Hello all,
Western Canadian boy here, grew up in BC hunting moose, black bear and whitetail. As a kid, I read everything I could get my hands on about hunting and the history of the dark continent. It has always fascinated me, and visiting to hunt myself one day has always been a dream! After moving to Alberta and spending 9 years as an Army medic, I moved on to greener pastures in 2015 and am now at a point in my life that with careful planning, Africa could be within reach in a few years.
Last year, I picked up a new 9.3x62 Tikka T3X hunter with iron sights and some lovely grain in the walnut stock. As a handloader, my searches online for data and preferred projectiles for this lovely round have found me cruising threads here on many occasions... So I figured it was time I signed up! I'm hoping to gain greater insight on all the nitty gritty details, do's/dont's of a first time safari, and perhaps bicker/banter about cartridges and projectiles along the way.
My hope is that in a few short years, I'll find myself in Zimbabwe, on the prowl for hippo, croc, leopard and cape buffalo. Since taking a synthetic stock to Africa would seem like a small blasphemy, my minty Sako AV 300 win mag would likely accompany the 9.3mm. Unless, of course, you fine folks convince me a buff with 9.3mm is silly (I know its done the job tens of thousands of times, and continues to, but something does seem off about utilizing a 6.5 lb bolt gun in a standard action for such a beast haha) . Or, maybe a pile of money the size of an elephant trophy fee falls in my lap. In which case my very under-utilized Sako finds itself with perhaps a 416 Rem barrel.
Cheers!
Western Canadian boy here, grew up in BC hunting moose, black bear and whitetail. As a kid, I read everything I could get my hands on about hunting and the history of the dark continent. It has always fascinated me, and visiting to hunt myself one day has always been a dream! After moving to Alberta and spending 9 years as an Army medic, I moved on to greener pastures in 2015 and am now at a point in my life that with careful planning, Africa could be within reach in a few years.
Last year, I picked up a new 9.3x62 Tikka T3X hunter with iron sights and some lovely grain in the walnut stock. As a handloader, my searches online for data and preferred projectiles for this lovely round have found me cruising threads here on many occasions... So I figured it was time I signed up! I'm hoping to gain greater insight on all the nitty gritty details, do's/dont's of a first time safari, and perhaps bicker/banter about cartridges and projectiles along the way.
My hope is that in a few short years, I'll find myself in Zimbabwe, on the prowl for hippo, croc, leopard and cape buffalo. Since taking a synthetic stock to Africa would seem like a small blasphemy, my minty Sako AV 300 win mag would likely accompany the 9.3mm. Unless, of course, you fine folks convince me a buff with 9.3mm is silly (I know its done the job tens of thousands of times, and continues to, but something does seem off about utilizing a 6.5 lb bolt gun in a standard action for such a beast haha) . Or, maybe a pile of money the size of an elephant trophy fee falls in my lap. In which case my very under-utilized Sako finds itself with perhaps a 416 Rem barrel.
Cheers!
