308 or 300 Win Mag for Leopard

Bob,

Some of us have great taste in rifle cartridges, and some of us are slow learners; I happen to be both. Dad and I have just started using CFE 223, we should have listened and started sooner. That powder works wonders in my 9.3x62 and 373 H&H.
@Art Lambart II
CFE is a very versatile powder.
Now all you have to do is put 65 gn of it behind a 259 grainer in you Whelen and touch it off
Bob
 
Why is it the ppl with the least experience hunting Africa have the most to say? Not a expert in anyway with only 55 days hunting on 3 safaris. That’s nothing compared to a lot of ppl on this site.

Thanks again to everyone who actually has useful knowledge or ideas to contribute to the best hunting forum!!
 
Why is it the ppl with the least experience hunting Africa have the most to say? Not a expert in anyway with only 55 days hunting on 3 safaris. That’s nothing compared to a lot of ppl on this site.

Thanks again to everyone who actually has useful knowledge or ideas to contribute to the best hunting forum!!
Go through the thread. There is plenty of great knowledge shared all over the site!

You can hit the ignore button on me and not use a 200gr eld-x or 180 accubond. Then you wont have to listen to anything I say! Easy!

You are choosing to be upset
 
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Planning for something that may not go as planned, in case leopard or if the color codes of Saint Coopers’ gospel turns up , .300 Win with 180 NP , and scope nr 2 for SMK 220 grain acc to Coopers wisdom .
 
Planning for something that may not go as planned, in case leopard or if the color codes of Saint Coopers’ gospel turns up , .300 Win with 180 NP , and scope nr 2 for SMK 220 grain acc to Coopers wisdom .
@PerH
I never plan for things to go right. That bastard Murphy can turn up at any time.
Always expect the unexpected and plan for that.
When my son hunts on his own he asks if he will need such and such..
I tell him take it better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Bob
 
@PerH
I never plan for things to go right. That bastard Murphy can turn up at any time.
Always expect the unexpected and plan for that.
When my son hunts on his own he asks if he will need such and such..
I tell him take it better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Bob
That’s why I am thinking 235 Woodleigh in .375 as one to opt for also , not only for its usefulness but also its legality .
 
Law aside (.375 being min caliber in some places)
I like to think a short 16-18in barreled pump action .308 would be good for leopard, short initial shot distance and even shorter potential follow up shots... not that I've any experience in hunting leopard with a short 16-18in barreled pump action .308
 
Your question was 308 or 300? Which do you shoot the best and feel the most comfortable with? Both shoot .308 bullets and as long as you place your shot correctly, nothing else matters. At 100 yds, speed is irrelevant. Dead is dead. Practice with the rifle that best suits you. I own both 308 and 300 and both will put 2 holes in the cat.
Listen to your PH and you'll be successful. I'm not an expert, have 32 african animals, only taken 1 shot at a leopard. Looking forward to his delivery from the taxidermist.
Good look on your hunt!
 
80 to 150 yards???.....wont happen on my watch.......
What is your distance you set leopard hunters up for?

I have been told it is 80-150 yards generally, from everyone I have ever asked or ever heard from.
 
80 to 150 yards???.....wont happen on my watch.......
Who the hell sets blinds 80 to 150 yards from a bait. NOBODY I know and I know some pretty good leopard hunters. If the country is open enough that you need to set the blind more than 60-70 yards, it’s probably too open to get a cat to come in. Most cats are taken in reasonably thick forest from blinds set 30-60 yards from the bait.

Where did this long range leopard stuff come from?
 
Who the hell sets blinds 80 to 150 yards from a bait. NOBODY I know and I know some pretty good leopard hunters. If the country is open enough that you need to set the blind more than 60-70 yards, it’s probably too open to get a cat to come in. Most cats are taken in reasonably thick forest from blinds set 30-60 yards from the bait.

Where did this long range leopard stuff come from?
Well it turns out that Wayne Michael Grant, a very experienced leopard PH and also an author said the following in his book Into The Thorns "It is sheer stupidity to wilfully damage your chance of success by trying to outwit a super predator at 30 yards. We were stupid! But not forever. Just about every hunter can hit a bread plate at 100 yards off a dead rest, so why were we risking everything by trying to get the client within 30 yards? Whenever we could, we now built our blinds at 80-120 yards away from the bait. And we began to have more success than failures. We began to kill old male leopards, not just hungry females."
 
80 to 150 yards???.....wont happen on my watch.......
Who the hell sets blinds 80 to 150 from a bait. NOBODY I know and I know some pretty good leopard hunters. If the country is open enough that you need to set the blind more than 60-70 yards, it’s probably too open to get a cat to come in. Most cats are taken in reasonably thick forest from blinds
Well it turns out that Wayne Michael Grant, a very experienced leopard PH and also an author said the following in his book Into The Thorns "It is sheer stupidity to wilfully damage your chance of success by trying to outwit a super predator at 30 yards. We were stupid! But not forever. Just about every hunter can hit a bread plate at 100 yards off a dead rest, so why were we risking everything by trying to get the client within 30 yards? Whenever we could, we now built our blinds at 80-120 yards away from the bait. And we began to have more success than failures. We began to kill old male leopards, not just hungry females."
Well, Wayne Grant is certainly an authority on leopard hunting, so I respect his viewpoint. I believe he also does much of his hunting on highly pressured leopards in the Zim lowveld, which is tougher than hunting unpressured cats in remote game reserves like I’ve hunted. My hat is off to him!

I’ve sat in blinds that were a bit over 30 yards, 40 yards and 47 yards. Didn’t get the right Tom on the bait when we were there in the 30 yard blind. Killed nice Tom’s on very first sit from 40 & 47 yard blinds.
 
This thread was good for me to read. I’m currently planning a leopard hunt for 2028. I didn’t love the fight there in the middle. I think having @Hunter-Habib here with his experience is awesome.
Having Hunter - Habib weigh in on any hunting related subject is always a good thing.
 
Minimum caliber should 375 H&H.
Quite a few would disagree with you, both PH’s and client hunters. Lots of people shoot leopards with much smaller cartridges. Leopards are not difficult to kill as long as you hit them right.
 
Whichever rifle is the most accurate and the one you shoot the best, only way I'd pick the 300 WM is if heavier plains game were on the list.

150gr in the 308 and 200gr Partitions in the 300 WM are tailor made for this, you'll quickly blow the front core in the near shoulder, tiny hide kind bullet shanks will exit offside on both.

Used my 400 H&H as a light rifle for all Tanzanian plains game, coupled it with a 577 double, wanted it for Buffalo and dry land Hippo, it's loads were 400gr A-frames and CEB #13 solids, they both left at 2400 fps over Varget.

Knowing Leopard was on the list, and also knowing you can't shoot a cat too fast, having only a 2400 fps start speed with the very tough 400gr A-frames I had to improvise.

Filed off the tiny lead meplats on the 400gr A-Frames down to the copper jacket line, hit flat with a center punch, sent a 1/8th drill bit dead center down into the lead core one quarter inch deep, chamfered hole and went to the bench.

Happily discovered they landed in the very same spot at 100 yards with the unaltered bullets.

My shot came at 77 yards from the blind, the old Tom dead bounced off the ground from a double shoulder punch and slid down the bank of the dry river bed, so even heavier caliber medium bores at sedate velocities can be made to work, your rifles with Partitions at greater speed will be perfect, imho.
 

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