Bullet selection

Guster

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Question, here at home I've taken elk & moose with my .300WSM using Hornady 165 Grain SST's. with great results.
Is this a good bullet selection for animals like a Kudu or Gemsbok???//
 
Welcome Guster!
That bullet in the 300WSM will do just fine on Kudu & Gemsbok. I am a Barnes & Nosler fan so I'm a little biased towards their Triple Shok and Accubonds but if the Hornady's shoot well in your rifle, go for it. You have nothing to fear my friend!
 
The SST is a good bullet, my son has shot quite a few critters with them and we have had good results. As Buff-Buster said, I also put most of my stock in Barnes and Nosler bullets. The hornady will serve you just fine on the above mentioned game IMO. Good luck and welcome to AH.
 
I have had the opposite experience with the SST. Out of a very low velocity 308 (165gr 2400fps) I found them to be bombs on deer, almost like a VMAX. They are accurate and a spectacular killer as long as you don't hit a bone. I would go with accubonds, interbonds, barnes, GMX or partitions.

Interbonds are very similar to the SST and should shoot well in your gun
 
IMO You can do better.... Consider Barnes TTSX. If you are in love with the Hornady's, the GMX would fit the bill. I think Larry Weishuhn made a few episodes hunting Namibia with that caliber & hornady's
 
A good standard to use is, would I shoot a 400 class bull elk with that bullet. Your choice will work, but there are probably better bullets for the job. The TTSX and AB's have a large following and should work very well for you. Probably worth trying to see how well your rifle likes them. Bruce
 
Welcome to the best forum Guster,

Seems like someone wrote that the .300WSM is sort of the ballistic twin of the good old .300 H&H ?
If that is so, you certainly have very good ballistic capability for hunting the more open places in Africa, such as most of Namibia, also South Africa's Eastern Cape and Karoo areas.

I have hunted both Kudu and Gemsbok with the H&H version and 180 grain Nosler partition @ a little over 2800+ fps, in Namibia.
That bullet at that speed was IMO just about perfect for those, as well as the other 10 animals I shot with it for a total of 12 with that caliber/load.

Knowing nothing about the bullet you mention, I cannot vote on it but I will say that, for a .30 bullet and open foliage/geography, I prefer the 180 grainers.
And, for the much more common thornbush conditions of Southern Africa (thick forest / rolling hills / a few steep canyons, that are choked with brush), I will always prefer 220 gr bullets (if using a .30 for some reason).

Generally I prefer larger calibers for a "bush rifle", in other words when I am pretty sure I will not be able to see past about 250 yds to 300 yds maximum anyway (across a lake or across a canyon but otherwise almost all shooting is under 100 yds, half or more shots under 50 yds).

Nonetheless, I have on one safari, used the PH's .30-06 in thick thornbush and riverine almost jungle like conditions, with 220 gr Hornady round nose softs and it was a fine combination for this.
So, I have no real valid reason to prefer larger calibers for that type of hunting, except that I am a dreaded rifle nut and prefer to use large diameter/heavy, blunt shaped bullets at slow to moderate speed in wooded conditions where I might see a large animal such as eland, waterbuck, zebra, etc, at close range.

I think for my two pennies worth, if for some unknown reason I wanted to use 165 gr bullets in my .30 of any sort, magnum or otherwise, I'd try Swift A-Frames for accuracy.
Also, not sure if Swift still makes their Scirocco bullets any more but they appear to have been made well for high velocity impacts and reportedly quite accurate in many rifles.
They have a moderately thick looking jacket and the core is bonded to the jacket as well.
If available, I would perhaps give those a try as well.

Last but not least, the old Nosler 180 grain Partition was developed for the .300 H&H when John Nosler had some bullet shatter on a Canadian moose with that caliber, and the rest is history.
This bullet gets over-looked these days but I feel it is a beauty for around 2800 fps, in my personal experiences, using it in Africa and in Alaska (where I live) as well.

The most important thing on this topic is to advise your PH what animals you wish to try for and then ask what bullet/s they might recommend (they see hundreds of animals get shot with various things and so, generally know what works best and what is to be avoided).

In fact, ask your PH for advise on all your equipment, clothing, hunting shoes and everything.
They live there and they know what is what.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.
 
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Last time(1st time) we took a 338win mag with 225gr Swift A-Frames, a 30-06 with 150gr TTSX Barnes, and a 257Roberts with 120gr Swift A-Frames. We took Kudu(2)/Gemsbuck/Zebra/Blue wildebeest(2)/Warthog(8-10)/Impala(4)/Red Hartebeest/Blesbuck/Springbuck all using the A-Frame bullets and one shot kills.

If I go back with my 300win mag(near twin to yours) it will have 165gr Swift A-Frame bullets in it. My PH told us to always take out one shoulder(or both) and from my experience with the SST bullets they are not a good choice when shoulder shots are taken. I have used them in 308win/30-06 and 300win mag and they are fine but not on shoulder shots.

Plus after traveling that far, at that cost, I want to not skimp on the one item which determines my success more than any other given proper placement. I have now switched from Nosler Partition to Swift A-Frame in my mag cartridges.

For Africa my order of preference is Swift A-Frame, Barnes TTSX(NOT TSX), Nosler Partition. I would take a Swift Scirroco over the Nosler Accubond as you get a better mushroom and still penetration. Any of tese would be a better choice in my mind. The SST would probably work but why take the chance?

Just my 2 Cents
 
My two favorite are the swift a frame or barnes ttsx. I have had great luck with the 200 grain a-frame out of my 300 win mag and the 180 grain barnes. I used the a-frames on kudu,waterbuck,oryx,impala, blue wildbeast and eland all the way up to a giraffe.

The bullet you asked about is great for whitetail deer but I myself would not use it in Africa. From what I have seen they just don't hold up if you hit heavy bone.
 
A good standard to use is, would I shoot a 400 class bull elk with that bullet. . .

In over 40 years of elk hunting (DIY on public land), I've never seen a 400 class bull elk. I did however, take a 375" bull with a 180 gr Sierra GameKing bullet from my .30-06, and a 330" bull with a 117 gr Sierra GameKing bullet from my .257 Ackley. Both were one shot DRT kills, and I wouldn't hesitate to use either bullet again on any other elk.

On my first African hunt, I made one shot kills on Kudu and Gemsbok with 140 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets. On other African hunts, I killed a Kudu and two Gemsboks with 270 gr Barnes TSX bullets, and I have killed a variety of other African game with 160 gr Nosler Accubond bullets, 300 gr TSX bullets, and 168 gr TTSX bullets.

My point is, bullet placement is more important than bullet diameter or brand.

My two favorite hunting bullets for my .300 Weatherby are the 168 gr TTSX and 168 gr TSX. They are accurate in my rifle, and have performed well for me in Africa, New Zealand, and on Montana elk.
 
My point is, bullet placement is more important than bullet diameter or brand.

Could not agree more :)
 
Totally agree here with buffybr, Enysse and others, on the notion that accuracy is the most important factor in cleanly/quickly bagging any animal.

Shot placement is priority Number One.

However next up in priority is that a bullet well placed, must then penetrate far enough into the vitals to cut/lacerate them sufficiently, thereby causing the animal to die quickly, with as little suffering as possible.

Choosing an accurate bullet that is also a sturdy bullet, is never more important than when deciding to use a relatively small diameter / light weight / high velocity one, with which to shoot somewhat large, stoutly built, wild animals.

Popular belief is that African wild animals are more "impact resistant" than the rest of the world's wild animals are (I do not really know for sure one way or the other but, it seems to me like they might be).

If that is true, then it's all the more reason to "use enough gun" in Africa or, if one cannot get comfortable with that then, one should at least consider using rather sturdy bullets for the larger species (again, provided said sturdy bullets are accurate of course).
 
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Hi Guster.
Reluing on Shot Placement:
for Gemsbok
Minimum calibre: 7mm Rem. Mag.
Recommendet caibre , any of the 300Magnums

for Kudu
Minimum calibre: 7x57Mauser
Recommendet calibre: 308Win,30-06 or 7mm Rem. Mag.

My favorite calibre 9,3x62.

Witold
 

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