Does anyone have a recommendation?

Currently eyeing off the boxes of 181g Brennekes I have on the shelf rather than the 180g SSTs sitting next to them. The rifle will also be pointed at baboons so I'm thinking high BC would be an advantage...

SST.....oh hell no!!

Either something like the Accubonds in the 180s or up to the 200 grain pills. The 180 grain premium bullets will do it though.

I used 160gr accubonds from a 7mm on my Kudu. Worked great. I would think 180s from a 300 would be perfect.

Kudu seems "soft" compared to other African plains game, so your bullet choice is probably not that critical. But you'll surely be shooting other, tougher game (oryx, hartebeest, or zebra for instance) on the same trip, so select a bullet which is also adequate for those. A 180 Partition or Accubond would do well, as would most other 180 grain bullets. Even a plain old WW Powerpoint or Rem Coreloct should be just fine.

I used 200 grain Swift A-Frames in a .300 H&H.....but it wasn't at all necessary as I truly suspect any jacketed 180+ grain .30 cal would have done the job.

I do like having the confidence that I bought the best I could however.....there's something to be said for that.

Brennekes have very good on game performance.

I always get confused between TIGs and TUGs, but I'm pretty sure that the 30 cals are in the slightly stronger variation.

Unless the BC is very important to you, I'd be happy with Brennekes, particularly on your primary target. A little bit of extra drop and a bit less speed would surely not prevent a baboon dying very quickly when hit with a 180 30 cal.

We shot a few kudu just fine with 180 grain Woodleigh softs out of a .300 H&H Magnum. No problems.

The Brenecke Bullets are as good as anything else coming out of North America - they will kill the Kudu, Baboon, Zebra and Wildebeest as good as any Nosler, Swift or Hornady product.

Go to the Brenecke (Europe) site and do a little research!

Google is as always your friend!

I would not pick Brenneke bullets.

In the book "Ask the Namibian Guides", at least one or two were against RWS and Brenneke type bullets.

They had experienced quite a bit of problems with those on African plains game.

Can't remember which PH said that.

Accubond would be my choice, Woodleight or Swift would be good too.

180 or 200 gr. Nosler AccuBond or Partition. I prefer the Partition. But YMMV. I really like the 180 TBBC but feel that they aren't necessary for Kudu.

I settled on the 200 gr Nosler partition many years ago and its a real killer of anything you stick it in...Even deadly on buffalo given a decent broadside shot. Its a hammer on Plainsgame including Eland, Waterbuck, Zebra and giraffe...I would not hesitate to tackle a Brown Bear with that combo in my old 300 H&H at 3020 FPS from that 26 inch barrel and some old surplus H4831, or for that matter a 30-06 with a 22 inch barrel at 2500 to 2600 FPS...

Nosler Partion or Barnes TSX - I have taken several kudu with each. both do well.

I have taken a 300 Win Mag on three trips for plains game. Once the bullet was the old 180 grain Partition Gold and the other two times were with 180 grain Barnes TSX. I can't recommend anything but these two. I've taken everything from duiker at 30 yards, up to kudu at 225 yards and even Vaal rhebok out to 429 yards with the above combinations.

Also, forgot about a blue wildebeest with a 145 grain CEB ESP Raptor at 82 yards. He made it about 30 yards before piling up.

Whatever you do, stay far far away from the SST bullets!

I have only taken one and it was with a bow in Zimbabwe. That one did not seem to be a very tough animal.
If I were hunting with a 300 win mag, I'd go with a 165 grain accu bond, if it shot well through my gun.

My wife and I took one each with my .280 Rem. using 175 gr. Swift A-frames. Perfect performance with complete pass thru's. Kudu don't seem to be near as tough as Gemsbock or Zebra.

SST is a great bullet for small to medium whitetails and is a wonderfully accurate bullet IME. But it not a kudu bullet IMO.

I second Rays choice 200gr swift worked well in my 300 win.

200grs Woodlegih 300 mag PP

M

Last year I wanted to take 200gr Woodleighs in my '06, but I could not get them to group well in my rifle. Tried partitions and Accubonds but really wasn't happy with the results. Settled on 168gr TSX and was was very pleased when the kudu dropped at the shot. I suspect the magnum would be more of the same only a little greater range.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:
I would not pick Brenneke bullets.

In the book "Ask the Namibian Guides", at least one or two were against RWS and Brenneke type bullets.

They had experienced quite a bit of problems with those on African plains game.

Can't remember which PH said that.

Accubond would be my choice, Woodleight or Swift would be good too.

The brenneke bullets have always been loaded by RWS. Both TIG and TUG are very popular on the continent and in South Africa.

Just recently Brenneke and RWS ended this long, mutual agreement.

Brenneke still market their amunition under their own name, (both TIG and TUG bullets).

RWS now load similar bullets and call them ID Classic and UNI Classic.

Both bullets are very effective on boar, but also on roe and red deer.

I have personally shot plenty of Kudu (20+) using a 7x64 Mannlicher and ammunition loaded by both Brenecke and RWS, and have never had any sort of failure.

The TOG bullets have been used successfully in Namibia

http://www.brenneke-munition.d...=16&cHash=be4eebf03f

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
SST.....oh hell no!!

A big +1......

There is only so much time on a safari. Time is a finite problem that can easily be screwed up by a bullet failure, especially when compounded with bad shooting.

RWS/Brenneke bullets wouldn't be my first choice. I had some bullet problems, and some shooting problems with a borrowed rifle in Namibia in 2005. With all the bullets like the X-bullet, Nosler Accubond, Woodleigh, Swift and others in that class I can't see the point of risking an animals life or a ton of time on a safari with an inferior bullet.

I have used the uni-classic on moose and boar. I have quite a bit of faith in it. I'd do so again, but I was hunting boar and moose in my back yard. It sounds like your experiences with African game and the Brenneke bullets is the same.

For me this is different than paying tens of thousands of dollars to risk something as simple as a bullet.

Thanks to all who've replied, interesting reading, doubt I've time to rechamber to .300H&H before the safari though

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:
There is only so much time on a safari. Time is a finite problem that can easily be screwed up by a bullet failure, especially when compounded with bad shooting.

RWS/Brenneke bullets wouldn't be my first choice. I had some bullet problems, and some shooting problems with a borrowed rifle in Namibia in 2005. With all the bullets like the X-bullet, Nosler Accubond, Woodleigh, Swift and others in that class I can't see the point of risking an animals life or a ton of time on a safari with an inferior bullet.

I have used the uni-classic on moose and boar. I have quite a bit of faith in it. I'd do so again, but I was hunting boar and moose in my back yard. It sounds like your experiences with African game and the Brenneke bullets is the same.

For me this is different than paying tens of thousands of dollars to risk something as simple as a bullet.

The rifle usually shoots RWS bullets into very small groups but sprays Noslers about as accurately as I can spit watermelon pips.
My normal load is a 201g KS which I've used on four of our deer species: sambar, red, fallow and rusa. Despite it's weight it has a poorer BC and is not listed as being as strongly constructed as the TUG/Uni Classic hence the thread.

Precisely what were your problems with a borrowed rifle in Namibia? What was the rifle chambering and what was the load?

Which caliber/weight TUG/Uni classic do you have faith in for Moose compared with the above in Namibia?

The only negative I've read on the TUG is on p230-231 in Finn Aagaards chapter "herbivorous dangerous game" in "Any shot you want", and that was with regard to the 300g out of a .375H&H on quartering buffalo. Currently blocking access to my reloading bench is my cape buff skull from last year that fell to a 350g RNSN Woodleigh - I've got the cape and skull but as for the bullet it ended up in tiny pieces similar to the description of Finn's TUG on p231.

If you've got the same book you can flick back to page 221 and find the following written by Craig Boddington:

quote:

Greater kudu, for instance, are quite soft. Even though a big bull can weigh more than 500 pounds I wouldn't hesitate on a perfect shot to tackle one with a .270 and have done so.

As far as the "softness" of kudu......while hardly an expert, as I've only got 21 head of plains game to my credit.......every kudu, hartebeest, oryx, wildebeest, etc has died quickly when the bullet is put in the right place. This toughness of African plains game seems to me to be a bit exaggerated.

quote:

Originally posted by JGRaider:
As far as the "softness" of kudu......while hardly an expert, as I've only got 21 head of plains game to my credit.......every kudu, hartebeest, oryx, wildebeest, etc has died quickly when the bullet is put in the right place. This toughness of African plains game seems to me to be a bit exaggerated.

Agreed.

I am not really sure why African game got such a big reputation as harder to kill than North American game but in my very limited experience I haven't seen any proof of it.
In North America I've seen Pronghorn Antelope not hit perfectly that will give you the impression that they are tougher than anything pound for pound, however hit correctly they go down without a fuss. Elk are the exception in my opinion, sometimes a perfect shot or two or 3 and they wander around as if not hit even though they are dead on their feet.

For the Original Poster I would use a 180 cup and core of decent construction or a bonded or partition or mono metal of 150 to 168 grain weight and not worry much about it.
Whichever of the above shoots accurate in your rifle. I used a .338 with 225 grain Sierra's and had excellent results and plenty of one shot kills on my Plains game hunt, I could not have dreamed of better performance.

quote:

Originally posted by JGRaider:
As far as the "softness" of kudu......while hardly an expert, as I've only got 21 head of plains game to my credit.......every kudu, hartebeest, oryx, wildebeest, etc has died quickly when the bullet is put in the right place. This toughness of African plains game seems to me to be a bit exaggerated.

Blue Wildebeest, Zebra and Giraffe are renown for their toughness.

Blue Wildebeest will eat 30 cal bullets, and keep running all day long. Anybody who has spent some time (and I'm not talking about a 10 day safari here) will tell you the same.

quote:

Originally posted by Bvekenya:

Blue Wildebeest, Zebra and Giraffe are renown for their toughness.

Blue Wildebeest will eat 30 cal bullets, and keep running all day long. Anybody who has spent some time (and I'm not talking about a 10 day safari here) will tell you the same.

Well, I've killed 3 blue wildebeest, and 2 zebra with 7mm 160 Accubonds. They all were hit properly, and the farthest any one of them ran off was maybe 60 yds before falling over dead.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
I settled on the 200 gr Nosler partition many years ago and its a real killer of anything you stick it in...Even deadly on buffalo given a decent broadside shot. Its a hammer on Plainsgame including Eland, Waterbuck, Zebra and giraffe...I would not hesitate to tackle a Brown Bear with that combo in my old 300 H&H at 3020 FPS from that 26 inch barrel and some old surplus H4831...

It's way more comforting to hunt brown bears with a hunter carrying a well worn 300 (any)mag,Leupold scope and with Nosler handloads, than a chap with a Brand New 375 something with a rangefinding lighted 4X12= scope.

Namibian rifle was a worn out 308 with a shot out barrel. It shot pie tin groups at 100 yards if I was lucky. Scope was abysmal. My rifle never left my home airport (Iberia sucks!).

My own 308's on moose and wilboar have been a Steyr and a Sauer 202.

I said earlier, my bad shooting was the problem.

None the less, I wouldn't pick an RWS pill for Africa. I have shot 24 African animals with them, and about 5 animals in Europe and North America with them.

Great bullets, but I feel I want a stronger bullet.