Big Bores for small things

[Cheesehead]

How many of you have used your big bores, I'm thinking .40 cal or bigger, to take smaller game than these guns are typically used for? Have you used them for plains game, or maybe North American and European game? If so, tell me about it. What animal did you hunt and what caliber and load combination did you use? I'd like to hear what led you to use the big bore rifle, for example maybe you got a chance at nice trophy impala while on a buffalo hunt, or maybe you were getting ready for a DG hunt so decided to use it for mule deer to practice. And of course, pictures make everything more fun.

 

[VertigoBE]

I hunted (unsuccesfully) for two days for an oryx or blue wildebeest, with an iron-sighted .500NE double rifle.
Just because it is fun and I like the rifle.
It's like bowhunting (I assume), but with a rifle.

I don't mind foregoing a (plainsgame) trophy, because I could not get close enough.

 

[Uncontrolled_round_feed]

I recall someone posting a red fox that was offed by a .500J
I do a fair bit of both western hunting and whitetail hunting. The big boomers aren’t ideal for my style for the former due to weight but I think this fall the newly acquired 505 Gibbs should get the undivided attention of some hapless doe

 

[Tintin]

I recall someone posting a red fox that was offed by a .500J

Guilty as charged your honour.

^ .500 Jeffery v fox. Trail Boss plinking load with Bertram 535 gn soft pencilled right through.

^ .416 RIgby v pig. Woodleigh 450 gn soft.

^ .404 Jeffery v pig. Woodleigh 400 gn soft.

 

[grand veneur]

I don't think something like that is anything out of the ordinary. Anyone who only hunts with a big bore rifle in Africa often has no choice but to use it for smaller game species and with the usual loads for the big game.

As far as I am concerned, I shot in Africa antelopes and warthogs in this way with my rifles caliber 460 Weatherby Magnum and 500 Schüler, but also wild hogs with the rifle caliber 460 Weatherby Magnum as part of a Wisent hunting in eastern Europe. If I have had an alternative in all of these cases, meaning a rifle of a suitable caliber for this game species, I would have used it. For playful reasons I don't specifically hunt smaller game species with a big bore rifle. It does not make sense to me. You can practice with a big bore on a shooting range, you don't need live targets.

460 Weatherby Magnum / Hornady 500gr Interbond RN. Big game load.

 

[BJH65]

How many of you have used your big bores, I'm thinking .40 cal or bigger, to take smaller game than these guns are typically used for? Have you used them for plains game, or maybe North American and European game? If so, tell me about it. What animal did you hunt and what caliber and load combination did you use? I'd like to hear what led you to use the big bore rifle, for example maybe you got a chance at nice trophy impala while on a buffalo hunt, or maybe you were getting ready for a DG hunt so decided to use it for mule deer to practice. And of course, pictures make everything more fun.

On our first Safari to Africa I brought two rifles, Winchester M70 CRF 416 Rem Mag for DG game and 300 Win Mag for plains game. On a recent hunt in Limpopo this past September with Derian Koekemoer Safaris for Cape buffalo cow and plains game I wanted to keep it simple plus ranges would be under 200 yards (everything I shot was anywhere from 50-80 yards) so I used my CZ 550 416 Rigby with factory Barnes 400 grain TSX for everything: buffalo cow, kudu, impala and warthog. Worked great on everything. Here’s some video shorts of each each animal taken.

 

[BlueFlyer]

Not huge, but like TinTin I took a fox with a 45/70. But unlike the photo TinTin shared the fox was completely disembowelled. It was a running shot @ 40m, the fox jumped up out of a creek. I guess its stomack was full of food and water and the hydraulic shock just removed all the entrails.

 

[Badboymelvin]

How many of you have used your big bores, I'm thinking .40 cal or bigger, to take smaller game than these guns are typically used for? Have you used them for plains game, or maybe North American and European game? If so, tell me about it. What animal did you hunt and what caliber and load combination did you use? I'd like to hear what led you to use the big bore rifle, for example maybe you got a chance at nice trophy impala while on a buffalo hunt, or maybe you were getting ready for a DG hunt so decided to use it for mule deer to practice. And of course, pictures make everything more fun.

I have shot quite a few deer now in Australia, from small Fallow up to nearly Elk sized Sambar - and the cartridge l have shot the most deer with has been the .458 Winchester Magnum.

I have used a variety of loads, but all of them have been full-power loads, not loaded down.

I have used old 80's red & white box Winchester ammo with the 500gn projectile at a chronographed 2010fps and these were effective on big Sambar.
But mainly l used handloads consisting of the Woodleigh 480gn RNSP at a chronographed 2150fps and the Woodleigh 550gn RNSP at 2100fps also chronographed.

The handloads were VERY effective.

There were a few different reasons I used a .458 on deer...

Firstly, it put things on their bum.
Even when the shot was slightly misplaced like on a running deer for example, the .458 always pulled them up and l could follow up with a better placed shot.

Secondly, hunting deer with one of my .458's gave me an opportunity to get familiar with the rifle in preparation for when l hunted bigger game.

Thirdly, the .458 is my favourite cartridge and l just plain enjoyed hunting with it.

Oh, did l mention it put things on their bum?

480gn Woodleigh RNSP @2150fps vs Fallow... l didn't eat up to the hole...

550gn Woodleigh RNSP vs Fallow. Notice the entry hole in chest and exit hole through side of the ribs and how it blew his hair off...

Red Deer taken in miserable conditions with 500gn Winchester factory load. This deer was taken on the run and the first shot hit too far back - but still pulled him up. The second shot in the shoulder anchored him for good.

I have also shot quite a few sambar with the .458 - including a couple of big boys, but can't find the photo's...?
When l find them l'll post them up

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

I was on a buffalo hunt when a nice shot at an impala ram presented itself. Heym 89b 450/400 with a Trijicon RMR 1moa, 80 metres, Hornady DGS.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I’ve used a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum (loaded with 300Gr solids) for hunting the African tiny ten species. Worked well enough.

 

[PerH]

The previous owner of the .404 I once had took Moose , reindeer , red deer , both types of Seal with it , capercaille and ptarmigan with it .

The bird load was 310 Mimek hc , the others usually 350 grain Woodleigh or 300 copper .



I don’t have them any longer , neither the .450 NE nr1 or the vz in .404 with 5 shot magazine

( ow I wish I kept the .404 , but thought no chance of big game use abroad would be in the future )

 

[Rellik]

This was back in the early 90s when antelope in Wyoming were seemingly everywhere. I remember that a resident could get up to 9 doe tags over the counter, in addition to the buck tag that needed to be drawn. Deer tags were similarly available and this allowed for a lot of terminal ballistics testing to take place. One afternoon, myself and my hunting buddy both took pronghorn antelope does with my 416 Rigby. The load was a 400 gr. A-Square Lion load bullet. The doe I shot was approximately 75 yards away , broadside in an alfalfa field. The kill shot was efficient but not all that impressive, in that the bullet plowed through her, leaving a 41 caliber hole all the way through. She trotted a few yards and fell over dead. The one my friend shot was a bit more spectacular. We looked in vain for a doe that would cooperate with a straight head on angle but eventually found one facing almost straight away. She was probably only 60 yards away when the bullet hit her on the point of her hip, traveled lengthwise through her, leaving copper and soft lead fragments along the way and lodged under skin after breaking her far shoulder. Obviously she went down hard but then incredibly, struggled to get back on her feet. She may have succeeded if she wasn't broken on two corners, but my friend took the follow-up shot to the head and it was over. The recovered bullet weighed 210 grains, shedding nearly half of it weight and dumping 4000 ft pounds of energy as it traveled through her. I still have that bullet somewhere in my collection of mementos. Obviously this was somewhat of a stunt, and with my curiosity satisfied, I didn't take another big game animal with that rifle, eventually selling it when I had hungry kids, a mortgage, a free spending spouse and bleak prospects of ever using it for what it was intended.