Hello All

The Setup:

So I have wanted to get a cartridge board, of some of the popular cartridges used on safari.
But I am afflicted with the disease, of I can do that better, and a little cheap ass thrown in.
Current boards range between $ 300 and $ 750 depending on where you shop.
Plus you are stuck with the manufacturers idea of what is cool.

So at the antique arms show this weekend, I haggled a deal, and became the proud owner
of some vintage Kynock rounds. 600 NE, 577 NE, 475 No.2, and 450/400 3 1/4" NE to go with
my reloads of 450 3 1/4" NE and 470 NE.

Then I started to think, yes that burning smell is coming from me.
What about magazine guns, they go on safari too, and most game departments and animal control
was / is done with a bolt gun.
My father was employed by the Nogami cattle company, in the fifties, in Bechuanaland protectorate (Southern Rhodesia),
his job was to use his light rifle to feed the workers (7.62 Mauser) and his heavy rifle (9.3x62 Husky) to
shoot on sight any buffalo and lions encountered on the property. ( foot and mouth disease prevention )
What about other farmers and cattlemen ?

So the list was enlarged to include 9.3x62mm, 10.75x68mm, 12.7x70mm (500 Jeffery), 375 H&H, 416 Rigby
404 Jeffery, 425 Westly Richards, 505 Gibbs.
The following NE's were added 450/400 3" NE, 500 3" NE, 500/465 NE and 700 NE
I have not forgotten the Weatherby's or the American cartridges, the 405 Win used by Teddy.
The 458 Win Mag and the Lott but as stated below they are relatively new inventions, mid fifties.
The Weatherby's date from around 1956 so it only covers half of the time span I am thinking of,
the idea was 1908 ~ 2008, 100 years that roughly coincides with the advent of smokeless powder.

The Thesis:

So excluding the 700, and 600 NE which are mainly for wow factor.
I was wondering, if one was to consider DG and animal control in Southern and Central Africa,
by game departments and professional hunters ( Old and modern ) Selous - Robertson.
80% ~ 90% of game taken could probably be attributed to a list of 10 to 20 cartridges.

The Question:

What would your list of most used and famous DG, Safari and Animal Control cartridges look like ?

Cheers
Nitro450exp

While not very nostalgic nor very sporting, it seems that most African game departments in the last twenty years have been equiped with either 7.62X39 (Kalashnikov) or 7.62 NATO (.308 Winchester). I have no idea if much game is taken legally with these cartridges but hope that they have at least taken a few poachers.

Wink,

My experience is that game scouts that are provided to hunting parties, where required by law, tend to be armed with AK-47's, SKS's and FN-FAL's (7.62x39 and 7.62x51).
The express purpose of monitoring the activites of the hunters and PH and anti-poaching.

Where game departments still have game wardens, who perform problem animal control, they are equiped with old 404 Jeff., 425 WR and some 416 Rigby's, that have decidedly seen better days.

I purposely stayed away from the landmine, that is bushmeat and poaching, with inadequate and ancient rifles and Boer farmers hunting with 303 SMLE's.

I may have to acknowledge, that Mr. Bell, who killed many and elephant with his 7X57 is going to further muddy the waters.

Thanks for the input.

.375H&H, .404, .308, 7.62x39, .458WM for game control.

.30-06, .375H&H, .416 Rem., .458WM for safari.

.375H&H, .416Rem., .458WM, .470NE for DG.

George

.303 Brit
7x57 Mauser

If you don't include those two, you miss out on the two cartridges that account for more African game than all others combined.

There are a whole bunch of .222 Rems floaing around, I used one for years for camp meat.

For control work, I used either my 375 H&H or 500 Jeffery. Backing up clients was my old Holland boxlock in 475 #2 Jeffery, but if you are looking for common, don't include it. I only ever met one other guy with one.

Russia and China have flooded Africa with 7.62x39-central Africa's poacher round of choice. There is also a fair amount of 7.62x54r floating about. A few rangers in Uganda I worked with years ago carried Nagants and they worked well in central Africa. The round sees a ton of duty for control and anti poaching right now.

The 308 in metric form (a ton of FAL rifles were used for control in southern and eastern Africa) was common, and you see a few Musgraves in this caliber are still used with both markings.

For the big stuff, there are probably more 404's around from the 60's than anything, but there are quite a few 458's around as well.

See link to DR forum, where I linked to this thread.

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=...=418102089#418102089

Thanks
Nitro450exp

I'd say that more Cape Buffalo has been taken with the 300 British than any other single round and that alone would rank the 303 rather high on the list. Bell also used a 300 quite a bit, as well as the highly publisised 7X57