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I am seeking advice from my double rifle brethren. I have a buffalo hunt booked in September in the Save Conservancy. I have been thinking about taking my Verney-Carron O/U double ( I know, an O/U double is heresy!). This rifle was regulated with Norma 300 gr Woodleigh softs with a Swarovski scope in QD mounts. The rifle shoots equally well with a Docter Red Dot and iron sights, and shoots the same point of impact with all three. I have also worked up loads with 300 gr Barnes X triple shock bullets and 300 gr CEB solids. This seems to be a very versatile combination to me, but I am wondering if it is "enough gun" for cape buffalo. If any of you have experience with this caliber on buffalo, I would like to hear from you - good or bad. I have many other doubles to choose from, so leaving the .375 Flanged at home would not be a hunt killer. As an aside, the plane fare on SAA was dirt cheap this year. I leave from Dulles on 6 Sept and return from Harare on 20 Sept - the round trip fare was only $1038! | ||
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No experience, but an opinion! Talk to your PH and find put what ranges buff are typically shot at in the area you will be hunting. I suspect the answer will be 20 -200 yards! IMHO I think you have a good caliber. Make sure you know where to hold for the different distances. There are long shots for buff. as Saeed has shown. The first shot is the key, so how does your gun shoot at the longer ranges? What is it sighted for? Are you taking a bolt gun as well as a double? If so, problem solved. Use the bolt gun for the first shot at the longer range and switch to the double for the follow up chore! Despite what you read, not every buff hunt ends in a charge, but it might! That's an amazing price for the airfare! Peter Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright, that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong; | |||
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You have a good combo that you are familiar with, You are good to go. All the experts here will tell you that bullet placement is paramount, next is bullet performance. I have had good experience with Swift A-frame 300 grain bullets on African game, and that is what I loaded for my best friends .375 when we went after Buff in Tanzania 10 years ago. Two buffalo were taken by him and the .375 was plenty of medicine. Your bullet choices are fine, I say, Go for it! DRSS(We Band of Bubba's Div.) N.R.A (Life) T.S.R.A (Life) D.S.C. | |||
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Since its ballistics are very close to a 9.3x62 or 9.3x74R, it obviously is 'enough gun' to kill a Buffalo, plus being 375, it is legal. You stated you already have other more powerful doubles, so IMHO, I'd take both! Enjoy your safari and your rifles. | |||
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When is a .375 NOT suitable for buffalo? Buffalo are vastly over rated. Hit right they go down and if not they will run off. I wager the vast majority of stories of buff "hit right" and running into the next zip code were hit wrong but the hunter does not want to admit that. Like Capstick--a dozen shots in the heart and they still ran off or had fight (or something of that nature). As to the over/ under, well, VC rifles are the best of the new European rifles today and Affirmative Action laws allow one to own and hunt with it. You have no worries here. Go and have fun. Cal _______________________________ Cal Pappas, Willow, Alaska www.CalPappas.com www.CalPappas.blogspot.com 1994 Zimbabwe 1997 Zimbabwe 1998 Zimbabwe 1999 Zimbabwe 1999 Namibia, Botswana, Zambia--vacation 2000 Australia 2002 South Africa 2003 South Africa 2003 Zimbabwe 2005 South Africa 2005 Zimbabwe 2006 Tanzania 2006 Zimbabwe--vacation 2007 Zimbabwe--vacation 2008 Zimbabwe 2012 Australia 2013 South Africa 2013 Zimbabwe 2013 Australia 2016 Zimbabwe 2017 Zimbabwe 2018 South Africa 2018 Zimbabwe--vacation 2019 South Africa 2019 Botswana 2019 Zimbabwe vacation 2021 South Africa 2021 South Africa (2nd hunt a month later) ______________________________ | |||
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Gentlemen, there is not an animal on this planet that I would not hunt with a .375 H&H flanged or belted rimless cartridge with proper bullets in a bolt or double rifle regardless of the barrel configuration. The only one shot kills I have on cape buffalo and hippo have been with a 375 H&H bolt rifle and 300 grain bullets both solids and Nosler partitions ! As Pappas says hit them right and they go down! .....................................................................  ....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1 DRSS Charter member "If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982 Hands of Old Elmer Keith  | |||
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I am jealous. So I want to rant. Nothing personal as i respect you and your posts and experience. So here goes..... Naah!! Sacrilege. No over & under. Never. Nix. Nyet. Nahi. Take a classic English double rifle in a classic caliber. Rust blued, Silvers pad, oil finished wood with the old English dark, reddish looking sheen. The 100 year old scroll engraving needs a bit of dust and the smell of Africa. Hear the music of the metallic "thunk" as you shut the breach and the tinkle as the shells are ejected or extracted. I want to see the after photos - of the classical beauty even more than the buffalo! An O/U does nothing for me. I should have been a poet! I promise to write a sonnet for every single one of your doubles! Except the O/U.  "When the wind stops....start rowing. When the wind starts, get the sail up quick." | |||
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If only my girlfriend would talk this dirty to me. Cal _______________________________ Cal Pappas, Willow, Alaska www.CalPappas.com www.CalPappas.blogspot.com 1994 Zimbabwe 1997 Zimbabwe 1998 Zimbabwe 1999 Zimbabwe 1999 Namibia, Botswana, Zambia--vacation 2000 Australia 2002 South Africa 2003 South Africa 2003 Zimbabwe 2005 South Africa 2005 Zimbabwe 2006 Tanzania 2006 Zimbabwe--vacation 2007 Zimbabwe--vacation 2008 Zimbabwe 2012 Australia 2013 South Africa 2013 Zimbabwe 2013 Australia 2016 Zimbabwe 2017 Zimbabwe 2018 South Africa 2018 Zimbabwe--vacation 2019 South Africa 2019 Botswana 2019 Zimbabwe vacation 2021 South Africa 2021 South Africa (2nd hunt a month later) ______________________________ | |||
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Well, thunk and tinkle is fine, but along with my SxS doubles I also own a Tikka 512 SD in 9.3x74R, and I would not hesitate to take it hunting for appropriate game. Form follows function and just because the Brits went with SxS while the Europeans went with the O/U doesn't matter to me, plebian that I am! Peter. Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright, that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong; | |||
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Judge, I have shot two Buffalo with 375 HH. One I wounded badly and one I hit good. Got both of them but hitting good with a 375 does the job. So I see no reason for not bringing that VC to the job. Proper bullets you have and all is up to you. Morten The more I know, the less I wonder ! | |||
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The more I know, the less I wonder ! | |||
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Given that most seem to feel the 375 flanged is adequate and that at least some load the 375 belted down to 2,400 fps for better penetration, it would seem to me that the 376 steyr should also be a great caliber for buffalo. Any comments? | |||
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Purely theoretical .... If the 9.3X74 is adequate for Buffalo & Ganyana absolutely recommended the 9.3X62 with 286 gr bullets for buffalo, then the 375 FL is a tiny step above that. The 9.5X57 MS shoots a 270 gr bullet at 2250 fps & that could be in the same ball park as the 9.3 calibers mentioned above! I would love to be able to hunt Africa with my 9.5MS that I restocked myself! Yes a classic rifle, classic caliber, great wood, oil finished with the English reddish look! "When the wind stops....start rowing. When the wind starts, get the sail up quick." | |||
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Use the Searcy Rising Bite !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | |||
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I have shot cape buff with a 450 No2, a 450/400, and a 9,3x74R. My biggest cape buffalo ever, in body and horn was shot in the SAVE with the 9,3x74R, facing me at about 35 yards or so with a single 286 gr Woodleigh Soft, he was down and dead in about 40 yards. Well handled your 375 Flanged Magnum will do just fine. DOUBLE RIFLE SHOOTERS SOCIETY | |||
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