If you read the popular press, Cape buffalo are dreaded beasts, they are big and cunning, they are extremely fast, have horns that pierce and gore, iron hooves that trample and mangle and eyes that blaze red and shoot fire into your heart. You cannot kill them unless you have the tyrannosaurus rex of guns, great heavy bullets and a keen eye over the sights!
Well this year of our lord 2012, around about noontime, I successfully led a client on a buffalo hunt in Mozambique where she took a fine and healthy beast of the savanna with the lowly 45/70 Marlin Guide Gun shooting a hardcast lead bullet that I had forged from plain old wheel weights!
The Bullet, a 475 grain hardcast lead projectile, passed right through both shoulders, as a solid should, exactly as any of the so called buffalo calibers should do - with one exception - it made a somewhat ear pleasing whack as it hit the bull, standing about 100 yards off. Of course the beast took off and kept me busy for at least an hour tracking in the slow cautionary manner through heavy grass and brush - before I found it stone dead and stiff! Of course I was most pleased with myself and kept grinning for the rest of the safari - I felt that I had finally proved the worth of this caliber.
The 45/70 in question was an Alaskan guide model by Wild West Guns mounted with a 1.5-5x20 wide scope which was sighted in at 50 yards. The shot on the buff was slightly low due to 100 yard distance - meaning the bullet dropped about 3 inches from the intended placement - or at least I am saying it was the bullet not the shooter!
Regardless, in my opinion, any of the currently available commercial hardcast lead bullets at reasonable speed would have done the exact same damage and job. I would have liked to get into the 30 yard range but it was towards the end of the safari and we had to take the shot.
I'm posting more bullet test info soon as I did try out a couple of bullets on Elephant this year.
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Well this year of our lord 2012, around about noontime, I successfully led a client on a buffalo hunt in Mozambique where she took a fine and healthy beast of the savanna with the lowly 45/70 Marlin Guide Gun shooting a hardcast lead bullet that I had forged from plain old wheel weights!
The Bullet, a 475 grain hardcast lead projectile, passed right through both shoulders, as a solid should, exactly as any of the so called buffalo calibers should do - with one exception - it made a somewhat ear pleasing whack as it hit the bull, standing about 100 yards off. Of course the beast took off and kept me busy for at least an hour tracking in the slow cautionary manner through heavy grass and brush - before I found it stone dead and stiff! Of course I was most pleased with myself and kept grinning for the rest of the safari - I felt that I had finally proved the worth of this caliber.
The 45/70 in question was an Alaskan guide model by Wild West Guns mounted with a 1.5-5x20 wide scope which was sighted in at 50 yards. The shot on the buff was slightly low due to 100 yard distance - meaning the bullet dropped about 3 inches from the intended placement - or at least I am saying it was the bullet not the shooter!
Regardless, in my opinion, any of the currently available commercial hardcast lead bullets at reasonable speed would have done the exact same damage and job. I would have liked to get into the 30 yard range but it was towards the end of the safari and we had to take the shot.
I'm posting more bullet test info soon as I did try out a couple of bullets on Elephant this year.
