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I used an Over & Under double on my first buffalo hunt several years ago. On this safari I was charged by a cow and the gun didn't stopped her (I took the bullet on the boss).

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I was lucky 'cos the PH used a 500 NE and he did it right.

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You WERE lucky, but not because the PH had a 500NE, but because, as you say, "HE DID IT RIGHT"!

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Even a .375 H&H is too "short" to hunt buffs, hippos or elephants, at least a .416 should be used to hunt safely. That's my opinion .

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That is an opinion for sure! And it is mine as well where Elephant is on the minue, but I've taken many Buffalo, and Hippo with a 375H&H, and the only one shot kills I've had on Buffalo, have been with a 375H&H with a 300 gr Nosler Partition, unless the brain, or spine was hit. All others have taken at least three shots,again unless the brain or spine was hit, regardles of caliber, or bullet used.

I do think the 9.3X74R is light for anything, bigger, or harder to kill than Eland in very close quarters, and I wouldn't reccomend the little 9.3X74R double, as the best thing, when hunting the "BITE BACKS",for someone who I didn't know, but I would have no problem,myself, hunting Buffalo, or cats, with nothing other than a good S/S double rifle chambered for 9.3X74R, with proper bullets! In fact, the next time I go to Africa, I'm going to take my 9.3X74R Merkel S/S double rifle, with some Woodliegh 320 gr solids, and softs to hunt Buffalo, and Leopard!

Is this little cartridge for everyone? NO!, but it isn't the wimp most think it is, if you "DO IT RIGHT", that is!

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..........Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY1, and MacD37 founding member of DRSS www.doublerifleshooterssociety.com
"If I die today, I have had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"

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Everybody knows that if you put any bullet in the right place, the animal will die . I'd killed more than 50 buff, almost them with a .375 (still have it), and I know they die better with a bigger caliber than a .416, that's for sure .

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470Nitro, that 50 head of Buffalo bag would put you ahead of me some, but I think they die the same way in bags of 10 to 15, as they do in bags of 50! Saeed, over at AR, has taken an excess of 90 Bufflao,and 12 elephant,and hundreds of plains game, all with a .375, without incident, so the number of kills is not an indicator, in my view. I think Saeed would have killed just as many if he had been useing a 9.3X74R rifle. In the above case it is the man who is lethal, not the rifle! He simply stays calm, and puts those 375 bullets where they belong!

However, as I said, I do NOT reccomend the 9.3X74R in a double, or single barrel rifle, as top of the line for the big five. However if that is all the man has, and it is legal where he is going to hunt, then I can't tell him it will not work, because it will,If he does his part!

If he had asked what I would reccomend, then I would have told him to use the biggest thing he could handle, with some modicom of proficiency, that was legal !

For most client hunters, especially on a first Safari, a bolt rifle, with CRF, in the 375 H&H with a combination of 300 gr softs, and solids, or something like a 416 Taylor, or 416 Remington, with a combination of 400 gr softs, and solids, and practice, practice, practice, till he can shoot it in his sleep! I find that a person can handle a 9.3/375/416 class better than the .450 class rifles in the begining! I think the 9.3X74R, or 375 flanged double rifle is just about perfect for the cats over bait, or even follow up on Leopard. For Buffalo, Hippo, and the large Eland, the 9.3s are for the very experienced, not the beginer! Gregor Wood, with 30 years of uninterupted time in the African bush, thinks the 9.3X74R in a light double rifle is about perfect for following up,on wounded cats! I'm not sure I agree wholely with that opinion, but then he has thousands of head of African game under his belt, and there are those numbers again!

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..........Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY1, and MacD37 founding member of DRSS www.doublerifleshooterssociety.com
"If I die today, I have had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"

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