Show Me Your 375 Caliber Buffalo!

[BeeMaa]

Metetsi region of Zimbabwe, 2005 using my .375 RUM Rem 700 with a 300 grain Barnes TSX at 2830 fps. About a 50 yard broadside shot that entered his left shoulder, went through his chest cavity, and we found it in his right shoulder. A perfect Barnes mushroom. He ran about 50 yards and collapsed.

With the eyes looking like that...he STILL looks pissed.
Beauty of a Buff.

 

[txdad]

Weatherby Weathermark 375 H&H. One shoulder shot at 18 yards with Federal Cape Shok 300gr Swift A-frame. Did not run far. Three follow-up shots with 300 gr Woodleigh solids

 

[neckdeep]

September 2016, Mokore Safaris, Save, CZ 550 Northfork 300 SS and 300 CPS

September 2018, Mokore Safaris, Coutada 9, Mozambique, AHR CZ 550 Northfork 300gr FNS, plus a host of other bullets

 

[Waterbuck2008]

Zambezi Delta, Mozambique. M70 Safari Express, 300-grain A-Square Dead Tough soft at 60 yards, with a Monolithic Solid as an unnecessary insurance shot as we approached the dead bull. He ran about 50 yards back into the herd to expire. Not incredibly wide, but exceptionally old. The soft from this bull passed completely through both lungs and out the opposite side, strangely enough. The insurance soild made it through both shoulders and ended up behind the skin on the opposite shoulder. That bullet is shown in my avatar.

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Adam S, I found there is a substantial difference in recoil between the 416s and 375 H&H. You will note I actually have a muzzle brake on my 375. Not sure it is needed any more. When I purchased it, I was healing from a torn retina and decided I’d rather lose my hearing than to go blind. I will be shooting it without the brake to see how I do now.

I have read that the 404 Jeffery recoils little more than the 375. I’d be interested in trying it just for my own comparison.

Best of luck in your decision!

I have 404Jeffery.
This is true that the 404Jeffery recoils litle more than 375 H&H .

 

[BWH]

Started with .375 H&H..... rifle switch. Finished with .416 Rigby.

 

[BeeMaa]

View attachment 274298
Started with .375 H&H..... rifle switch. Finished with .416 Rigby.

Beautiful Buff.
Gotta ask why you switched to the 416 Rigby.
Did he eat all your 375 ammo and come looking for more?

 

[BWH]

Beautiful Buff.
Gotta ask why you switched to the 416 Rigby.
Did he eat all your 375 ammo and come looking for more?

Yes/no...... He took very 2 well placed shots, by any shot placement poster's standard. We had tracked him for a long, longtime. A wounded buffalo, in very thick cover. So, I grabbed the PH's 416 Rigby for the final shot. He was quartering away in trot. Dropped him like a bag of dirt.

 

[BeeMaa]

Yes/no...... He took very 2 well placed shots, by any shot placement poster's standard. We had tracked him for a long, longtime. A wounded buffalo, in very thick cover. So, I grabbed the PH's 416 Rigby for the final shot. He was quartering away in trot. Dropped him like a bag of dirt.

Given the option again, would you choose a 416 over a 375 for the first shot?
Wondering because I have a 375 and I'm considering a 416...possibly...maybe...with permission from the Dept of Finance.

 

[BWH]

Given the option again, would you choose a 416 over a 375?
Wondering because I have a 375 and I'm considering a 416...possibly...maybe...with permission from the Dept of Finance.

Really just depends on you situation & planned usage. Longer shots & more variety of use = .375
Hunting DG in thick/closer quarters = .416 Rigby all day. I fell in love with it.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't want to sit behind it at the range all day. But they are not horrible to shoot, especially on hunt of a lifetime.

I know there are tons of people that will say their buff dropped DRT with their .375. So be it, good for them. I did not have that luxury. It was extremely thick & dense.... distance was 75-100 yards for first 2 opportunities.

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Beautiful Buff.
Gotta ask why you switched to the 416 Rigby.
Did he eat all your 375 ammo and come looking for more?

+1

 

[Custom]

2015 Buffalo taken on the Sandveld Nature Reserve in the RSA. Same pic as my avatar.

The Sandveld is a 60,000 acre reserve with a self-sustaining, reproducing buffalo herd. Took him on day 3 of the hunt after tracking him for several hours in the morning from a pan. 80 yard broad side shot with a follow-up Texas heart shot. The rifle is a Kimber Caprivi shooting 300 grain Barnes tsx. Recovered the first bullet which took out the top of his heart and broke the off shoulder before lodging just beneath the skin. Perfectly mushroomed and looks to have retained virtually all of its weight, though I have never weighed it. I took my next buff with a custom 404 Jeff, and will be taking that rifle back in 2020 for another buff. The Caprivi will go at the same time as my buddy is borrowing for his first safari, to include a buffalo. Says it will be his only safari - famous last words!

 

[IdaRam]

2015 Buffalo taken on the Sandveld Nature Reserve in the RSA. Same pic as my avatar.

View attachment 274437

The Sandveld is a 60,000 acre reserve with a self-sustaining, reproducing buffalo herd. Took him on day 3 of the hunt after tracking him for several hours in the morning from a pan. 80 yard broad side shot with a follow-up Texas heart shot. The rifle is a Kimber Caprivi shooting 300 grain Barnes tsx. Recovered the first bullet which took out the top of his heart and broke the off shoulder before lodging just beneath the skin. Perfectly mushroomed and looks to have retained virtually all of its weight, though I have never weighed it. I took my next buff with a custom 404 Jeff, and will be taking that rifle back in 2020 for another buff. The Caprivi will go at the same time as my buddy is borrowing for his first safari, to include a buffalo. Says it will be his only safari - famous last words!

“Says it will be his only safari - famous last words” Ain’t that the truth!
And congrats on a very nice Buff!

 

[johnnyblues]

Taken in Limpopo, August 2017. 375 Ruger guide rifle. Swift 300 grain AFrames back by Northfork solids. 50 yards.

 

[MikeNC]

Taken in the Luangwa Valley July 21st 2018 rifle CZ 550 American Safari Magnum. Swift A-Frame 300 grains.

 

[JES Adventures]

Thanks @TOBY458 for a great thread. I hunted all DG exclusively with my Whitworth based custon 375 H&H for years so here we go! Not in chronological order.

My first Buffalo Bull in the Okavango in ‘92 shot from a mokoro

 

[JES Adventures]

CAR in ‘93 Central African Savanna Buffalo

 

[JES Adventures]

Dwarf Forest Buffalo in Cameroon in ‘95. Note no scope, shot at 7 yards in the forest

 

[JES Adventures]

West African Savanna Buffalo in Cameroon in ‘16

 

[JES Adventures]

Nile Buffalo in Uganda in ‘18