Advice on Hippo hunt

[Happyclient]

Hi everyone!

This is my first post in this forum.
Sorry for any misspellings..


I am making arrangements for a Hippo hunt in 2024. For this I will bring a 416 Rigby.
It is set up with low powered scope and a red dot that is replacing the open sights.
What I need is advice for is the choice of bullets. Where I live (scandinavia) the selection of proper bullets and factory ammo in 416 is slim. Currently I can not find any solids in 416.The safest option is Norma, factory loadings. The problem is that the African ph line (450 grains) will cost me ap proximately 30€ for each cartridge. Which is doable if only for the hunt, but I will like to do some testing and training with the ammo I intend to use. Norma also make some solids with what I reckon is Barnes round nose solids. These are (relatively) cheaper, but I am concerned it has no meplate and therefore is not optimal, but that is perhaps overthinking it?
I have managed to get a hold of 60 rounds of federal factory ammo. TBBC. My outfitter suggest I bring some quality expanding bullets, not just solids.
Do you think this, together with the norma barnes solid, will be sufficent, or do I have to bite the bullet (literally) and pay up for the African ph ammo?

I am planning to hunt hippo on land and the outfitter is aware of my wish.
I will be grateful for any input/thoughts.

 

[V.Veritas]

Do you reload? North Fork Bullets I believe are made now in Scandinavia. You can’t go wrong with them.

 

[Happyclient]

Reloading is an option, but the company that runs North Fork bullets her do not have any of their bullets in 416. They could not tell when or if they could get some..

 

[Mekaniks]

 

[Happyclient]

Thank you kindly!

 

[PerH]

Norge,sjekk med J&F ,eller Hjemmelading . Og NPB lager Tonheim kulene .

 

[F. Vaccaro]

Welcome to the forum & good luck.
Keep us informed how it goes.

 

[Happyclient]

PerH: Hjemmelading do not ave any in stock. I have sent them an mail and asked if ther are expecting delivery. Jakt & Friluft was a good tip. Will phone them later.
What are Tonheim bullets?

 

[PerH]

NPB AS. Norwegian Performance Bullets.

Click here to see the history behind NPB AS.

www.npb.as

Tonheim made copper and bronze bullets in hp, FN types. This firm took over the production a while before he passed . Hope they have some

JF have Hornady, Woodleigh and others, hope they have some .416s you look for .

With the prices on ammo here , search and seek is the better way. If i come across others ill post it.

 

[Happyclient]

PerH: I have never heard of Tonheim. I will check them out. Thank you so much.

 

[Rem280]

If you are in the states the ammo can be found online: https://ammoseek.com/ammo/416-rigby

 

[Happyclient]

Rem280: I live in Norway. One of the reasons I strugle with few choises in the 416 Rigby. Small country where few hunters use anything larger than 375..

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I personally consider hunting hippopotamus on land to be the second most exciting form of dangerous game hunting that all of Africa has to offer (first being hunting truly wild lion). A hippopotamus is most dangerous when you’re standing between him and the water.

I have shot 9 of them over the years (till now). Mostly with a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum, except one with a .404 Jeffery and one with a .600 Nitro Express.

Bullets which I have used for hunting hippopotamus (till now), were:
-RWS 300Gr round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solid factory loads
- Remington 300Gr round nosed steel jacketed FMJ factory loads (which employed Hornady bullets)
-Norma 300Gr monolithic solid factory loads
-Cutting Edge Bullets 300Gr monolithic Safari Solid (hand load)
-Barnes 300Gr TSX factory loads
- RWS 400Gr round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solid factory loads
- Labor Fur Ballistik 900Gr flat nosed tombac jacketed FMJ factory loads

I will answer the “Solids vs Expanding Bullets For Hippopotamus“ question for you:
For hippopotamus shot in the water, an expanding bullet is better. You only get the brain shot. The skin over the top of the head is relatively thin & so is the skull. An expanding bullet works best because not a lot of penetration is required and shock is far more important.
For hippopotamus shot on land, you’re essentially looking at both a brain shot or a body shot. The hippopotamus body skin is very thick (more than 2“) and a good deal of penetration is required in order to reach the internal vital organs. So solid bullets here really come on their own.

Back when I first started going on hunting safaris in Africa in 1974, the universal rule was to always use nothing but the most strongly constructed solids for hunting hippopotamus. And indeed, I have successfully shot most of my hippopotamuses over the years with solid bullets. The only cartridges which ever gave me a difficult time, were the RWS 400Gr round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solids for the .404 Jeffery. They used extremely thin jackets, which were also quite brittle. Penetration, thus was severely impacted.

Last year, I shot an extremely large bull hippopotamus on land with a 300Gr Barnes TSX all copper monolithic hollow point. The results were most startlingly satisfactory and It was the first time in my life that I had ever used an expanding bullet on this type of game. I think that for future hunts, a magazine full of Barnes TSX cartridges is the right answer. For hunting hippopotamus on land, they are the only expanding bullets which I can safely recommend. Federal Trophy Bonded Bear Claw cartridges are also excellent. While I’ve personally never used them on hippopotamus (till now), I have been using the 300Gr Federal Trophy Bonded Bear Claw factory loaded cartridge in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum caliber to hunt the bulk of my Cape buffaloes ever since 1993. I am 100% confident that they would be ideal for brain shots on hippopotamus.

I highly recommend that you dole out the extra money for Norma African PH 400Gr flat nosed monolithic solid cartridges for your .416 Rigby. It is false economy to attempt to cut corners with your ammunition. Especially when it happens to be the cheapest part of the entire Safari experience. The penetrative abilities of a flat nosed solid over a round nosed solid (assuming that all other factors such as bullet construction & sectional density are equal) are substantial (esp. at acute angles).

 

[Happyclient]

Hunter-Habib: thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiense regarding hippo hunt. one of the reasons I would like to hunt one is that I a few years ago I got the oportunity to hunt a ”problem" hippo that had broke in to a farmers area in South Africa. We hunted it for 7 days, but newer saw the hippo. The area was very thick and the river it stayed in had a lot of curves. Still, walking in the bush at dawn looking for tracks was very, very exciting.
I agree with you in your comment on cutting corners on ammo expenses. The consern is that the 400 grains solid now offered by norma is a round nosed solid.No meplate whatsoever. I think on older boxes, Norma used a solid that were more flat at the front.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Hunter-Habib: thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiense regarding hippo hunt. one of the reasons I would like to hunt one is that I a few years ago I got the oportunity to hunt a ”problem" hippo that had broke in to a farmers area in South Africa. We hunted it for 7 days, but newer saw the hippo. The area was very thick and the river it stayed in had a lot of curves. Still, walking in the bush at dawn looking for tracks was very, very exciting.
I agree with you in your comment on cutting corners on ammo expenses. The consern is that the 400 grains solid now offered by norma is a round nosed solid.No meplate whatsoever. I think on older boxes, Norma used a solid that were more flat at the front.

Happy Client,

My personal preference would always be for flat nosed monolithic solids, if they can be sourced (with Cutting Edge Bullets Safari Solids being my #1 pick).

Nevertheless, I have successfully shot hippopotamus with round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solids (first RWS and later Remington). The round nosed solids always got the job done, provided that the jackets were made of thick steel with straight parallel sides. Like so.

There were no monolithic bullets back in those days.

With Norma's round nosed solids being monolithic in nature, I honestly doubt you will have anything to worry about.

 

[R.M.C.]

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your research, this is definitely the site to find solid information on hippo hunting.

 

[Green Chile]

Welcome to the forum. Maybe someone here has ideas on getting solids for you. I share your goal of wanting to do hippo on land.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Welcome to the forum Happyclient.

I know you live in Norway and these companies are in the US, But you could check these suppliers to see if they have the bullets you are looking for and if they ship internationally.

MidwayUSA
MidSouth Shooters Supply
Gamaliel Shooting Supply
Brownells Inc.

 

[PerH]

Midway dosent export worldwide any longer

Brownells,is very high priced and little stocked here.

Otherwise for bullets,ammo one need license import from the police to apply for it first .

 

[Sarg]

I have shot a few Hippos on land & they have been exhilarating hunts all, whether by Moon light, flashlight or daylight.

I have unfortunately not used the calibers I prefer but had to make do with a .375 H&H using from 300gr to 380gr bullets being softs (sort of) or at least expanding Peregrine Bushmaster 300gr & the Rhino 380gr the .380gr did not turn the .375 into a .40 caliber killer but did exit on body shots as did the Peregrine.

I think both these South African companies would ship to your country if asked ?