Some hunting pictures

[elk hunter]

Just back from two weeks hunting in South Africa with “Mowana Big Game”. Wighardt van der Gryp the owner of Mowana was our PH and was assisted by his lovely daughters Mieka and Sume’ ages ten and seven. Had a great time, went as clients came home as friends. The food, accommodations and service were superb. My wife took Gemsbok, Zebra and Impala using her Brno sporter in 7 x 57. She was shooting 145 grain Speer Grand Slams at 2600 FPS. Both the Gemsbok and the Impala dropped at the shot, the Zebra ran about 25 yards and surrendered. I got a 38” buffalo, after missing an absolute monster at 70 yards, and a 51” Kudu with my Cogswell & Harrison 577 2 ¾” BPE shooting 525 grain bullets cast from type metal. They’re the biggest animals I’ve taken so far with cast bullets. Don’t think I’ll try anything larger. The Kudu took a bit of tracking as the bullet struck a small limb half way to the animal, a 60 yard shot, and deflected hitting it too far back. After many encounters with buffalo at very close range in the bush, one time at about 15 yards, we finally got everything right and I got a frontal shot from about 20 yards. The herd, including the bull I shot, turned and ran about 50 yards then stopped. We approached and the herd ran off a short distance, the bull was down but not dead. Wighardt had me shoot him twice more in the shoulder. When he started his death bellow the rest of the herd, about 15 animals, came running back to protect him. We retreated twice and finally had to use the truck to move them away so we could recover their dead friend. The skinners recovered the bullet from the frontal shot. It had hit the heart doing considerable damage and was recovered in the paunch. I haven’t had time to weigh it. The short flat nose was gone but, other than the rifling marks, looked like new. Couldn’t find the two in the shoulder but did see they had penetrated and struck the inside of the off side shoulder after making some large holes in the lungs. As expected the 577 proved to be a very effective big game rifle using cast bullets.

Time to start planning our next hunting trip, most likely British Columbia or possibly Alaska. The wife wants a moose. After she gets her moose we will start planning another hunt in Africa possibly Zimbabwe or Mozambique. Next time I plan on taking my 416 Rigby, it will be easier to shoot as it is scoped. Darned old eyes just don’t like open sights.
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[OnHoPr]

Very nice story and great success, but how did you get all those tenderloins and backstraps back here?

[35 shooter]

Sounds like it was a great hunt and enjoyed the write up on it. Super nice Gemsbok and Kudu!

[white eagle]

oh man
you sir are livin the dream
excellent
thanks for sharing

[725]

Wonderful. What a hunt! I loved Africa, but will probably will not have the chance to go back. Hope you took a lot of pictures. :)
ps: I put some nice peep sights on my Ruger #1 in .458 Lott. Helped with my aging eyes.

[Echale3]

Beautiful rifle, beautiful animals, great stories to bring back!

I hope, one day, for my wife and I to be able to go to Africa on safari, it looks to be the experience of a lifetime.

[dualsport]

Good show!

[missionary5155]

Greetings Elk Hunter
Thank you for the photos and the write up. Good reading and looking at the photos is a treat.
That is a fine looking BP rifle. How much BP can you get wiggled down into that case ? What velocity ? Again thank you.
Mike in Peru

[elk hunter]

Very nice story and great success, but how did you get all those tenderloins and backstraps back here?

Got to try several types of game meat while we there but of course you don't get to bring the meat home. It would be expensive and the US government would frown on it. The Zebra was used as bait to attract Leopards to trail cameras as the PH is doing a study of them in his hunting areas. The buffalo will feed the three young male lions that one of the other PH's has in quarantine prior to releasing them to help with his buffalo management program. We had to listen to the trio every night and they were only about one hundred yards from our cabin. What a way to go to sleep.

[elk hunter]

Greetings Elk Hunter
Thank you for the photos and the write up. Good reading and looking at the photos is a treat.
That is a fine looking BP rifle. How much BP can you get wiggled down into that case ? What velocity ? Again thank you.

Mike in Peru

The case was meant to hold 160 grains of Curtis & Harvey #6 sporting powder. I'll confess that I use 4198 instead. Velocity is right at 1800 FPS which was enough to do the job. The bullets blew through the Kudu doing great damage, not so with the buffalo. The very blunt nose helped do more damage but, did reduce penetration. The bullet is the same one as in my avatar.

[Ramjet-SS]

Thank you for the story and I love that Big Bore Double Rifle what great experience for you and your wife.

[sixshot]

Looks like you had a wonderful safari, really nice animals & your Buff has very heavy bosses!

Dick

[RugerFan]

Wow what an excellent hunt! Congrats!

[4719dave]

wow ...that's it wow .on the bucket list ..

[Prodigal Son]

I'm there in a couple years as you cast Boolits all the way! I'm headed to Newfoundland in Sept for moose! Thanks for sharing your story & pictures, you are blessed a wife who hunts! I married a tree hugger & rock kisser! I love her, but we're vinegar & oil!

[missionary5155]

Good morning Elk Hunter
That is one fine cartridge ! 1800 fps with that bullet is getting right on up there in that "KO" factor. The impact would have to be a real wack to any critters system. Well again.. Thank you for the fine hunting story and photos !
Mike in Peru

[Abert Rim]

Simply magnificent. Your C&H is a Jones underlever, it appears -- and a hammer gun. Oh, the joy! Very nicely done!
Bill in Salem

[smoked turkey]

I'll add my thanks to the others for such a great story and congratulations on a very successful hunt. I would say that success can be had without taking any game, but it is so much better when you do. I was wondering if you can still get your trophies back home. I understood that after the lion deal with the poor dentist that it was going to be much harder and probably more expensive to have the skulls and/or mounts air lifted back. I would really like to have a rifle just like your double or your wife's 7 mm Mauser. Good for me I stopped just short of coveting either of them. But I did get really close on your C&H double rifle.

[tdoyka]

congrats!!!!

[454PB]

Thanks for sharing. So much for the story about linotype boolits shattering.

[elk hunter]

Thanks for sharing. So much for the story about linotype boolits shattering.


I was a bit concerned as years ago I shot a large Mule Deer at close range with my 45-70 Sharps using a 400 grain bullet cast from wheel weights. The bullet, probably doing 1200 FPS, hit the large upper front leg bone and shattered, it looked like he had been shot in the lungs with a shotgun. I had to shoot the old boy a second time. So it appears hard bullets can shatter when they hit bone.

Before going I consulted with a very knowledgeable friend who has taken many buffalo, several with a handgun, he assured me that type metal was the way to go and from all appearances he was right. He told me that if that bullet passed through the chest between the legs the bull wouldn't go more than 30 yards. The bull made it just about 30 yards and was down. I need to find the one recovered bullet to see how much weight it lost.

[krems]

Wow...what an exciting hunt. I'm jealous for sure. I filmed a friends Buffalo hunt (meat hunt) on Ted Turners property a while back. He took my Shiloh Sharps 50-90 loaded with black powder and a 530 gr. flat point Bullet cast w/ 30-1 alloy. At 80 yards you could see the dirt fly on the back side of the Buffalo when the bullet passed through. I thought he missed 3 times when he was shooting. The Bull just stood their then fell over. On slow motion film you could see the whole body of the Buffalo shake when the bullet hit and then see dirt fly behind the Buffalo as the bullet passed through. Took three shots to the chest to bring this Buffalo down. All hits were within 6 inches of each other. I got a lot of respect for those big slugs going 1250fps.

[nekshot]

congrats on the succesful hunt. I used to get in Kenya a good bit and my friends there always wanted to spent some time in the big reserve near Narobi and I enjoyed seeing these animals very close up. Stalking a water buff would be a adrenalin rush for sure. Then we would have a meal at the Carnivore Resturant and eat the various meets from the wild.

[Camba]

Very good shooting! I love those stories!

[54bore]

Congrats Elk Hunter!!! I have never been in an airplane in my life (43 years old) I'm terrified of it! I would love to hunt Cape buffalo with my bow, I've seen it done on tv and my equipment is equal to and quite a bit better than some I've seen, I'm confident I could do it. Thank you for the pictures, it's really neat to see those critters from the dark continent!!

[DW475]

Great story and one heck of a great hunt. Love that double rifle!