|
|
|||||||
Went for another walk yesterday, as my young mate needed a buffalo to properly christen his newly-acquired Rigby ULH .450 Nitro double, and I was seeking a similar outcome for the Army & Navy .577 before the wet season arrives. As luck would have it, we both achieved a modicum of success. After kicking ourselves for spooking a really good bull earlier during a long walk up the appointed creekline, we found an old cow buff with a very good set of horns for her gender. Unfortunately she was not as dozy as she first appeared and made us during the stalk. As she began to flee, Brent's offhand shot with the Rigby anchored her on the spot. As the dust settled, a young bull that was unseen by both of us took off from behind some trees. I managed to stop him with a less-than-ideal first shot angling forward, and it took a couple more to finally knock him off his feet. When they are pumped with adrenalin, they sure take some putting down! I was using Woodleigh 650gr Nitro bullets, as I had experienced indifferent penetration with the BPE Woodleigh 650-grainers at the significantly higher velocity of this rifle's regulating load. On yesterday's bull, the side-on shot was under the hide on the off-side, and the angling-forward shots were well up in the boiler-room, lungs were shredded. Here are the recoveries, lovely button-mushrooms, just like the brochures! This photo shows the three Nitro bullets behind a BPE recovery from a smaller buffalo shot earlier for meat. I believe the BPE bullets were opening too quickly at 1850fps, as I had many times experienced 'perfect satisfaction' with them on buffalo when launched at ~1650fps. I'll be using the 650gr Nitro Weldcores in this rifle for everything from now on! |