Not just the guns, but all the stuff that goes with them
Just when I was about to post the (largely unnecessary) reminder for National Ammo Day, came this pearl of wisdom:
Simple response: Would like to, always have in the past. Can’t, now.
There are either per-order limits, or nothing in stock, or else the ammo is so expensive that I can’t afford it per box, let alone in bulk. That said:
…and:
Good luck, folks. Yer gonna need it.
Herschel Smith has some bad things to say about the NRA, and can’t say that I disagree with a single one. Here’s the killer part, though:
The NRA rating system can’t be trusted to mean anything at all, they haven’t won a real fight in God knows how long, they’re in court defending themselves, the best and brightest hopes have left the board of directors, they jettisoned the ones who didn’t (like Lt. Col. Allen West), and they’re eaten up with bitterness and internal politics and squabbles.
They were completely absent this last national election (did you hear anything from them?), and they’re trying at the moment just to survive.
What a wasted opportunity. And all of this – every bit of it – was self inflicted.
Yup. When you have an organization that nominally holds over five million members and you can’t do diddly with it, you deserve to pass into oblivion.
And for those who ask “Who else?”, may I suggest the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), which actually, you know, takes the anti-2A assholes to court and stuff. Over the past ten years, SAF has done more for our gun rights than the NRA managed in twenty.
This offering (no link):
Thanks, but the one on the left would do me quite well. (No gripes about the wussy Europellet thing: the P210 is a competition pistol, not a carry piece.)
In Comments about the .375 H&H cartridge, Fergie asks:
I wonder why the venerable .45-70 isn’t on the table for him? North American bison are heavyweights too, and .45-70 will handle them with aplomb even at range. I wouldn’t hesitate if offered a decent shot at that critter – a properly stoked cartridge with a hard cast 500 grain round nose from an elegant 1885 single shot would end the hunt nicely.
I’ve thought about that a lot myself (not owning a rifle chambered in .375 H&H, but owning the aforesaid 1885 High Wall rifle in .45-70 Govt).
I remember looking at the situation back when I was thinking of joining Mr. Free Market and Doc Russia on a South African safari, and basically I was told that the PH wouldn’t let you hunt Cape buffalo with the .45-70 Govt because it’s too underpowered. I bridled a little at that, and went looking around.
Here’s what the stats say about Buffalo Bore .45-70 Govt “Magnum” offerings:
Mono-Metal Flatnose: 380 gr. @ 2,075 fps / muzzle energy 3,632 ft-lbs
LBT-LFN: 430 gr. @ 1,925 fps / muzzle energy 3,537 ft-lbs
FMJ-Flatnose: 500 gr. @ 1,625 fps / muzzle energy 2,931 ft-lbs
Compare that to Buffalo Bore’s own .375 H&H Mag offering, which they call “Supercharged”:
SUPERCHARGED: 300 gr. Barnes TSX @ 2,550 fps / muzzle energy 4,330 ft lbs
Here’s the critical part, though. Most PHs recommend that the bullet arrives with no less than 3,000 ft-lbs at 100 yards.
At 100 yards, the .375 H&H Hornady DGS 300gr lands at 3,292 . The Buffalo Bore .45-70 Govt (or any manufacturer’s, for that matter)? Anywhere from 2,500 – 2,700 ft-lbs. Not nearly enough; those big, heavy ol’ boolets lose velocity too quickly.
More telling is the bullet’s ballistic coefficient (BC) / sectional density (SD) or, for a better definition, penetration power. (The higher the BC / SD, the better the penetration.)
At about 2,500 fps (which is at about 175 yards), the .375 H&H 300gr bullet has a BC of 480, and its SD is 305 (480/305).
At 1,900 fps (which is at the muzzle), the .45-70 Govt 300gr bullet has a BC of 185 and an SD of 204 (185/204).
In other words: if you were to shoot a Cape buffalo with the hottest-possible .45-70 Govt cartridge, you’d pretty much have to be in halitosis range to get the same result as you’d get with a .375 H&H cartridge at 100-150 yards.
And as Longtime Friend Combat Controller succinctly put it when we were discussing the topic last night: “If the .45-70 worked in Africa, they’d be using it. They don’t.”
Yup. In any safari camp, when you un-case your .375 H&H rifle, the PH will nod in approval. And especially so when it’s a CZ 550 Safari, a.k.a. the Brno 602.
A couple of people wrote to me over the weekend following last Friday’s post about hunting buffalo, and more specifically about the venerable .375 H&H Magnum cartridge.
I’m going to be about as blunt as I can when it comes to talking about the .375 H&H. It is, as mentioned earlier, a cartridge designed to kill dangerous game — “dangerous” being roughly defined as “if you don’t kill it, the animal is going to do its best to kill you instead.”
This is not the time to worry about the cost of the ammo, especially as the typical African buff- or Kodiak bear hunt will only see at best a handful of cartridges fired. Cost is irrelevant compared to having the best stuff you can have, because it’s your life you’re entrusting to it.
And not to put too fine a point on it, but if you’ve just dropped several grand on your outfitter’s fees and (well) over $10,000 on your double .375 H&H rifle, an ammo cost of $100 per box of 20 is even less than a rounding error. (Remember, a box of twenty should last you two trips, if you do your job.)
However: this does not mean you shouldn’t be wise to the price of the stuff, either. Here’s an example, using the much-respected Federal Cape-Shok 300gr solids. From Graf & Sons (not the cheapest of ammo vendors out there, because of their vast offerings across many cartridge types and sizes), we see this:
Now at first glance that’s an eye-watering amount to spend, but it’s not quite as eye-watering as this:
Now we all know that CTD isn’t anything like cheaper than dirt, the rapacious scumbags, but even so… that’s a hefty premium.
If you wanted to save money in order to practice before setting out (always a good thing when you’re going to be entrusting your life to a single bullet), you can actually do so relatively cheaply with soft-pointed ammo such as this:
Note that the bullet weight (300gr) is the same, so you should get more or less the same grouping as the solids — but always test it.)
Now you know.
I have a confession to make. While I’ve hunted animals all over the world, the only one I’ve stayed away from (because cowardice) is the South African Cape buffalo. Other reasons: if you wound them, they will probably come after you — I believe that it’s the animal which has caused more professional hunters’ deaths than any other, and if I recall correctly, by a large margin.
Here’s a sample pic:
As the late Peter Capstick (who wasn’t killed by a buff) once said: “They look at you like you owe them money”, but while I would defer to his judgement in everything else, in this case he’s severely understated the case. Maybe that’s how they look at you when they’re in a good mood, but they’re so seldom in a good mood, who would know? Their look is not so much a glare as a challenge. In the above pic, which shows an old bull, please note that his bad mood may have been caused by the lions which left the scars on his back, and while they’ve healed, he hasn’t forgotten about it.
Small wonder that lions will almost always try for buffalo calves, because even when a cow gets into the picture to protect her calf, she won’t follow up the attack once the lions have given up on the calf and slouched off to find an old wildebeest or some other alternative. However, this is not the case with buffalo bulls, who will not quit until they’ve disemboweled a lion or two and stomped on the remains with their broad hooves. Lest anyone think I’m exaggerating, allow me to recount the tale of what happened to Doc Russia and Mr. Free Market on their last buffalo hunt. (As a point of interest, both men were using rifles chambered in .375 H&H, which is the absolute minimum.)
Mr. FM had bagged his buff the day before in a fairly short hunt, and now it was Doc’s turn. His luck was not as good as Mr. FM’s, and it took him a while to find a decent target. Eventually, the guide spotted a pair of young bulls grazing together, and Doc decided to take one, which he did.
To everyone’s astonishment, the other bull didn’t disappear off into the wilderness; oh no, he sauntered about a hundred-odd yards away, turned and watched his buddy die.
The dead buff was loaded up into the truck and back they all went to the hunting camp. I say “all”, because the surviving buff followed them all the way back to the camp. Clearly, he had mischief on his mind, and had the camp not been a large one, everyone involved might well have become the targets of his revenge.
What’s even more interesting was that they weren’t aware that he’d followed them — until the next day when they went out and saw his tracks leading from the death scene all the way back along the side of the road — but not on it — and they had no clue that he was there. (Despite their enormous size, Cape buffalo move through the bush like shadows.)
I told you all that so I could tell you this. The above pic is part of this article, which talks about the optimal cartridges for dangerous game.
You’ve probably heard it before, but it bears repeating here: cape buffalo are really, really big and really, really tough [and really, really mean — K]. As a point of reference, a big bull can weigh twice as much as a mature bull elk.
Buffalo have thick hides, dense muscles, and heavy bones that are known for defeating lightly constructed bullets. Since buffalo are often encountered at close range and in thick cover, the margin for error is very small and more than a few hunters have lost their lives (or spent time in a hospital) as a result of poor bullet performance.
Go ahead and read the rest of the article: it’s a good one. And even if you never hunt Cape buff, just tip your hat to the guys who have, and will in the future. There is no bigger (and potentially more-dangerous hunt) than this one.
Update: Mr. Free Market sent me a pic of his buff:
His rifle is a Blaser S2 double in .375 H&H, the scope is a Swarovski Z6i 1-6×24. Nothing but the best for His Lordship… and yes, it was a one-shot kill.