(Photo courtesy of Craig Boddington)
December 19, 2024
By Craig Boddington
In North America, we have the luxury of planning for a specific encounter. On the bottom end, it might be a Coues whitetail or pronghorn at longer range or a big, tough black bear at closer range. Shots at elk and moose are all over the map, but we know they’re big, and we can plan accordingly.
You have no such luxury in Africa. There’s no telling what a given day on safari might bring—from shooting conditions to species diversity. Including subspecies, there must be 150 varieties of African antelopes, from jackrabbit-size dik-diks and duikers to 2,000-pound elands. Then you have the pigs and the zebras. For this discussion, I’ll ignore the Big Five but will include Africa’s full suite of small predators.
Today, at least 75 percent of all African hunts are for non-dangerous game, and chances are one rifle is enough. And your favorite deer or elk rifle should suffice. The rifle must be adequate for the largest game you intend to shoot, at the farthest distances you are comfortable shooting. Even if you take more than one, when you start a stalk you will have just one rifle, so it should be versatile enough to handle anything you might encounter.
On my early safaris, I carried a few 180-grain full-metal-jacket match loads for my .30-06, shooting to same point of impact as my 180-grain Nosler Partitions , but I soon decided it was too complicated to switch loads on the fly. That’s why today I believe the plains game rifle—and its one load—must be adequate for the largest game you intend to hunt. I have no idea how many cartridges I’ve used, brought and borrowed on African hunts. Here are my thoughts on some of the best choices.
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The Low End of Adequacy With the new heavy bullets, Boddington believes performance with .277 caliber cartridges like the 6.8 Western is much the same as with a fast 7mm with like bullet weights. (Photo courtesy of Craig Boddington) As to the low end, the .243 is nearly perfect for springbok up to impala, and the cartridge is just as popular over there as here. However, I just don’t consider it versatile enough to be the plains game rifle. Similarly, I’ve used a .250 Savage for smaller antelopes and pigs, and if you have a pet .25 you’re compelled to take, be my guest. But it should not be your only rifle.
To my thinking, the 6.5mms and .270s are sensible minimums. Here I’m assuming eland is not on the menu, and I will offer cautions. Older 6.5mms—6.5x53R, 65x54 MS, 6.5x55—have a rich history in Africa. Such history was made with long, heavy 160-grain bullets, in a time before scopes were widespread, so ranges were short. The 6.5x55 is still popular in Africa and, because of its huge popularity, 6.5 Creedmoors are often seen on safari. They are effective up close, even on larger antelopes, but have questionable energy at longer ranges.
If a 6.5mm is your thing, then I recommend stepping up to one of the faster cartridges. The 6.5-.284 Norma, .264 Win. Mag., 6.5 RPM and 6.5 PRC are ballistically much the same: 140-grain bullet at about 3,000 fps. Faster and with more energy than the Creedmoor and 6.5x55, there’s a big difference in their effect on game.
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Even so, I have not been impressed by either the .264 or 6.5 PRC on larger game at longer distances, especially zebras. It seems to me that bullets in the 140-grain class are light for this, therefore I would assume even faster 6.5mms like the .26 Nosler and 6.5.-.300 Wby. Mag. would suffer the same shortcoming.
Middle of the Pack My wife is more a .270 girl than I’m a .270 guy, but we’ve both taken a lot of plains game with various .270 Win. rifles. When using tough bullets—130 to 150 grains—I can’t recall problems that couldn’t be explained by imperfect shot placement. Both of us have taken African game with some extra-long shots with .270s, also with no problems. However, I can’t recall combining extra-large with extra-long.
New .270s—6.8 Western and .27 Nosler—have faster twists and use heavier bullets. I used a 6.8 Western in a Legendary Arms Works Model 704 rifle in South Africa in 2022 with 162- and 175-grain bullets. Some of the shots were on the long side, and while one safari’s bag proves nothing, it seemed to me performance was about the same as with a fast 7mm using like bullet weights. That makes sense, because with these cartridges, bullet weight is now competitive with the 7mm, and velocity is similar. After all, there’s only 0.007 inch difference in diameter between .277 and .284.
Speaking of the 7mm, there are 7mm fans and .30 caliber fans—and never the twain shall meet. Still, I think .284 and .308 are the two most ideal calibers for the full run of African plains game, and there are plenty of great cartridges in both diameters, at wide velocity ranges. It depends on how far you want to shoot and how much recoil you’re willing to soak up.
I’ve done a lot of African hunting with the old 7x57 Mauser, and both my daughters have used the 7mm-08, its ballistic twin, almost exclusively. In these mild cartridges, we have usually used 140-grain bullets, and they’ve been awesome in performance on game up to zebra, but we don’t stretch the range.
Subtle Differences (L.-r.): 7mm-08, 7x57, .280 Rem., 7mm. Rem. Mag., .28 Nosler. The 7mms are all good plains game cartridges, and the ones that can handle the heaviest bullets might be the best choices of all. (Photo courtesy of Craig Boddington) After decades of experience, I am convinced the mild 7mms are more effective on larger game than the mild 6.5mms, the primary difference being frontal area. The 7mm is 0.020 inch larger than the 6.5, and while that doesn’t sound like much, I can’t explain it any other way.
Back in the 1980s and ’90s, I used the 7mm Rem. Mag. on several safaris. I never stepped up to 175-grain bullets—my rifle didn’t like them—so I used 160- to 165-grain slugs. These are much different from 140-grainers, which means you can take the gloves off regarding distance. There are several cartridges in similar velocity class with the 7mm Rem. Mag., which pushes a 160-grain bullet to almost 3,000 fps: 7mm WSM and Rem. Short Action Ultra Mag, .280 Ackley Improved and more. There’s not much in Africa you can’t do with them.
In 2023, hunting in the Eastern Cape with Fred Burchell, we were looking for a kudu near sunset. Three eland bulls stood on a ridge at 300 yards. I was using Fred’s Model 700 Sendero 7mm Rem. Mag. with 150-grain Tipped GameKing. The Rem. Mag. is not an eland cartridge, and the GameKing is not an eland bullet, but the opportunity was now. I shot carefully low in the shoulder crease. The bull swapped ends, so I used the same hold and shot again. The bull dropped.
Now the 7mms have a new dimension. Remington used a 1:9.25 twist for its Big Seven, so bullet weight maxed out at about 175 grains. In 2022 I was part of a group at Carl Van Zyl’s John X Safaris. I brought a rifle, but most of our six-man group hadn’t brought rifles, so Carl “issued” them Gunwerks rifles in 7mm LRM, a Gunwerks proprietary cartridge that is nearly identical to the new 7mm PRC. Ammo was 180 grains, the heaviest 7mm bullet I’ve seen used. Performance astonished me on all sizes of game at all ranges.
Even Better Eland is the big wild card—emphasis on big—and can call for larger calibers than other species. But remember that if it’s a one-gun deal, you’ll have to shoot that one gun a lot, so you have to be comfortable with it. (Photo courtesy of Craig Boddington) I have mostly been a .30 caliber guy for African plains game. I started in Kenya in 1977 with a Ruger Model 77 in .30-06 , and its performance was so good that, to this day, I recommend the .30-06 as one of the all-around best for plains game. Back then, I was shooting 180-grain Partitions. In the early 2000s, doing a lot of African filming, I used Hornady factory loads with 180-grain InterLock bullets.
There’s little you can’t do with a 180-grain bullet in the .30-06, provided you aren’t inclined to stretch the range. On that 2022 hunt, I brought a Gunwerks .300 Win. Mag., firing Hornady’s also-new 190-grain CX. On the first day, I shot a fine kudu bull at 540 yards. It was the longest shot I’d taken in Africa, and while it could have been done with an ’06, I doubt I would have tried.
Various fast .30s from .300 H&H to .300 Rem. Ultra Mag. with 180- or 200-grain bullets are hard to beat. However, I am so impressed by the new heavy 7mm bullets that I’ve ordered a 7mm PRC from Flat Creek Precision, and I hope to carry it in Africa. If eland is on the menu, there’s an argument for a medium magnum, and they do work. I took my 8mm Rem. Mag. on several safaris, and .338 Win. Mag. and .340 Wby. Mag. as well. The latter cartridge finally convinced me of the error of my ways. The thing about the plains game rifle is that—unlike anywhere else—in Africa you might shoot it several times daily. Therefore you must be comfortable with it.
We all have a recoil threshold. In Ethiopia in ’93, I took only a .340 Wby. Mag. It had a good run of success, and I shot it a lot, but it wasn’t fun. That same argument applies to the awesome .375 H&H. The .375s and 9.3mms are versatile and good choices for a one-rifle safari. You can, and will, get by, but they are not plains game rifles. The plains game rifle must be accurate, should be reasonably flat-shooting and must give you confidence. Also, it must be shootable—because you’re going to shoot it a lot.
Ultimately, Accuracy is King (Photo courtesy of Craig Boddington) Most shooting is off sticks in Africa. It’s traditional and effective because, historically, shots are not long. African PHs have seen so much awful shooting by the likes of you and me that they are terrified of long-range shooting. Also, there’s the African Rule: One drop of blood equals license filled and fees payable. I admire that rule because it makes you careful.
The African Rule isn’t changing, but tastes are. Some PHs are embracing the new long-range culture, and average shots are lengthening in open country. I’ve seen an increasing use of bipods. And rather than the traditional, fast-to-use, three-legged African shooting sticks, there’s a significant shift to more complicated fore-and-aft sticks, which support butt and fore-end. These increase stability and effective range once you get the hang of them. There’s the rub. What I call “stickology” is key to African shooting. Everything has thorns, and a standing rest gets you above thorns, over low vegetation, and above creepy-crawlies. It takes practice, which is best done long before you leave home.
The plains game rifle will be scoped. I have often said that a good old American 3-9X is plenty of scope for Africa. This is still true, but with large objectives and higher magnification, we are seeing bigger scopes in Africa. In 2022 and ’23, hunting plains game in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, I used modern “big” scopes, and I fought them every step of the way. It was partly my fault because I rarely use big scopes. But African habitat played a role. You may be set up for a long shot, but you’re just as likely to get a close shot through a window in brush.
So I repeat my mantra: Riflescopes for Africa don’t need to be huge. For the longer shots, 9X, 10X or maybe 12X is enough. If you are accustomed to today’s larger long-range scopes, fine. Just keep them turned down until you want more magnification.
