, I'm a heart / lung man, and dislike head, brain and neck shots. But that's me. As with all hunting, it's always most important to shoot well, regardless of the gun being used.

Excellent Photos Ken! I am sure each has a tremendous story with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Blue Dog:
Wade buffalo of any kind do not fall over from a frontal chest shot from a big bore rifle, let alone a pistol. I would advise against a frontal chest shot with your .44mag pistol.

You would be much better off with a broadside presentation! I have shot only 1 bison with my model 29 with 8" barrel. The bullets were hard cast and it took 2 shots and the bull still trotted off for 40 yards. I want something larger than a .44mag next time out.

I've never experienced a problem with a chest on a big animal when useing a hundgun with a proper load

The Moose and bear on the left were were body shot with a 475L and a 390 grain LFN hard cast at 1350 FPS and they went down rather quickly when hit



This Bull was taken with 1 shot through the heart with a 525 grain WLFN from a 500L at 1100 FPS and he went down rATHER QUICKLY ALSO




This Asian Buffulo was shot with a 500 JRH with a 425 grain flat point hard cast at 1380 FPS and the bullet broke the onside support bone in the shoulder and exited the animal through the offside shoulder. The imediate follow up shot was with a 475L with a 420 grain LFN at 1380 FPS that broke the offside support bone and exited. With no front legs to support the wieght a big thud was heard

quote:

Originally posted by Eland Slayer:

quote:

Originally posted by Blue Dog:
Wade buffalo of any kind do not fall over from a frontal chest shot from a big bore rifle, let alone a pistol. I would advise against a frontal chest shot with your .44mag pistol.

You would be much better off with a broadside presentation! I have shot only 1 bison with my model 29 with 8" barrel. The bullets were hard cast and it took 2 shots and the bull still trotted off for 40 yards. I want something larger than a .44mag next time out.

I never said anything about taking a frontal chest shot. I have no intentions of doing that with either a rifle or a handgun.....

I'd take a frontal chestshot with a 475L, 500 L or JRH or a riflein a heart beat

you're really just fine using a .44 mag, though i'd use some of double tap or grizzly ammo through your gun, heck, use the punch bullet from the .44 and you'll have dead buff all around you.

watch the lynn thompson handgun hunting down under video and he used 300 grain xtp's at 1100 fps and had NOOOO problem putting them down. he does shoot great and i bet you're shooting that .44 great as well so you should have no probs.

i've killed a number of big buff with my 454 and some with loads that are not any hotter than warm 44 mag loads

tradmark, PM sent.....

Very cool, Kenoneill.

I hope to be able to only shoot one cape buffalo with my SRH .480 Ruger in a few years w/ a 400 gr. solid.

Thanks for the insight.