The availability of less common calibers when travelling abroad/Africa

Hi All, good afternoon.

There are a couple of threads running regarding rifle and calibre choice be that for ladies or particular game. Some parts of these discussion raise the question of suitability of less popular calibres for travel. I have returned from SA where our PH had said the SA firm of PMP had stopped producing hunting ammunition.

So I am going with the dangerous word of assumption, I assume 270w, 7mm Rem mag, 308w, 30-06, 300win mag and 375H&H have good availability, metrics 7x57 and 9.3x62?

So with 6.5CM being all the rage, how does this and say 6.5x55, 7mm-08, 7x64 8x57 fair for availability.

I ask this as someone was travelling with 325wsm and they got separated from their ammo box, needless to say they struggled to get replacements.

Perhaps some PH's would like to comment or anyone who has travelled and had to purchase replacement ammunition?

Look forward to your thoughts

ATVB

If you are going to South Africa there is a small chain of stores called Safari Outdoor. There are only six stores throughout the country but they have an excellent supply of Ammunition. Check out their ammo supply on their website https://safarioutdoor.co.za/

Forget trying to find .375 Ruger in Windhoek

Novice Huntress said:

So I am going with the dangerous word of assumption, I assume 270w, 7mm Rem mag, 308w, 30-06, 300win mag and 375H&H have good availability, metrics 7x57 and 9.3x62?

ATVB

Click to expand...

Good availability in SA

I would steer away from 6.5 mm they are legal for very few game animals in SA

Fred Gunner said:

Forget trying to find .375 Ruger in Windhoek

Click to expand...

I wasn't able to find 375 H&H in Windhoek last summer. My PH had plenty for me to use, but I wasn't able to find any in the stores we stopped by. I saw piles of 300wm and 30-06.

Most any ammo can be hit or miss in most any "hunting" country in Africa. I wouldn't count on local availability. The next question would involve what kind of factory ammo and with what bullets? I wouldn't count on even the common calibers if available to have good, worthy bullets. Probably a better approach would be to check with outfitter/PH before hand about availability of good ammo and/or use of outfitter/PH rifle with good bullets in the odd occurrence where ammo is lost in transit.

Knock on wood! I have never lost ammo in transit anywhere. But I witnessed a bad result from loosing ammo. Another hunter in camp got separated from his ammo either the airline lost that bag or he just forgot it and his cover story was, "the airline lost it". Whatever, he was stuck with, at the last minute, trying to find what should be one of the easiest... 375 HH. The PH was able to find a box, after several "out of stock" dead ends, in a pretty large city, Lusaka. Who da thunk it! Fast forward a few days later to the Cape buffalo hit and lost because of that ammo... some POS Remington 375 HH cup and core factory ammo. It pays to exercise due diligence and have a Plan B contingency when it comes to rifles, ammo, etc. for hunting after travel. I would think it important to select a common, in Africa, type ammo and make sure your outfitter/PH can step up with good equipment (rifle and ammo) if need be, especially if you have an odd caliber.

The most common calibers covering most all hunting, where availability of local ammo may be an important consideration would include IMO such as: 375 HH, 30-06 and 7X57. Of course even if local ammo is available, an equally important component would be a good quality bullet in that ammo!

Novice Huntress said:

Hi All, good afternoon.

There are a couple of threads running regarding rifle and calibre choice be that for ladies or particular game. Some parts of these discussion raise the question of suitability of less popular calibres for travel. I have returned from SA where our PH had said the SA firm of PMP had stopped producing hunting ammunition.

So I am going with the dangerous word of assumption, I assume 270w, 7mm Rem mag, 308w, 30-06, 300win mag and 375H&H have good availability, metrics 7x57 and 9.3x62?

So with 6.5CM being all the rage, how does this and say 6.5x55, 7mm-08, 7x64 8x57 fair for availability.

I ask this as someone was travelling with 325wsm and they got separated from their ammo box, needless to say they struggled to get replacements.

Perhaps some PH's would like to comment or anyone who has travelled and had to purchase replacement ammunition?

Look forward to your thoughts

ATVB

Click to expand...

7x64 is commonly available but the others in that group I’ve never seen stocked.

In the first group 270, 308, 30-06, 300 Win and 375 HH are commonly available. 7x57 and 9.3 x 62 are hit and miss here in the East Cape. Maybe more common in Limpopo.

Unless it’s a large gun shop however it’s hit and miss for everything. The shops don’t carry a lot of stock and are inconsistent.

If I get separated from my ammo I plan to use an outfitters gun rather than trying to chase down ammo. Every outfitter has rifles for rent. It's been my experience that they are usually reasonably good quality rifles and not just "camp beaters" because they are the rifles that the Ph's use everyday. They can't own multiple rifles in every caliber like we can in the US.

Shootist43 said:

If you are going to South Africa there is a small chain of stores called Safari Outdoor. There are only six stores throughout the country but they have an excellent supply of Ammunition. Check out their ammo supply on their website https://safarioutdoor.co.za/

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link! Looks like Norma Oryx and Federal Fusion are the most common available choices for bonded bullets in up to .375 calibers. With all the praise for Swift A-Frame bullets on this board, very few options locally for factory ammo with that projectile.

As I have said in a similar thread the gunshop I use has most calibres from .17 to 577 and I think 600 nitro....505 gibbs and 500 Jeff included. Makes are norma. Federal. Sako. Hornady. WR a German make. Sellier and bellot .even saw .416 Taylor there couple of weeks ago. .404 jeff ...458 win and lott. .not going to try list the smaller and mid size calibres as too many.....

SpikeT, I assume your store/source is in Lusaka? If so, that's very good to hear and good information as Lusaka is a major hub for Zambia and some other hunting destinations. The buffalo-ammo, mess as posted earlier, happened in mid-July 2011 where finding most factory ammo in Lusaka was really hit or miss including good quality 375 HH.

Hi All, thank you for your input.

There are some interesting views here, especially 6.5mm for SA game. I think its fair to say it is very important to cross check with your PH on what you plan to take with you.

When I went to purchase my first rifle calibre I'm glad I opted for and stuck to my choice of 308w.


Please keep any experience on this going it will help others.

Rgds

Very much agree with the above comments.

Although it may not be the latest trend, staying away from 6.5CM for a hunting rifle is wise.
I wouldn't limit myself to only calibers carried by my (or your) PH/outfitter, but it is certainly an advantage.
There is a lot to be said for the popular calibers mentioned above...they work well and are readily available most places.
It sound like you have made a wise choice with the 308WIN, it's what our PH uses for culling.
Good luck with the hunt.

fourfive8 said:

SpikeT, I assume your store/source is in Lusaka? If so, that's very good to hear and good information as Lusaka is a major hub for Zambia and some other hunting destinations. The buffalo-ammo, mess as posted earlier, happened in mid-July 2011 where finding most factory ammo in Lusaka was really hit or miss including good quality 375 HH.

Click to expand...

Yes in Lusaka. There are couple others with fairly good selection as well. This happened in last few years back when you came it wasn't great. Also pretty good selection of quality firearms of all types available now. Compared to usa some are expensive but not complaining as at least they are here.

The 6.5 CM is not a hunting rifle. It is a target rifle for long distance. Some very fine folks have gone through the trouble of educating us all on the difference between BC and SD. Perhaps we need revisit the difference between a .300 WM and a 6.5 CM namely energy on target. Wind drift and drop are overrated for what most of us are doing. Notice that there aren't any military forces rushing out to get themselves one. It's a compromise chambering. I'd pick the .25-06 over it everyday or better still the .30-06. At least I wouldn't have to defend the latter with voodoo ballistic claims and scopes with enormous turrets directed at metallic targets I have no requirement to stalk.

I don’t see why the 6.5 CM, in an appropriate rifle, would be any less a hunting cartridge than a 6.5x55. The 6.5x55 seems to have done rather well over the years. I’ll stick to my 7x57, but I really can’t see that the CM is much different at hunting distances.

Forrest Halley said:

The 6.5 CM is not a hunting rifle. It is a target rifle for long distance.

Click to expand...

WAB said:

I don’t see why the 6.5 CM, in an appropriate rifle, would be any less a hunting cartridge than a 6.5x55. The 6.5x55 seems to have done rather well over the years. I’ll stick to my 7x57, but I really can’t see that the CM is much different at hunting distances.

Click to expand...

Agree w/ @WAB - the 6.5 CM is certainly capable of killing a number of game species. Am I going to use it on say elk, or eland, or DG? No (and a hell no for DG). But I have taken feral pigs, whitetail, and axis with it. I think folks have used the 6.5 Swede for animals up to moose for decades over in Sweden/Finland etc if I'm not mistaken.

Forrest Halley said:

Perhaps we need revisit the difference between a .300 WM and a 6.5 CM namely energy on target. Wind drift and drop are overrated for what most of us are doing. Notice that there aren't any military forces rushing out to get themselves one. It's a compromise chambering.

Click to expand...

I don't know where anyone was comparing a 6.5 CM and a 300 WM and calling them equivalent. Also, what military forces use for rifles is irrelevant to a discussion about hunting calibers. I don't see many armed forces that use a 404 Jeff either, but I've used one to hunt.

WAB said:

I don’t see why the 6.5 CM, in an appropriate rifle, would be any less a hunting cartridge than a 6.5x55. The 6.5x55 seems to have done rather well over the years. I’ll stick to my 7x57, but I really can’t see that the CM is much different at hunting distances.

Click to expand...

Same can be said for the 270 win and others.

cagkt3 said:

Agree w/ @WAB - the 6.5 CM is certainly capable of killing a number of game species. Am I going to use it on say elk, or eland, or DG? No (and a hell no for DG). But I have taken feral pigs, whitetail, and axis with it. I think folks have used the 6.5 Swede for animals up to moose for decades over in Sweden/Finland etc if I'm not mistaken.



I don't know where anyone was comparing a 6.5 CM and a 300 WM and calling them equivalent. Also, what military forces use for rifles is irrelevant to a discussion about hunting calibers. I don't see many armed forces that use a 404 Jeff either, but I've used one to hunt.

Click to expand...

I was very fortunate to train with some men who still had sand in their boots, this was about 3 months ago. A bunch of them were carrying ARs in 6.5cm, they were built off Seekins uppers. They also had a couple MK48s that were still being run though the paces, but it seems clear those are going to be widely utilized in the very near future.

The 6.5 CD is simply the latest ballistic twin of the 6.5x57/6.5x54/6.5x55 - all created about a hundred years ago. I know it is the new cool thing, but there is very little new under the sun. I could care less about the AR versions. And given a choice, which I was (I won a Ruger American in 6.5 CD - one of the worlds really cheaply made guns, but I digress) I kept my 54, 57,and 55 and gave the CD to my son. He is of THAT generation. My 54 and 57 are chambered in Mannlicher Schounauer "platforms" and the 55 is one of my barrels for my Blaser R8. Absolutely nothing wrong with the CD. And if it gets a new generation to discover the 6.5, I am all for it. With the right bullet, it would be fine for African PG in the hands of a competent rifleman.