Favorite Buffalo gun and cartridge?

Bolt action-Brno ZKK 602 375 H&H (350-380 gr bullets)or if you can handle it a 404 Jeff(probably the best bolt caliber for Buffalo), 416 Rigby is also great but has a sharper recoil and is not for everybody.

Double-best buff caliber would have to be the 450-400 NE 3"

This would be for hunting recommendation and not PH sort the crap out recommendation, for that I use 500 Jeff...

The ever so most lovely and pleasure to shoot 460 Weather by Magnum.

It your head is in the game the way it should be you'll never feel the recoil and the animal will be stone dead long before the sound and shock wave hits it no matter how close it is.

In a double it’s my Heym 470 NE...killed lots of buffalos with that one. In a bolt I’m having AHR build me a 505 Gibbs with a granite mountain action.

Mike70560 said:

To date I have killed 11 buffalo. Two with a 416 Remington in a Ruger No. 1, one with a 375 H&H CZ 550 rifle, another one with the 375 H&H and finished it off with a 470 Nitro, and seven with my 470 Nitro Krieghoff Double.

For me, hands down, the 470 Nitro Double with iron sights is my absolute favorite way to hunt buffalo.

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Mike
I can’t wait to get the chance to hunt buff with my .470 K gun.
Philip

Dragan miloševič said:

do you guys think a Winchester m70 Safari express in 458 WMG is capable for taking down all of the big five. If not, what calibre would you guys recommend for all big 5?

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Anything like .416 is good for Big 5. .375 is great for most of them but ele and rhino need .416 or bigger. Everything on the dark continent takes some lead to kill.
Philip

ActionBob said:

Rather than a M70 in 458 WM why not get one in 414 Rem Mag? Look at the ballistics. The 416 has more energy as it is moving faster, it shoots flatter as it is moving faster... But it is not moving so fast as to compromise bullet performance. The 416 is a way better PG rifle and is second only to the 375 H&H as the most flexible caliber that is also legal for all DG.

If you want a 458, stop pussy footing around, go all the way and get a Lott.

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But the M70 in .458 WM and have it rechambered to Lott.

WAB said:

But the M70 in .458 WM and have it rechambered to Lott.

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Buy not but!

Von S. said:

The ever so most lovely and pleasure to shoot 460 Weather by Magnum.

It your head is in the game the way it should be you'll never feel the recoil and the animal will be stone dead long before the sound and shock wave hits it no matter how close it is.

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Very few can handle this caliber, for those who can good luck and yes you have a caliber that can kill an elephant at 200 yards.

The Weatherby platform(action) makes for a very poor choice for a DG rifle, I will never use one for DG.

Well said. That’s why I have a 416 Remington using 400 grain Woodleighs.

I have shot a Cape Buffalo, Two Australian Buff with a 500 Double, and a very large and angry Scrub Bull with the 500.
And my from my experience, having shot half a dozen Scrub Bulls with a 460 Weatherby Magnum and numerous other critters, there is nothing I have used that will hit harder than a 460.
So bolt rifle 460 Weatherby, Double, 500 or 577.

It's true that very few can handle this caliber (460) in the same way that small children get scared of monsters. Some DH pumps it into their heads that they are supposed to be afraid, so they are.

A hunter who has his head in the game where it belongs doesn't even feel the recoil. Of course those who do not are apt to piss and cry about everything.

A fella who I allowed to hunt with my 7 mm Weatherby Mag cursed it to no end when he missed a deer at about 30 yards as his claim was that it's recoil was so severe that it threw the round off line before it left the barrel....which of course is petty stupid to say. The guy just stunk.

Many people are recoil shy, noise shy and so forth of many lesser rounds.

I guess that if a fella wanted to shoot an elephant at 200 yards with any round the 460 might be the way to go as it most certainly has the ballistic credentials to do so.

I have a few 460's. Each and everyone of them is a masterpiece of engineering and craftsmanship. I have some originals in their Mauser action and being a person who knows how to take care of a weapon I have absolutely no fear of any Weatherby firearm as they are finished when they leave the factory and function flawlessly when in the hands of a seasoned hunter.

I have hunted with a kid over the years who never got much bigger than 5 feet due to a childhood illness and treatment. He fires his 460 and 378 with absolutely no problem at all.

What is a DH?

IvW said:

What is a DH?

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My guess: di*khe*d

If hunt just for buffalo then my 470ne Merkel
With other game then 404Jeffery Win 70 with 1x4 scope both have taken buff with no problems at all
That is only if taking one rifle

Von S. said:

A hunter who has his head in the game where it belongs doesn't even feel the recoil.

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cmk said:

My guess: di*khe*d

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So if a hunter feels the recoil of a 460 WM and cannot handle it or has a headache as a result and his head is no longer in the game he/she can be classed as a DH or a di*khe*d? or is that just reserved for folks that scare little kids with monster stories?

I would guess the latter; the person scaring others (with recoil stories, not monster stories) is the supposed DH.

I have never fired anything more energetic than a 416 RM, and have no problem confessing that I tend to develop a headache after a dozen or so rounds from my 404J.

Therefore I keep range sessions to about this limit. I don't want to grow uncomfortable with the recoil.

So far I have not shot any animal with anything bigger than a 30-06, and I surely didn't notice the recoil then.

IvW said:

...The Weatherby platform(action) makes for a very poor choice for a DG rifle, I will never use one for DG.

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I've only killed one Cape Buffalo. He died quickly from a 300 grain TSX bullet from my Rem 700 in .375 RUM.

I have also only killed one Leopard. He died VERY quickly from a 168 grain TTSX bullet from my .300 Weatherby Vanguard.

I would not hesitate to repeat either of those hunts with those rifles and bullets.

Many is the member , out of the 45,000 here at AH.com, who doesn't have the rifles or chamberings that those who portray themselves as safari know it all's profess that you must have less they die an ignominious death at the claw , horn or foot of DG in Africa.

It just isn't true.

Guy's go to Africa with Remington's and live......weatherbys and live,and Blazers and live.

Many is the guy who paid that extra price to find out what just what they could handle before they purchased a firearm and was glad for it. I never arbitrarily offered rounds or manufacturers to anyone without knowing all the circumstances and factors involved.

A fella once came in looking for a 460 and after range time it was decided by him that he was not ready for DG anywhere and that a 6.5x55 and pg was the way to go. He did well.

Recoil? I feel it after the kill...maybe. I also don't cry like a sissy when I get a needle, a broken finger and even in my ,70's I don't sob like a child if I get into a fist fight. I also don't risk my life on a guy who calls himself a pH who I doubt could hold my banana hammock in shooting contest.

So there!

Von S. said:

Guy's go to Africa with Remington's and live......weatherbys and live...

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True, but the majority of guy's who live in Africa and make a living out of hunting and keep the above guy's in one piece do not use either of the above actioned rifles...

Big difference in the needs of hunters and applications of rifles..and a big difference in actual prolonged field use and reputations of reliability built up.

Von S. said:

I also don't risk my life on a guy who calls himself a pH who I doubt could hold my banana hammock in shooting contest.

So there!

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Of course not, you are just too good for that....I am certainly not a qualified professional banana hammock holder...

Gee!

I don't see where anyone said you were that or anything else.