@Badboymelvin
And the 35 Whelen will do the same velocity with less fuss and bother but not really needed for deer or sambar but fun to use
I would be just as happy with a light 308 and some 150 accubond, Woodleigh or SST and for ranges upto 200 yards a nice 180gn round nose will sit them on their arse just as well.
The go big or go home arguments are fine but why beat your self up when smaller will result in dead when you do your part.
This year my 222 or 25 will get a work out and the 35 can have a rest and come out to play next year.
Must be getting old.
Bob
You know Bob, there's a saying...
'On a good day ANYTHING will work... but on a bad day you need every advantage you can get.'
Not only are Sambar big and tough, but the environment they live in is thick and hard to track.
Also, the only shot you might get is on a running deer - and for a split second between brush, and this makes perfect placement difficult.
Trying to track a wounded deer in the thick stuff, over logs, creeks and you name it, isn't easy... or fun.
I love the .308 as much as anyone - l just bought one, but the .308 would be the minimum l'd ever use on Sambar.
I say minimum and certainly not my first choice.
I have some Sako bonded 150gn Super-Hammerheads that shoot to the same POI as the Sako 150gn Gameheads - and l purchased the bonded bullets in case there's the possibility of seeing a Sambar while out Fallow hunting... not to specifically hunt them.
If l'm dedicated Sambar hunting l'll be carrying my 425 Express.
I've told the story before where l took a shot on a running Sambar stag and hit it too far back... that's the PC way of saying l gut shot it.
Not proud of it, not at all. But this is hunting and sometimes these things happen - as much as we do everything we can to avoid it.
I hit this stag with a .458 Winchester Magnum with 500gn softpoint at a little over 2000fps.
And even though the shot was poor (and once again l'm not proud of it) it pulled the big deer up so l could put a second shot into it's shoulder.
Now, what would've happened if that same shot occurred with a .308 loaded with SST's?
l can tell you what, you would've spent all day tracking a deer...
No one particularly likes getting punished by recoil - but there is a reason why a lot of Sambar hunters use bigger cartridges... because we have everything stacked against us from the start.
So why not use a cartridge that can do the job not when everything goes right, but when everything goes wrong.
I personally think that the .338 Winchester Magnum is an absolutely magnificent Sambar cartridge, and l would pick that over most other cartridges - including the 35 Whelen.
Apart from the .338 l think that my 425 Express is my favourite Sambar cartridge.
Shoots flat to 250mtrs if l ever need it and hits with 5000ft/lbs of energy with plenty of bullet weight and plenty of velocity.
My .308 would have to be my favourite rifle at the moment, so light and handy but l have my personal reasons why it's not my frontline Sambar rifle.
I've also use a 270WSM with 150gn Powerpoints with great success - in fact it was a hammer.
I've also personally used a .300Wby with 180gn Woodleigh's and that effective as well.
And as previously mentioned I've used the .338WM with 225gn Woodleigh's as well as the .458WM with 480-550gn Woodleigh's.
I've also used a .308 to take my first Sambar and as l said, l really like the .308... but to say it's as good as the bigger stuff - especially when you can't guarantee perfect shot placement, well, that just hasn't been my experience...
YMMV
Russ
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