A Few "User Friendly" Cartridges for Cape Buffalo. Just For Fun, Pick Your Winner.

[Nevada Mike]

I just found another one that I forgot about.

.405 Winchester

300 grain bullet 2,500 fps.
400 grain bullet 2,000 fps.
That puts it right in there with the other on the list.
Probably get higher velocity in the Ruger No.1 ( Not that it is needed.)

Also, I didn't realize that the .404 J is .421 cal, I always thought it wa s.410 cal.
That's a good thing as Martha Stewart used to say.

You know that I have a weakness for a large caliber and CEB Bullets. I think that the .421 bullet is special order from CEB.

404 JEFFERY IS .423 CALIBER.

 

[Tintin]

Woodleigh of course has a 450 gn option and the Hydro, and NF can be had in 340, 380 and 430 gn as well.

Don't know if WL has started production yet of the more obscure calibres, and A-Frame always seem hard to find.

Woodleigh do

350gn
400gn
450gn

softs for .404 Jeffery.

All these have been produced recently and are available - at least here in Australia.

 

[cmk]

Woodleigh do

350gn
400gn
450gn

softs for .404 Jeffery.

All these have been produced recently and are available - at least here in Australia.

Good to hear that production is up and running (again). I actually forgot about the 350gn bullet, but I guess that it is mainly aimed at the 10.75x68. Should still work fine in a 404, if impact velocity is kept correct.

To stray off-topic for a moment; I'd really like to see a good quality 300-or-so grain bullet for hunting 'back at home'

 

[Brian]

404 JEFFERY & 400 GRAIN SWIFT A FRAME.

View attachment 703495View attachment 703496

That is perfect!

 

[Brian]

404 JEFFERY IS .423 CALIBER.

`Nevada Mike, .423, Right. Thanks for the correction. Brian

 

[CZDiesel]

Two that haven’t been mentioned but are both great Buffalo medicine and both are comfortable to shoot!
400 H&H
470 Capstick

 

[Brian]

A bit of an oxymoron to put user friendly and just for fun together is it?

A 375 is certainly the first choice for user friendly. Depending upon the definition... Light recoil, easy to shoot accurately, easy to find a gun anywhere from really cheap to really fancy and fully decked out customs. Easy to mountbany optic of choice. Easy to find and relatively low cost ammo and components. I cannot think of a more user friendly cartridge from any definition and that is more adequate for buffalo than a 375 H&H or Ruger. Nor can I think of a more boring one

So in the "Just for Fun" category we can go a bit wild! I bought a 505 Gibbs for that reason but it turned out to be a favorite which I used on 2 buffalo, a huge giraffe, and a very large white rhino.

Last hunt I took a 111 year old 450 NE no. 2 3 1/2" double hammer top lever rifle for buffalo with original open sights. That was a fun gun to hunt with although not anywhere near as sensible as my Marcel Thys side lock Best gun in 470NE.

A recent JFF gun I am playing with is a H&H Royal 10 bore Paradox built in 1899 and reworked in 1909. Just today I've received a shipment of rounds to try in it as an attempt to develop a safe load capable of taking a buffalo

Another JFF buffalo rifle I've got in the back of my head is a Winchester lever gun in 475 Turnbull

Back to the original question. For a combination of the two opposing goals, I'd say an old British double in 450/470NE, probably in 3 1/4"...

Hi Bob, Thanks for your post.
Just for clarification, I want to mention that in the title of this thread I wrote "User friendly" and " just for fun" in two different sentences. No oxymoron there.
I meant "user friendly" in terms of shooting the cartridge, of course. In the next sentence I wrote "just for fun" regarding choosing a winner. I was scratching my head for a while figuring out what you meant. Cheers, brian