I hunted in the Limpopo Province of South Africa with Hunting Adventures in June 2006, had a great time, cleanly killed a variety of animals up to size of kudu, and learned some things along the way. The purpose of this article is to share my preparation, results, and reflections on rifle and bullet performance.
Rifle and sights:
My BPCR rifles are all equipped for target shooting. I purchased a Shiloh Hartford .45-90 rifle with open sights for the hunt. However, I found that my middle-aged eyes could only use the open rear sight in bright light, so I purchased an MVA sporting tang sight and opened the aperture to 0.096”. I also replaced the original Shiloh front sight with a copper penny.
Load and sight setting:
I read lots of opinions about the best bullets and alloys. All advised that the bullet weight of at least 420 grains, with a number preferring a bullet of at least 500 grains for deeper penetration. Some indicated a preference the sharper round-nose like the Lyman Postell bullet because of very deep penetration on large animals like bison, but most felt that a flat-nose design delivered more shocking power and expansion on animals the size of elk/kudu or smaller. Alloy recommendations ranged from 1:20 to 1:40.
I decided to use a flat-nosed bullet made from the Creedmoor design. I’m a bit frugal when it comes to buying custom moulds for hunting, so I made a jig to hold a loaded cartridge and removed the noses of Creedmoor bullets using a carbide blade on a table saw. The resulting bullets, with 3/8” meplat, was 11,275" long, weighed 520 grains and shot as accurately as unmodified bullets.
I initially planned to use black powder ammunition. Lyman 457193 and Leeth Creedmoor bullets both grouped well in my initial tests with Swiss black powder. I also tested a smokeless load, using 5744, at roughly black powder-equivalent velocities, got very good accuracy, and decided to use it. The load I settled on produced 1360 fps with low extreme spreads and was very accurate. Using smokeless also meant I didn’t need to clean every time I fired a shot.
My initial tests with 1:20, my normal target alloy, were very accurate. Later testing showed 1:30 alloy to be somewhat less accurate with this load, so I chose to hunt with 1:20 alloy. I worried about possible lack of expansion, but reasoned that the large flat nose would produce enough shock and tissue damage to deliver reliable kills.
I set my sights at 100 yards, which put the point of impact ~2 inches high at 50 and 75 yards and ~3" low at 125 yards. Each 25 yards from 100 to 200 yards required 3 more points of elevation.
Logistics:
Although South Africa allows applying for a gun permit at the time of landing in Johannesburg, Hunting Adventures advised that applying for the permits in advance is mandatory for their hunters. They hire a service to have the permits pre-approved and expedite clearance through Customs and the Firearms Office. I applied for my permit three months in advance and was notified a month later that my permit was complete.
South Africa firearms regulations require actions and barrels be serial-numbered and that the barrel markings match the cartridge headstamps. Since Shiloh marks their barrels with “45 Calibre-2 4/10” and Starline brass is stamped “.45-90”, I became concerned that might create problems. I put a screwdriver into the gun case to allow removal of the forearm (Shiloh stamps the bottom of the barrel “.45-90”) and also took the precaution of getting a letter from Shiloh stating that the Starline brass was correct for the rifle.
I shipped my rifle in a Pelican case, with foam cut to hold the rifle snugly, and taped the latches in addition to locking the case. Ammunition (50 rounds) was spread between two checked bags.
Upon arrival in South Africa, the service expedited clearing Customs and the Firearms Office, and I left the airport within an hour of landing. There were no issues with caliber or cartridge designation; the Firearms Office merely checked the rifle serial number and did not inspect the ammunition.
Hunting:
The rainy season this year was exceptional. Grass was higher than normal, trees had not shed leaves, and there were numerous waterholes in the area that normally are dry by June. Thus, the game was less concentrated than normal. My PH emphasized the need to be prepared to shoot quickly when game presented itself. In general, the game was skittish and would stand for a shot for only a few seconds.
In seven days of hunting, I killed six animals. I used a Stony Point bipod for standing or sitting shots whenever possible. Details of the shots and the bullets retrieved follow. A photo of the bullets retrieved, which I haven't figured out how to attach, shows an unfired bullet and the retrieved bullets in the order described.
Bullet performance:
A warthog shot at ~25 yards, quartering away, showed no reaction to the shot and ran 75 yards. The bullet hit at the rear of the ribcage and was found in the opposite shoulder. It weighed 498 grains, was 0.78” long, and ~0.78” in diameter.
An impala shot at ~80 yards, quartering away, stumbled at the shot and ran for 25 yards. The bullet hit at the rear of the ribcage and was found in the opposite shoulder. It weighed 460 grains, was 0.63” long, and ~0.88” in diameter.
A kudu shot at ~50 yards, quartering toward, reared at the shot and ran for 30 yards on three legs. The bullet hit in the shoulder and was found under the skin near the rear of the opposite ribcage. It weighed 505 grains, was 0.89” long, and ~0.72” in diameter.
A red hartebeast shot at ~50 yards, quartering toward, took two steps and fell. The bullet hit in the shoulder and was found under the skin near the rear of the opposite ribcage. It weighed 512 grains, was 0.78” long, and ~0.82” in diameter.
Another warthog, shot at ~35 yards broadside, showed no reaction at the shot and ran for 5 yards (just enough to get out of a water hole). The bullet hit in the shoulder and penetrated completely.
A blesbok, shot at 180 yards (laser measured), fell in his tracks. The bullet hit in the shoulder and penetrated completely.
A blue wildebeest, shot poorly at 120 yards, was tracked for a day but not found. The shot appeared to be low in the brisket, a shooter error.
Reflections:
Hunting Africa plains game with a BPCR is completely feasible. It is necessary to know one’s trajectory and capabilities and to limit shots for clean kills. One is limited only by the range limitation the hunter imposes (mine was 150 yards, except for the blesbok, when I had time reset my sight and knew the exact range). Under some conditions, open sights could be a limitation.
I carried six rounds of spare ammunition in a carrier on the butt stock, and found that arrangement to work well. Additional ammo was kept in the hunting vehicle. I took a soft case for carrying the rifle in the hunting vehicle, but did not use it, since the vehicle had a good gun rack.
Bullet penetration appeared to average around 24-30 inches. This appeared to be significantly less than a round-nosed bullet such as the Lyman Postell, based on Internet reports. The flat nose produced shock that killed quickly with reasonable hits, and the 1:20 alloy expanded well at this velocity. While penetration was adequate, I believe I will reduce the flat nose to 5/16” for future hunts to increase penetration. I think 1:30 alloy would be appropriate at .45-70 or .45-90 velocities when using black powder.
Reflections on Hunting Africa, BPCR, Bullet Design and Alloy
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Clarence
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hatchet
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RJ Reed
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Clarence,
Great post! Sounds like you had a good trip. I appreciate all the info. It is much better to get if from someone who has been there and can relate incidents first hand. I have been bitten by the Africa bug and am starting to really think hard about it. We have a young man from South Africa who is serving as a summer intern with the company I work for here in East Texas. We have had some very interesting conversations concerning conditions in his country.
Great post! Sounds like you had a good trip. I appreciate all the info. It is much better to get if from someone who has been there and can relate incidents first hand. I have been bitten by the Africa bug and am starting to really think hard about it. We have a young man from South Africa who is serving as a summer intern with the company I work for here in East Texas. We have had some very interesting conversations concerning conditions in his country.
Life is a journey. Enjoy the ride.
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Brant Selb
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Clarence
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John,
The jig is pretty simple. I took a 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" x 2" piece of cherry left over from a furniture project, set it up square in the drill press, drilled though except for the las 1/8" with a 1/2" Forstner bit, then drilled the last little bit with a 15/32" bit. The resulting hole will take a .45-70 or .45-90 loaded round with little to no slack. Use a board with a good square end to align and push, set the fence to the desired length, and slowly cut the end off the bullet. Use eye protection for the little lead chips. Once you get the hang of it, you can do a box of 20 in 5 minutes or less.
Clarence
The jig is pretty simple. I took a 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" x 2" piece of cherry left over from a furniture project, set it up square in the drill press, drilled though except for the las 1/8" with a 1/2" Forstner bit, then drilled the last little bit with a 15/32" bit. The resulting hole will take a .45-70 or .45-90 loaded round with little to no slack. Use a board with a good square end to align and push, set the fence to the desired length, and slowly cut the end off the bullet. Use eye protection for the little lead chips. Once you get the hang of it, you can do a box of 20 in 5 minutes or less.
Clarence
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flatwater
- Posts: 55
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The Limpopo
Clarence-that was an excellent post. Thanks. A few questions:
Did they drive you to the hunt area from J'Burg, or did you have to fly?
Anythings you'd do differently next time?
Flight connections? Pretty good?
Any comments you'd be willing to share regarding costs?
Congrats on a successfull hunt.
PS anyone wanting to know what it was like to hunt with BP along the LImpopo 160years ago should read "A Hunter's Life in South Africa" by Cummings..................FW Bill
Did they drive you to the hunt area from J'Burg, or did you have to fly?
Anythings you'd do differently next time?
Flight connections? Pretty good?
Any comments you'd be willing to share regarding costs?
Congrats on a successfull hunt.
PS anyone wanting to know what it was like to hunt with BP along the LImpopo 160years ago should read "A Hunter's Life in South Africa" by Cummings..................FW Bill
Good Shooting
NRA Life Member
NRA Endowment
VFW, DAV Life
NRA Life Member
NRA Endowment
VFW, DAV Life
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Clarence
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Bill,
My wife and I actually did a tour of Kruger Park first, set up by the outfitter. The tour guide, who was excellent and is also a PH getting his own hunting business started, picked us up at the J'Burg airport. He was extremely knowledgeable of the flora, fauna, history, and culture of South Africa, and very entertaining. We had a great time with him!
After the Kruger Park tour, he dropped us at the hunting area, picking up a father and son who had just finished their hunt, and went back to Kruger Park for several days of touring. I'm sure he dropped them at the J'Burg airport when the tour finished.
The package hunt included transportation to and from the hunting area.
I'd suggest that anyone going to South Africa use Air 2000 to have the gun permits pre-approved and expedite your departure from the airport in an hour, vs. several hours if you do it yourself at the time of arrival.
I did this hunt to a budget, and the tour and second airfare contributed considerably to the cost. I wouldn't change that, since we had both dreamed of Africa for a lot of years (no Disney vacations here). The package hunt was $5,000 for 5 animals plus $1,100 for my wife to accompany. The airfare was almost $4,000. The tour was near $250/person/day. With tips, airfare and curios, the trip made a mess of $15,000. If you just want to hunt, you could have done this hunt for about $8,000. There are cheaper hunts in South Africa, but I understand the cheapest ones may do put-and-take hunting. We hunted native game on a large concession, and it was definitely wild.
I can't think of any real significant changes. I took a ton of pictures, so have a lot of memories to review. If I had it to do over, which I hope I will in a couple of years, I'd probably shoot more animals. I saw a really nice waterbuck just before dark on the last day, while hunting with a camera. (At the time, my wife was looking over her shoulder, since a huge rhino had come within 10 yards of that blind the day before. That's another thing I won't forget.)
Flight connecitons were supposed to be pretty good. Very early morning flight to Atlanta, then 10:30 am departure on SAA to J'Burg for a 10:30 am arrival the next day (17 hours in the air, with an hour on the ground at Isle de Sal for refueling). Then, 7:30 pm departure on the return, followed by a several hour layover in Atlanta before a flight that got us home around noon the following day. It all worked fine except the initial flight was cancelled the night before, and the carrier neither notified anyone or made timely arrangements for alternate flights, so a number of international departures were delayed by a day. After that, everything went well. However, SAA is cancelling service from Atlanta, and I understand the replacement schedule is not as good. My advice-get to the initiation point of the international flight the night before to avoid the unreliability that has come to characterize most domestic air carriers at times as they go through financial difficulties.
Clarence
My wife and I actually did a tour of Kruger Park first, set up by the outfitter. The tour guide, who was excellent and is also a PH getting his own hunting business started, picked us up at the J'Burg airport. He was extremely knowledgeable of the flora, fauna, history, and culture of South Africa, and very entertaining. We had a great time with him!
After the Kruger Park tour, he dropped us at the hunting area, picking up a father and son who had just finished their hunt, and went back to Kruger Park for several days of touring. I'm sure he dropped them at the J'Burg airport when the tour finished.
The package hunt included transportation to and from the hunting area.
I'd suggest that anyone going to South Africa use Air 2000 to have the gun permits pre-approved and expedite your departure from the airport in an hour, vs. several hours if you do it yourself at the time of arrival.
I did this hunt to a budget, and the tour and second airfare contributed considerably to the cost. I wouldn't change that, since we had both dreamed of Africa for a lot of years (no Disney vacations here). The package hunt was $5,000 for 5 animals plus $1,100 for my wife to accompany. The airfare was almost $4,000. The tour was near $250/person/day. With tips, airfare and curios, the trip made a mess of $15,000. If you just want to hunt, you could have done this hunt for about $8,000. There are cheaper hunts in South Africa, but I understand the cheapest ones may do put-and-take hunting. We hunted native game on a large concession, and it was definitely wild.
I can't think of any real significant changes. I took a ton of pictures, so have a lot of memories to review. If I had it to do over, which I hope I will in a couple of years, I'd probably shoot more animals. I saw a really nice waterbuck just before dark on the last day, while hunting with a camera. (At the time, my wife was looking over her shoulder, since a huge rhino had come within 10 yards of that blind the day before. That's another thing I won't forget.)
Flight connecitons were supposed to be pretty good. Very early morning flight to Atlanta, then 10:30 am departure on SAA to J'Burg for a 10:30 am arrival the next day (17 hours in the air, with an hour on the ground at Isle de Sal for refueling). Then, 7:30 pm departure on the return, followed by a several hour layover in Atlanta before a flight that got us home around noon the following day. It all worked fine except the initial flight was cancelled the night before, and the carrier neither notified anyone or made timely arrangements for alternate flights, so a number of international departures were delayed by a day. After that, everything went well. However, SAA is cancelling service from Atlanta, and I understand the replacement schedule is not as good. My advice-get to the initiation point of the international flight the night before to avoid the unreliability that has come to characterize most domestic air carriers at times as they go through financial difficulties.
Clarence
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RMulhern
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Old Doe Shooter
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Clarence
Sounds like you had a SUPER safari at a rasonable price. I hunted the Limpopo years ago, beautiful country. Who did you hunt with? My old PH has gone to the Happy Hunting grounds now. Email if you dont wish to post.
The wife and I are going in May to hunt birds and big game near Kimberly and then over to the Orange River area of Namibia. Once I get there I see no reason to rush home so I'd like to learn more about your PH.
Dave
Sounds like you had a SUPER safari at a rasonable price. I hunted the Limpopo years ago, beautiful country. Who did you hunt with? My old PH has gone to the Happy Hunting grounds now. Email if you dont wish to post.
The wife and I are going in May to hunt birds and big game near Kimberly and then over to the Orange River area of Namibia. Once I get there I see no reason to rush home so I'd like to learn more about your PH.
Dave
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ironramrod
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Sharpsman,
That looks like some really nice diggins' you have there. Looks like a nice grass airstrip next to your cornfield, too.
Hopefully, it's not as hot at your place as it is around here today. It is 106 deg right now with a 35 mph southeast wind, and bone dry. Tough day for any sensible shooting, fishing or just about anything else outside.
Regards
That looks like some really nice diggins' you have there. Looks like a nice grass airstrip next to your cornfield, too.
Hopefully, it's not as hot at your place as it is around here today. It is 106 deg right now with a 35 mph southeast wind, and bone dry. Tough day for any sensible shooting, fishing or just about anything else outside.
Regards
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Clarence
- Posts: 2186
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- Location: Hill Country, TX
OPld Doe Shooter,
I hunted with Hunting Adventures. Jim Hackiewicz lives in WA state, and has a partner near Ellisras. He acts as one of the PH's some of the time, and has other South Africans as well. Beautiful country, lots of game, beautiful lodge, great people.
Clarence
[url]www.huntingadventures.com[/url]
I hunted with Hunting Adventures. Jim Hackiewicz lives in WA state, and has a partner near Ellisras. He acts as one of the PH's some of the time, and has other South Africans as well. Beautiful country, lots of game, beautiful lodge, great people.
Clarence
[url]www.huntingadventures.com[/url]
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RMulhern
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[quote="ironramrod"]Sharpsman,
That looks like some really nice diggins' you have there. Looks like a nice grass airstrip next to your cornfield, too.
Hopefully, it's not as hot at your place as it is around here today. It is 106 deg right now with a 35 mph southeast wind, and bone dry. Tough day for any sensible shooting, fishing or just about anything else outside.
Regards[/quote]
Ironramrod
No airstrip....just a range! If you'll look downrange to the next flagpole....you'll maybe see a slight mound to the right of that pole! I have raised firing lines at 200, 300, 600, and 1000 yds. so a plane won't be landing there! I have landed a cub betwixt the 600 and the 1000 but not on a regular basis! The photo was made from the 1000 yd. line with a telephoto lens on my digital so the "bonger" on the mound on the other end at the pits looks closer than it actually is! The corn will be gone soon; about another 14 days and it's "tits up" for it!
Hot? Try 100F with 78% HUMIDITY! That will convert over to about 106F heat index! Damn place is fit for nothing but MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN!! I've cussed my ancestors for 50 years for stopping in this hellhole! Every evening I sit under the Bear's Den and partake of a cold brew....and think of a particular mountain top near Chromo, Colorado I'd rather be on!!
Actually....the place ain't too bad cuz when you're pitching snow for 5 months.....I'm shooting BPCR every day! But July/August/September are a bitch extraordanaire!!
My best to ya!!
That looks like some really nice diggins' you have there. Looks like a nice grass airstrip next to your cornfield, too.
Hopefully, it's not as hot at your place as it is around here today. It is 106 deg right now with a 35 mph southeast wind, and bone dry. Tough day for any sensible shooting, fishing or just about anything else outside.
Regards[/quote]
Ironramrod
No airstrip....just a range! If you'll look downrange to the next flagpole....you'll maybe see a slight mound to the right of that pole! I have raised firing lines at 200, 300, 600, and 1000 yds. so a plane won't be landing there! I have landed a cub betwixt the 600 and the 1000 but not on a regular basis! The photo was made from the 1000 yd. line with a telephoto lens on my digital so the "bonger" on the mound on the other end at the pits looks closer than it actually is! The corn will be gone soon; about another 14 days and it's "tits up" for it!
Hot? Try 100F with 78% HUMIDITY! That will convert over to about 106F heat index! Damn place is fit for nothing but MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN!! I've cussed my ancestors for 50 years for stopping in this hellhole! Every evening I sit under the Bear's Den and partake of a cold brew....and think of a particular mountain top near Chromo, Colorado I'd rather be on!!
Actually....the place ain't too bad cuz when you're pitching snow for 5 months.....I'm shooting BPCR every day! But July/August/September are a bitch extraordanaire!!
My best to ya!!