Just returned from 21 days with Mike Kibble in Namibia.....



Game taken: Black Springbuck, Kalahari Springbuck, Waterbuck, Giraffe, Impala, Blue Wildebeest, Gemsbok, Red Hartebeest, Jackal and numerous Dassies

Game Hunted but not taken: Leopard, Livingstone Eland, Kudu.

Optics: Leica Geovid in 15X56 and Leica Ultravid in 10X25.

Rifle: Customised Rem 700 in 338 RUM.

Trued, lugs lapped, Devcon Steel bedded in HS-Precision Stock. Custom super match barrel by Robert Tobler; JGS Reamer used to cut chamber of course, HS-Precison bottom metal, Jewell trigger, Near one piece mount; silver soldered to receiver for added rigidity, Nightforce 2.5-10X24 NXS scope in Nightforce titanium and alloy rings.

Ammunition: Handloads primarily in 225 weight consisting of 97 grains of RE-25 and a 215M primer. All new cases were flash hole deburred, primer pockets squared, neck turned and full length sized. Projectiles used included;

231 grain Lapua Naturalis. Round nose, plastic tipped Monometal from Lapua of Finland.

225 Tipped TSX.

225 A-Frame.

225 TBBC.

225 Northfork.

225 Nosler Partition.

225 Flat Nosed Solid by Jay Schroeder of S&H Precision.

The most accurate load was the 231 Naturalis, but all bullets shot well under an inch from the bench.



I spent the first 2 days on a new concession that Mike Kibble had been invited to try in the Kalahari.

Numerous wild and party mad Dutchmen were present but were not hunted..........copious quantities of brandy consumed in evenings with them.

View of the Kalahari from camp.



View of individual tents;



Took this Black Springbok on the Saturday, range was aprox 180 yards, bullet used was the 225 Tipped TSX......set up was rapid and expansion violent unlike the TSX. As Mike said the Springbok caped itself!

We took a 17 inch Kalahari Springbok the next day, despite deadly hangovers, but of course forgot the cameras............



We then left the rabid Dutchmen and travelled north to Otjiva Game Lodge for Waterbuck, Giraffe, Impala and Livingstone Eland........

Here is the Waterbuck; 31.5 inches long horn, with bases of 10 inches, taken at dusk with a 225 North Fork soft through both lungs at 80 yards.......ran 150 yards and collapsed. Nice piece of judging at last light by Mike Kibble!



Next animal hunted was Giraffe........the challenge was to find an old dark bull amongst the lodge's population of 80 animals. I wanted to try for a chest shot, but despite repeated stalks, the bull always was obscured from the withers up! Finally decided to take a neck shot with a 225 FN solid from S&H.......the bull came down like an apartment building.....exit was impressive for a solid.......he was dead when we reached him. Range was 90 yards.







Next up was Impala. There were some magnificent heads on this ranch, finally took this great ram with a 231 Lapua Naturalis at 180 yards. He carries lovely mass all the way and the long horn went 24.5 inches........






We had been stalking Eland whenever they were spotted or we crossed a fresh track; this Mountain Zebra blew our 7th stalk for us very noisily; so out of sheer spite, I shot him offhand at 60 yards through the shoulder with a 231 Naturalis....he ran about 200 yards trying to keep up with his mares, we did not pursue as the hit was good and we could hear him coughing and falling over, When we took up the track we saw that he had virtually bled out..........the Naturalis's performance impressed the hell out of Mike Kibble.........but not so the zebra! His mares will miss him!



Some pictures of the lodge;











Another pic of the lodge. HOW BIG DO YOU THINK THE KUDU IS?



We then travelled to Mike's farm south of Windhoek and hunted Blue Wildbeest. This lovely bull was taken at 292 yards with a frontal shot with the 231 Naturalis. I held off slightly for the wind and the bullet took him square in the chest. The impact spun him around and he slid 40 yards on his knees downhill before dying. He never could get up; once again the Lapua bullet's performance was outstanding.

Measurements on the bull were 140cm spread with 34cm bases x2....divide by 2.5 for inches guys! A NICE bull........










Pic of an unfired Naturalis and the recoved bullet from the Wildebeest. Measured .668 of an inch and weighed 222 grains.









The next day, I shot a 24 inch Red Hartbeest bull, range was 275 yards and the 225 TBBC punched through both shoulders.....the bull dropped to the shot........

We then shot Hartebeest and Gemsbok for baits. This Gemsbok cow was shot by a friend of Mike's, David Francis, using my rifle and a 225 Accubond at 250 yards........the impact spun her in a circle, breaking the on shoulder and she DTTS.



Some Springbok and Gemsbok on Mike's farm. You'll see the hartebeest in the background as well.





Another Hartebeest bull was shot through the rear at 400 yards and collapsed.....the 225 TBBC lodging in it's chest after cutting the heart.

Recovered TBBC:



A Hartebeest cow was shot quartering with a 225 TTSX......she did not move nor drop, despite a complete pass through.

A Gemsbok bull was shot high in the shoulder, breaking the on shoulder blade, but failed to penetrate to the off side. Bullet was a 225 TTSX.





Another Oryx bull was shot through both shoulders with a 225 A Frame, with a clean pass through. The bull dropped to the shot at 200 yards. And a Gemsbok cow was shot through the spine from the rear with a 225 TBBC, a finisher with a 225 Nosler Partition, shed the front core, but the rear core and partition were intact.

The 225 TBBC from the spinal shot at 200 yards on the Gemsbok cow:








The 225 NP used as a finisher:









We spent one afternoon shooting dassies; David was using his 6mmPPC Sako, but the two shots of the afternoon went to Kibble, who shot his first rock rabbit, off the sticks at 350 yards, using my rifle and a 225 TTSX! To show that it was not a fluke, he shot another dassie in the entrance to the small cave on the left of the photo below, distance was again 350 yards measured on my 15X56 Geovids





Spent part of the day plinking with David's Stirling sub-gun.......an ideal 'roo weapon!



We also visited the Schutzetruppen Friedhof on the Seeis river. The soldiers buried there were killed in action against the Herero in 1904.








The 338 RUM performed superbly........you could not find a better round for PG hunting and dassie busting

The overall winner for bullet performance in soft points was far and away the Lapua Naturalis, it hits like the Hammer of Thor!!! It's not pretty but it sure works.........as Kibble said, it's built for combat.

Next best would have to be the 225 TBBC, followed by the A-Frame. The 225 TTSX was way too frangible and failed to penetrate on some occasions, though accuracy was outstanding.

The surprise for me was the Nosler bullets.....the Accubond did a great job albeit at 250 yards and the old Partition was excellent as well.

Welcome back. Looks like you had fun, real nice waterbuck. Too bad about the leopard. Thanks for the pictures I needed the fix since I am not making it to Africa this year, hopefully I will make it next year.

Thanks Blair. What a trip, what trophies!


Don

Blair, that's a beautiful bull giraffe. Excellent trophies all around.

quote:

Originally posted by David Culpepper:
Welcome back. Looks like you had fun, real nice waterbuck. Too bad about the leopard. Thanks for the pictures I needed the fix since I am not making it to Africa this year, hopefully I will make it next year.

David, Thanks for the comments on the waterbuck, funnily enough my favourites were the impala and that bruiser of a blue

quote:

Originally posted by DRG:
Thanks Blair. What a trip, what trophies!


Don

No Don; Thank you! You and Saeed gave me the kind permission to post on the PF and I thought it should go here first. I really appreciate the gesture.

Cheers, mate.

quote:

Originally posted by SGraves155:
Blair, that's a beautiful bull giraffe. Excellent trophies all around.

Steve,

Thanks mate. But the credit should go to Mike Kibble. He aways pulls great trophies out of the hat.

And more impotantly than that, it's like hunting with a friend, that for me, makes the difference.

Really look like you had a great time.

I am sure Blair was happy to get home after roughing it in that lodge.

Great trophies, Blair.

What bullet did you use on that giraffe, again?

Ed,

I had a ball, my favourite things were in abandon, lots of great trophies, bloody good wine and some great shots.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Werner:
I am sure Blair was happy to get home after roughing it in that lodge.

Great trophies, Blair.

What bullet did you use on that giraffe, again?

Mike

The lodge was the best I've stayed in...........it was really pretty swank, but the real iceing on the cake was that they had only 18 hunters there ALL of last season.........the game was prime.

I shot the giraffe with Mac's flat nose solid in 225 grains, performed superbly

Paradise on Earth, eh? Better to get it now than to expect it later.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
Paradise on Earth, eh? Better to get it now than to expect it later.

How true it is, and I'm getting greyer by the minute!

My Goodness, Well Done!

I'm very impressed, what a great trip!

Thanks Scott.

Took some great animals and had a whale of a time, it doesn't get any better than that mate. The 388 RUM performed like a champion, God that rifle shoots!

Blair photographed with a Prussian woman!! Moving upscale eh Blair??

Great photos and glad those horribly inaccurate plastic bullets worked out for ya!

Blair,
Thanks for the glowing report. This is very exciting as I am booked with Mike Kibble next June for a 14 day, my first safari!! Kudu, Eland, Zebra, Gemsbuck and many others on the menu.
Cheers,
Mike

That's a lot of bullet testing, excellent

quote:

Originally posted by Michaelp59:
Blair,
Thanks for the glowing report. This is very exciting as I am booked with Mike Kibble next June for a 14 day, my first safari!! Kudu, Eland, Zebra, Gemsbuck and many others on the menu.
Cheers,
Mike

Mike,

You'll have a GREAT time. Kibble is a terrific bloke and a real professional.

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:
Blair photographed with a Prussian woman!! Moving upscale eh Blair??

Great photos and glad those horribly inaccurate plastic bullets worked out for ya!

Mac,

I've always been upscale

Those plastic bullets of yours were so hard to get to shoot.......first 3 shots went into ONLY .6.

And they slammed that Giraffe as though it was hit with a daisy cutter

Thanks again for the opportunity to try them out in Namibia.

Gonna make a new sectional for your living room with that Giraffe hide or are ya thinkin' some seat covers for your Mercedes??

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:
Gonna make a new sectional for your living room with that Giraffe hide or are ya thinkin' some seat covers for your Mercedes??

Neck and head mount.......with a Prussian Pickelhaube on top.

quote:

Originally posted by jwp475:
That's a lot of bullet testing, excellent

jwp475,

We shot 6 Gemsbuck and about the same number of hartebeest in addition to the trophies taken.

And some dassies were blown to hell by Kibble

I hear Giraffe is sometimes quite edible and sometimes quite NOT!

Great report with great trophies and photos.

Congrats,

quote:

Originally posted by Jakkals:
Great report with great trophies and photos.

Congrats,

Thanks mate.

Had a great time in Nam' as usual. The Afrikaners made short work of my liver on the first part of the hunt!

Nice trophies! Would have liked to see that 17 inch springbok.. Maybe when it`s mounted?!
Thanks for sharing!

quote:

Originally posted by Anders:
Nice trophies! Would have liked to see that 17 inch springbok.. Maybe when it`s mounted?!
Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Anders.Unless Mike did bring his camera which I doubt, but I'll post up the mount for you for sure. I'll also get some pics of my 24"
Red Hartebeest when Mike sends me his disc of photos from his own camera.

quote:

Originally posted by Blair338/378:
Mac,

That is the story I've heard!

What do you think of the Pickelhaube mount for the Jigsaw Puzzle?

And can you tell me why I have "Great White Hunter" under my handle and you have "Pain in the Ass" under yours? Yours seems appropriate, but I'm far from a "Great White Hunter"..............

Long story but at least we didn't get COOL's new Moniker of "Obama for President"!!!

Mac,

Thank god for that!

Congrats on a great hunt and great shooting! you took some beautiful animals. That impala sure is nice!

So how big was the kudu in the lodge?

Thanks Don

My pick was the Impala and the blue. The Waterbuck is a beaut, but you expect that in Nam, when you pay so much for them.

I called the Kudu 56", as did the resident PH, Kibble said that was rubbish and measured it........he was right; it went 53 on the long horn!!! As he said, it was too flat....first curl didn't turn back enough.

Well done mate!!! Very nice animals all the way round. The calibre interests me a lot....

Afrikaaners is plesierig, dit weet julle dan, hulle hou van partytjies..........

Old folk song about how much we like having a good time......

Congrats again!

Good to see you had fun Blair.
That Naturalis worked out for?

Works just fine through my 338 Lap, too.

quote:

Originally posted by infinito:
Well done mate!!! Very nice animals all the way round. The calibre interests me a lot....

Afrikaaners is plesierig, dit weet julle dan, hulle hou van partytjies..........

Old folk song about how much we like having a good time......

Congrats again!

Thanks Charl. It is a hammer and puts different weights of bullets into the same group as though by magic. And it reaches out and touches them!

It is quite simply the most accurate and flexible big gun I've ever owned, Kibble and some other PH's who tried it loved the bloody thing!!

And you guys certainly know how to party. that's an UNDERSTATEMENT.

quote:

Originally posted by Sambar 9.3:
Good to see you had fun Blair.
That Naturalis worked out for?

Works just fine through my 338 Lap, too.

Thanks Dave!!!

The Naturalis was outstanding accuracy wise and destroyed with one hit everything that crossed it's path. Made a mockery of the Barnes Tipped TSX, they were rubbish.

All the best Dave,

Blair.

BLAIR
hi, with the TTSX do you think the vel was just to much for them, how does expansion compare to the standard TSX , i think you may have had to much of a good thing there for the TTSX , like the 300 had for the 180 tsx
Daniel

Daniel,

You could be right, but the 225 TTSX is the heaviest version they make in 338.

They all set up rapidly, and expansion was violent, they just didn't seem to kill anything, without a finisher. The Naturalis on the other hand mushroomed perfectly and we only recovered one, from the chest shot wildebeest! The difference was chalk and cheese. I won't be using the Barnes TTSX on anything big and that's for sure.

Daniel,

I had been hoping to try the new TBBC Tipped out on this bullet testing safari, but the 338 version hasn't been released yet..........that could be a good bullet, mate.

Blair - any photos of the entry/exit wounds??