Kudu with .243

**Bushboy** · 15-09-2009, 18:17

BUT I have yet to see a Kudu get up from a 270! (All kak shots excluded of course!)

Hmmm, I was present when a colleague who also swore by his .270, watched a BWB run off with 150gr 270 frontal chest shot. After much following of blood spoor we dropped it with spinal shot from my 30-06. Turns out the frontal shot was not bad, but had deflected off the brisket and skimmed off the ribs. 180gr pmp hit it up high breaking rib, spine and exited, breaking another rib. BWB dropped in its tracks. Basically, you can kill just about anything with .22lr, if your shot placement is good. Truth is, you just cant guarantee that the target doesent move or some other variable doesent come into play. Having used .22 to cull large numbers of game, and shoot problem animals like baboons, I can say that on some days, Ilooked awfully clever. On others rather stupid, just because the animal moved at the moment of the shot or a because i rushed it or I didnt notice the tiny twig. On the other hand I have also shot baboons (I dont count the other game as they were all carefull shots) in a hurry, (theyre usually hi tailing it) with 375 and not one has gone more than what his momentum allowed. My belief, use more gun than you think you need , if its available. Thats my 2c....

**Webster** · 16-09-2009, 08:26

Bushboy - you make a good point ..... BUT, I can make that point for any caliber! I have seen BWB run off after a good 375 shot but I do not include this in the discussion as it is the exception and we still do not understand ballistics and terminal performance completely. You point about the .22 is well made - some days you look great and then others not. I believe that the debate between the 30-06 and the 270 will rage long after you and I have left this place.

**Bushboy** · 16-09-2009, 13:43

only too true, Dave. Everyone should have that quiet little voice in thier head which tells them"buddy this is marginal" . If you obey that you should be ok most of the time.

**Webster** · 16-09-2009, 14:46

+1
The voice in your head is probably the most accurate (yet unscientific) way of regulating what you think is right. If more people listened to the voice in their head we would have a much better society

**Webster** · 05-10-2009, 13:27

Dropped large red Hartebeest Cow where she stood last week with a 243 85gr Rhino through the gearbox. Used 41gr S355 in PMP brass with CCI BR primers - bullets seated 1mm off the lands. The 243 is a beauty to shoot and packs a mean wallop!!

**ongolo** · 11-12-2009, 19:50

Hi All,

I am not a hunter, but I have hunted when there was a need. Lived for about 3 Years on 10000ha game farm in Namibia. Farms stuff used usually a .338 Win Mag, customers had to shoot a .375 H&H. But....

I know as a fact that in Finland, the Nomadic Lapps shoot Reindeer almost exclusively with a .22 Hornet. They need the undamaged skin to make their warm clothing, therefore...they only shoot head shots. If you hunt there and the deal is made for a reindeer with the owner, it will be a mystery to you how they know in a large herd which is theirs. But they point out to you the animal and instruct you to shoot in the EYE. Once shot in the head, there is quite a chance the animal will get up after initial shock. That is where the sharp Finn knife comes in. Without waiting for the result, a Laplander charges with with knife in hand and will cut the throat of the reindeer.

Very much the same happens in Mongolia. .22 Hornet rules.

I now live not far from Etosha Pan, and had quite a few Kudus shot by a hornet. I have also been to a Germiston shooting range, where a guy shot a 375 H&H at 50m at a 50m pistol Target using a bench. He was very proud of his 50cm grouping that covered the whole of the pistol target. He said" yes, with this grouping no Kudu has a chance".

In the SWA of old, any Farm boy learned to shoot and hunt with a .22 Rifle. On some farms, if the boy fired a shot and did not bring a Kudu or whatever, he got clouted.

Yes, when a Kudu is hit by your Bakkie, you might survive, but I know a case where at 170km/h the driver of an solid old F250 got killed.

When we drive at night, we don't watch the road that much, we check either side of the road for eyes. We also slow down when another car approaches. I came through the light of an oncoming car and hit a horse with a Landrover. I hit a Kudu with my bumper early morning driving a Combi and a Kudu almost kicked my front screen in when I almost hit it and it jumped up and kicked over the bonnet of the F100 I was driving.

In my humble opinion, as a non-hunter, with extensive understanding of ballistics, the .243 will kill a Kudu, after all, lots of Elephant were shot with R1.s and even with Ak's. That is why there was almost no Game visible when I was last in Angola.

But as I said in the beginning, I am not a hunter, but I am not opposed to hunting.

Have fun hunting

WAH