I'll be on the plane in about two hours bound for the Northern Territory of Australia to hunt the water buffalo. I'll give a report when I return later this month. I'm using a Ruger .458 Lott .... I'm excited. Next year it's Cape buffalo in Tanzania.

I realy hope you will have a nice trip.

Remember to take a lot of pics.

I wish it was me......

Damn Frank ... I missed this one in time to wish you the best possible trip! Hope you have a wonderful time and take a great Water Buffalo.

I am excited to see the pictures and story of the hunt!


Post up when you get back!

On my way home ..... got a nice management bull & a 107 1/2" trophy bull ...... more later.

Frank,

Glad to hear things went well! The trophy bull sounds huge.

Looking forward to the pictures.

quote:

Originally posted by mstarling:
Frank,

Looking forward to the pictures.

+1 !

Haven't got the pictures posted yet, but I'll comment on the bullet performance of the loads that I used in the .458 Lott. I shot the management bull using 500 gr. Speer African Grand Slam bullets, and the performance was terrible. With the big Lott, the bull only ran 50 yards after a perfect shoulder shot; however, the bullet lost ALL the lead that should have formed the mushroom, leaving only the base of the bullet lead, & only copper jacket petals where there should have been a mushroom (anything smaller than a Lott, & I would had trouble). On the trophy bull I switched to Hornady 500 gr. softpoints, & got a little better performance; however, the bullet weight retention (about 70% at best) left something to be desired. The Ruger Lott didn't let me down, it performed flawlessly; but the next time I'll be using Swift or Woodleigh bullets ....... and as big a rifle as I can carry. Someone on this forum says that when you're out amongst them, there's no such thing as too much gun ...... I'll always remember (& practice) that advice.

Frank, can't wait to see the pics of that beast!

An article was published today (6/17/07) in our local newspaper about my buffalo hunt last month. You can access the article by going to "www.wvgazette.com", then pushing the "outdoors" button, & then accessing the story entitled "Antipodean Adventure". That's the best I can do for pictures of the hunt.

Frank, Here's the pict from the WV gazette site. Big Bull!!

Thanks, Steve.

Frank; Very nice buff and good story. Should others want to read it I think this direct link will work.

franks hunt story direct link

Good scoop on the ammo. Enough gun only works well if you have enough bullet. I had teriffic luck with 416 cal. barnes x bullets on my buff. First one thru the front shoulder was in tact less 1 pedal in the off side rump having crossed the top of the heart. The follow up thru the the hind quarter was between the off side front shoulder and neck having also crossed the heart. He nosed in on that one.

Mikes down under adventure

Best regards

Mike O

Nice Buffalo Frank

Very nice Buff Frank and thanks for the heads up on the Speer G/Slams.

Woodeighs or Swifts will work a treat. Another good one I believe would be Barnes TSXs.