Which Bullet Weight For Eland?

[crs]

Way too much analysis for me.

Winchester 230 grain Fail Safe ammo from my Ruger 77 .338 Win Mag killed the bull where it stood and it just sort of relaxed in place. Nice and neat. Bullet shot trough and not recovered..
It took a dozen men to load the darn thing onto a truck while I took pix. Hey, I had the only camera kit!

Not much a .338 WM will not terminate where it stands.

 

[IvW]

The heaviest one....

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

For eland I use 9,3x62 from RWS with soft point bullet. 18,5 g ( 285 gr ).

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Makes sense.

The speeds you can get with a 250 grain bullet and various .33s are:

.318 Westly Richards - 2400 fps

.338-06 A Square - 2450 fps

.333 Jeffery - 2500 fps

.338 Win Mag - 2700 fps

.340 Weatherby - 2950 fps

.338 RUM - 2950 fps

.338 Lapua - 2950 fps

.338-378 Weatherby - 3050 fps

@postoak
35 Whelen 250 grain 2,700.
Bob

Given the choices of the 338-06 and 338WM (or both).
I'd stick with just one rifle and the 338WM Guide Gun.
Good ammo availability and bullet selection.
Excellent rifle for carrying in the bush as well.

You certainly have enough gun either way you decide.
Just stick with premium bullets.
Barnes, Swift A-Frames and Norma Oryx come to mind.
There are other premium bullets out there.
These are just the ones I have experience with and trust.

I took mine with a 375H&H and 300 grain SAF's.
Two recovered bullets from the Eland.
View attachment 381150

@BeeMaa
You did well recovering those projectiles from a gemsbuck mate. I hit mine with a 35 cal 250 grain Hornaday roundnose and it left a golf ball size exit hole.
Bob

 

[Gemsbok45]

I have shot a number of Eland bulls all with a 338 Win Mag using 225 Swift A-Frames.I have been with other people shooting 308 FMJ.The initial punch of the 338 was harder but in the end they all died.Eland are big but like Moose not the Toughest of the Plains game.

 

[bruce moulds]

Given the choices of the 338-06 and 338WM (or both).
I'd stick with just one rifle and the 338WM Guide Gun.
Good ammo availability and bullet selection.
Excellent rifle for carrying in the bush as well.

You certainly have enough gun either way you decide.
Just stick with premium bullets.
Barnes, Swift A-Frames and Norma Oryx come to mind.
There are other premium bullets out there.
These are just the ones I have experience with and trust.

I took mine with a 375H&H and 300 grain SAF's.
Two recovered bullets from the Eland.
View attachment 381150

if you are recovering 300 gn swifts, it would suggest that elands are not small.
bruce.

 

[chashardy]

I used a Model 70 300 winmag with Federal's Trophy Bonded Bear Claw 200gr. One shot at about 150 yards and the bullet was just under the skin on the opposite side of his shoulder where it hit him.

 

[Buffalo1]

The first eland I shot with a bow. Had a bad shot as I hit high and only one lung. We chased the animal for about 26 hrs. I killed it with a gun my PH handed to me- It was a British .303. I didn't have time to discuss bullets and ballistics. One shot into the boiler room and it went down

The second eland I shot was also with a bow at 17 yds. Double-lung and down. 62# compound with a 480 gr. total weight arrow.

Elands are big, but thin skinned antelopes.

 

[fourfive8]

Eland are big and are usually not shot at long distances so I've never understood
the advantage of using smaller calibers or light for caliber bullets at higher velocities. I can't find any advantage of a faster, lighter bullet over a slower, heavier bullet for eland. Shoot one in the wrong place or at a slightly wrong angle, as happens under field conditions, then explain that unforeseen circumstances prevented a perfect shot then try to justify minimal equipment?? Not to mention the follow up shots that are doing to be at far less than perfect angles or in poor locations. IMO, use a tough bullet like an A Frame, TBBC or TSX in a heavier weight in an adequate caliber. Then the only one to blame if it doesn't work well is the shooter.

 

[bruce moulds]

if i had to nominate the perfect match for a 375, it would be eland.
bruce.

 

[The Engineer]

I hunt plains game with a 300 Win Mag and 200gr Trophy Bonded bullets. At about 150 yard quartering away shot on an Eland the bullet entered behind the right should and was under the skin in the chest. The Eland wobbled off about 25 yards and dropped. The same on Zebra except for one that my first shot was too far back. Bottom line I would find either quite acceptable.

 

[autofire]

Along the same line of why you want to take 2 rifles, Murphy's can also show up at the moment you take your shot. So I would go with 250gr to have a little extra insurance.

 

[BeeMaa]

First shot is a full broadside at 100 yards to the front right shoulder where the blood is coming from. Bullet is recovered in the offside shoulder. Second shot the bull was running away and I shot the back edge of the left ribs and it passed through to the right shoulder. I was told between the neck and shoulder somewhere. They said the bull weighed in at just under 1600#, but they could have been trying to make me feel good. I didn't see the scale. It had to be winched onto a flatbed for transport. You can see in the second picture that the right shoulder is completely destroyed. They had to throw out that meat because it was bloodshot.

 

[John Telford]

The heaviest one....

Ditto... with T’s&C’s : . 250 gn for Bushveld ie less than 150m 225 gn for 250m would be a good rule of thumb.
In my youth I took an off hand shot (220m but read it as 180m) at an Eland cow using a 270g .375 aiming for the boiler room. The shot went way low basically passing between the brisket and skin and through the opposite front leg but not breaking any bone. At that stage I saw the animal jump and I assumed it was a good shot We tracked the animal from the Tuli circle cut line all the way down to the Limpopo river where a snap shot at the running animal ended the affair. It was only then that I realised how low the shot was. A 225 g in 338WM would not have dropped that much and I may have saved myself and ace tracker Bingo a days work!

 

[IvW]

Off hand shot at 220m that you thought was 180m resulting ina low shot would not have been any different with a 338 using 225gr bullets....
Do not pull the trigger if you are not sure

 

[fourfive8]

Ditto... with T’s&C’s : . 250 gn for Bushveld ie less than 150m 225 gn for 250m would be a good rule of thumb.
In my youth I took an off hand shot (220m but read it as 180m) at an Eland cow using a 270g .375 aiming for the boiler room. The shot went way low basically passing between the brisket and skin and through the opposite front leg but not breaking any bone. At that stage I saw the animal jump and I assumed it was a good shot We tracked the animal from the Tuli circle cut line all the way down to the Limpopo river where a snap shot at the running animal ended the affair. It was only then that I realised how low the shot was. A 225 g in 338WM would not have dropped that much and I may have saved myself and ace tracker Bingo a days work!

That doesn't make sense. Given similar bullet BCs and profiles- the trajectories of a factory 375 270 gr bullet and a 338 225 gr bullet are almost identical. I would guess the issue was the offhand shot and not the rifle, cartridge or bullet.

 

[John Telford]

That doesn't make sense. Given similar bullet BCs and profiles- the trajectories of a factory 375 270 gr bullet and a 338 225 gr bullet are almost identical. I would guess the issue was the offhand shot and not the rifle, cartridge or bullet.

So my mistake was using the 375 heavy bullet which had been sighted for close work vs for example a 225 gn 338 WM which typically is dialled for longer shots. I also only gave half the story in that my offhand shot was actually the second shot after the first was a botched attempt at a head shot. We were on a small hill looking down on the Eland herd as they browsed unsuspectingly below us. At the shot the cow ran off shaking her head and we all assumed she’d been hit and eland have a big stride so when she stopped further down the valley she had covered a lot of ground surprisingly quickly and hence the under estimation for the distance. We were doing some anti poaching work on the Zim cut line so we only had the one rifle.

 

[IvW]

So my mistake was using the 375 heavy bullet which had been sighted for close work vs for example a 225 gn 338 WM which typically is dialled for longer shots. I also only gave half the story in that my offhand shot was actually the second shot after the first was a botched attempt at a head shot. We were on a small hill looking down on the Eland herd as they browsed unsuspectingly below us. At the shot the cow ran off shaking her head and we all assumed she’d been hit and eland have a big stride so when she stopped further down the valley she had covered a lot of ground surprisingly quickly and hence the under estimation for the distance. We were doing some anti poaching work on the Zim cut line so we only had the one rifle.

Head shots at eland at an estimated 180 meters down hill with a 375 H&H....I was not there but will rather refrain from commenting..

 

[crs]

"Head shots at eland at an estimated 180 meters down hill with a 375 H&H....I was not there but will rather refrain from commenting.."

Me too-

 

[John Telford]

"Head shots at eland at an estimated 180 meters down hill with a 375 H&H....I was not there but will rather refrain from commenting.."

Me too-

Whoa chaps! I think you would be either very cocky or named Chris Kyle to attempt a head shot at 180 m with a 375! The first shot was at 30-40m looking down at the eland. They were browsing scrub Mopane so a head shot made sense. In retrospect the short distance / scope parallax may have been my undoing. Nonetheless it was seen through and I learned a few lessons along the way!