For those of you that are headed over on your next Safari, be it your 1st or 21 st, there are many things to consider.

Having hunted in Africa many times myself, there are several things that hunters going to Africa may be interested in knowing to help make their trip easier.

Choosing a Rifle

There are plenty of opinions on rifles and ammo, and that subject has already been badly beaten to death by every expertin the world. Just bring a rifle you can shoot very accurately and get on target quickly. Get used to shooting it with a bi-pod and/or shooting sticks.

My personal rifles of choice are the 300 Win Mag, 7 MM Rem Mag or 30-06 for Plains Game, and a 375 H&H or 416 Rem Mag for Buffalo. The 338 Win Mag is another great choice for Plains game, and will work very well on Lion as well. For Elephant, use the biggest rifle you can handle (or afford) like the 458 Win, 458 Lott, or 470 Nitro Express.

BULLET PLACEMENT IS EVERYTHING

Once you're sure the rifle and load are zeroed in, forget the bench rest! Shoot free hand, sitting, kneeling, or from improvised rests. One minute of angle accuracy is meaningless in the bush.

Reloading your Ammo

Reloading for an African hunt is no different than reloading for any other hunt. You MUST follow all the proper procedures.

What game you are going to hunt will certainly be the deciding factor on what gun and ammo you shoot.

Do remember one very important thing about Reloading for Africa, odds are you will be hunting is fairly warm weather; so do not load them too hot. Most PH’s have no problem with clients using reloaded ammo, but their number one complaint is that the ammo is “overloaded” or right to the max.

This will cause the shell to be hard to eject after firing and will hinder any rapid follow-up shots. Using 1 or 2 gr. less powder will certainly make no difference to the animals you are shooting, but one or two gr of powder will make a big difference in chamber pressure and reliability of extraction.

The next headache will be ammo that will not go into the gun. If this were to happen on a charging Buffalo, you better hope your PH is a good shot.

CYCLE EVERY ROUND through your gun before you go and this goes for factory ammo as well as reloads. If any round gives you any hint of being “sticky”, set it aside and use it for zeroing or practice.

What bullet to use for a given animal is a commonly asked question, and for gosh sake don’t go to the local Sporting Goods Store and ask them. Odds are these employees haven’t got a clue what you are talking about, as most clerks don’t know a Duiker from a Kudu.

For Plains game, let’s say in your 300 Mag or 30-06, I would use a minimum of a 180-gr bullet. Most of the time, I would also use a Premium bullet like a Trophy Bonded Bear Claw or Swift A-Frame. Barnes new TSX bullets are extremely effective, and are also available from Federal in some factory loadings.

There has been much debate as to what constitutes a “Premium” bullet. Rather than get into what I feel is ‘not’ a Premium bullet, I would like to say that you could use Hornady Inter-Lock bullets or Speer Grand Slams and Mag Tips, and get along just fine. Speaking of Grand Slams, Federal now loads those in their factory Vital Shok ammo, and it is first-rate stuff.

You do not “need” a Bonded Core super expensive bullet to kill Plains Game. Only the Eland is over 1,000 pounds and is the only one that really is like a Moose, so you really do need the penetration. Zebra are by no means a small animal and can really take a pounding before going down, so use enough gun and a tough bullet on them too.

All the rest of African Plains Game like Kudu, Wildebeest, Impala, Blesbok, and all the other “Bok-Boks”, as we call them, are 200 to 600 pounds, and very thin skinned. Just put your first shot where it belongs, and any of the available bullets will do the job.

If you are after Buffalo, things need an entirely different perspective. A Cape Buffalo is very big and VERY tough. This is why most countries in Africa give the 375 H&H as their minimum caliber allowed for hunting them.

Let me see if I can get some readers really excited. IF you are going to use the 458 Winchester, USE ONLY FACTORY AMMO. You read it right, use no reloads in the 458 Winchester for hunting. Of all the calibers that are NOT user friendly, this one tops the list. Use your reloads for practice and then be sure and zero and hunt using Factory ammo.

The first thing I will hear is, “But the ammo is so expensive”. My reply is simple, “If you can afford to hunt something that requires a 458 Win, and you can’t afford the ammo, stay home”.

Federal Safari Premium and Speer Nitrex ammo is by far better than anything you can reload in the 458 Winchester. Case capacity is always a problem with the 458 Win so let the factory guys figure out what powder to use to get the proper velocity.

Hornady now has a Heavy Magnum load for the 458 Win with their own 500 gr Solid bullet at an amazing 2260 fps, and that ought to really get a Buffalo’s attention.

Hunting Dangerous game is the opposite case from Plains Game, so spare no expense in the price of your ammo or quality of bullets. You mess this up and somebody is going to get hurt. In the past 2004 season, the Buffalo certainly took their toll on clients and PH’s, so let’s hope this year is better.

Dangerous Game is the perfect place for the Barnes TSX, Trophy Bonded Bear Claws, Fail Safes, or Swift A-Frames. It is becoming increasingly acceptable to use an expanding bullet for the first shot on Buffalo, followed by Solids for pure penetration. The Trophy Bonded Sledge Hammers or Barnes new Banded Solids are just great.

I am going to put Lion in to the same class as the Buffalo, except use only Premium expanding bullets on them. The 338 Win Mag on up is good medicine for them, and again use a good bullet.

Now I am really going to “step on some toes”. I am going to put the Leopard in the same class as Plains Game

By this I mean, you do not need a big 338 Win Mag or 375 H&H Mag for them. The bullets are too tough, and do not do enough damage internally. A Leopard usually is less than 200 pounds, with light bones and body frame.

If you shoot him the same bullets you would shoot Eland or Buffalo with, all you will do is punch a hole through him. Surely he will die, but not nearly as fast as if you hit him with your 30-06, 270 Win, 7mm Mag or 300 Mag. In these calibers, I recommend using expanding bullets like Hornady, Speer, Remington Core Lokts or Winchester Power Points. The Nosler Partition would also be good, as they do expand very quickly and still hold the rear portion for penetration.

The facts are that most all Leopards are shot from a blind at less than 75 yards. Precision bullet placement is the real key, and people shooting smaller rifles usually shoot them better than flinching with a Big Caliber. I would much sooner have a bullet from a 270 Win in the lungs of a cat than a gut shot with a 375 H&H.

There are lots of great bullets out there. One can hardly go wrong with any of them, but each is a slightly different in performance, so just choose the one that will best fit your needs.

Feel free to contact Terry at tblauwkamp@superior-sales.com or call him days at 616-896-6500 if you would like to chat about this a bit more.