Another Buffalo Shot Angle

[discap]

I was dove hunting (shooting) in Cordova shortly after the lion charge video came out. Turns out Ronnie's son was interning at the ranch. Ronnie shows up and one thing leads to another and he shows me the video.
His comment was something to the effect "that was the last time I shot a bolt action"
FWIW

Bill

 

[wysongdog]

So can you stuff an arrow into that bull facing you? 80#, 750 grain arrow, iron will buff broadhead. Right above the red dot? Asking for a friend lol

 

[Beck]

I'd try to shoot just north of the yellow, right between the eyes

 

[IvW]

None of those 4..... if there is enough time for another shot it would also not be any of those 4.....using a 500 Jeff with 570gr or 600gr premium expanders that is......

 

[Scott CWO]

I was dove hunting (shooting) in Cordova shortly after the lion charge video came out. Turns out Ronnie's son was interning at the ranch. Ronnie shows up and one thing leads to another and he shows me the video.
His comment was something to the effect "that was the last time I shot a bolt action"
FWIW

Bill

Ronnie Craus was my PH on my Botswana elephant safari in 2021. He told me the complete story of the lion charge. He was shooting a bolt 458 wildcat, I forget which one. He actually took two shots, one early on and then held his second shot until the end. He said he actually had lion saliva slobber on his leg due to the lion dying and sliding into him! He now carries a double rifle.

 

[IvW]

Ronnie Craus was my PH on my Botswana elephant safari in 2021. He told me the complete story of the lion charge. He was shooting a bolt 458 wildcat, I forget which one. He actually took two shots, one early on and then held his second shot until the end. He said he actually had lion saliva slobber on his leg due to the lion dying and sliding into him! He now carries a double rifle.

Correct and correct....doubles are the best on cats......

 

[Scott CWO]

Correct and correct....doubles are the best on cats......

Yes, especially for a PH. Although I have 20/20 vision at a couple feet away to infinity, I cannot use iron sights reliably anymore up close because it can be difficult for my eyes to focus on the target, front and rear sight at the same time. I also need reading glasses now. I used my Lott with red dot holographic sight on my elephant. I don’t own a DR but did consult with you several years ago about getting one before my eyes changed. I also just can’t bring myself to put a red dot sight on a beautiful DR. As a hunter in Africa, not a PH, I’ve been okay without a DR on dangerous game but it does make me wonder sometimes. I did get off three very quick shots on my lion with the first and third being fatal hits. My hunting partner and our spouses asked if my PH took a shot because they heard the three quick shots. Perhaps I’m a bit faster with a bolt than most people but still not as fast as a double rifle.

 

[Beck]

Correct and correct....doubles are the best on cats....

I am sure that is correct for a PH, but you think a visiting hunter should be using a double as well?

 

[IvW]

Apologies I should have said in a wounded follow up situation.....

I dont think a double is the rifle rifle for a visiting hunter on cats.....much better off with a low power scoped rifle of appropriate caliber and the right bullet so that the first shot is placed accurately then no follow will be needed.

Unless the hunter is experienced following up on wounded leopard or lion is not really a place for the hunter to be......it ads another thing for the follow up team to worry about......
I dont want to derail the thread the op was asking about where to place the shot on this buff.....not cats.....

 

[richteb]

Right between the eyes.

 

[One Day...]

Woah! I am surprised, there is generally a decent level of alignment between the responses on those threads and the classic literature, but not in this case. I wonder why...

Regardless of caliber, the only good shot on a charging buffalo at that distance is straight up the nose, when he comes with its neck stretched forward and head high. This is the only direct path to the brain at this angle.

In this case, he has not stretched his neck forward yet, or he already started dropping his head for the hook up, so I agree with Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS, BRICKBURN and BeeMaa. A little over the yellow dot (which I am interpreting from the unclear pic is on the nose, just under BRICKBURN's green X), just under the eye level.

Like Hunter-Habib, and assuming I had my .458 Lott in hands, I would have no qualm whatsoever using a TSX. It will not only perforate the skull, but go deep through the body after that, wrecking on its way a few vertebra. Those TSX are true solids, especially if they shed their petals along a particularly though bony way like in this case

Obviously, a 7x57 would greatly benefit from a solid in such an encounter... It will brain it just the same.

Any body shot at this distance will NOT stop a buffalo. Kill him, yes, stop him, no.

A shot under the boss will go over the brain. It may stun him, or it may not.

 

[One Day...]

I disagree with BeeMa's statement in one respect: It is not the lions lack of head movement in a charge, but the speed and relative angle of your target. Most people, in stressful situations, tend to neglect required bullet lead. If you drop down to one knee to take a charging shot, you're setting on the same plain of your charging target. Just pull the trigger before he/she get withing 7 yards. that is when the leap comes

There is truth to that, although at that distance lead may be academic.

My understanding is that the value of getting low on a charging lion is that it puts an horizontal front shot in line with the body length, so even if the brain is missed (dang!), the bullet will still continue through the body, hopefully wrecking a few vertebra (jackpot!), or breaking a shoulder (distant second prize!), or at least causing some (hopefully serious) damage somewhere in the chest (door prize!) and therefore tune down the lion's enthusiasm.

A head shot from the top that misses the brain will exit at the bottom of the head, and while it may damage the dental work (which WOULD reduce the mauling effects) it will do nothing to the overall vitality of the lion...