bullet selection for dangerous game

landkeeper

Well-Known Member
strange request these days i know but i have a friend who works in an establishment where there are big cats tigers/cougars there is an 'estate' rifle a 300 win mag as well as a 12 bore pump kept on the premises in case of an escape we were talking about it earlier what bullet would serve this highly unlikely situation
 
For the shotgun I would use a slug at the start and end with heavy buckshot in between SSG or SG.

For the .300 Win Mag any premium expanding bullet should work as long as it's not constructed too heavily. As Barry mentioned earlier the Nosler Partition 180 or 200 grain would work well. You could also look at Federal TBBC, Swift A-Frame, Norma Oryx, Lapua Mega. The main thing when dealing with Cats is to make sure you dump a good deal of energy and break the shoulders IMO if you miss the vitals by even a little you're going to have a very bad day.

Snag
 
On such dangerous game forget about buckshot, even 00 can be ineffective on big cats, chest muscular density for a lion is much more higher than for a boar or buffalo. If you shoot this one it must be a kill shoot, use Sauvestre slug they are the best ones for shotgun they gave adequate penetration and enougth kick to stop a charging beast. As Snagman said you will have a very bad day if you don't kill it very fast.
 
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I've never shot big cats but i'd go with a 208 amax in the 300wm and slug in the shotty but the last two would be oo buck , I reckon by the time I've emptied the slug at the cat then it will be close enough for 00 buck to the cats face to be quite decisive ?
 
As mentioned the bigs cats chest is more heavily built than many think. This is what cost the Lordling his life when he shot one with the new wonder 280 Ross and the lighter construction bullet. The bullet made a very nasty and possibly fatal eventually wound tot eh Lions chest but did not reach the vitals and the Lion hauled up down mauled him than chewed on his head.

Will have to see if I can find the report as it was along time ago that I read it now which is why I cannot recall the name :oops: . The too lightly constructed bullet hitting at a velocity of around 3000 fps fragmented leaving a large shallow wound that just made the Lion MAD at the time.

Hence I would chose a bullet designed for such game and not trust what was designed for paper punching. As mentioned Alaska, Partition, H Mantle or something along those lines.
 
You forgot to add dispo underwear, cause not what you would want to do more than once in your life.

D
 
As mentioned the bigs cats chest is more heavily built than many think. This is what cost the Lordling his life when he shot one with the new wonder 280 Ross and the lighter construction bullet. The bullet made a very nasty and possibly fatal eventually wound tot eh Lions chest but did not reach the vitals and the Lion hauled up down mauled him than chewed on his head.

Will have to see if I can find the report as it was along time ago that I read it now which is why I cannot recall the name :oops: . The too lightly constructed bullet hitting at a velocity of around 3000 fps fragmented leaving a large shallow wound that just made the Lion MAD at the time.

Hence I would chose a bullet designed for such game and not trust what was designed for paper punching. As mentioned Alaska, Partition, H Mantle or something along those lines.

Hi Brit,

I believe the account you are thinking of was of one George Grey in Kenya. According to the account I have here he was using a Ross rifle in .280 firing the 140 grain sp at either 2900fps or 3000fps if it was the Jeffery load. By some accounts he fired 5 times and by all accounts the bullets broke up on impact. From what I have here in my small collection he was "Galloping" Lion on horseback meaning they would "Talley-Ho" the beast and then they would dismount and shoot when the Lion would turn to charge, so ranges would be short, possibly less than 50 yards meaning there would not have been much chance of the bullet staying together even with modern bullets.

I'm afraid I would have to disagree with Tackb on using the 208gr A-max as the jacket is not strong enough in my opinion let alone having a ballistic tip. I have heard of folk using the Swift Scirocco on Leopard and other smaller cats to good effect but for something the size of a Tiger as the OP stated you would have to look at the equivalent Lion load for your caliber. I haven't hunted Big cats and don't intend to but when I was out in Africa I learned how to hunt them as there were quite a few attacks in the area I was hunting, I also gained a lot of experience from a couple of mates who have hunted the Cats.

Regards,

​Snag
 
tiger 370kg (world record) moose 700kg, i'd be happy taking either with a 208 amax at 2900+ fps

I wonder how many tigers/lions etc George gray had killed successfully with his ross load?
 
tiger 370kg (world record) moose 700kg, i'd be happy taking either with a 208 amax at 2900+ fps

I wonder how many tigers/lions etc George gray had killed successfully with his ross load?

No idea how many he took with his .280 I'd have to look into it.

I wasn't having a go, I was simply disagreeing and making my points for why I wouldn't use the A-max and the reasons for using other bullet types. Certainly it might well be a very good bullet but I have no experience with it above .224 75 grain on any large game, it would undoubtably be more than accurate enough to perform a CNS shot so you would not need to worry about breaking the shoulders to prevent a charge and at the weight I can definitely see it breaking at least one but I'm not sure about both, it's just I am of the opinion that there are bullets that are slightly better designed for the job so as to give a hunter more insurance if an awkward shot is has to be taken.

​Snag
 
Please, remember where they gonna use the gun. I will emphasis with Snag, if they have to shoot it will be in defensive situation and they better nail the cat asap. They will be in a stressfull situation and maybe they aren't cold blood hunters able to deliver a well placed shot on a charging animal at short distance.

Tackb you are right you can defeat an elephant with a .303 or a white bear with a 6.5mm but you must be a very experienced hunter.
 
there is no substitute for shot placement , experienced or not.

I didn't think anyone was having a go tbh i'm just saying what I would be happy using?
 
there is no substitute for shot placement , experienced or not.

I didn't think anyone was having a go tbh i'm just saying what I would be happy using?

Very good point familiarity with a load and rifle is also a major advantage in a hunting situation, being confident in yourself and your gun is very important and I absolutely agree with you that if your happy with what you're using then use it.

I would be interested in hearing what the OP is currently running in their .300 WM??
 
I'd guess being an 'establishment' it will need to be factory ammo so it will most likely be whatever was locally available?
 
IMHO, Lots of practise with both available guns might be a good place to start?

Never mind the ammo?

Got to hit it first?

:popcorn:
 
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