How many shots?

[bruce moulds]

to be fair, let's say you have just sighted in your rifle(s) and the safari is about to begin.
from this point, until you leave for home, how many shots per animal do you fire?
shots fired divided by no of animals.
don't tell me one, because i will not believe it.
not saying it can't be done, but it would be rare indeed.
i think 2 would be excellent and 3 not too bad.
bruce.

 

[Bruce]

2 x per animal, plus some for checking scope zero ( and possible re-checking mid hunt)..double that and you have enough for the hunt.
I don't personally do it this way... I always take far more then necessary... just in case!!

 

[BeeMaa]

Also you can bring ammo back, you don't have to leave it.
However, giving some premium ammo to your PH as a gift is a nice touch.

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

On my hunt this year.
I took 8 animals using 12 rounds. Blue wildabeest took 2 rounds black wildabeest 3 rounds had 1 miss on an impala. Used another 11 rounds checking zero 3 different times. Used 23 total. Took 60 round 375. Will take 40 for each rifle on next trip in 2019 375 HH and 416 Rem Mag

 

[Fred Gunner]

don't tell me one, because i will not believe it.

As My Witness I refer you to PH: Chrisjan Potgieter of Eureka Hunting Safaris:
Three Warthogs, one gnarly Boss Baboon and one NAPHA Silver Medal Impala. All dropped stone dead with one shot each of 375 Ruger 300 Grain Nosler Accubonds.
Granted not the biggest of African Big Game for that load...in the immortal words of one Robert Ruark "Use Enough Gun"
Also note: I was hunting one Leopard and I brought 60 rounds to Africa and carried 10 rounds on my person at all times.

 

[Hogpatrol]

to be fair, let's say you have just sighted in your rifle(s) and the safari is about to begin.
from this point, until you leave for home, how many shots per animal do you fire?
shots fired divided by no of animals.
don't tell me one, because i will not believe it.
not saying it can't be done, but it would be rare indeed.
i think 2 would be excellent and 3 not too bad.
bruce.

Does this include checking zero and then averaging total amount of shots the rifle was fired divided by the animals killed?

YMMV but I would say if two or three shots are needed on plains game, more practice would be in order. From where I sit, that's terrible.

 

[Ryan]

Your wording implies post sight in to me.
In that case my personal experience is twelve animals with fifteen shots taken for a 1.25 ratio. My eland took a second insurance shot and I wounded my bushbuck which took two extra from my PH.

Otherwise, I'm not sure where you are going with this. Are you asking if animals usually take multiple shots or how much target practice, sight checking is done during the hunt?

 

[K-man]

The hunt i just finished last week with 2 loaner rifles one shot each for sight-in, three shots three animals including a driven boar running for a total of five shots. Guns were superbly accurate. Last hunt in the eastern cape with my own .375, six animals seven shots. I don't think i will make ammunition companies very wealthy. i was brought up given one shotgun shell for one rabbit. If you missed you didn't get to go next day.

 

[Nyati]

As I read it the OP asks " how many shots per animal do you fire".

He already stated he won´t believe it, but I have rarely needed a second shot

 

[TTundra]

My last trip, 6 animals with 8 shots. 5 were 1 shot, and a black wildebeest due to my error in judging wind lead me to have to put one more in it on the run and then one more to make sure his suffering was over.

Agree with @Hogpatrol , if you average 2 or 3 shots per PG, more senario range time is needed

 

[bruce moulds]

ryan,
i am just interested in real world statistics. no more, no less.
i have already learned that guys take more sighting shots during that sarari, and that is interesting in itself.
you often read that on say buffalo it pays to keep shooting sometimes.
it sounds so far like most guys here are pretty handy shots.
bruce.

 

[sheephunterab]

I'd say our average is well under two for plains game and between two and three for dangerous game.

 

[Nyati]

@bruce moulds, accurate statistics are hard to come by in our world.

That buff in my avatar, I killed it with a single shot to the neck. Of course, I gave it an insurance shot between the shoulder blades when we approached it, just in case.
But I did witness a hunt where I lost count at the number of bullets that poor buff needed to die.

I have also witnessed two lion hunts where they were killed with a single shot.

It´s basically a question of staying calm and placing that shot carefully, with the proper bullet, you don´t need anymore.

 

[bruce moulds]

a lot of guys here make a point of talking about practice regimes, and that is to be admired.
then you read about guys that turn up with a rifle sighted in at the factory and they have never fired a shot.
another interesting stat might be to include shots fired as backup by the p.h. as those of the client.
bruce.

 

[Hogpatrol]

@bruce moulds I accompanied two first time to Africa hunters. One was new to shooting and hunting, less than three years, but I coached him and we practiced once or twice a week a few months before leaving. The other, a long time hunter, shot one time before leaving, said he was good to go. The new shooter/hunter killed 13 plains game animals (Savage .270W shooting 140 Berger VLDHs) with one shot each, a warthog took multiple shots. We went out at night and he used my rifle to bag two springhares, one shot each. The other, more experienced hunter missed multiple times, took two and three shots and admitted after the hunt, he did not practice enough. Admittedly preaching to the choir here but shoot accurate loads, know your ballistics, know your rifle and practice. There are no shortcuts.

 

[bruce moulds]

hogpatrol,
you make a good point.
too much today we see guys thinking that throwing money at things is more important than building muscle memory.
also only good practice is worth doing. bad practice breeds bad habits which then have to be undone to get back to a starting point.
bruce.

 

[Ryan]

Fair enough. I'd say most are indeed handy, and careful with their shots. I can recall passing up a couple shots I wasn't quite certain about kjow it would eventually line up. I included my PH's back up shots in my stats since I did indeed wound one animal.
And if you included practice shots it would be hundreds per animal. Plenty in my hunting caliber rifle and bricks of .22 shooting at 25-50 yards to just be comfortable and fluid shooting, especially in the weeks prior to a hunt. Amazing how that helps.

Speaking of rifles bought and sighted in by others. I bought my 375 Ruger from an older guy who had the sporting good store sight it in for him and then he went lioness hunting with it. It all worked out he claimed, but it made me shake my head a lot.

 

[BRICKBURN]

......
shots fired divided by no of animals.
don't tell me one, because i will not believe it...........

I picked three trips and did the math for you: 2.00; 1.28; 1.12.
Shots per critter.

I take the absolute maximum weight of ammunition I can take along. Never use these numbers for what to take on your trip. My luggage flies both ways with me.

 

[Fred Gunner]

it sounds so far like most guys here are pretty handy shots.

As for me Africa is a Dream. I shoot 25-live fire rounds each and every week April through Oct. I dry fire 3 to 5 days each week. The week prior to any hunt I shoot every single day up to the day prior to departure. So 500+ live fire rounds in training = one shot kills...

 

[Red Leg]

I have had the good fortune to have killed four buff, and I'm not sure how much plains game. Two buffalo required one shot, one two required two, and one took a second to make sure. Of all the plains game I have taken, I am pretty sure only two required a second shot (an impala and a reed buck of all things). There is an oryx somewhere in Namibia that I should have shot twice. The most sighting in shots that I have ever taken were five or so (typically it is two). If you count what I shoot here at home with the rifles that accompany me, then we are talking a different set of math.