BJH65
AH enthusiast
Our first and only African hunt to date was in 1997. Plains game in SA and buffalo, hippo & crocodile in Mozambique after the recent end of their 17 year long civil war. I chose a Winchester M70 Safari Express CRF 416 Rem Mag with Leupold Vari X II 1-4, with factory 400 grain Remington SAF and ASquare 400 grain solids (Barnes). I chose a Winchester M70 All Terrain fwt SS CRF in 300 win mag mounted with a Nikon Monarch 3-9, using 180 grain Winchester Fail Safe for plains game.
My brother chose a Winchester M70 Safari Express CRF 458 Win Mag mounted with with a Leupold Vari X III 1.5-5, using factory ASquare 465 grain solids and dead tough SP. He chose a Rem 700 classic in 350 Rem Mag mounted with a Leupold Vari X III 2.5-8, with custom loaded 250 grain Barnes X bullets, the original before the TSX was invented.
We based our decision on rifles and ammunition on the recommendations made during the mid 90’s. Recommendations were a CRF rifle and back then, Winchester M70 was pretty much it for big bore African calibers. Recommended ammunition for buffalo was a high quality bonded SP like Swift A Frame, TBBC, and Nosler Partition for the first shot with solids for follow up shots.
The SA plains game hunt with PH Dion Cilliers was outstanding. My brother and I took a variety of plains game. I used my M70 Fwt All Terrain SS 300 win mag with 180 Win Fail Safe to kill cape eland, gemsbok, black wildebeest, red Hartebeest, blesbok and springbok. All one shot kills except the gemsbok which I shot too far back and was able to quickly place a second shot into its vitals putting him down for keeps.
The larger animals dropped instantly after the first shot (with the above exception on the gemsbok). The eland, gemsbok on the 2nd shot, black wildebeest and red Hartebeest were dropped instantly. All broadside and all between 80-200 yards. No recovered rounds, every Failsafe round passed through. The two animals that didn’t instantly drop were the smallest, the blesbok and springbok. The blesbok travelled about 35 yards after a lung shot and the tiny springbok we actually had to track, it went about 65 yards into the brush after a lung shot. The fail safe bullet wasn’t really designed for these small animals and all the energy was expended into the countryside after the bullet passed through them. After observing the performance of my 300 win mag with the fail safe bullet, Dion felt it would be adequate for Cape buffalo! Too bad the Failsafe’s were discontinued. My brother has an ample supply of 375 H&H 270 grain Fail safe for our upcoming buffalo hunt. I think they will be perfect!
My brother and I were less than impressed with those early Barnes x bullets, at least those 250 grain custom handloads for his 350 Rem Mag, perhaps the velocity was too low? He shot a zebra perfectly through the lungs and the stallion paused for a moment then rejoined the herd and began feeding on grass! After several more shots he was able to put it down and he did get a recovered bullet from the skinner, perfect classical Barnes X expansion? I’ve subsequently used Barnes TSX with great results. Then he had a running battle with a black wildebeest, it absorbed 7-8 shots into the vitals at 100 yards and took quite awhile to die, yet I shot one with the 180 grain 300 win mag Win Failsafe and it dropped my wildebeest in its tracks it didn’t move an inch!
Interestingly, no shooting sticks were used, I shot from either sitting, using a nearby tree as a convenient rest and one offhand shot.
Then on to Mozambique which really is a story in and of itself. The PH for that Mozambique hunt is no longer around but was well known throughout the 70’s and 90’s. Some of the highlights were being threatened by the Mozambique police with AK47’s pointed at us and discussing a tactical plan with the assistant PH Mark (great guy) on engaging them since neither of us planned on getting executed without a fight!
Hmmm let’s see no working vehicle they broke down, camp staff went on strike and threatened to mutiny, no ability to hunt buffalo, only crocodile and hippo in the Save river, sleeping over overnight in the bush because vehicle broke down again and being so tired I didn’t care about the scorpions crawling on me, just brushed them off and went back to sleep! Also walking 15 miles daily just to hunt croc and hippo. It was a disaster but one helluva an adventure!
Had the AH site existed back then and the internet, all could have been avoided, there were red flags, but we were young and naive. Anyhow, afterwards we were somewhat bitter, and even though I went on several other guided hunts: Alaska for grizzly, BC for mt. Goat and Bob Marshall wilderness pack trip for elk, Africa was all but forgotten, a distance memory.
In regard to all things Africa, it’s as if I stepped out of a Time Machine from 1997 because I have not paid attention to anything regarding African hunting for 27years since then! So fast forward to the present: we’ve booked a Cape buffalo hunt with my brother and nephew for 2026. So with my interest rekindled with African hunting, I’ve noticed not much has changed in regard to recommendations on rifles and ammunition for DG since the mid 90’s, except there are a lot more options for CRF DG rifles. The ammo recommendations are quite similar too except much harder to find currently manufactured SAF and TBBC. The Barnes TSX is much improved over the original Barnes X bullet that had no bands machined and caused bad copper fouling and erratic accuracy with some rifles.
I’m a little surprised that push feed rifles are not more accepted these days and the bullet recommendation have seen little change excepting a few more monolithic copper bullet entries from other companies. Really little has changed regarding rifles and bullets much to my surprise. Of course, in other areas there has been significant change, not all for the better. I did feel a kinship with the South Africans, all during that era served (compulsory) in the SA military or police force and I have both in my background as well. On the flight over, the pilots invited us into the cockpit to talk about hunting!
So for our 2026 buffalo hunt, I will be using a CZ 416 Rigby with a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 with Warne QD mounts (yes the scope will be fine for Cape buffalo!) and 400 grain factory Barnes TSX. My brother will be using a Sako Mannlicher carbine 375 H&H with Leupold VX3 2.5-8x36 with the aforementioned 270 Win Fail Safe and nephew will be using a Win M70 Safari Express 458 Win Mag mounted with Leupold VX3 1.5-5 using 450 grain Barnes TSX.
Actually, I’m cheating a little, I booked an additional Cape buffalo hunt for this September because I don’t want to wait 2 1/2 years! Just me going on that one.
The hippo I shot in the Save river, Mozambique, Aug 97. Taken with body shots with a 400 grain SAF and a couple Barnes solids as it was partially out of water. No vehicle to tow it out of water. Villagers later descended on the scene and every scrap was removed!
Brendon J
My brother chose a Winchester M70 Safari Express CRF 458 Win Mag mounted with with a Leupold Vari X III 1.5-5, using factory ASquare 465 grain solids and dead tough SP. He chose a Rem 700 classic in 350 Rem Mag mounted with a Leupold Vari X III 2.5-8, with custom loaded 250 grain Barnes X bullets, the original before the TSX was invented.
We based our decision on rifles and ammunition on the recommendations made during the mid 90’s. Recommendations were a CRF rifle and back then, Winchester M70 was pretty much it for big bore African calibers. Recommended ammunition for buffalo was a high quality bonded SP like Swift A Frame, TBBC, and Nosler Partition for the first shot with solids for follow up shots.
The SA plains game hunt with PH Dion Cilliers was outstanding. My brother and I took a variety of plains game. I used my M70 Fwt All Terrain SS 300 win mag with 180 Win Fail Safe to kill cape eland, gemsbok, black wildebeest, red Hartebeest, blesbok and springbok. All one shot kills except the gemsbok which I shot too far back and was able to quickly place a second shot into its vitals putting him down for keeps.
The larger animals dropped instantly after the first shot (with the above exception on the gemsbok). The eland, gemsbok on the 2nd shot, black wildebeest and red Hartebeest were dropped instantly. All broadside and all between 80-200 yards. No recovered rounds, every Failsafe round passed through. The two animals that didn’t instantly drop were the smallest, the blesbok and springbok. The blesbok travelled about 35 yards after a lung shot and the tiny springbok we actually had to track, it went about 65 yards into the brush after a lung shot. The fail safe bullet wasn’t really designed for these small animals and all the energy was expended into the countryside after the bullet passed through them. After observing the performance of my 300 win mag with the fail safe bullet, Dion felt it would be adequate for Cape buffalo! Too bad the Failsafe’s were discontinued. My brother has an ample supply of 375 H&H 270 grain Fail safe for our upcoming buffalo hunt. I think they will be perfect!
My brother and I were less than impressed with those early Barnes x bullets, at least those 250 grain custom handloads for his 350 Rem Mag, perhaps the velocity was too low? He shot a zebra perfectly through the lungs and the stallion paused for a moment then rejoined the herd and began feeding on grass! After several more shots he was able to put it down and he did get a recovered bullet from the skinner, perfect classical Barnes X expansion? I’ve subsequently used Barnes TSX with great results. Then he had a running battle with a black wildebeest, it absorbed 7-8 shots into the vitals at 100 yards and took quite awhile to die, yet I shot one with the 180 grain 300 win mag Win Failsafe and it dropped my wildebeest in its tracks it didn’t move an inch!
Interestingly, no shooting sticks were used, I shot from either sitting, using a nearby tree as a convenient rest and one offhand shot.
Then on to Mozambique which really is a story in and of itself. The PH for that Mozambique hunt is no longer around but was well known throughout the 70’s and 90’s. Some of the highlights were being threatened by the Mozambique police with AK47’s pointed at us and discussing a tactical plan with the assistant PH Mark (great guy) on engaging them since neither of us planned on getting executed without a fight!
Hmmm let’s see no working vehicle they broke down, camp staff went on strike and threatened to mutiny, no ability to hunt buffalo, only crocodile and hippo in the Save river, sleeping over overnight in the bush because vehicle broke down again and being so tired I didn’t care about the scorpions crawling on me, just brushed them off and went back to sleep! Also walking 15 miles daily just to hunt croc and hippo. It was a disaster but one helluva an adventure!
Had the AH site existed back then and the internet, all could have been avoided, there were red flags, but we were young and naive. Anyhow, afterwards we were somewhat bitter, and even though I went on several other guided hunts: Alaska for grizzly, BC for mt. Goat and Bob Marshall wilderness pack trip for elk, Africa was all but forgotten, a distance memory.
In regard to all things Africa, it’s as if I stepped out of a Time Machine from 1997 because I have not paid attention to anything regarding African hunting for 27years since then! So fast forward to the present: we’ve booked a Cape buffalo hunt with my brother and nephew for 2026. So with my interest rekindled with African hunting, I’ve noticed not much has changed in regard to recommendations on rifles and ammunition for DG since the mid 90’s, except there are a lot more options for CRF DG rifles. The ammo recommendations are quite similar too except much harder to find currently manufactured SAF and TBBC. The Barnes TSX is much improved over the original Barnes X bullet that had no bands machined and caused bad copper fouling and erratic accuracy with some rifles.
I’m a little surprised that push feed rifles are not more accepted these days and the bullet recommendation have seen little change excepting a few more monolithic copper bullet entries from other companies. Really little has changed regarding rifles and bullets much to my surprise. Of course, in other areas there has been significant change, not all for the better. I did feel a kinship with the South Africans, all during that era served (compulsory) in the SA military or police force and I have both in my background as well. On the flight over, the pilots invited us into the cockpit to talk about hunting!
So for our 2026 buffalo hunt, I will be using a CZ 416 Rigby with a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 with Warne QD mounts (yes the scope will be fine for Cape buffalo!) and 400 grain factory Barnes TSX. My brother will be using a Sako Mannlicher carbine 375 H&H with Leupold VX3 2.5-8x36 with the aforementioned 270 Win Fail Safe and nephew will be using a Win M70 Safari Express 458 Win Mag mounted with Leupold VX3 1.5-5 using 450 grain Barnes TSX.
Actually, I’m cheating a little, I booked an additional Cape buffalo hunt for this September because I don’t want to wait 2 1/2 years! Just me going on that one.
The hippo I shot in the Save river, Mozambique, Aug 97. Taken with body shots with a 400 grain SAF and a couple Barnes solids as it was partially out of water. No vehicle to tow it out of water. Villagers later descended on the scene and every scrap was removed!
Brendon J
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