The cape buffalo was glaring from about 40 yards away. He was behind a small tree and my PH couldn’t see the chest to be absolutely sure this was the buffalo I had shot. I thought my shot was good. His look at me made me wonder at the wisdom of using a new cartridge and rifle for buffalo.
My plans to return to Africa started the previous year when I purchased a Browning take down lever action rifle. A take down rifle chambered for Hornady’s 450 Marlin cartridge seemed ideal for my next safari, a perfect blend of practicality and nostalgia. I readily admit, Teddy Roosevelt’s use of a .405 Winchester lever action rifle on his 1909 African safari strongly influenced my use of a similar rifle almost a century later. While I thought this combination a sound reason for another African safari, my wife was skeptical but relented without undo delay. I purchased the new Browning rifle and a plane ticket to Africa on the same day.
I’ve always liked heavy, slow bullets. Lots of “wallop” and easy on the shoulder. Hornady’s .450 Marlin load at about 2,200 feet per second with a 325 grain bullet seemed ideal for African brush and plains game where most shots are under 150 yards. The rifle’s take down action meant that I didn’t have to travel with a long gun. I always take a shotgun for sand grouse and francolin. Now both firearms fit in a Pelican double shotgun case. I mounted a Leupold 1X4, heavy duplex, scope with quick detachable rings on the receiver. The scope can be quickly removed if the iron sights are needed. The whole package weighs a little over 8 ½ pounds, light enough to carry all day and heavy enough that recoil is manageable.
Next, Adam Clements of Safari Trackers, booked a cape buffalo hunt for me in September 2008 with Tshipise Safaris. Camp is on the Nwanedi River in South Africa. The confluence of the Nwanedi and Limpopo Rivers would be the area I’d be hunting. The Limpopo River forms the boundary between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Mozambique is about 40 miles down river.
I’m not a “crack” rifle shot but, with the Browning 450, I can shoot a 2” group at 100 yards. More than adequate for the distances I typically shoot on safari. The longest shot on any of my previous safaris was 165 yards. The area I was hunting is mostly mopane trees but the last rains were in January so there wasn‘t much cover.
I chose Hornady’s 350 grain Interlock cartridge for cape buffalo and Hornady’s 325 grain LEVER Evolution cartridge for everything else. The 450 Marlin could appear, at first, light for cape buffalo looking only at energy measured in foot-pounds. Energy in foot pounds uses velocity and bullet weight in the calculation. No value is given to bullet diameter.
For African game I think John “Pondaro” Taylor’s formula for “Knock Out Value” is a measure at least as relevant. Taylor, who died in 1969, hunted in Africa for over 25 years and was the author of African Rifles & Cartridges and Big Game & Big Game Rifles. The key difference in KOV is recognizing the importance of bullet diameter. Velocity and bullet weight being equal, the bigger bore will have more “Knock Out Value”. Taylor’s formula includes bullet diameter as well as bullet weight and velocity to calculate KOV. My math, using Taylor’s formula, calculates the 450 Marlin KOV at 45. This falls between two venerable African cartridges, the 450/400 3” NE and the 375 H&H with KOV of 47 and 41, respectively. When I selected the Browning BLR take down rifle in 450 Marlin I wanted a modern, big bore/low velocity cartridge that I was confident could “do the job” as my only rifle on an African cape buffalo and plains game safari. The 450 Marlin had a lot to live up to as my only rifle on three previous safaris was a 375 H&H. I’d taken everything from elephant to springbok with the 375.
This seemed to be a plan worthy of execution. In the back of my mind I couldn’t help but wonder if I wasn’t just rationalizing what I was going to do anyway. My wife reminded me that many men, especially hunters and gun enthusiasts, have a way of doing this.
My PH was Gerrit Kleinhaus. Gerrit is a licensed dangerous game PH in South Africa and his clients had taken eight buffalo so far this season. We had been hunting cape buffalo for three days. Awake at 5 am, out of camp at 6, back at noon, out again at 3 pm and retuning by 7 pm in the evening. My safari was in late September and early October and for the first few days the temperature was over 100 degrees. The pattern was always the same, we would find a herd, stalk, but could never get close enough for a shot before the herd spooked.
On the third day we tracked a herd but the lead bull would always sense some danger and run away before we could get close enough for a shot. By the afternoon of the third day Gerrit realized we needed to do something different. The cover was to open and the buffalo were to spooky for a stalk to be successful. The first day I could have taken a head on shot at about 120 yards but that was not a distance I was comfortable with so I passed. Gerrit decided to try to ambush the herd. We moved to where he thought the buffalo would pass on their way to the river for water. It worked except we were late. The last of the herd was passing through as we arrived. We then made a mad dash to move ahead and try another ambush. This time we were waiting as the herd came down a dry wash. The bull that had been causing us trouble all day was leading the herd. He would pass through an opening about 80 yards away. Up went the shooting sticks and I was ready. It was 5:45 pm, late in the day if I wounded the buffalo. Gerrit said he was 98% sure the buffalo was mature. He said he would whistle when the bull passed through the opening. Gerrit whistled and I fired. The buffalo made the classic jump from my shot then ran away with the herd. We ran to where the buffalo had been hit and found his tracks where the front hooves came back down after bucking. My PH was surprised I had fired. He whistled to stop the buffalo and be sure it was one I would want to take. I thought Gerrit whistled so I would have a standing, broadside, shot. Too late for any second thoughts then, it was going to get dark quickly. The trackers quickly found blood and then where my buffalo, and two others, had left the herd.
We followed the blood about 100 yards and saw a buffalo glaring at us about 40 yards away. The only problem was a small tree right in front of his chest. Gerrit could not be absolutely sure this was the buffalo I had shot since the tree obscured his chest. We walked towards the buffalo with both of our rifles ready. The bull ran out and we saw the blood on his chest. We both fired as he ran into some thick brush. We heard the death bellow and I was jubilant! The buffalo was down just inside the cover. Gerrit had me put two “insurance” shots in the spine. It was almost dark and everyone was relieved. The bullets were recovered later by the skinner. My first shot went just behind the shoulder and passed through both lungs breaking the far ribs without exiting. That bullet was in one piece, retaining 85% of it’s original 350 grains. Expansion ranged from .620 to .744 inches. The “insurance” bullets both separated, copper jacket from the lead core. Glad I didn’t hit one of the big shoulder bones. Great cartridge and rifle but someone needs to load a bonded bullet, ideally 400 grains.
We celebrated at dinner and expected the “hard work” to be finished and we would have fun for the remaining eight days of the safari. I wanted a crocodile, lioness, waterbuck, hyena, bushbuck and most of the “usual suspects” on a safari. Also, I wanted to devote some part of each day to bird shooting. There were lot’s of doves plus sand grouse at dusk. The shotgun shells provided by the outfitter were from Zimbabwe. I didn’t know much was still being manufactured there but they worked very well in spite of the shot size being a mix of 5’s and 6’s.
We spent the next three days shooting impala for crocodile bait, hunting plains game and dove and sand grouse shooting. The hunting proved to be very tough. We did not see a lot of plains game and what we did see was very spooky. The outfitter thought the problem was wild dogs moving into the area and harassing the game.
The PH thought it was the drought weakening the game and making them extremely weary. I thought it might have been from poaching and over hunting this season. We saw an impala and ostrich with wire snares around there legs.
On the seventh day, three teams of trackers were looking for lioness tracks. Gerrit received a radio call from one of the trackers saying they had found tracks. Gerrit took us to meet them. Gerrit had been licensed for dangerous game for several years but I would be his first lioness client. He was more excited than me, I thought.
The trackers followed the tracks and I followed the trackers. We came upon the lioness at about 50 yards. I had chambered the 325 grain Hornady cartridge. Up went the shooting sticks and one shot in the shoulder killed the lioness. She was beautiful. Peet Bezuidenhout, the outfitter, estimated her at about 360 pounds.
She was sure big to me. The bullet retained 77% of it’s weight and expanded to .700 inch.
I wanted a waterbuck. We had seen some very nice males since the first day but we could never get close enough for a shot. Most of the time they would just run. On the tenth morning we were all disappointed at not having any success on plains game. I had shot some doves earlier that morning and we were moving towards camp when Joe, Gerrit’s tracker, spotted a nice waterbuck. We stopped, got out of the Land Cruiser and Gerrit said hurry and run. The waterbuck was moving down a ravine and would soon be out of sight. Gerrit put up the sticks and said shoot. I shot just as the waterbuck was moving behind a tree. No one could tell if I had hit or missed. When we arrived at the spot where we had last seen the waterbuck there wasn’t blood or any sign of a hit. The three trackers started following the tracks. After about 25 yards Gerrit and I stopped to let the trackers work when I glanced down and saw a few drops of blood. The trackers followed the blood and found my waterbuck, dead about 50 yards away. My bullet had hit something, probably a small tree branch but did not deflect and made a large entry wound in the chest.
I had shot two impala for crocodile bait. A big croc ate both impala during the hunt but we only saw it once and Gerrit thought it would be at least 13 feet long. The trackers put up a blind and we used it one morning but the croc never came. We were seeing crocodile and hippo everyday during the safari so the outfitter was pretty sure I could take one late in the safari, if I had to, from a boat. I would not be able to be very selective, size wise, though on a crocodile on the last day. This was OK with me since I had not yet taken a crocodile on any of my previous safaris. We left camp in the boat late in the afternoon of the last day. We found some crocodiles sunning on the bank very close to the river. I was very nervous since I knew one shot would have to kill the crocodile or it would be in the river and lost. Gerrit was going to back me up with his 375 H&H and the outfitter was ready with his 416. My shot hit the crocodile about 2 inches behind the “smile” and his body did the “crocodile rock” but never moved. No backup required! We did photos and were off to try for a nice kudu we had tracked the afternoon before. Kudu had not been on my “wish list” but since game had been so scarce and a man can never too many kudu, I would take one if I had an opportunity.
Peet had joined us for the crocodile hunt so was with us as we drove to the area where the trackers had seen the kudu the previous afternoon. The only animal we saw in abundance was Nyala. Nice Nyala were everywhere. Murphy’s law when you are not hunting Nyala. I had not taken one before and had never had interest in a Nyala. Both Peet and Gerrit had been trying to get me to try for one most of the safari. Peet saw one about 5 pm and said I should try for it. Gerrit said the best one had his rump to us. I had a lot of confidence in the big 450 bullet and for the first time did a “Texas heart shot”. The nyala dropped where it stood. Again, Gerrit was surprised when I shot so quickly. He was only identifying the best nyala and I thought he was ready for me to shoot. A beautiful animal and I’m glad I took the opportunity Peet offered.
This was a hard safari because of how difficult plains game was to come by and how spooky the game we saw was. Offsetting this was how satisfying each animal taken was. The PH, outfitter, trackers and camp staff were wonderful. The camp was luxurious, beautiful and comfortable. Food was gourmet. My favorite was crème brulee on three nights. Dove shooting almost everyday was a nice distraction. I also shot francolin, sand grouse and guinea fowl. Delta flights were on time and guns and luggage arrived in good order. All in all a good safari with a fun and unique rifle and cartridge that performed well.
