Just returned from the second safari where I've taken a multi-rifle drilling. Last year I used my D99 Duo in 6.5x55/22 hornet/20, and this year I took the BD14 in 9.3x74r/22 hornet/20.
Shot giraffe, blesbok, kudu, duiker, klipspringer, warthog, francolin, guinea fowl, and doves with it. Brother also shot a bushbuck using it. PH offered to let me shoot buff after seeing my shooting and reloading on the giraffe, but I decided to use my double rifle instead.
What I learned: the 9.3x74R barrel is very thin, but I found a great shooting load with the 200 gr cutting edge brass raptors pushed a tad over 2800 fps from the 22" barrel. The ballistic coefficient is fairly low and velocity is similar to the hornet, so this made scope dialing easy for both cartridges on the same elevation turret out to the hornet's max practical range.
Bullets in the giraffe didn't exit, but that was expected. My first shot was a little too far back (quick standing offhand shot), but made him sick enough that I could quickly put a going away shot (the rear most bullet hole in second photo: base of the raptor was recovered in the lungs) and 2 more shots in his chest with some run and gun. Shots were all 80-120 yards. He was going down eventually but falling closer to the road was desirable. (Side note: it rained for 2 days straight so that's why it looks wet - I thought South Africa was supposed to be dry in late June?)
The bushbuck (50 yards), warthog (110 yards), and blesbok (150 yards) all made wild 5-10 second runs then dropped stone dead from the 200 gr raptor.
I wanted to highlight the 'worst' pelt damage done. This is the entrance wound (quartering away shot) on the bushbuck. The exit was thru the offside shoulder with just a neat pinky size hole. 9.3mm 200 gr raptor.
Blesbok exit wound
Warthog I had to highlight the exit it's so hard to see.
Kudu was finisher (~75 yards) for one my dad shot running away in the rear. It was laying down after going about 400 yards, but then stood up when we came up on it. I don't know if his rear end shot even made it to the vitals, but I suspect not. Dropped at the broadside to the shoulder, with the bullet under skin of offside. Highlight is the entrance since there was no exit.
Duiker (~55 yards) with 22 hornet. Pencil entry and exit on the shoulder using hornady 50gr spsx bullets. Duiker jumped and ran a short a distance. (Photo shows exit wound)
The one I really wanted on this trip:
Klipspringer - (246 yards) cross canyon with 22 hornet. Without the rangefinder, if you told me it was 400+ yards I would have believed you just looking thru the scope. I've done extensive testing of bullets in the 22 hornet in clear gel. Old school soft-points don't explode like the plastic tipped 22 bullets at 2800 fps and less, they just mushroom. I've settled on the 50 gr Hornady SPSX for it's accuracy, expansion charateristics, and decent ballistic coefficient. The bullets won't expand reliably much under 2000 fps impact velocity, despite being named "super explosive", but PH said it would be OK. First shot was good but a little high. Klippy ran a few yards then lay down facing us where I could get another shot on him, but he was already done according to PH. At the second shot he fell from the ledge into some bushes where we couldn't see, but could direct the trackers to fetch him. Still alive when they reached him but not going anywhere. Very small entry and exit holes, impossible to see in the photos.
I know the big scope may look slightly out of place, but I was really glad to have it on this trip. The long shot on klippy at dusk might not have been possible without having the larger exit pupil at higher magnification. Everything else would have been fine at low light with a small 24mm objective scope since they were larger and/or closer targets.
Shotgun barrel worked great. The balance with scope removed is good, and it weighs 7.4 pounds. Feels lively with the short barrels. There is a quirk, however. The selector defaults back to the small rifle every time you open the action (slightly annoying) so you have to re-select the shotgun barrel each time you reload. Ergonomically the selector is at your trigger finger just outside the trigger guard, so not bad. The stock design is clearly biased towards scoped rifle, but I found it very easy to hit with, and almost never missed a bird even though it was my first time using it. We had a great time walking up and flushing francolin. I had the scope on and off a lot that day in case of longer shots on guinea fowl or jackal with the 22 hornet, or bushpig with the 9.3. I did manage to shoot some flying doves with the scope attached from the back of the land cruiser when changing areas just to see if I could.
I also brought some #4 TSS shells to use on running duiker/jackal size game, but since my duiker paused for me I decided to use the hornet on him.
Overall I had a lot of fun using the 3 guns in one, with the ability to instantly switch to the optimal tool for the job.
Shot giraffe, blesbok, kudu, duiker, klipspringer, warthog, francolin, guinea fowl, and doves with it. Brother also shot a bushbuck using it. PH offered to let me shoot buff after seeing my shooting and reloading on the giraffe, but I decided to use my double rifle instead.
What I learned: the 9.3x74R barrel is very thin, but I found a great shooting load with the 200 gr cutting edge brass raptors pushed a tad over 2800 fps from the 22" barrel. The ballistic coefficient is fairly low and velocity is similar to the hornet, so this made scope dialing easy for both cartridges on the same elevation turret out to the hornet's max practical range.
Bullets in the giraffe didn't exit, but that was expected. My first shot was a little too far back (quick standing offhand shot), but made him sick enough that I could quickly put a going away shot (the rear most bullet hole in second photo: base of the raptor was recovered in the lungs) and 2 more shots in his chest with some run and gun. Shots were all 80-120 yards. He was going down eventually but falling closer to the road was desirable. (Side note: it rained for 2 days straight so that's why it looks wet - I thought South Africa was supposed to be dry in late June?)
The bushbuck (50 yards), warthog (110 yards), and blesbok (150 yards) all made wild 5-10 second runs then dropped stone dead from the 200 gr raptor.
I wanted to highlight the 'worst' pelt damage done. This is the entrance wound (quartering away shot) on the bushbuck. The exit was thru the offside shoulder with just a neat pinky size hole. 9.3mm 200 gr raptor.
Blesbok exit wound
Warthog I had to highlight the exit it's so hard to see.
Kudu was finisher (~75 yards) for one my dad shot running away in the rear. It was laying down after going about 400 yards, but then stood up when we came up on it. I don't know if his rear end shot even made it to the vitals, but I suspect not. Dropped at the broadside to the shoulder, with the bullet under skin of offside. Highlight is the entrance since there was no exit.
Duiker (~55 yards) with 22 hornet. Pencil entry and exit on the shoulder using hornady 50gr spsx bullets. Duiker jumped and ran a short a distance. (Photo shows exit wound)
The one I really wanted on this trip:
Klipspringer - (246 yards) cross canyon with 22 hornet. Without the rangefinder, if you told me it was 400+ yards I would have believed you just looking thru the scope. I've done extensive testing of bullets in the 22 hornet in clear gel. Old school soft-points don't explode like the plastic tipped 22 bullets at 2800 fps and less, they just mushroom. I've settled on the 50 gr Hornady SPSX for it's accuracy, expansion charateristics, and decent ballistic coefficient. The bullets won't expand reliably much under 2000 fps impact velocity, despite being named "super explosive", but PH said it would be OK. First shot was good but a little high. Klippy ran a few yards then lay down facing us where I could get another shot on him, but he was already done according to PH. At the second shot he fell from the ledge into some bushes where we couldn't see, but could direct the trackers to fetch him. Still alive when they reached him but not going anywhere. Very small entry and exit holes, impossible to see in the photos.
I know the big scope may look slightly out of place, but I was really glad to have it on this trip. The long shot on klippy at dusk might not have been possible without having the larger exit pupil at higher magnification. Everything else would have been fine at low light with a small 24mm objective scope since they were larger and/or closer targets.
Shotgun barrel worked great. The balance with scope removed is good, and it weighs 7.4 pounds. Feels lively with the short barrels. There is a quirk, however. The selector defaults back to the small rifle every time you open the action (slightly annoying) so you have to re-select the shotgun barrel each time you reload. Ergonomically the selector is at your trigger finger just outside the trigger guard, so not bad. The stock design is clearly biased towards scoped rifle, but I found it very easy to hit with, and almost never missed a bird even though it was my first time using it. We had a great time walking up and flushing francolin. I had the scope on and off a lot that day in case of longer shots on guinea fowl or jackal with the 22 hornet, or bushpig with the 9.3. I did manage to shoot some flying doves with the scope attached from the back of the land cruiser when changing areas just to see if I could.
I also brought some #4 TSS shells to use on running duiker/jackal size game, but since my duiker paused for me I decided to use the hornet on him.
Overall I had a lot of fun using the 3 guns in one, with the ability to instantly switch to the optimal tool for the job.
