Winchester .416 Rem Mag.

[driepootx]

Tstone, sorry about deviating from the discussion. See the link below.

https://www.gunsite.co.za/forums/sho...he-firearm-act

Are your rifles your own property and licensed in your name, or do you have another system on the reserve?

[Adoons]

out of curiosity why not shoot the woodleigh 400g , the 404 Jeff (mine) works excellent with them ?

https://www.gunsite.co.za/forums/sho...61#post1484161

This link should clear up the question. I don't have 400 gr Woodleighs, have these 450 gr "who knows what" from Norma that I don't trust but will use up to get the brass available.

[TStone]

I went hunting with the .416 this morning, as I had a coffee date at 07:00 with visitors from the UK who had spent the night in our lodge, I did not have a lot of time but figured trying was better than sitting around. I managed to find and stalk a herd of blue wildebeest at around 05:30 and got close to 200 meters , which I had decided was the maximum distance I would shoot with the .416. I focused on a big bull with short horns. He was standing in a slight depression and I ranged him at 210m which seemed close enough. He was still in shade and through the little 1.5-5x20 Leupold it looked to me as if he was broadside at the moment I shot. The rifle is zeroed for 150m and I held at the appropriate height in line with his front leg and fired.

The bullet told loudly and the wildebeest took of running, which I expected, on three legs, which was also expected. I also expected him to go down somewhere between 50 and 150m but he kept going. I had a round chambered and was watching him through the scope but had no idea where to hold at 350 meters with a 400gr bullet moving at 2300fps.

I mentally marked a small bush he was passing, to start my search for blood when he crested the horizon. By now I was feeling somewhat nervous, three legged wildebeest can go very, very far and I reluctantly accepted that I was not going to make my coffee date. Then the bull stopped. I ranged him, 380m, mentally marked his position, and made a waypoint, of my position, on my gps. Off to the right, between me and the wildebeest was a fairly large taaibos and I reckoned that if he stayed put and if I could get the bush between us I might get within range again. A lot of ifs but one can only try.

I took of at a tangent, watching the bull out of the corner of my eye. I had gone less than 50m when he started swaying on his feet and collapsed. Feeling much relieved I headed over to the wildebeest which was quite dead when I reached him. The entry wound was low on his shoulder (I had either miscalculated bullet drop or pulled my shot) on the joint where the humerus and the radius meet. The exit wound was just in front of the opposite shoulder, he had been angling away from me slightly. Had he been standing side on, the bullet would have hit the bottom part of his heart but looking at the exit wound I thought the bullet would have passed just in front of the heart. The shot was way too low to have hit his lungs but he was dead, which I was happy about, and I concluded that the bullet probably did hit the bottom of the heart.

I made it in time to my coffee meeting and instructed two of my employees to fetch the carcass, as an afterthought I told them to keep the heart. On my way to the skinning shed, after coffee, my journey was interrupted by a recalcitrant cold room, a sudden and severe shortage of cement for a small building project and a few other minor problems and complaints. By the time I got to inspect the wildebeest it was dressed and the entrails and organs had either been discarded or appropriated by the skinners, all except for the heart which had been meticulously cleaned and washed. Not what I wanted but I had failed to specify that it not be cleaned and as my wife normally cook the hearts for our dogs, the skinner did exactly what he had been told to do with previous hearts.

There were three holes in the heart, all penetrating into and stopping in a heart chamber. A roundish hole ±20mm wide and two slits that looked more like stab wounds. All holes were much higher than the bullet channel and I regretted not having the lungs kept as well to see if they were damaged. According to the chap who did the dressing, a lot of congealed blood came from the chest cavity. I am guessing that the wounds were caused by bone chips. So, I got lucky.

[MyLani]

T, what are your experiences with the Entrance Wound?
What I love about the SBC is that the Entry hole does not close up! You always get a good blood spoor from the Entry, regardless if the bullet exited or not, which as a PH I love.

Also, there is no mistaking a hit. Sound more like a PK than a thud

[TStone]

T, what are your experiences with the Entrance Wound?
What I love about the SBC is that the Entry hole does not close up! You always get a good blood spoor from the Entry, regardless if the bullet exited or not, which as a PH I love.

Also, there is no mistaking a hit. Sound more like a PK than a thud

I have not had an entry wound with the SBC that did not bleed prolifically and, especially when hunting in thick bush, this is one of the best features of these bullets. And yes, there is no question on whether your shot hit or not, you hear it. With long range bullets, I have gotten used to searching for entry holes, often only visible after skinning an animal. Over time we have forgotten the advantages of blunt nosed hunting bullets because of a search for higher BC's.

[Adoons]

Seems like bone chip damage yes. The reason for the BWB to go for so long might be that over time and with running and muscles moving and heart thumping and diaphragm also pumping, the damage to the heart increased over time till the point of real bleeding from the chambers started and then he toppled over. Especially the bigger hole to the top. Does not look like a clean cut or hole. A piece of sharp bone "milled" its way through it. (Above is just speculation.)

You were lucky, agreed. But you also used enough gun I would say and that is not luck. I doubt that for instance a 6,5 mm 140 gr bullet of any construction type available would have the bone chips gaining velocity/force to damage the heart like that.