270 wsm for Africa?

[Buckdog]

Your 270 is ligth for my tastes but will work fine if you put em in the right spot. As regards accubonds I have used extensively they tend to be an accurate bullet, use in 270, 7mm mag, 30-06, 300 mag. they will mushroom nicely and penetrate deeply, you will loose some of the front portion peeling or exploding off and i would say weight retention around 70% on avg more when they are moving slower out of 30-06. as we all know SAF's mushroom and penetrate deep with high weight retention. I dont like Barnes bullets as I tried the original x bullets and they sucked! got pressures to high to quick werent accurate aslo copper fouled barrels bad. so i dont shoot barnes not to say new versions arent good I am just a nosler and SAF guy. I would shoot giraffe with 375.

 

[LivingTheDream]

I can't get Barnes to shoot worth a hoot in my 270wsm, she doesn't like em. Nosler bullets on the other hand she is a tack driver. I think you should be fine, would be interesting to see what happens with a giraffe though.

 

[johnnyblues]

Thanks for the opinions guys. Honestly if god allows this hunt to happen next year I will most likely not take any chances and use my 375 although I may opt to use A frame bullets on him.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Take both.

 

[billc]

Johnny those A- frames will work great on the giraffe and the buff out of the 375.

 

[cpr0312]

Hope it comes through for you Johnny!

 

[johnnyblues]

Take both.

My plan exactly Phil. I hoping to hunt buffalo up north first then head to the cape. Fingers crossed it will happen.

 

[cpr0312]

NO doubt swift A frames will do the trick on buff and giraffe!

 

[CAustin]

I say why not use the 270. Should be fine! Except.......

This is the giraffe skin thickness Bill was speaking to. 270 may be a little small fir a big bull. But your 375 would make short work of that ladder necked beast!

 

[johnnyblues]

Ya Charlie I agree kinda figured my 375 would be my choice. Just thought since I dropped a moose in its tracks it just might be an option. Not taking my 300 wsm next year just figured I'd ask.

 

[rookhawk]

For Giraffe I wouldn't advise anything less than a hand loaded 30-06 with a bear claw, accubond, a-frame or partition of at least 200gr.

I found Giraffe to be a very difficult animal to hunt. To put one into a giraffe off sticks your kill zone is about the size of a salad plate. (about one square in size on their hide) I found that to be sure I'd put it where it needed to go I needed to get within 70 yards. That great stalk had to be in a place where the giraffe was accessible by the safari cruiser after the hunt too. I believe I stalked about 12 old stink bulls before I could get one within A.) 70 yards, and B.) that was retrievable from that location. It was very easy to get bulls within 120 yards in places where a cruiser could not reach, however.

My shot was perfect with a Nosler Accubond 200gr bullet shot from a 300H&H rifle. The giraffe was able to walk at least 25 yards before he collapsed from a perfect shot that went through both lungs and the heart.

Lesson to be learned from this:

-I don't believe a rifle less than .30 caliber is advisable
-The 300H&H is the legal minimum caliber in Zimbabwe for a reason (minimum foot pounds energy)
-A perfect shot from a small bore could very easily end with a giraffe running far enough before expiring to make the animal very difficult to recover.

I'd use a .375H&H if I was to ever do it again but I don't intend to do it again. It took a full day of work to quarter, load, haul and dress that giraffe. The meat was just terrible and I usually love every kind of game. There are better things to hunt in Africa that provide better table fare but I'm glad I did it once.

 

[johnnyblues]

Thank you Roohawk.

 

[rookhawk]

I think that if 275 Rigby was good for the elephant so 270 WSM is good for giraffes.
Witold

But a .277" bullet of 140gr that expands at a MV of 2900fps is not equal to a .284" bullet of 180gr at 2400fps, especially if the latter is a solid.

Maybe I'm just paranoid. I'd always prefer a better BC with a slower, bigger bullet than a tiny rocket. YMMV.

 

[enysse]

I would not take shooting a giraffe lightly either rookhawk, they are HUGE, their bones are HUGE too. You need to make a well placed shot or it could be a long day.

 

[rookhawk]

I would not take shooting a giraffe lightly either rookhawk, they are HUGE, their bones are HUGE too. You need to make a well placed shot or it could be a long day.

I was shocked just how big a giraffe actually is on the ground. If you've not seen the southern race in the bush you will be astounded. Most zoos have reticulated giraffes because they are so much smaller it is easy to house and transport them. Zoo giraffes are little guys that round out the species list of any good park.

The first day in Zimbabwe I saw a raven black stink bull that was so big I'm quite convinced he was 6-7' off the ground to the belly. Just an enormous animal. Literally, he would have tripled the scales compared to a reticulated giraffe at the local zoo.

The giraffe I harvested was half the animal of the one I saw on the first day and he was still around 4'-5' across at the shoulders. Think about that, these animals are almost twice as girthed as a cape buffalo in some instances and we're hoping we do not get a bullet deflection on the shot and that we get sufficient penetration. A jacket separation or a miss of the most of the vitals would be an epic disaster as a giraffe in a leisurely gate can cover some incredible territory in no time. I saw many giraffe with noted features that had covered incredible distances from day to day in the bush. (10km away, next day, same giraffe with a goofy scale on his neck that was way darker)

Qualify my opinion based upon my typical philosophies of hunting so you can reconcile my concerns a bit better. I find nothing wrong with 6.5x55 for use on game up to kudu and elk. I find 7x57 perfect for anything non-dangerous in Africa including Eland. I shot a giraffe perfectly with a .300H&H. I like small bores with heavy for caliber bullets and moderate recoil. In spite of all of that, I would not hunt giraffe with a side on heart/lung shot ever again without at least a .375 / 9.3 class rifle just to mitigate risk of a non-recovery or a suffering animal.

As soon as I got back from Zim I IMMEDIATELY sold that pretty .300H&H as I will not hunt another giraffe and I just don't like heavy kicking guns when I can do everything else non-dangerous with my 7x57.

 

[curtism1234]

As stated before, nosler accubonds have a good history for the most part. There have been some complaints about lack of expansion in slow cartridges / short barrels, and I'm sure some complains in fast cartridges like the 270wsm.

You seem to have good luck with them and they should perform well on similar species.

Do they make 150's?

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Shot Placement for giraffes:
minimum calibre 300H&H - 338Win. magnum
recommended calibre 375H&H
Witold

 

[Philip Glass]

.375 Ruger is all you need. Have a box of solids if you need to shoot smaller animals.
Philip