Hello togehter,

my good friend Ralf Martini (gun maker from Canada) has sucsessfull taken an buff in Tansania/Africa.

It is an great story with good pictures.
I want to share this with you.

I post you the story from e-mails with Ralf.
(Of course I have his permission for that. He is not so an internet expert. He wants to great you all, members and his customers.)

Best wishes.

F.

I booked a cape buffalo hunt with Kilombero North Safaris in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania . My contact was my friend PH John Franklin from Brooks Alberta, Canada.

I flew with KLM from Calgary to Amsterdam and then to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. I was picked up by a representative from the company and driven to a very nice hotel , the coral beach hotel. The next day I met the two other hunters from Alberta, Brad and Lyle at the airport and we flew out in a charter plane to the Selous, about one and a half hour plane ride west of Dar es Salaam. Stayed in a very luxurious tent camp with running and hot water, right on the river, where the Lukula and the Luwego river meet.

The pilot told us that two days before he had to fly out a man from the neighbors camp to the hospital in Dar es Salaam, who got mauled by three male lions. The hunting area was undisturbed wilderness, the true Afrika. We saw maned, lions on several occasions, heards of Buffalo and Elefants, a lot of Hippos in the river and on land, Leopards, Hyenas wild dogs and plains game like zebra, sable, hartebeest and warthogs.

We heared the Lions roar most nights and the Hippos every night.

I used the new Heym Express rifle by Martini in 416 Rigby. The rifle were I was very involved in designing the prototype and utilizing my stock design. It was very accurate and highly functional, cycling like glass and feeding perfectly, 4 rounds down and one in the chamber. Ready for action.

I hunted with another PH Hayder Gulam and his three trackers and his driver. All of them a very professional team. My friend Jack was guiding the other two hunters from Alberta , Brad and Lyle. We hunted buffalo for six action packed days. We tracked buffalo and stood in the herds several times up to 15 yards away from animals, until they got the wind and busted away.

We chased the old loners, the dagga boys and the big bulls who move in and out of the heard. On the six day we found older tracks, followed them and they became hot pretty quick. The droppings were still warm now. We caught up with them and followed the herd onto a high Plato, slightly hilly but mostly open country with little cover. The herd was always feeding and moving.

Once they were out of sight we would runn to close the gap. My PH Haydar had the shootin sticks up for me several times but it was difficult to find the big bull and sinle him out for a shot. We caught up again with them and here the biggest old bull was for a change at the end of the herd, head down feeding.

Most of the others were already moving again and most of the herd was out of sight already. I was on target over the sticks and Hayder said shoot, shoot . The range was now 150 yards, the bull was brought side, head down feeding, half of his body covered by the long grass. I tryed to take a bearing on the sholder blade, to guess were the front leg was.

I wanted to wait for him to lift his head but Hayder said again, shoot he is going to leave. I took the shot, solid hit and all of them ran away. All what was left was a cloud of dust. We walked to the spot were they rann to. Chinga one of the trackers, checked the spot where I had hit the bull and reported, lots of blood.

We looked around and I found some long grass with lots of blood on it at the right hight, a good sign. The blood was bright red with a bit of foam in it, so I figured lungshot. Not bad but not geat either !

I knew you have to hit him in the lower third in line with the frot leg, to hit the hart. We followed the blood trail and it got less and less, at one time the trackers said he is with the herd again. That didn't soud good at all to me. Then they said he just ran through, were the head ran and is on his own again.

Thouse trackers are amazing, how they can sort things out and what they can see . We followed this bull way to long for my liking. How far can an animal go, with being hit supposedly in the lungs, with a Barnes X bullet from a 416 Rigby ? I slowly started having my doubts. Then all of a sudden Haydar yelled here he is, shoot him !

I stept over were he was to see him and he was already over the top, still running, buy now out of sight. That was a disappointment, for one that I couldn't get a shot and that he was still running. We kept on following him and we were thinking that Hayder maybe should have shot, but I new he just wanted me to shoot my own buffalo.

By now the bloodtrail was almost non existing and the trackers had to use all there skills to stay somewhat on the track. I guess when the Buffalo lifted his head back up after the shot, the hide had somewhat pushed over the wound and with the jelling of the blood it sealed itself up somewhat. We walked in spead out sideways, the trackers and Haydar to my left by now. There was hardly any sign left . We came to the end of that high Plato, infront of us a few trees, little brush, really nothing for a buffalo to hide.

To the left, a little more cover, but not a lot either. In front of all of that, a great view of plain open country with no buffalo in sight. We were all puzzled, so we just stood around to assess the situation. I started after a while to step forward to cross a trench, made by the runn offs from the rains, about four feet deep and three and a half feet wide. I was just in front of it when Chinga to my left screamed Nyati mama.

For a split secont I wandered what the mama part ment ? And here he came, only ten yards away, jumping out of that trench, where he was hiding, the whole time, right in front of our nose, straight at me. No time wasted the rifle went up and the bum, the 416 hit him right in the boiler room, a split second later the 458 Lott from Haydar hit him, then the 416 and the 458 Lott again. By now the bull tryed successfully, to jump out of the trenchthe other way, to get away. I was beginning to think this animal must be immortal ?

I shot again and he was finally down. I couldn't believe it what this animal took and how many bullets at close range he put away. I had seen the fire in his eyes and I knew for sure, that if I would have stept already in that trench, being trapped in his runnway, he would have run me over for sue. Even getting hit in the body, with his momentum he would have rann me over, even if that was the last thing he would have done !

The only thing what might had stopped him would be a frontal brain shot, wich results in an immediate shut down of the nervous system. At that close range, being in motion, still questionable ? Everybody congratulated me with relief that it was finally over. I asked Hayder why Chinga yelled, Nyati mama ?

He laughed and said Nyati means buffalo, which I knew and he screamed for his mama, kind of symbolicly .

What a great and exiting hunt, with a happy ending.
I sure had all the different aspects of Buffalo hunting, stalking in the thickest jungle, being 15 yards away in there bedding areas, hunting them in open county and even a charge.

And what a trophy, what a big old dagga boy. What a spread , what a curl of the horns and solid hard old bosses. Examening the shots, they were all decent. My first shot was clearly identifiable, by the old yelled up blood. It was a little to high, just missed the hart and about four inches to the right of the line, of the front leg. A lung shot. By my experience no animal in North America would have gone that far with that shot, we figured about 800 yards.

We had pushed him the whole time and stayed on him without a break. If he would have been left alone he shouldn't have gone so far ?
But then, the blood trail would have been dryed up and it would be harder to follow. He is down so all is good !

The teackers cut him up and we had to pack all the meat to the truck. We couldn't bring the truck up that plato.
Nothing was waisted they took even the stomach ling and the hart and liver.



Ralf Martini

well done, a proper buff

Great report and a really good buff, Ralf. I'm curious as to the amputation of a good portion of the rifle stock. It appears it was done in camp. Were you working on your rifle and adding a recoil pad? The pitch of the stock looked awkward on the uncut version. Just wondering.

Dutch

Nice rifle...is that a Dakota? :-)

What a great tale. Could you explain the three gun scenario and indeed the customising of the wooden stock.

Was also wondering about the on-site carpentry work?

Gentleman, to your questions:

a.)
The Heym bolt is an .416 Rigby.

b.)
The "Plastik-gun" is a (older) Custom gun from Ralf, witch he did for an other clients on his wishes.

c.)
The "shortening" was at an older Heym double (it is from 1992, in .500 NE) witch has to stay in Afrika (and it not so easy to bring to Canada or Germany) by the PH. But the stock was mutch to long (for years, he byed it used). So Ralf did an measurement and shorts it there. It is an very clean work (for this conditions) and it looks great. On the next picture, you can the modified double.

Best wishes.

F.

Super report and pics!
Thanks for sharing

Ralf,
Congratulations on a beautiful old dugga boy! Well hunted to the end.

Welcome Ralf to the "I got charged by a buffalo" club..Many say they have killed lots of buffalo and have never been charged by one. Well I have only killed two and the first one was a cinch at 161 steps and one shot plus the one for insurance. I shot him 1992 Tanzania with my friend and PH Geo. Hoffman. The second (Zim 2012) one was 4 shots all inside of 10 yards. Three of them from a 375 H&H and one from a 500 Jeffery. The 375 H&H above the left eye was the deciding factor.
Now besides you having made me the most beautiful single shot falling block in the world we both can share "How to get your pucker factor up" together.
Hopefully there are more positive adventures to come for us while buffalo hunting.
Better tomorrows!
Mims

Like 100s of others, I've admired Ralf's work while chatting with him at the local arms show. He's always struck me as a gentleman from the European mould. Glad to see that he made it to the Selous and got a buffalo.

Dean

Bravo, Ralf!

Well done, mein freund!

You stayed the course, and finished the job, well started and well ended.

Nothing is harder to kill than a Cape buffalo.

Hi Ralf,
Good show. Congratulations to your successful hunt.
Vasa

For the final:
Here you see Ralf and his PH Hayder.

Also his friend John F., he gives his gratulations to the hunter Brad.

It's funny how everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that there is a Ruger in the photos.

quote:

It's funny how everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that there is a Ruger in the photos.

Nobody ignore this.

Yes, it is an Ruger.
From an friend of Ralf (witch has not so mutch money).
But: It is tuned by him...
:-)

I shot my first buffalo many years ago with one of the first Rugers in 416 Rigby. It worked great and I appreciate that Ruger helped in establishing the 416 Rigby again. I also discovered that choosing a good rifle is not necessarily dependent on budget.

quote:

Originally posted by 458Win:
It's funny how everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that there is a Ruger in the photos.

Phil,

it is even nicer to see that this is in left handed version.

Bockhunter could you tell us the mods made on the ruger.

thanks for the report.

Phil

quote:

Bockhunter could you tell us the mods made on the ruger

- Correction of the sights
- Cut away a little bit of the stock-Wood (inside, there the tarrel touched the Wood before)
- Tuned the (original) trigger
- Polished the ramp
- and...