Welcome your input

[Deleted member 11879]

I am planning my first trip to Africa and am considering rifles. You read and hear lots about the .375 being a very good all-around choice. My hunting will be limited to horned critters with the only dangerous game being Cape Buffalo. I have a few rifles in the .300 Win Mag category and wondered if it made more sense to use those on plains game (antelope family) and get a .416 for buff. I've looked at CZ 550's, Cooper and Dakota. The only issue I see with the Dakota .375 is that it seems light for the caliber. Your thoughts?

 

[bluey]

gday gl 1960
welcome to AH
The 300 for plainsgame
and a whopping great big 416 for the bad boy , will do the job standing on its head ,mate
the cz are very well received on here .
l don't own one
enjoy your hunt

 

[James.Grage]

Your 300 variety will be great for the plains game you are looking to have a go at.

The 416 rifle is all you would need for your cape buffalo and any other dangerous game in Africa.

The Dakota is a very good rifle and if you decide to get one, if you think is is a little light you could add a reducer to the stock. great quality by the way.

Have you considered the Montana DGR in 416 Rigby. Very good quality and it is a shooter right out of the box.

The CZ 550 is a good rifle, however you will need to have a little work done to it to make it field reliable and ready, however a solid gun.

Cooper makes a nice rifle, however i will never consider one of these rifles based on political preference. While the owner has stepped down from the operation he still the owner the business.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Welcome to AH.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Welcome to AH.
I believe James has pretty much covered it. Just keep in mind that you shoot the rifle a lot less than you carry it.
All the best with your planning.

Take Care,
Marius Goosen

 

[sestoppelman]

Or you could go with more conventional thinking and just take a .375 and do it all. Its not over gunned for the PG and its not under gunned for the buff. If you were going for 2 plus weeks I would take two guns. For 10 days or less, a .375 is all you will need and you never have the wrong gun in your hands.
And if you did opt for a CZ, it is not a given that you will have to spend money on it to make "reliable". This has been bandied about here ad naseum. You MAY get one that can use a little slicking up and you may not. Many Mauser based rifles run a little rough out of the box. What fixes most of them is use. I have owned several CZ rifles and didnt need to do anything to them except shoot them. I did have to send my .404 to Triple River smiths to get the bolt face opened up a tad as the rims on various makes of brass differs some but thats it.

 

[bebo]

Hello ,
Winch 70 Safari Express (last model) not expensive and efficient !!:first:
Cal 416 RM : two kinds of loads : 400grs for DG and 300grs for Plain Games.
Scoped : 1.5-6 x XX with max eye relief!

 

[Nyati]

Welcome to AH.

A .375 HH will cover all your needs. I am more familiar with european guns, and CZ would be a good choice. It is widely used by african PH s.

 

[buffybr]

My personal favorites are my .300 Weatherby for plains game, and my .375 RUM for buffalo (based on my vast experience of one buffalo ).

I used a 7mm Rem mag on my first South African hunt and it easily made one shot kills on kudu, blue wildebeest, and gemsbok.

Because my second African hunt included buffalo, I built and took my .375 RUM and a 7mm RM. When I hunted my buffalo, my Zimbabwe PH was next to me with his .458 Win, but as far as I know, he never clicked the safety off. The PG that I shot on that hunt were all easily killed with whichever of these rifles that I shot them with.

My third South African hunt included Cape eland and kudu and my PH told me that I might have to take 200+ yard shots across heavily brushed canyons so my rifle on that hunt was my .375 RUM shooting 270 gr TSX handloads. That rifle and bullet combination worked great on all the animals that I shot with them, including a couple of 300+ yard shots. However I did borrow a .308 Win with FMJ bullets for my Cape grysbok hunt, because of the excessive pelt damage that my .375 RUM/270 gr TSX made on a couple of steenboks and a jackal.

The last hunt that I did in South Africa, I only took my .300 Weatherby with 168 gr TTSX handloads. It easily made one shot kills on all of the PG animals that I shot with it, including a couple that were at or over 300 yards. Because I had hoped to hunt a couple of small cats, I also developed a load with and took 150 gr FMJ bullets for them.

 

[PlainJane]

gday gl 1960
welcome to AH
The 300 for plainsgame
and a whopping great big 416 for the bad boy , will do the job standing on its head ,mate
the cz are very well received on here .
l don't own one
enjoy your hunt

I'm with Bluey on this one!! I used a .416 Rigby on my buff hunt and had a .375 H&H for the smaller game. I didn't want to take a chance with the buffalo so I practiced a lot and did a lot of off-the-sticks shooting at close range (< 50 yards) Just in case.. I wish I would have had chosen the .416 for my eland (used a .375 for him) but I didn't bring her on that hunt much to my regret.
Good luck!!