Thanks for the feedback guys. All noted.
Ok - Shooting experience... I'm 37 and have been shooting since I was around ten years old. I've had deer calibre firearms for ten years. Biggest rifle I've owned and used extensively is a .375H&H - I could comfortably shoot that from a bench or prone all day, and from sticks could group just over an inch at 100m with confidence pretty much every time. I have between 500-1000 deer under my belt in the UK, and from day one haven't had any bother with "buck fever". I'm quite a calm person so bad situations don't generally cause me to panic, only concentrate harder!
Down sides - I'm possibly a bit too laid back. I need to learn to act with a bit more urgency at times! Fast shooting will need some work. I haven't shot anything like the Lott. Big 12g 3.5" loads through a fairly light gun aren't an issue, but that's not a rifle so who knows if I pulled the shots a bit? I do have a fairly reasonable pain threshold though, so if plenty of other people can do it I reckon I can too.
I guess the best thing to do is shoot it and see what happens. If it rattles my teeth too much I can always back down and try a slightly smaller round.
I understand the accuracy thing, but is there really any need to knock the ticks off of the animal's back? I know shots need to be placed accurately but define accurate. You can't need to put down a 10mm group at 100m like I can with my .22-250 when shooting an animal with a heart the size of a melon? With a Lott I don't suppose I'll be able to!
For a buffalo you do not need 6" accuracy at 100 meters. and 8" paper plate should be fine. I might even argue bigger.
I had two completely different presentations on my two Cape buffalo. The first was walking across the Limpopo River (dry, all sand, but wide open) in a group of about 12 animals. Several challenges were presented but I had trained for most yet not all. I was out of breath after running a ways to head them off. But had trained enough to recover quickly. Honestly, as important or more important that shooting is being as physically fit as you can be. Almost anyone can go shoot a buffalo, but hunting one on your terms, and the buffalo's, depends on what you are up to.... So first I had to wait for my PH to identify which animal to take and for me to understand which it was... I suppose that only took seconds but seemed like an eternity. Then I had to get on him and wait for him to clear the cows as they juggled back and forth through the sand. Then when I was about to shoot a walking buffalo, the PH said wait and I'll stop him.... So he let out a very mournful call which caused the whole herd to switch it up to a trot! To which he replied, well that didn't work, better shoot quickly before they get into the thickets
So I did but did not not have enough training on moving targets shooting from sticks and my shot with a 400 grain A Frame out of my M70 416 Rem Mag was right behind the leg, clipping through both lungs and causing him to twitch as if he was bit by a tetsi fly. But he veered towards us at a loping run(not charging us, but angling just past) and I got a second shot in between the shoulder and neck, a hydro solid which later appeared to have exited his opposite ham. I do believe I should have loaded all A Frames. The PH fired his 500 NE with a solid and broke a rear leg... So much for relying on the PH to drop an animal closing in on you.... Those shots turned him and he got up the bank and into the thickets where we had to pick out an ear and bit of horn and finally some blood from the nose... That shot was a bit of a Hail Mary and clipped the bottom of his horn and went down along the backbone and dropped him to his knees, also a hydro solid. Took two more A Frames into the chest to finish him at close range after we got up the bank and found a small hole to shoot between branches.
My second cape buff was quartering away looking over his shoulder at me and about to run off at about 60 to 80 yards and I shot from sticks with my CZ 505 Gibbs and a 525 grain TSX moving at 2350 fps. That laid him right out and he was giving his death bellow propped up against a tree. That caused a massive wound channel from the rumen to the opposite front shoulder as it passed through the vitals. You could have shoved your fist and whole arm through that wound cavity
Back to practice, sounds like you need to really concentrate on quickly acquiring the target, getting a well aimed shot off although maybe not as perfectly aimed as you are accustomed to, and then reloading quickly while getting back on target and a second shot off.
If you can do it, some practice on moving targets, but that can be tough if you do not have the right place to do it. I would really concentrate on well placed shots off sticks, reloading and a closer shot both off sticks and off hand, as well as a close shot followed by a longer one.
At most ranges around here, we tend to be limited to 25, 50 and 100 yards. So I practiced getting 3 quick shots into the vital areas of the target, and then reloading quickly and doing it again. Going from far to near and near to far. We do have a nearby indoor range where if you make friends and not to busy, the Range master will program the target to "charge" you and let you get some practice that way but it is only a 50 yard range and it has to be void of other customers for him to let me do that with big bore guns... Although you can practice with smaller calibers in similar action type.
