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I’m planing a Nilgai hunt for early 2021,and was looking for caliber a recommendation. Most outfitters have a 300 caliber minimum. First, is a 300 mag, shooting a 180 gr premium bullet enough gun, or would a 200 grain premium be a better choice? I’ve also been looking into a 338-06, or 35 Whelen....... would that be a viable option? Or should I just use a 338 mag, and call it good? All would be shooting handloads. A 300 would be the most versatile (for me), but a 338-06 seems to be where my heart is leading. Opinions would be very appreciated. Thank you. | ||
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I’ve never hunted Nilgai, so my opinion probably isn’t worth the time it‘ll take you to read this, and I’d listen to someone who has actually hunted them. But, I see no one has answered your query, so for what it’s worth, here’s my thinking. If I ever get the chance to hunt one of these magnificnet animals, I plan to take my 35 Whelen. I also think a 338 ‘something’ would be fine too, but I’d probably use a premium 250 gr. bullet on any of these choices. From what I READ about the Nilgai, he is apparently tenacious of life and deserves as quick a death as a hunter can provide, as do all animals. I am partial to the 35 Whelen, and I like how animals most often die on the spot where they stand when hit with this round. There are many other choices just as good I’m sure. Just my 2 cents. Good luck on your hunt, and welcome to the forum! | |||
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I don't pretend to be anywhere as knowledgeable as others here BUT to me, it comes down to expected range. I have proven to myself that appropriate bullets in either .35whelen or 9.3X62 will shoot clear through good sized animals out to 250yds and not require holdover. I don't know how far off your Nilgai will be. | |||
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I'm a firm believer that one should match their skills and the accuracy of their rifle to the task no matter what they intend to shoot. An '06 shooting 180 grain Partitions would do just fine for Nilgai if you can make a perfect shot at the base of the head through the spine. It's not all about the caliber. Shoot lots to get used to the break point of the trigger. Properly tuned smooth triggers improve groups! Life itself is a gift. Live it up if you can. | |||
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Note those huge shoulder blades. Similar to Nilgai, actually an Eland as pointed out by Hollis Perkins.  Life itself is a gift. Live it up if you can. | |||
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I've only seen one killed and that was with a .25-06 and 100 grain R-P factory loads. An elk is larger and probably a bit harder to take down. Whatever you'd feel comfortable hunting elk with will do just fine for nilgai. I'd much rather see a hunter place a 180/.30-06 in the vitals than a 270/.375 near the vitals. | |||
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Custombolt, the picture you posted is of an eland, not a nilgai. | |||
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I have a friend who has used his 338/06 with a 210 grain Partition several times on Nilgai with one shot successes. A 35 Whelen with a 225 or 250 partition would be great also. If I were to use a 300 mag, I just like the 200 grain bullets, I know most use a 180 with great sucess, but that extra 20 grains really works well. If you want a 338/06, get it! You will never be dissapointed in its performance, just a well balanced cartridge for all around NA game and is a sure killer on African PG. A 300 mag is so pedestrian(LOL) DRSS(We Band of Bubba's Div.) N.R.A (Life) T.S.R.A (Life) D.S.C. | |||
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Nice catch Hollis. I knew something wasn't quite right with those horns! I thought if the Texas ag boys didn't say anything, I just didn't know Nilgai very well. I couldn't find one If anyone has one, sure would support my point. Thanks. I stand corrected (again). The source,
Life itself is a gift. Live it up if you can. | |||
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If I ever saw a Nilgai with horns that big, I'd be #1 in the book! DRSS(We Band of Bubba's Div.) N.R.A (Life) T.S.R.A (Life) D.S.C. | |||
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The 9.3x62 has been talked about so much lately that everyone must be getting “9.3x62 fatigue”. However, a 286 grain partition through the clockworks = ... Matt FISH!! Heed the words of Winston Smith in Orwell's 1984: "Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right." | |||
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I used 300 wby with 168 gr ttsx. | |||
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I used a 7x57 with 160 nosler. It fell straight down with spine shot. As said shoot often and shoot well. Off hand and off of sticks but know that gun well. | |||
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Thank you for all the replies, and advice. Skill level & shot placement are the key in any hunting situation. One of the reasons for putting off the hunt for almost 2 years is range time. I plan on a minimum of 1500 rounds threw my new rifle before the hunt. 300 yards is myself imposed range limit on any game animal, and I’m hoping for a much closer shot. From what I have gathered, 200 yards at a spooky target is what I can expect. I will be ready. From what I understand, Nilgai are much tougher than Elk, requiring more rifle to reliably anchor them. I’ve shot Elk with a 270, but had more faith in my 300 Winchester. Elk taught me to break bone (shoulders) to anchor them before they ran into the steepest, ugliest part of the mountain. That lesson was learned the hard way. My 300 is gone,a foolish move on my part. A rifle to replace it is coming, question is.... will a 300 mag shooting a 200 grain NP reliably anchor a Nilgai bull if I do my part with good shot placement? Or would a larger caliber rifle be a better option? 338-06, 338 mag, or 375 if that’s what it takes. This is a bucket list hunt for me, and I want to stack the odds in my favor as much as possible. What do you guys think? | |||
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what else are you going after? the 375 H&H would be pretty tough to beat for covering,,,, well,,, pretty much everything 1200 lbs and down. if it was baboons or pigs,,, or buffalo? | |||
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North America is all I will hunt. I live in Colorado, so I’m sure there is an elk in my future again,and maybe a moose in Canada or Alaska. Deer, antelope, and hogs, will make up the majority of my hunting, along with a few varmits in the off season. I don’t believe a 375 will see much action. | |||
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i've used 30-06 180 Nosler Partition. Neck shot dead right there. Heart lung shot will result in a difficult tracking job. They have a very thick hide so there will be little or no blood trail unless you have two holes, even then a blood trail is iffy. King Ranch suggests a 375. Next time I'll use my 338 with 250 grain premium bullet. but I would still shoot for the spine if the shot presents. Eland is a much larger animal. "Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." Mark Twain | |||
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243 Winchester with a mono metal bullet should be minimum. I have a friend killing stags in England all his life with a 243 Winchester. | |||
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I have never taken a nilgai, but have taken zebra, wildebeest, elk, thick skinned, heavy muscled animals. I personally like the Barnes monos for this category. A 35 Whelen with 225 TSX/TTSX, 338/06 210-225, .338 210-250, any 300 mag with 180 TTSX, 30-06 with 165-180. Nosler are going to rip that nose off going through the skin, will blow some shrapnel into the lungs, all good, but the mono will cut a longer, wider hole, maybe exit. 1500 rounds is an admiral goal, however: I took a 35 Whelen Ackley Improved on my first trip to South Africa. I fireformed 100 rds, shooting from hunting positions at 100yds. I would go every Monday ( day off) and shoot 20 rds of the fireforming loads and 100 rds with a scoped, bolt action .22 magnum at a 6 inch "Shoot N See" at 100yds. when I found the load I wanted to use ( 53.5gr AA2015br 250X) I shot 10-15rds every Monday. I did that for about 2 months. I took 50 new, fireformed/loaded rounds and brought back 39. Scope a good .22lr or similar rimfire, and get after it between at least 10-15rds a week of our centerfire. Have a fun trip too! | |||
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P>S. I took 3 more trips, I shot the Whelen AI again, but with the 200X, 338WM with 200X, 340W w/210XBT, 300WM w/180XBT, .375 w/270 Failsafe. They all worked swell, but the 300WM did yeomans work for the group, and that 180xbt shot very flat, which came in great over in Namibia's sand dunes! If you want a "pleasurable rifle", one that you will use later on, a good 35 Whelen will be lightweight, handy, deadly and will run right with a 300WM way out there if you use the 180TTSX in the Whelen. Next choice, a sporter weight 300WM (or 300WSM) then a sporter weight 338WM. Depends on how much blast you want to put up with, recoil ( more noise if you go with a brake on the magnums) Let us know what you picked "for you", what you wanted to use. | |||
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I was going to say early on the 35 Whelen and 9.3X62 were good calibers to use. An H&H would be good too, 375. Packy | |||
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I used a .405 WCF on both my Nilgai. Plenty big medicine for Nilgai with factory 300 grain ammo. One at less than 50 yards, and the other less than 20 yards; both hunted in heavy cover. They both were good eating. NRA Life Benefactor Member, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center,Android Reloading Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/ | |||
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As many have said, lots of stuff will work with the majority being from 30-35 caliber. You should use what YOU will feel confident with. From everything you have said, you seem to be leaning towards a 338 or so. So take your 338 with a premium bullet between 210-250 grains and have fun. Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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I've shot piles of them with a 308 and 180gr TSX's and a 7x57 with 140 and 160gr TSX. Never lost a one or had more than a 40 yd tracking job. They are not hard to kill. They tend to not externally bleed much, there in lies the problem. They are big'ish and people shoot at them running a lot. That has led to their reputation as being tough/hard to kill. I killed a 300lb cow with a 22-6mm using a 70gr TSX. Double lunged her, she went about 40 yds. Perry | |||
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Have used a .338-06 and .35 Whelen on elk and liked real good. In fact I have three .338-06 and two .35 Whelens and just seem to use the .338 with 210 TSX and .225 TSX in the Whelen. Both work good. Have cowboy friends working cattle on day and ran a Nilgi down finally, loaded it in a trailer and ear tagged him. Seemed they did not know what to do then. After confering with the rancher, they moved it to another pasture and turned it loose. These are cowboys who saddle a horse every day to go to work They showed me pictures taken. One of the days I could not go with them. That's life!!! | |||
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Anecdotes get passed around and grow into "conventional wisdoms". Fundamentally, if the animal is a herbivore its difficulty to kill is directly proportional to its size. Nilgai probably average less difficult than elk although the circumstances in which they are hunted may give the impression that they are "harder to kill".
An elk, deer, or just about other four-legged creature can run nearly as far and as fast with one front leg shot completely off. "Breaking the bone" doesn't do much to disable an elk -- it's the vitals underneath the bone which the bullet (and sometimes the bone fragments) destroy that will result in a dead animal. I'm not arguing against a more powerful rifle -- a .338 would be an excellent choice. But I wouldn't hesitate to hunt nilgai with a .308, either. By the way, if you fire 1500 practice rounds through your hunting rifle you're probably going to need a new barrel before your hunt. | |||
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If you shoot them thorough the shoulder blades, you will spine hem. The shoulder blades do not cover the heart. Part of the shoulder blade can cover part of the lung. | |||
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since it would be a one off Texas type hunt then elk and smaller were on the menu from then on a 300 win or 338 win would be a good choice. if you can shoot them well. some can't. I'd be more comfortable with my 0-6 and using a tougher bullet weighing 165 or 180grs. if I wanted something bigger then an 8mm-06, 336-06 or the mentioned above 35 whelen would be good choices. | |||
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Well..... I’m hearing both sides of the coin. Smaller is adequate, but bigger is better. This will be a one time hunt for me, next out of state hunt will be either whitetail, or black bear. Hard to justify a new rifle in 300 or larger, brass, dies, for a one time hunt. Sounds to me that after shot placement, penetration is the most important issue. With that being said,sounds like a 30-06, with a good monobullet, will do all that is needed. Less recoil, smaller package, and better suited to my other planned hunts. Does this sound reasonable? | |||
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I think your own words sums it up pretty well. Overkill is not a sin, but underpowered can be. | |||
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I killed mine with a 300 Win Mag and a 165gr Hornady Interbond.One shot drop and complete pass through | |||
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This is where this outfitter likes to shoot them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=509Oq7FuEIc | |||
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No real experience with Nilgai, but I would think quite a bit otherwise. As I see it, the magnum .30’s get you range, not more killing power, so I see no need to move up to a .300 over a .30-06 or .308 providing you are using good heavier bullets. 180 A frames I have yet to recover a bullet from a .30-06, .300 win mag, or .300 RUM. Nilgai have a reputation of soaking up hits, but I think it’s more a matter of the target landmarks being a little different, a bit different shooting situations, and game that is a bit more wary than what folks are used to (longer shots, moving animals, time pressure to shoot) For North America, if you feel the need for a bigger gun, a .338 of some stripe or a .35 whelen or .350 rem mag are all options. Personally, the biggest animals I have shot in North America (brown bear and moose) I shot with a .330 Dakota (roughly a .340 weatherby) so there isn’t much need for bigger bores here. Unless you want a bigger gun, you will be fine without it. | |||
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Looking back at my nilgai loads, they are the 168gr TSX in a 308, not 180 as I stated earlier. Biggest bull I have shot, body wise, was around 600 lbs. That's a huge nilgai. He was quartering to me at 100 yards. The bullet entered between his neck and shoulder, took out all the vitals and was lodged in the front of off side ham. Nearly 3' of penetration. Bull only went 30 yards. Perry | |||
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35 Whelen with 250 gr. North Forks is a good choice. A really big bull will weigh between 6-7 hundred pounds. They are quite wary and don't stay still for a shot too long. Shots will be 50-300 yds. Most guides won't let you shoot farther than that. Also any of the others calibers mentioned above 30 cal will work with proper shot placement. I prefer a heavy constructed bullet to one that will blow up near the surface. 250 -300 gr. premium bullets will do the job. Practice, practice and more practice. Good Hunting Tetonka DRSS | |||
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Yep.
Life itself is a gift. Live it up if you can. | |||
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A 30-06 with either the 168 or 180TTSX will work wonderfully for you. It will "kill like" a 300 magnum using cup n core bullets...figuratively speaking. It really becomes a hoss and one of a different color!…its not your Grandpa's 30-06 anymore when you use monos! Heck, a 150 TTSX may be the best choice! | |||
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If you can't kill a Nilgai with those above loads then your problem isn't cartridge selection. Work on good shooting and know where to shoot them and you'll be tripping over a dead one before you know it. | |||
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Thank you for your advice. I’m pretty sure a 300 win mag will be the caliber of choice. I think it will be versatile for my future hunts, and with 180 gr Swift A-frames, be all the rifle I will ever need. | |||
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Ive shot a lot of NIlgai on the King Ranch, and they are IMO the toughest of the antelope..I have seen more than a few get away after being shot properly and found a day or two later, this was by hunters who proclaimed a certain small caliber was all one needed..shots place in the spine or brain dont' count guys, and those are dangerous shots to take under the best of conditions, a one inch off the mark in the field can miss the one inch spine or shoot below the brain and break a jaw..so a proper Nilgai or even a deer rifle should be judged by a proper shoulder shot only IMO.. MY Nilgai rifles have been the 45-90 on a few and the .338 Win. and 250 gr. Nosler partitions on the rest. I wasn't particularly pleased with the 45-90 btw.. I wouldn't use less rifle for my self than a 300 magnum with 200 gr. Noslers..keep in mind a wounded Nilgai or one that gets in the thich nasty bush ends your hunt and takes your money on most ranches, not to mention you may end up the year eating frozen pot pies!  The king ranch boys hate it when someone shows up with old Betsey 30-06 or .270, they should know a thing or two..and yes I have no doubt that many Nilgai have been killed with all manor of rifles and calibers..Some folks just love to see how small a caliber they can use for bragging rights..Ive used all manor of small calibers growing up, but only because I didn't know better..Today Id rather be over gunned a little.Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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