Enough Gun?

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.

Caveat Emptor

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.

Challenge Accepted

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.

Ummm Nope

Last week, Insty posted a link to Amazon.com which featured riflescopes.

Now I am not having a dig at him — I suspect that he has little control over what gets punted on his site anyway — but if I’m going to buy gun gear, I’m going to buy it from a place that sells gun gear like scopes:  Midway, BassPro/Cabela’s, Europtic, SWFA, Brownells, you know the type, and not from the owner of The Washington  fucking Post.

Here’s my reasoning (apart from the political aspect of it):  to Amazon, gun gear is no different from kitchenware, clothing, curtains or DVDs.  It’s just another product category among a zillion.  They’re the Wal-Mart of online shopping.  But to an operation like Midway, SWFA or Brownells, gun gear is their bread and butter:  lose it, and they are seriously weakened if not ruined.

And lest we forget, scopes are a big-ticket item with a decent profit margin, which is especially important now that the gun gear emporia  are suffering shortages of one of their bread-and-butter lines:  ammo.

So while I clicked on the link at Instapundit — as I understand it, he gets a per-click consideration from Bezos — that’s as far as I was prepared to take it.  No way no how would I ever buy a scope from Amazon;  not when I have SWFA and Europtic (which is where I get almost all my scopes, by the way).

So there you have it:  look, but don’t buy gun gear from Amazon.  Stick to books, DVDs, kitchenware and all the other crap they sell;  but keep getting your gun gear at places to whom your bsiness means more than just dollars.

More Grasshopper Stories

Oh, great:

Ammo Shortage May Last Until 2021

As I read this story, I decided to do a little digging to see how bad the problem actually is.

Now I can understand that SHTF ammo (.223 Rem, 7.62x39mm Soviet, 7.62x51mm NATO etc.) and hunting ammo (.30-30, .30-06 etc.) might be in short supply.  And we all know about handgun ammo (9mm, .45 ACP, .357 Mag etc.) being scarce to non-existent.  But .22 Long Rifle?  Seriously?

And where it’s not out of stock, it’s running anywhere from 11 cents to 40 cents per round.  (19 cents for Remington Golden Bullet in the 525-pack?  I used to use this stuff as ballast.)

Here’s a sample of what’s (not) out there:

SGAmmoAmmo.comMidwayClassic FirearmsSportsman’s WarehouseJ&G Sales — (un)Lucky GunnerCheaperThanDirtBrownells* — and so on.  (Check AmmoSeek for a longer list.)

(I know, it’s not a comprehensive list, but it’s a big enough sample.)

This is the equivalent of all supermarkets being simultaneously out-of-stock on salt, sugar and bread, never mind toilet paper and bleach.

Just out of curiosity, I checked my “tote” bag, which contains my “everyday plinking” supply that follows me to the range whenever I take my .22 rifles or pistols.  I gave up counting at 5,000 rounds.  In Ye Olde Ammoe Locquer, of course… well, ’nuff said.  I think my lowest brand quantity is CCI Green Tag, and that’s at about two bricks.  I last shot Green Tag about two years ago.

It’s a funny thing.  I think one always felt a little silly when buying that 500-round brick of .22 online, and checking the “10” quantity (which used to be my standard practice, per brand).  Hell, I’d buy a brick just to see how it shot, or as a cheap Christmas present for my buddies.

No more.  What interests me is what will happen when ammo supplies “stabilize”.  Given the situation now, I’m not sure they ever will.


*By the way, I’ve heard good things about the SK brand now available at Brownells, but unfortunately they’re only offering it in the 5,000-round bulk pack — and at 13 cents a round, it’s still too expensive for a bulk purchase.  When / if the ammo supply situation ever returns to sanity, I’ll buy a couple boxes and test them.

About Time

The only question here is:  “What took them so long?”

Kimber Manufacturing is moving its corporate headquarters to Troy [AL] and will “aggressively hire” in all departments. The firearms manufacturer last week announced it is moving to a new facility it built last year on 80 acres with more than 225,000 square feet of space, with design engineering, product management and manufacturing space.
In an announcement, the company said Troy was chosen for, among several reasons, its proximity to engineering schools as well as pro-gun, pro-business support from the city of Troy and Alabama.

They’re going to find out how much cheaper and more congenial it is to do business in the South.

The company said it is seeking applicants across several categories, including CNC technicians, machinists, quality control specialists, lean technicians, design engineers, compliance analysts, customer service representatives, materials planners, maintenance technicians, finishing operators, and assembly technicians.

And I’m glad they’re going to hire locally as well — obviously a bunch of Noo Yokkers are going to make the move with them, but as they all work for a gun company, they can’t be too NYFC, can they?

Best part of this is that if you buy a Kimber from now on, that part of your money is no longer going to support the tax base of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s New York State.

Next up:  Henry Repeating Arms, in Bayonne, Noo Joizee.  It’s time this All-American company moved to America.