The ideal number of cartridges to carry while hunting

[SStomcat]

I’m sure it was said in jest.

 

[Surgeon1]

IMO, carry as much ammo as reasonably possible.

I would never hunt with an M60, but if that is your idea of African hunting, then blast away.

M60 is not my idea of hunting but of self-defense!
Recently in Uganda up close to the South Sudan boarder we had 5 heavily armed Ugandan special forces on the truck every day in addition to a park ranger and everyone carried an AK-47 (not just for looks like other places I've hunted but each had 210rds ready to go). The squad leader had the Russian version of the M60 that he manned + an AK and lots of ammo! What a great bunch of guys, I never felt more secure anywhere in Africa. Far more secure than I feel using my cancelled carry permit to arm myself daily in any US City. Talking to those young men, getting to know them and hearing their stories was a very special experience.

 

[DLSJR]

So with all due respect, I’m struggling to figure out whether it was the DG that truly demanded 27 rounds, the choice of solids that over-penetrated and may have caused unintended consequences, or—dare I say it—just plain poor shot placement by one (or both) of you.

Actually, we probably hit the buffalo with nearly every shot fired. Probably missed a few but not many. We were often shooting at a tiny patch of ‘black’ in very thick cover. We usually had no idea of what part of the wounded buffalo we were shooting, just something black. The first two shots, mine & Roys, were fired at just a foot or two from our muzzles to the buffalo. My shot was as the buffalo was passing me and I hit it just at the back of the lungs. Hard to believe I could shoot a buffalo that poorly that close but it came from just about 11-12 yards, very swiftly, and as I jumped to the side to avoid getting hammered, I had to turn back toward the buffalo to shoot from the hip, so hit it poorly with my first shot. Roy’s shot hit it in the face but nowhere near the brain. After that we spent the next half hour or so shooting at any little patch of black we could see. Some of the holes were in the chest while some were in the back end, guts, legs.

This was in 1986 when it was common to have a soft in chamber and solids afterward. My Rigby had a Woodleigh soft and solid loaded. Most of what was on my belt was solids. Roy, as the PH, had nearly all solids and that made sense as Charara was very thick where we hunted and held lots of elephants, buffalo and even black rhinos back then. We saw 5 different rhinos plus quite a few tracks over my 2 weeks there. Quite a few elephants and hundreds of buffalo. Never did shoot a lion there but saw them on our baits, which were half or whole buffalo hung from trees.

Thankfully, we both did have enough cartridges that day, but just barely.

 

[DLSJR]

You guys carrying 20+ rounds on your person must use small caliber guns. Im trying to picture myself carrying 20 cartridges for my 8-bore.

On my buffalo hunt i used a 505 Gibbs and carried 3 in the gun and 6 on my belt. Carrying more than 10 of these cartridges on my belt would have got awkward pretty quick.

That’s why God invented trackers! . To help carry more bullets.

 

[buffybr]

5 kilo flight limit. Soft points + solids. 4 boxes, 80 rounds, ...

The 5 kilo flight limit applies to the total weight of the ammo that you are carrying, and may differ from the amount of ammo for each rife that you may bring into their country.

On my 2nd trip to Mozambique, I was only after a Sable and some plains game, and only took my .300 Wby, along with 4 boxes of ammo, 2 boxes of 168 gr Barnes TTSX bullets and 2 boxes of 150 gr FMJ bullets for some of the smaller antelopes.

Going through customs when I arrived in Maputo, they said that I was only allowed to bring 3 boxes (60 rounds) of ammo per rifle into their country. So I went through the hassle of filling out their paperwork for them to hold 1 box of ammo for me in their safe.

Ten days later when I was leaving to fly home, I took the paperwork that they had given me back to their customs office to get my 1 box of ammo back. I was the only hunter there, and it still took them 15 to 20 minutes to bring back my ammo. I then put that box into the locked ammo box in my checked bag and allowed to leave the customs building to go outside and over to the check-in building for my flight home and checked in my rifle case and my checked bag.

A few minutes later, I was paged over the loudspeaker to come to the check-in counter. Two Maputo policemen were waiting for me there as they had X-rayed my checked bag and saw the 4 ammo boxes.

I explained to the officers that (1) I was leaving their country with them, and (2) I showed them their Customs office papers that showed that they had stored one box and that they had just given it back to me to take home. Neither one had a high enough IQ to understand that, so they walked me back to their customs office, and after another 10-15 minute discussion between all of those officers, I was free to go home with all of my ammo.

For the OP's question of how much ammo that I carry hunting ... I normally carry 3 in my rifle's magazine, 1 or 2 in my right front pants pocket, and 10 in a belt carrier. In 60 years of hunting all over the world, I've never shot all of the ammo that I was carrying, although back in 1966, I did shoot 13 times at my first bull elk.

 

[BJH65]

I think the answer varies perhaps because we are the sum of our own experiences. One could say since 97-98% of the time I require one well placed shot to make a kill on big game that all I require are a few extra shells but my personal experience tells me different.

The following are some of my experiences that go into my thinking on this subject:

Being lost in the wilderness and using gunshots to vector in our transport/help.

Being stranded without food and water, being so fucking thirsty you swear to yourself it will never happen again, ever. I always have water, first aid and survival kit.

Around 30 years ago, being the second group of hunters in Mozambique with PH Ray Millican when they reopened the country to hunting after their 17 year civil war ended. The trip was one helluva an adventure fraught with peril and I still distinctly remember forming a tactical plan with our assistant PH to engage the 8 Mozambique police pointing AK-47’s at us because we weren’t just going to sit there and be executed without a fight. Thankfully it was resolved with a bribe.

Spending it seems half a lifetime first as a Marine and then a 25 year career in law enforcement in command level positions in LE and the one constant I could always count on was “Murphy’s Law,” what can go wrong, will go wrong at the worst possible time in addition to the inevitable human failure that always effected the mission.

Knowing that some DG animals like buffalo can take an ungodly amount of punishment if your first shot is “off.”

If you have personally experienced “something” that all has not gone well, this will factor into one’s thinking as demonstrated by some of the responses. It’s probably good that not everyone experiences their own personal nightmare but it can happen and it changes some of your habits.

Having been on AH a short while, there are some really accomplished and brilliant folks here and I’m not one of them but I damn sure don’t repeat a mistake! Yes, I’ll carry extra rounds, even 22 total, it doesn’t hurt!

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

I think the answer varies perhaps because we are the sum of our own experiences. One could say since 97-98% of the time I require one well placed shot to make a kill on big game that all I require are a few extra shells but my personal experience tells me different.

The following are some of my experiences that go into my thinking on this subject:

Being lost in the wilderness and using gunshots to vector in our transport/help.

Being stranded without food and water, being so fucking thirsty you swear to yourself it will never happen again, ever. I always have water, first aid and survival kit.

Around 30 years ago, being the second group of hunters in Mozambique with PH Ray Millican when they reopened the country to hunting after their 17 year civil war ended. The trip was one helluva an adventure fraught with peril and I still distinctly remember forming a tactical plan with our assistant PH to engage the 8 Mozambique police pointing AK-47’s at us because we weren’t just going to sit there and be executed without a fight. Thankfully it was resolved with a bribe.

Spending it seems half a lifetime first as a Marine and then a 25 year career in law enforcement in command level positions in LE and the one constant I could always count on was “Murphy’s Law,” what can go wrong, will go wrong at the worst possible time in addition to the inevitable human failure that always effected the mission.

Knowing that some DG animals like buffalo can take an ungodly amount of punishment if your first shot is “off.”

If you have personally experienced “something” that all has not gone well, this will factor into one’s thinking as demonstrated by some of the responses. It’s probably good that not everyone experiences their own personal nightmare but it can happen and it changes some of your habits.

Having been on AH a short while, there are some really accomplished and brilliant folks here and I’m not one of them but I damn sure don’t repeat a mistake! Yes, I’ll carry extra rounds, even 22 total, it doesn’t hurt!

Spot on

I could carry a couple less rounds and would feel very comfortable in doing so, but why leave a spot or two empty on my belt?

Ammo and water are all you need. Like you, my experience with Murphy’s Law tells me to be prepared and that means filling each cartridge space on my belt. I don’t only load 1 barrel on my double, I don’t only put 3 rounds in a 4 round magazine box, and I don’t put 15 rounds in a 17 round Glock magazine.

 

[SStomcat]

If I hunt DRC, I would choose the beloved M60 MG with two 100 round belts Poncho Villa style and
two more 100rd belts linked together and loaded in the gun. I know that's more than 5kg of ammo but you said Safari Dave one can never have "too many" LOL

Looks like you planning on hunting the 2 legged variant

 

[Rule 303]

Hunting DG I have 4 in the magazine, 8 on my belt and 4 in pockets, if I could carry more if I could without the cartridges knocking each other in my pockets. I, too, believe in Murphy's Law.

At home in Australia I normally hunt pigs so will have 40+ rounds on me. When you get onto a mob of pigs you can chew through the ammo, with few misses. Run into a second mob and you won't run out of ammo.

 

[SStomcat]

Hunting DG I have 4 in the magazine, 8 on my belt and 4 in pockets, if I could carry more if I could without the cartridges knocking each other in my pockets. I, too, believe in Murphy's Law.

At home in Australia I normally hunt pigs so will have 40+ rounds on me. When you get onto a mob of pigs you can chew through the ammo, with few misses. Run into a second mob and you won't run out of ammo.

Exactly it depends on what you hunt, even though pigs can be ferocious and do some serious damage they are not to be equaled to hunting DG so the no will vary based on the quarry

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

One too many....

 

[SStomcat]

One too many....

AK 47?

 

[Schüler Jumbo]

I travel with 40 rounds per rifle. In the bush 3 down in bolt gun, 6 rounds on belt and balance left in lorry. I carry binos on chest harness and Leatherman Tool also on belt.