Just got in last night from an 18 day hunt in the Selous (M2 concession).

I took only one rifle, my 400 Whelen (Improved) on a Mauser action.

The only glitch was the outfitter hadn't gotten my Tanzania firearms permit (nothing to do with the caliber, just the import/export form), so I didn't get to use it the first day of the hunt (but got it in my hands on the second day).

I took a hippo, waterbuck, hartebeast, reedbuck, warthog, and impala with it.
Took my buffalo the first day with a loner rifle (458 Lott), which bummed me out because that was what I was hoping to use the 400 for!
Tried for a second buffalo the last day (for fun), but didn't have a shot.
Passed on a nice, shootable lion because he had no mane.

The rifle was awesome, and what was interesting (and what I didn't expect) was that all the game I hit with it was knocked over (off their feet).
The hippo I brained at 50 feet on the edge of the river beach, in about 6 inches of water.
(That's not a fair test of the 400 obviously, since any caliber that hit the brain would have dropped him...he didn't move at all after the shot).

Wish I could report to you about the 400 on buffalo...it's always something when you ship things to Africa!

Garrett

Congratulations, Garrett! Don't fret about not being able to shoot a buff with your .400. It just gives you another excuse to book another hunt! You will get your chance!

Garrett, tells about the bullets and the loads please.

Hey Wink,

Just missed you in Dar Es Salaam...I left on Sept 18th.

3 basic loads:
300 grains Barnes X, 57 grains AA2230, at 2460 fps.

330 grain North Fork solids and cup solids, also 57 grains AA2230, 2350 fps.

350 grain Swift A-frame, 55 grains AA2230, 2300 fps.

The Barnes X bullets shot very accurately from my rifle (this is the only rifle that I have that will shoot the regular X bullets well...the Triple X bullets shoot great from everything else).

I need to shoot a moose with this rifle next.

Garrett

welcome back n.gerrett!!!

congrats on the successful hunt. even with the buff shot with the other rifle it soulds like you had a good time.

the buff would have perrished well like the rest i am sure.

p.s. do you have any more room in yer mag for a longer oal?

just thought you might need more room for powder fot the heavy bullets but i dont know if it is worth it to you to do another cat.

good luck with the moose

Hey Boom,

It was a fun hunt for sure....wish a buddy of mine had been able to go to share the hunt with.

Actually, with the current loads (using AA2230), there is still air space in the cartridge.

When I tried RL-15 and IMR 4895, it lead to compressed loads.

When I started working with the cartridge, I thought that I would be able to make it "better" than it had been in 1927, given the powders available now. Turns out, the powders available back then would work just as well.

I hope this doesn't reveal a dark side to my hunting, but it was gratifying to see the animals bowled over when hit. There wasn't any question if you had connected.

Garrett

Welcome back and thanks for the report..

Tell us how the hippo went?

Congratulations! Thanks for the report!

quote:

Just missed you in Dar Es Salaam...I left on Sept 18th.

Must have just missed you too. Don_G and I were there on the 16th and 17th.

Congrats on the hunt and thanks for the great report.

Cheers,
Canuck

Wahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!
the Dark Continent with a 400 Whelen!
Could you please post the shoulder dimension and angle of your version? I keep hearing that there is not enough shoulder to headspace on...but I guess we can relegate that notion to the dustbin of history, can't we.

Congratulations again!

Rich

it is the 400 whelen a.i.

quote:

Could you please post the shoulder dimension and angle of your version? I keep hearing that there is not enough shoulder to headspace on

Biggest problem everyone has is somewhere along the line the fact that the 400Whelen had a .458 shoulder got dropped.
http://www.z-hat.com/smashing_the_headspace_myth.htm
I have a blown out 280Rem case with a .458 shoulder I have used in .416 and never had a headspace issue. My buddy used it numerous years in Alaska.

i think the 9,3x66 is the best brass to go to 416...it is .0075 bigger casehead than 06. it will give a smidge better shoulder than the 411 hawk/whelen and can be a longer oal/brass

i call it the 416 and 411 boomfinland

Boomy
the 9,3x64is about .500 casehead ..

if you can get the same down as an 06 and use the 62 brass that would be great. some might be able to take the .0075 diff and not the .035 diff

My case has a 40 degree shoulder. Pretty easy to make.

Jeff, the hippo hunt was great. I had wanted to take one on land, and at night you would see both the cows and bulls far away from the rivers, feeding.

We found that the best time to find a bull on land (with shooting light that is), was in the hotter part of the day, around 1 pm to 3 pm.
However, they never went too far from water...maybe 100 yards at most, and 40 or 50 yards was more common.
So, in the afternoons we would slip hunt around riverbanks, where there was a slough the hippos would come out through.
The trackers were especially wary (not scared, but wary) as they all knew people injured or killed by hippos.
We found one nice bull about 50 yards out of the river (on the high bank), but when we got about 60 yards away the wind swirled, and he scented us and bolted to the river.

So, we waited a couple of days, and came back.
This time we left the game scout a ways back (he was way too noisy), and snuck up to the bank.
The hippo was in about 10 inches of water, next to the beach, with 2 cows next to him.
I slipped my rife onto a tree root for a rest, and just then the game scout came up, and asked in Swahili what we saw. The cows scattered, and I shot the bull in the inverted "V" of the forehead (before he could move), and he just flopped his head down.

After that, we quartered him right there, and used him for lion bait. I kept the skull, and he had great tusks. They estimated he was nearly 40 years old, by his teeth. Although the tusks were nice, the molars were worn down to the gums.

The game scout was a real annoyance.

Garrett

AWESOME hippo story.
just awesome...

some guys want ele, some lion, some buff.. f

Me, it's hippo and babboons!!

jeffe

i want some back skin of a hippo to make a sjambok...


tusks for knife handles...

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
i want some back skin of a hippo to make a sjambok...


tusks for knife handles...

I agree on the knife handle...

you know what part they use to mak a sjambok? What city do you live in?

well thats a new one on me...

all i knew is they make sjamboks out of the top hide

apparently the hippo hide is so thick and tough you can whittle it to make one