Leopard cartridge choice; Poll

[Mtn_Infantry]

No one wants to ruin their $25k pelt with the explosion of a V-Max?

I’d shoot a 257Wby pushing a 75gr V-Max, 85gr Ballistic Tip, or 80gr Sierra as fast as possible … all the good cat taxidermists can fix the grenade shrapnel

 

[ftrovato]

Shot mine w suppresed 375 h&h 270 gr soft federal blue box
View attachment 795946

How did the bullet not exit? Assuming this is a pic of the leopards heart.

 

[ftrovato]

Im thinking there was a post or thread and video i made on this about this topic. Leopard are something i hunt very often and love it. my choice and what i encourage client to do:

The .375 H&H with the 260 grain Nosler Accubond. its like a hot hand grenade inside a cat.

It is the best in my experience and i think i have killed about 25 or more with this exact load. I load them a little hot and then the lighter fragile bullet kills really well with shock and expansion but then the bigger base also pushes all the way through on any leopard of course. it vaporizes the internal organs and has saves me some stiches on bad first shots where the neighboring organs were just fried.

The other advantage is this same rifle will easily take all the bait need and your buffalo croc or even Hippo with Swift or Barnes or Partition. Then you can travel with one gun that you know how to use and can get comfortable with it. This is something that i see hunter mess up imo for Africa - get a solid well built accurate gun and get used to it and shoot it and stop playing musical chairs with you rifles for dangerous game. With elephant and if youre hunting a lot of buffalo them maybe play the game and step it up a caliber or two with a heavy gun for special occasions!

Thanks for the accomplished advice! We hunters always need your professional experience to help ground us.

On my first safari I took 12 or so animals with my 416 Rigby from Tiny Ten to Eland.

My PH told me if I shoot it well, use it for everything. And he was right! I know the gun and trigger well so it worked perfectly cuz I was able to put the bullet where it needed to go on everything out to 200 yards. 416 was great for Tiny Ten with solids too! Nice clean exit holes.

We won't talk about the Eland I f*cked up shooting to far back and had to track 10 miles before we finished him!

 

[Rumrunner]

Haven’t hunted leopard but I selected the 35 Whelen. Don’t believe a magnum is needed for a 75-100 yard shot on a 120 pound animal. However, I want it hit hard, very hard. I think the 35 Whelen has the diameter and energy to provide the assurance necessary.

 

[Safari Dave]

A .300 Magnum (Winchester or Weatherby) is a superb leopard cartridge.

The countries that require a .375 to hunt leopard, simply don't understand (or don't want to understand) what makes a good leopard cartridge.

Unlike the rest of the "Big 5," a leopard has thin skin and somewhat delicate bones.

"Normal" bullets loaded in .375 factory ammo, are usually much too tough to be good for leopard. They just shoot through a leopard without much expansion.

I would much rather use 150-180 grain .30 caliber "cup & core" bullets on a leopard, than a monolithic copper bullet in a .375.






If you must use a .375 caliber or larger on leopard, and need to use factory ammo, get some of these:

Buy High Performance Rifle 375 H&H Magnum Ammo | 270 Grain, 2690 FPS | Remington

Shopping for the High Performance Rifle, 375 H&H Magnum, 270 Grain, Soft Point, 2690 fps - Learn more about the latest High Performance Rifle and other hunting or shooting gear at Remington.

www.remington.com

Buy Power-Shok Rifle 375 H&H Magnum Ammo | 270 Grain, 2690 FPS | Federal

Shopping for the Power-Shok Rifle, 375 H&H Magnum, 270 Grain, Jacketed Soft Point, 2690 fps - Learn more about the latest Power-Shok and other hunting or shooting gear at Federal Ammunition.

www.federalpremium.com

Even though they maybe "cheap" compared to most factory loadings, if they shoot well in your rifle, they should be better for leopard than ammo loaded with "premium bullets," because they expand quickily.


A leopard is not hard to kill, but you absolutely do not want to hit it with a bullet that doesn't expand very well with the first shot.

 

[pc3]

My choice is not one of the options. When I get my chance at the spotted chainsaw (which I plan to do one day) it will be with the .350 Rigby. I would load either the Hornady 250gr interlock or the speer 250gr Hotcor or maybe a Woodleigh 250 gr Round Nose, there is also the 225gr accubond option.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

We know that a cat’s nerve system reacts negatively to the shock of high velocity projectiles penetrating the vital areas. Add to than transfer of energy is best achieved on this thin skin feline by fast expanding projectiles.

For the handloader with time and a passion for developing correct loads for each animal to be hunted, leopard presents a high goal. I have thoughts of perhaps adding a leopard to an undisclosed future hunt. For that quarry I will bring a small quantity of specialty loads in either .375 H&H or .416 Taylor / Rem / Rigby (undecided presently).

For .375 H&H, my projectile is the from my favorite Cutting Edge Bullets,

• .375 230GR ESP RAPTOR, the Enhanced System Projectile is designed to be shot as a hollow point without the Raptor Tip...

For this, I would contact CEB for their load data but for a similar mono-metal projectile lets's review the Barnes TSX 235 grain .375" diameter bullet.

For planning purposes, for .375 H&H the Barnes Reloading Maunal #4 lists this the following as Starting and MAXIMUM loads with H4895,

The CEB Raptor with it's grenade-like function after a couple inches of penetration at 2,900 FPS should turn the lights off with any good shot placement on a 200 lbs (or less) cat. The six blades that leave the base of this bullet should not penetrate the full body but the bullet core certainly will.

For a .416 cailber rifle, I have several hundred CEB .416 225 grain projectiles. These are out of production but CEB upon request sent me load data for these in the .416 Rem and Rigby. 3,000 FPS is well within the range of this 225 gr Raptor in either .416 cartridge!

Below is the CEB provided load data for .416 Rem. Use at your own risk!

While the 225 gr .416 CEB is no longer offered, CEB presently offers their .416 Raptors in 180 and 300 grains. The 300 gr can be loaded to 2750 fps or higher in either the .416 Rem or Rigby.

The .416 180 grain bullet lists,
"SPECIAL ORDER ONLY - 500PC MINIMUM - Price upon Request. Contact us to order - support@cuttingedgebullets.com "

If I wanted to purchase more of their old 225 grain .416 bullets I would contact CEB. With CNC machining, reprograming equipment is easily possible for let's say, batches of 500 or more...

One step further, if leopard hunting becomes a certainty for me, I will contact CEB for their advice on selecting which of their bullets for either a .375 or .416 diameter cartridge.

Finally, someone out there will comment about point of impact between these light of caliber compared to heavier bullets in the .375 and .416 bore rifle. The solution is simple considering the short range of leopard shots, either Scope Dope written on painters tape on my scope, or a second sighted in scope or reflex (red dot) sight for this load. Properly operated Quick Release mounts from Talley or Alaska Arms make changing scopes trouble free. Those who recommend against QR scope mounts most likely have in the past not installed them properly... Heck, I did it on my work bench once so operator error is certainly possible. When chaning scopes in the field, take your time and verify both front and rear rings are properly seated on the mounts.

The above are my thoughts which are worth no less than what you paid for them.

 

[Tex .416]

Guess a changing of the guard is occurring when the 6.5 Creedmoor makes a poll like this, but .308 and .30-06 are left off.

 

[csmcclain]

Guess a changing of the guard is occurring when the 6.5 Creedmoor makes a poll like this, but .308 and .30-06 are left off.

Makes you wonder if people thought the same when the .30-40 Krag, .303 Enfield, and 8x57 first got left off the list