.375 H&H enough gun for Cape Buffalo?

[Eric Anderson]

Only Buffalo I have ever shot, was with a .375 Ruger. I Shot it 3 times, but it never moved. It kept trying to get up, and I kept shooting at it.

 

[TOBY458]

Here's what a 375 will do on a big Water Buffalo.

 

[IvW]

Superb! and that on a full frontal! He was dead on first shot!

Just goes to show, SHOT PLACEMENT!!

 

[TOBY458]

Superb! and that on a full frontal! He was dead on first shot!

Just goes to show, SHOT PLACEMENT!!

And I used your favorite bullet! Barnes TSX!
All jokes aside, on those frontal shots, the 300 grain Barnes bullets expanded and penetrated perfectly.

 

[Shootist43]

Toby458, I don't recall, did you post anything in AH's Bullet Performance Data Base re. this hunt?

 

[TOBY458]

Toby458, I don't recall, did you post anything in AH's Bullet Performance Data Base re. this hunt?

Art, I don't recall if I did or not. I'll post a pic of the bullets that I recovered from the three bulls and one cow I shot.

 

[TOBY458]

Barnes 300 Gr TSX Bullet Performance

• TOBY458
• Feb 12, 2019

These were all taken with a Sako Kodiak 375 H&H with Barnes 300 Gr TSX bullets. None of the...

The three bulets on the left are Barnes 300gr TSX. All of these came from Water buffalo bulls. The bullet on the right is a Woodleigh 470 500gr bullet I used on a cow buffalo. I shot her with my PH's Merkel double.

 

[Newboomer]

375HH with a Barnes 350 gr TSX will take anything that walks the planet. My buf full frontal at 30 yds, 1 shot kill. Eland at 75 yds full frontal 1 shot and an insurance shot.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Hi Terminator, so did you hunt your buffalo yet?
I hunted mine last year with my 375 H&H Ruger No1 Tropical. Used A-Square dead tough soft. I have also taken a zebra with it, lung shot, ran 40 meters. Also impala and warthog, they just drop. All the reading I did recommended this calibre, they were right, it is superb for everything. My latest purchase is a Atelier Verney Carron O/U double in 375 Flanged Magnum, I am told it is an even better cartridge than the H&H because it dumps more of its energy in the chest rather than zipping through - the famous 2400fps thing. I also have a Marlin 30-30 for small plains game, took two warthog with it in June this year, but somehow it feels nicer wandering through the African bush with a beautiful 375 in hand.

 

[Hoss Delgado]

I don't know about African Cape Buffalo ( yet ) , but l have killed 2 Australian Water Buffalo with my .375 HH Magnum Winchester Model 70 .
The first one was killed with two Kynoch 300 grain Round nosed full patch solids .
I first aimed for a heart shot. The bullet broke the Brute's foreleg , but distorted before it could reach the vitals. My second shot was a Double lung shot. It didn't hit any rib bone by luck and that sealed the Buffalo's fate. It went 80 ( ish ) yards , blowing blood out it's mouth and nose and dropped dead.
I killed my second Water Buffalo with a 300 grain Swift A frame expanding bullet . A single shot in the soft part behind the shoulder.
I also shot one with Hornady DGS ( Dangerous Game Solids ) but both my shots failed to penetrate into it's heart.
My Friend , then Finished it off with a Shot from a .470 Nitro Express Double Rifle ( loaded with Federal Solids ) .
I haven't used Hornady Bullets since. Although , Maybe a lung shot would be different .
I would highly recommend the Swift A frames for Cape Buffalo.
That said , l want you to take this observation l made, into consideration :
A Lung Shot on an Australian Water Buffalo with a .375 HH Magnum loaded with 300 grain Kynoch Round nosed full patch solids , at 42 yards , causes the Buffalo to run for 80 ( ish ) yards , blowing blood from its mouth before collapsing.
Now ,
A Lung Shot from a .470 Nitro Express loaded with 500 grain Round nosed full patch solids ( kynoch ) at 35 yards yards will cause the Buffalo to limp 45 ( ish ) yards before collapsing.
Same Shot placement ( Lungs ) , Same Bullet ( Kynoch Round nosed full patch solids ) , similar distance . Why then , did one Buffalo drop dead at 80 yards and the other drop dead at 45 ? The only variable must have been the bullet caliber.
Of course , this is all a moot point , since l don't consider an Australian Water Buffalo dropping dead after running 80 yards to be a sign of an inadequate bullet. But from my humble observations , the difference IS there .
PS : I am not a scientist or a Ballistics expert . Just a recreational hunter who made an observation.

 

[WAB]

I have killed Cape buffalo with a .375 H&H. My wife just killed hers with a single shot from her 9.3x62. I prefer using my .458 Lott on buffalo. It just seems to get their attention more!

 

[Safari Dave]

My PH told me that a .375 H&H (or Ruger) was absolutely fine.

I thought I needed something more, so I took a .416.


My PH has much more experience than me!

 

[sestoppelman]

Old thread but my avatar bull was taken with a .375 at near 150 yards with one shot, no finisher required.

 

[TERMINATOR]

Hi Terminator, so did you hunt your buffalo yet?
I hunted mine last year with my 375 H&H Ruger No1 Tropical. Used A-Square dead tough soft. I have also taken a zebra with it, lung shot, ran 40 meters. Also impala and warthog, they just drop. All the reading I did recommended this calibre, they were right, it is superb for everything. My latest purchase is a Atelier Verney Carron O/U double in 375 Flanged Magnum, I am told it is an even better cartridge than the H&H because it dumps more of its energy in the chest rather than zipping through - the famous 2400fps thing. I also have a Marlin 30-30 for small plains game, took two warthog with it in June this year, but somehow it feels nicer wandering through the African bush with a beautiful 375 in hand.

I was supposed to go last summer with Marius of KMG who is a regular on this site.
I had to reschedule obviously due to COVID.
I am going next July now.
Just got back from an Elk Hunt in Wyoming and now I am getting pumped to head to RSA

 

[TERMINATOR]

I used a similar set up. set four 10 liter jugs filled with water at 100, 75, 50 and 25 yards. then as fast as I could, I would shoot the 100 yard jug off sticks, 75 yard jug off sticks, 50 yard jug freehand and the 25 yard jug freehand. The water filled jugs gave me immediate feedback on accuracy.

I like both of those ideas. I will be doing them.

 

[TERMINATOR]

The answer is “Yes” the .375 H&H is enough gun.

300 Grain Trophy Bonded Bearclaw in Federal Premium Hi Energy Load placed just behind shoulder on a quartering away Dugga Boy = One Shot Kill

All the credit goes to Marius at KMG Safaris for his expert PH work on this Buff

By

 

[slam8031]

congratulations!!

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t.

I started (in Kenya, 1974) by loading one RWS 300Gr TUG soft point, followed by five Remington 300Gr round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solids. That first .375 Holland & Holland Magnum was a nice Czech BRNO ZKK602 . Today, I use only the Federal 300Gr Trophy Bonded Bear Claw or the Rhino 300Gr Solid Shank ( although my preference leans slightly towards the TBBC bullet) for Cape buffalo.

Friends also like using the 300Gr Barnes TSX or the 300Gr Swift A-Frame. While I’ve used both bullets on other game (and was mighty impressed), I’ve got no experience with using them on Cape buffalo. For me, the 300 Gr TBBC will always be THE buffalo bullet. I’ve also read that Barnes TSX bullets don’t expand properly in some calibers which don’t generate high enough velocities (although this complaint is usually amongst 9.3x62mm users and not .375 H&H Magnum users). But I can’t personally verify this.