338 Win Mag bullet choices for Africa

shaggy430 said:

Thanks. 11 pounds seems like a lot of ammo. How many rounds did you normally take? I was leaning towards 70. A box of 50 and a box of 20 to take into the field each day that I could replenish if needed.

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Always bring as much as you can carry. That way as Max mentioned if you have a scope issue you’ve got some extra for sighting in.

Chasing a shifting zero problem can use up some ammo. It’s been my experience that if it can go wrong it will in Africa.

Just BTW when you are DG hunting and bringing a heavy and a medium rifle 11 lbs is just barely enough IMO. Bringing one light rifle 40 to 60 rounds should be plenty sufficient. Plus in South Africa you should be able to find ammo for a .338 though it is not nearly as common as a .375 H&H in that country. In more remote regions it will be impossible to find ammo.

The last time I hunted Zimbabwe this happened to me.
The day before I was leaving I took my .470NE double out just to verify everything was good to go. The second pull of the trigger and the main action spring snapped making the right barrel decoration only. That rifle was out of service. I ran home grabbed a .458 Lott bolt gun, fired three or four rounds that all struck right smack dead center at 50 yards. Perfect! But I had to jump through my butt to get all the paperwork ready for import into South Africa and the Zim. In A stroke of unbelievable luck and the help of a buddy PH in South Africa and one furious trip to US Customs at the airport. I got it done in the 14 hours I had left before departure
I always throw a spare rifle in the case anyway. I never leave the country with only one rifle.
So I get to South Africa where I am staying with a buddy for 4 days before departing to Zimbabwe. Long story short his family are PH's so I was able to bring my guns with me to his ranch. I decide to pull out the .458 Lott to re verify zero. I'm paranoid that way. The first round cuts the middle of the middle out of the bullseye at 50 yards. Awesome! The second round goes CLICK! I lift the bolt and drop it, CLICK! The next fresh round goes CLICK! The next round goes CLICK! The primers have very shallow marks on them. The firing pin has broken on my first shot in Africa.
The trusty old .375H&H still goes bang when asked and also cuts the middle out of the middle every shot. In fact we ran over to a place several hours away and I shot a cull oryx bull at 200 and some yards with it just to make sure it was still a killing machine, It was. Two heavy rifles went haywire on me in the course of three days and If I hadn't had old reliable the 375 with me I'd have been renting an old battered piece of junk push feed Winchester in .375 of a camp rifle. One that was purported to only promise angle of car door on select days and much worse on every other day. But you don't get to know which days are the good ones.
Moral of the story is, bring extra stuff to Africa. I always bring two rifles. Either a .375 and a heavy for DG or a .375 and light rifle for plains game. I usually wind up shooting almost everything with the .375.

African rental rifles.... Is much like “clean” Mexican tap water. You roll the dice and take your chances. I would NEVER rent a camp rifle. The African version of a sight in and Maintence has never impressed me.

Some African vocabulary definitions all traveling hunters should know.

“We’ll make a plan” referring to anything you’ve requested that is not specifically written into a contract. Definition, it ain’t going to happen no way no how.

“It’ll be sorted” a problem or an issues that’s need to be resolved.
Definition, there isn’t a snowballs chance in hell its going to get fixed.

“Brilliant”
A term used to describe any object or person that is a broken down useless piece of junk. As in “our rental rifles are brilliant.” “This bakkie (truck) is brilliant.” “This boat motor is brilliant.” “I can’t make the hunt but this other PH is brilliant.” And my personal favorite “that airplane is a bit scuffed but it is brilliant.”

“Chuffed”
I am excited. As in I’m sorry that the hunting was horrible but I’m chuffed that you were stupid enough to book during the off season and spending all that money anyway.

Snapping the fingers while throwing the hand out to the side and down while loudly proclaiming “Du’Wahhh”
It was a solid hit.

Having a long post shot look while and proclaiming “ Biluksum”
It was a not a good hit.

After self spotting the biggest trophy critter you’ve yet to see and pointing it out to the PH. If the PH takes a cursory look and then says “he’s a good bull but we can do better” then later in the day urges you to shoot a smaller bull. You just got introduced to the preferred client program IE you ain’t the preferred client. That guy shows up next week on higher daily fee and is a better tipper.

If you’ve wounded a DG critter and while tracking all of a sudden you notice that all of the other “staff” have suddenly and silently disappeared. Get ready it’s about to go down.

In all seriousness though. Have a great hunt, African hunting is an awesome experience.

shaggy430 said:

Question for those who’ve been to Africa. How much walking do you usually do? I thought about bringing my ‘06 for the smaller stuff since it is very light and easy to carry.

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I really depends on where you are hunting. On ranches in South Africa they tend to drive around until they spot critters then stalk them. The walking will generally not be to far. You should ask your PH what to expect for his style of hunting.

In Zimbabwe or Tanzania on huge wild hunting blocks I’d say we average about 10 to 15 miles a day on foot.

MaxP said:

I hunted the Eastern Cape of South Africa last year and it was a mountain hunt with a truckload of walking involved. A very physical hunt. I am grateful I am a handgun hunter!

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South Africa is one of those countries where the hunting can be anywhere from super tough to luxury soft. I've done both in SA.

shaggy430 said:

Not removable but you can close it. Why are they not looked upon favorably?

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They are so loud that they damage the hearing of everybody around you. Not to mention the instant ear ringing which makes it impossible to hear where the crritter is going if he takes off into the brush.

shaggy430 said:

It came factory installed so it’s coming with the gun. I imagine the PH has heard much louder and powerful guns than my 338. We’ve used it in groups while whitetail, elk, and mule deer hunting and have never thought twice about it.

Really the only time I’ve ever even experienced ringing in my ears after a shot on game was laying prone in a depression in the snow on a long shot at a mule deer buck using a 7mm Rem Mag (no muzzle brake).

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I understand what you are saying just know that you will get some pushback from the PH. The simple answer is just close it while hunting. The power of the rifle has little to do with noise, it’s the defelction of the muzzle gasses from a break that redirect the noise sideways and backwards towards anybody standing near you that make them so obnoxiously loud.

shaggy430 said:

I’m just not going to worry about it. If they’re not tough enough for the sound of my rifle then perhaps they are in the wrong business.

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Have a great hunt.