The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Medium Bore Rifles 308 Winchester 165 grain Swift Aframe Performance on African PlainsgameGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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Got back yesterday. My 16 year old son took 9 animals with 165 grain Swift Aframes. No missed shots, no lost animals. Black Springbuck - 140 yards, one shot, DRT (dead right there, dropped on spot). CP (Complete penetration) Black Wildebeest - 250 yards, one shot, ran 40 yards, dropped. Stopped under skin on opposite side. Blesbok - 250 yards, one shot, DRT. CP. Blue Wildebeest - 250 yards, first shot dropped it hard, but turned out it hit above the vitals and below the spine. Shot was CP. Slowed it down enough to separate from the herd. It then soaked up lead from us like a Cape Buffalo. It was a real snorter. Mountain Reedbuck - 140 yards. One shot, DRT. CP. Impala - 180 yards. One shot, DRT. CP. Gemsbock - 180 yards, quartering, entered in front of right shoulder, hit lungs, broke left shoulder. Ran 40 yards and laid down. He put in a heart shot as insurance, but the first shot was good enough (but insurance is always good!). First shot stopped under skin on left shoulder. Warthog - 70 yards, complete penetration through both shoulders. One shot, DRT. Cape Kudu - 250 yards, entered through left shoulder (breaking), stopped under skin behind right shoulder. It jumped, turned around, ran 10 yards, and fell down the hill a bit. It was an old bull on his last winter. Funny thing - the head of the A-frame (the classic mushroom) separated from the bullet! first time I ever saw that. Now, someone might say the bullet failed, but the animal would not agree. Net - .308 Winchester with 165 grain Aframes loaded to 2,775 fps are perfect on animals up to Kudu sized game to 250 yards. "Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid" -- Ronald Reagan "Ignorance of The People gives strength to totalitarians." Want to make just about anything work better? Keep the government as far away from it as possible, then step back and behold the wonderment and goodness. | ||
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I don't believe it. I need to see some pictures.  | |||
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Working on the hunting report. This can tide you over  https://picasaweb.google.com/e...tman/SouthAfrica2011 "Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid" -- Ronald Reagan "Ignorance of The People gives strength to totalitarians." Want to make just about anything work better? Keep the government as far away from it as possible, then step back and behold the wonderment and goodness. | |||
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Awesome Pics! Your son will never forget that hunt. Thanks for sharing! | |||
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Everyone knows you can't hunt Africa with a .308 !!! DRSS(We Band of Bubba's Div.) N.R.A (Life) T.S.R.A (Life) D.S.C. | |||
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Yep, you gotta have the biggest, bad ass mag that you can't handle. "Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid" -- Ronald Reagan "Ignorance of The People gives strength to totalitarians." Want to make just about anything work better? Keep the government as far away from it as possible, then step back and behold the wonderment and goodness. | |||
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How many moose you think have been killed with that same load? Mike  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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Probably 2 or 3. | |||
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I've used a 308 quite a bit the last little while. I really like it. It was my dad's rifle and I never shot it that much growing up. I did a lot of work with it as my girlfriend was preparing for her first hunt. For that it was probably the ideal chambering. They are easy to shoot well and to shoot a lot. I've used 180gr Hdy Interlocks (2500 fps) on Nyala and Bushbuck and I got great expansion and penetration. I was somewhat surprised. I've used 165gr Interbonds (2680 fps) since and had great results and penetration on Gemsbuck (through and through on a high heart shot at 160m or so). Springbuck and Impala. I agree with calling it a 250m hunting rifle. Beyond that I find the trajectory leaves me in the lurch a bit, but with a range finder you should be able to get by to about 300m. I'd also use it on Gemsbuck again, Kudu and probably Blue Wildebeest, but there may be better choices particularly if the range gets beyond 250m. There's a nice article written by Finn Aagaard. It's in his book. but I don't recall the title of the article. I don't favour the really tough bullets in the 308 as the expansion can be very poor. Just too little velocity for that. | |||
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I believe that would be FINN AAGAARD, SELECTED WORKS by Wolfe Publishing. very good read. Paul B. | |||
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CONGRATS to you, your son, and the trusty .308 Win!
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Before he retired, Bob Pennfold, ran the largest outfitting operation in the Australian top end, NZ, etc. He mentioned in writing that if he could, he would only allow his customers to use 308s with 150 grain FailSafe bullets (or 30-06s with the 165 grain size). FWIW, YMMV, yada, yada, yada.  | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Medium Bore Rifles 308 Winchester 165 grain Swift Aframe Performance on African Plainsgame
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