What is your minimum Buffalo cartridge

[Foxi]

I can honestly say you are the first person I have ever heard of/ read about / met / whatever that used buckshot or a slug for a cape buffalo follow-up. I am also a product of that generation, and I am pretty sure that I have never fired a load of buckshot of any bore that would give me confidence in impressing an inbound cape buffalo. I don't believe I would have wanted to depend upon the soft lead slugs of that era to be much more effective. Don't doubt you, but would love to hear the details of those hunts and where they took place.

 

[johnnyblues]

Pretty beaten up question poised here many times.

 

[Red Leg]

 

[Backyardsniper]

I suppose it is a pretty beaten up question. Being a member of.longrangehunting.com, I have seen the question " what is a good rifle to hunt elk at 1000yds" asked at.least 500 times. There are always people new to things and guys starting new adventures. If the question bores you then simply don't reply. I'm about to drop around $35,000 on a hunting trip and that's a whole lot of money for me so I figured it wise to seek the advice of some people with experience in that particular field. Which in this case is shooting buffalo.

 

[Red Leg]

I suppose it is a pretty beaten up question. Being a member of.longrangehunting.com, I have seen the question " what is a good rifle to hunt elk at 1000yds" asked at.least 500 times. There are always people new to things and guys starting new adventures. If the question bores you then simply don't reply. I'm about to drop around $35,000 on a hunting trip and that's a whole lot of money for me so I figured it wise to seek the advice of some people with experience in that particular field. Which in this case is shooting buffalo.

Probably don't want anyone's opinion here with regard to using elk as targets, excuse me, "hunting" elk at a thousand yards.

I am also pretty sure no one acted intentionally bored about your question. It is one that garners extensive discussion from time to time here. Getting as much informed opinion as possible before hunting dangerous game is an extremely wise thing to do.

@johnnyblues is a curmudgeon of long standing, but along with this thread, the site has a great search function that can give you a wealth of discussion about hunting buffalo.

 

[Backyardsniper]

The 1000yd mark is always the go to number for beginners. People soon find that is not as easily attainable as just buying a fancy long range rifle. To be successful at the long range game takes a tremendous amount of. practice and knowledge of applied ballistics. Lots of math, lots of variables, lots of patience and most of all lots of passing up shots until you have all the right conditions. Personally I have taken elk at 387yds, 620yds, a bear at 570yds and a Rock Chuck at 1081yds. All were one shot kills except the rock chuck. It took a couple shots to bracket the wind. Ha ha. That's a pretty slim target at that distance. While long range shooting isn't the answer for every situation or even every hunter it is a handy tool to have in your tool bag. If I can get close I always want to get closer. I have a recurve bow and even a spear that Ilike to hunt with. I haven't killed anything with the spear yet but I believe I can make it happen with some patience and practice. I will say a lot of people don't like the long range hunting deal and I can understand it especially if you are talking about people with no training that are out there just wantonly crippling animals.
I will say though, I never had one single Iraqi complain about my long range shooting skills

 

[Newboomer]

I'm betting those ragheads never knew what hit them.
My one buf was with a 375HH 350gr Barnes TSX head on at 30 yards. Went clear through stem to stern. Found him very dead 75 yards away. 375HH with a good bullet is adequate for buf and eland. I use Barnes TSX 235 gr in 375HH for everything else out to 300 yards.

 

[Backyardsniper]

I'm betting those ragheads never knew what hit them.
My one buf was with a 375HH 350gr Barnes TSX head on at 30 yards. Went clear through stem to stern. Found him very dead 75 yards away. 375HH with a good bullet is adequate for buf and eland. I use Barnes TSX 235 gr in 375HH for everything else out to 300 yards.

That is what I was looking for. I have a buddy that shot a Kodiak with a 375 head on and said the same thing. It had enough energy to transit all the way through the bear long ways. I was curious if it had enough energy to do the same with a buffalo as I assumed they were a bit more dense than a bear, and also a bit larger in general. I have had the 458 for several years but I ordered a matching 375 the other day and I picked up 100 brass and about 300 bullets varying.from 235 speer up to 270gr and 300gr bullets. Luckily I have 400yd rifle range just down the road from my house so I can practice all I want. I plan to get a lot of rounds downrange with the new 375 and I'll probably deer hunt with it this year as well just to get a little more familiar with it. According to Hodgdon I can drive a 235speer bullet at 3000fps with cfe 223. That is moving along pretty swiftly.

 

[Red Leg]

That is what I was looking for. I have a buddy that shot a Kodiak with a 375 head on and said the same thing. It had enough energy to transit all the way through the bear long ways. I was curious if it had enough energy to do the same with a buffalo as I assumed they were a bit more dense than a bear, and also a bit larger in general. I have had the 458 for several years but I ordered a matching 375 the other day and I picked up 100 brass and about 300 bullets varying.from 235 speer up to 270gr and 300gr bullets. Luckily I have 400yd rifle range just down the road from my house so I can practice all I want. I plan to get a lot of rounds downrange with the new 375 and I'll probably deer hunt with it this year as well just to get a little more familiar with it. According to Hodgdon I can drive a 235speer bullet at 3000fps with cfe 223. That is moving along pretty swiftly.

For a dedicated PG hunt, it is hard to beat the mid-weight .375 bullets. However, the 300 gr (I have used both TSX and A Frame with great success) are terrific on a Buffalo and work superbly about as far as most can comfortably shoot off sticks and one's hind legs.

Looked at your photos (one hell of an elk by the way), and don't know if you are considering it on your .375, but a muzzle brake will likely to keep you off the client of the year nomination list. Unlike a lonely hunt in the mountains of NA, African hunts tend to involve a crowd, and most PHs can speak with some feeling about their loathing of muzzle brakes. Just something to consider.

 

[Tanks]

For whatever it is worth, I am taking a .500 NE double rifle next August for buffalo and elephant. Believe in big holes for those animals. No, I would not be taking a 100 yard shot through an inch opening between branches with a double rifle, then again I wouldn't take that 100 yard shot even with a bolt rifle either. For me, those animals need to be hunted close.

For leopard I will use a .458 caliber bolt rifle pushing a 258 grain CEB tipped raptor @2950 fps.

 

[Backyardsniper]

I agree. No muzzlebrakes on this hunt. I'll be shooting a pair of matching cz550 one in 458 and one in 375. Plain old wood and blued stock rifles. Trying to keep it as traditional as possible.

 

[spike.t]

You are taking both so are covered for your buff whichever you are carrying at the time...from what you say you are a very capable shot so think you are over thinking this.....my brother and his friend on a buff hunt I sorted for them both used 375 and only needed one shot each plus the insurance one....neither of which really was required , and neither one does much shooting at all apart from once every big bday hunt ,but put it in the correct place......my son in moz shot 2 buff at same time one after the other with 375...one down with one shot other ran after being shot...he finished it about a kilometre later...so the 375 is very effective for buff as long as shot in correct place..when kynoch stopped making the big calibre ammo a lot of phs during that period used 375 as their back up rifle....the lott will obviously hit with a lot more authority but still needs to be in correct spot...but also far better for following up if this is needed...my choice as I dont do 375 as some know would be my 416 Rigby or 404 Jeffery...458 lott...or my 500 Jeffery to try it out...but you are well sorted with either

 

[CBH Australia]

I think plenty here would say that .375H&H is adequate, suitable etc.
With good shot placement and appropriate projectile it should be.

If it’s a rifle you shoot accurately and confidently then that’s a good start.

I have a .375, based on my reading it is g sufficient. I can shoot it well so I hope to hunt an Australian Water Buffalo. I saw the Cape Buffalo in Africa, impressive but I didn’t have the budget.

 

[Jure]

The 1000yd mark is always the go to number for beginners. People soon find that is not as easily attainable as just buying a fancy long range rifle.

So true! When I bought 300 wm,I was pretty sure 1000 yd shot is easy one with right tools. Same as 350 yd shot with iron sights. Few weeks later I shot 3 times on roe buck (280 meters),with express sights...I was so much off that his main concern were the flies that he tried to get rid off by shaking his head. I gave up after the 3 rd shot and he slowly walked away. After that I was back down to earth.

 

[WAB]

I shot my first two buffalo and an elephant with my .375. I decided that I wanted to hit them harder and had a .458 Lott built. It is extremely accurate and absolutely hammers buffalo. I have killed four with it. However, last year my wife killed her buffalo with a 9.3x62 shooting A-Frames, so I would be the last to nay say a .375. I just like to hammer them.

 

[Backyardsniper]

I do love to swing the big hammer. Killing is one thing, anchoring is another. That is another carry over from the long range game. How much energy are you delivering on target at those longer ranges. Also, being a veteran of a good bit of combat type stuff I am very much a worst case scenario guy. Gun fights are not won by the best guy, gun fights are won by the guy that screws up the least that day. While I'm sure charges and bad situations don't happen all that often I prefer to be prepared for such a situation and should it occur I would like to have enough rifle on hand to end it authoritatively.

 

[TOBY458]

I've taken the following animals with a 375 H&H. Ranges ran from 40 yards to 250 yards. Bullets used were Barnes 300gr TSX. Barnes 270gr TSX. Swift 300 gr A Frame.

3 Asiatic Water Buffalo (Australia)
1 Cape Buffalo
1 Lioness
1 Eland
1 Kudu
2 Gemsbuck
2 Wildebeest
2 Impala
1 Waterbuck
1 Blesbuck
1 Zebra
1 Wild Boar
1 Whitetail Deer
1 Black Bear

My first Cape Buffalo was taken with a 416 Rem Mag. Using 400 gr Swift Aframe. I fired it exactly one time at the one Buffalo, and it killed the Buffalo very soundly. However, a 375 in the same spot would've done the same.

So yes, the 375 will do it all. Near and far....ish.

 

[Zambezi]

All things being equal: It doesn't matter if you're using a .700NE or a .375 if the vitals are missed. If you miss the vitals you may as well have been using a .223.

Placed correctly the bullet from a .375 is just as deadly as anything bigger.

If facing a charge then the bigger bores are preferred as you have more of a "knockout" effect associated with a head shot. BUT once again shot placement is paramount.

 

[johnnyblues]

I suppose it is a pretty beaten up question. Being a member of.longrangehunting.com, I have seen the question " what is a good rifle to hunt elk at 1000yds" asked at.least 500 times. There are always people new to things and guys starting new adventures. If the question bores you then simply don't reply. I'm about to drop around $35,000 on a hunting trip and that's a whole lot of money for me so I figured it wise to seek the advice of some people with experience in that particular field. Which in this case is shooting buffalo.

Forgive me Mr. Backyard sniper as no ill was intended. 35 k is a whole lot of money to most folks here so I understand what your saying. As my friend Red leg said we all have been on our first safari so yes ask away with any questions you may have. I took my buffalo with a 375 Ruger shooting A frame softs ( 300 gr) backed by Northfork solids. 375/has probably taken my buffalo than all guns combined. Good luck.

 

[johnnyblues]

Probably don't want anyone's opinion here with regard to using elk as targets, excuse me, "hunting" elk at a thousand yards.

I am also pretty sure no one acted intentionally bored about your question. It is one that garners extensive discussion from time to time here. Getting as much informed opinion as possible before hunting dangerous game is an extremely wise thing to do.

@johnnyblues is a curmudgeon of long standing, but along with this thread, the site has a great search function that can give you a wealth of discussion about hunting buffalo.

Curmudgeon Joe! Lmao....holy crap!