Latest Information on Rhinos Has Been Published

Sep 30, 2025 | News

African and Asian Rhinoceroses – Status, Conservation and Trade, 2025

 

Commissioned by the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade

in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

Report prepared by the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s

African Rhino Specialist Group, Asian Rhino Specialist Groups and TRAFFIC

 Available at: https://cites.org/sites/default/files/documents/E-CoP20-084-A3.pdf

 

Some interesting data from the report, extracted by John Ledger

 

Trade dynamics

Illegal trade

  • Between 2021 and 2023, an estimated 676 – 853 rhino horns were sourced into the illegal trade annually, a decline from the 1,531 – 1,729 reported at CoP19. However, this reduction is partly attributable to methodological adjustments accounting for widespread dehorning (covering ~48% of the rhino population; Section 3.1.1.1), and should not be interpreted as a reduction in poaching. Without such adjustments, the estimated annual average would have been 1,160–1,289 horns, underscoring the need for caution when interpreting trends.

 

  • A total of 921 seizures were collected from the CITES Illegal Trade Database and TRAFFIC’s database to inform the analysis of Parties most impacted by illegal trade. Of these, 750 seizures reported quantities of rhino horn specimens and were included in analysis. Up to 2023, the estimated number of whole horns and total seized weight decreased by 81% and 77%, respectively, since their peak in 2019.

 

  • For the analysis of most affected Parties in this CoP period from 2021–2023, the seizures relating to rhino horn specimens totalled 1.8 tonnes (equivalent to approximately 716 whole horns1). The largest seizures were 160 kg by South Africa (en route to Malaysia) and 139 kg by Viet Nam (originating from South Africa).

 

  • South Africa remained the most affected Party, accounting for 66% of global seizure weight and 90% among African range States. Most seizures involving the Party were made by authorities in-country, with South Africa often representing the origin country on the illegal trade chain. The Party had the highest number of illegal trade links, with Malaysia representing the strongest-weight trade link followed by Viet Nam.

 

  • Malaysia and Viet Nam emerged as the second and third most affected Parties, respectively, with a large cumulative illegal horn weight in seizures involving the Parties, including large-scale seizures implicating the Parties as destination countries based on seizure reports, which does not necessarily indicate end-market demand.

 

  • Qatar and United Arab Emirates were the fourth and fifth most affected Parties, serving as transit hubs. Seizures involving the Parties from 2021 – 2023 were of large scale averaging an estimated weight of 26 kg, and each Party had only one seizure pass undetected. In addition to their illegal trade links with South Africa being the most prominent by seized weight, Angola was also noted as an illegal trade link.

 

  • A few patterns observed in the seizure data were of note: an emerging illegal trade link between Mongolia and South Africa in 2023 was highlighted as it was not previously observed in seizure data. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China and mainland China as well as Mozambique were among the most affected in the last analysis to CoP19, whereas in the analysis conducted to prepare the report for the present meeting, the Parties appear to be less affected. Because of the lack of consistent reporting and bias-adjustment in the analysis, it is unclear if the observed decline is genuine, although a concurrent decline in implicating seizures may indicate support for a genuine decline in illegal rhino horn trade. This potential shift could be the result of effective enforcement and demand-reduction measures, but the limited resources available for the preparation of this report did not allow further exploration of these issues.

 

Legal trade: Africa

 

  • In total, 276 live African rhinos were traded during the reporting period since CoP19 (2022-2024). This comprised of six Eastern black (D. b. michaeli), 15 South-central black (D. b. minor) and 255 Southern white (C. s. simum) rhinos.

 

  • Black rhinos traded were solely for conservation purposes, with 12 to Mozambique, six to Chad and three to the United Republic of Tanzania exported by South Africa (18) and Kenya (3).

 

  • Fifty-seven Southern white rhinos (C. s. simum) were exported to Zambia, and 55 to the United States of America. The exporting countries were Namibia (107) and South Africa (5).

 

Hunting: Africa (bold text is my emphasis JL)

 

  • There were six black (D. bicornis) and 373 white rhino (C. simum) hunts in the reporting period (2022-2024). These took place in Namibia (6 South-western black rhinos – D. b. bicornis; 43 Southern white rhinos – C. s. simum); and South Africa (330 Southern white rhinos – C. s. simum).

 

  • Hunters of black rhino in Namibia originated from four countries, while hunters of white rhinos in Namibia and South Africa came from 11 and 32 countries respectively.

 

  • In Namibia, most hunters originated from the United States of America (44.9%), Spain (14.3%) and Hungary (10.2%), while in South Africa hunters originated from the United States of America (66.4%) and Hungary (6.4%).

 

  • Rhino hunting in Namibia and South Africa occurs at low levels relative to national populations (0.05% to 0.18% of black rhinos and 0.5% to 1.3% of white rhinos in Namibia hunted each year, while South Africa reported 0.79% to 0.91% of white rhinos hunted each year) and, while limited in scale, contributes measurable revenue that can support conservation when transparently reinvested (US$170,000 to S$250,000 per black rhino hunt; most recent for white rhino was US$88,208 per hunt in 2018).

 

  • Case studies show that well-regulated legal hunting can generate significant revenue—often surpassing eco-tourism—for community conservancies, reinforcing the shift toward participatory conservation models that prioritize fair socio-economic benefits for local communities as essential to long-term rhino conservation success.

 

  • In 2022, the World Bank launched the Wildlife Conservation Bond (Rhino Bond), mobilizing over $150 million USD to support black rhino conservation in South Africa. This results-based financing model—where investor returns depend on rhino population growth—set a precedent for linking biodiversity outcomes to financial incentives, despite initially slow uptake.

 

  • By the end of 2024, rhino conservation was increasingly seen as needing to generate revenue to cover costs and thus viewed as a trade-linked enterprise, whereby financial instruments, ecotourism, and community-based ventures transform wildlife protection into a valued land-use that also contributes to local development (Section 3.2.4).

 

  • Beyond ecological importance, rhino conservation increasingly shows economic value by boosting land worth, tourism, and related services.

Ammo Spotlight: .404 Jeffery / 10,75 x 73mm

Sep 4, 2025 | General, News, On Ammo

By Pierre van der Walt

Cartridge History

Generally known and popular under its British designation, this cartridge is also known in Germany as the 10,75x73mm. Although the cartridge is associated with the British gunmaking trade, the United States pioneered the .423″ bore with the little .44 Henry cartridge of 1873 and then abandoned the calibre. Things then went quiet on the .423″ bore front until the Austrian introduction of the 10,75x57mm Mannlicher-Schönauer in 1900; a cartridge that did not go far.

 

The British eventually popularised the .423″ bore when the famous William Jackman Jeffery Company introduced the .404 Jeffery in 1905. I know that some readers may have known this all along, but also that most readers will immediately sit upright and say: ‘Wrong! It was 1909!’

 

I first became aware of 1905 as the date of the .404’s birth when I was shown a photograph of an unusual cartridge. It all started when the South African collector Petr Skrela obtained a sample of a .450/400×3″ from George Black in Bloemfontein. The cartridge’s rim had been turned off to modify it to rimless, bolt action configuration. It turned out that the rifle for which the cartridge had been made was a magnum length bolt action Rigby; which action size Rigby started using in 1904 with Rigby rifle, serial number 2345. The question arose as to why Rigby had taken this unusual step.

 

The answer is; to compete with the .404 Jeffery, as Rigby did not have a competitive rimless bolt action cartridge at the time. To support this statement I need to backtrack a little. Jeffery had a specific method of referring to cartridges in his catalogues.

 

For example, even by 1910 he referred to the .450 No.2 as: ‘The New 1903 Model .450 No.2 Cordite Express Cartridge. On page 55 of the same 1910 catalogue he refers to the .404 as: ‘The New .404 Rifle, 1905 Model, Rimless Cartridge’. This was an early pointer to the correct birth date of the .404 Jeffery and the absence of a competitive cartridge which prompted Rigby’s behaviour.

More proof that the .404 Jeffery came about before 1909 comes from a letter from Burma, dated 31 July 1907, written by one Percy Smith, congratulating Jeffery on a delightful rifle. This letter can also be found in the Jeffery catalogue and is definite proof that rifles had been ordered, built, shipped to Burma, used and reported back on by 1907.

 

The final nail in the 1909 coffin however comes from a drawing named ‘Tracing 24’ dated 18 October 1905 depicting the .404 cartridge. Subsequently two other .404 drawings from 1907 (Kynoch AQ12/24) and 1908 (Eley 158) respectively have been found. There you have it!

 

Jeffery did not retain the .404 as a proprietary cartridge as many of its opposition did with cartridges they introduced. All gunmakers could chamber rifles for this cartridge, and most did, which naturally resulted in a fair degree of popularity and a hell of a lot of barrel dimension inconsistency.

 

About the .404’s popularity John Taylor wrote: ‘I can say at once that it is one of the most popular and most widely-used calibres throughout the big game hunting world. Altho I have only mentioned two firm’s names in connection with it, most gunsmiths, including the Germans, listed rifles of this calibre in their catalogues – which speaks for itself.’

 

The territories now known as Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe adopted the .404 Jeffery as an official game department standard issue chambering. The cartridge saw tremendous service in this role, acquitting itself magnificently. One can actually stop at that as it ends all arguments.

The hands and the 3½” long .404 Jeffery cartridge give perspective on a hippo’s thick skin.

Due to its base and rim diameter being unusual in the US, the cartridge lost popularity after World War II. The Americans could at the time still not unglue themselves from their limiting preoccupation with .30-06 and .375 cases, as the once mighty British sporting ammunition industry gradually collapsed and big bore ammunition production eventually terminated. Fortunately sufficient stocks of ammunition floated around until 1963 when Dynamit-Nobel commenced production again. This availability of cases kept the .404 going while other British cartridges faltered.

 

Several cartridge case manufacturers such as Bell, Hornady, Norma and Bertram eventually began manufacturing .404 Jeffery cases, and a wide range of ammunition can now once again be had. The long and the short of all this is that the case and cartridge were revived.

 

America eventually discovered the .404 case. Dakota Arms lead the way when Don Allen based most of the cartridges in his proprietary line-up on it. Then John Lazzeroni modified it to serve as a basis for some of his designs. Just before the turn of the century a really big name in the cartridge world also came under the .404 Jeffery case’s spell. Remington based its Ultra Mag and Short Ultra Mag cartridge ranges on it; albeit slightly shortened and with marginally rebated rim. Around the turn of the century Rick Jamison and other Americans began using it as a basis for their wildcats, commercial and proprietary cartridges in pursuit of the short-fat benchrest philosophy.

 

As a result of the US awakening to it, this sensible big bore case configuration now at least enjoys a new surge of popularity. One can only hope that the Yanks will discover the .404 cartridge itself as well. The .404 Jeffery is still very much in business in Africa where it has enjoyed uninterrupted adulation for over a hundred years and it is one of my favourites.

 

It took a while before the 6.5 Creedmoor captured the imagination of the American shooting fraternity, but when the 6,5mm penny finally dropped, it did so big time. Today the 6.5 Creedmoor is the best-selling long-range, match cartridge on the planet.

 

Characteristics

The first thing to come to grips with regarding the .404 Jeffery is that its groove diameter is .424″ and not .404″. At .412″ not even its bore diameter is .404″. Where the .404 designation comes from cannot even be guessed at, but I assume it has something to do with the .303. Fact is that it is of larger calibre than the famous .416 Rigby and not every hunter is aware of that.

 

In original cordite configuration the cartridge launched a 400-grain bullet at 2,125 fps from 28″ proof barrels. In actual hunting rifle configuration that probably meant around 2,050 fps. Yet it worked. Unlike humans that grow softer with each generation, African animals seem to grow tougher, because this moderate velocity load proved immensely effective in Africa at the time, whereas modern hunters scorn 2,125 fps of muzzle velocity in bolt action cartridges. Although Taylor mentions a number of reported instances of bullet failure (solids), he concludes that ‘I cannot see that the .404 would have become so popular if its slugs 

habitually behaved so badly.’ I think Taylor was just filling the page here like he did on occasion, as he was not so accommodating when he discussed the metric 10,75x68mm Mauser. At 2,125 fps even 4th Generation (full metal jacketed) solids fail more or less equally often or equally rarely in most large bores. Today there are excellent bullets for the .404 on the market and the modern hunter can rest assured that if he loads up with any quality bullet for this cartridge, he will be well equipped.

 

It was also available in 300-grain bullet configuration. Velocity with these hovered around 2,625 fps in proof barrels and around 2,550 fps in hunting rifles. As expected this pushed Green-Band velocity parameters and problems did occur with the original 4th Generation (jacketed soft point) 300-grain HV factory load, due to incorrect short range application, but none of the modern .404 bullets seem to suffer from this shortcoming; American bonded core bullets in particular. At a maximum average pressure of 52,938 psi (360 MPa) crusher, measured in terms of the CIP protocol, the .404 Jeffery’s prescribed pressures are moderate. It was a good idea in the days of heat sensitive Cordite, and it remains a good idea for dangerous game cartridges to this day, but it is not in line with modern trends. We must perhaps all sit down and develop reasonable pressures for modern propellants in classic cartridges. There are modern propellants that perform remarkably consistently despite surprising changes in the temperature and humidity. Examples are those propellants manufactured by Australian Defence Industries and distributed in the USA under the Hodgdon Extreme banner. It is better to consider most other propellants reasonably heat resistant, but not heat impervious. One should therefore not overdo any attempt at raising modern pressure specifications. Although the basic case has become sought after for its base and head dimensions, the shoulder and neck design of the .404 Jeffery case is antiquated. Its body is reasonably straight, but its neck is 147% of a calibre long and at 8º 30′ 32″ its shoulder angle is very shallow by modern standards. The long neck exhibits excellent bullet retention characteristics, but it could have been shorter and still performed the same.

 

The case can also be evaluated from another perspective. Firstly, it provides all the capacity needed to launch a 400-grain bullet at 2,300 fps from a 24″ (610mm) barrel, while maintaining moderate pressures. Secondly, this cartridge, with its Apollo rocket shape and absence of a belt, feeds like a hot knife through butter: much smoother and better than the various .416’s. Finally, does it not compromise magazine capacity to the extent the .416 Rigby and Weatherby Magnums do. During its heyday the .404 Jeffery was the large bore backbone of African hunting.

 

Much as the 9,3x62mm Mauser was the transition bore mainstay. These two cartridges attained their revered status because they worked so well. Field performance, much more than looks or purist technical requirements, is what counts when evaluating a cartridge. The .404 Jeffery is still delivering the goods consistently after a hundred and five years on the beat. That is what matters.

Performance Summary

Bullet Weight Velocity   Threshold Kinetic Energy Taylor KO Recoil 8lb Rifle
400-gr 2,375 fps  5,011 ft/lb  57.4  58.2 ft/lb
350-gr 2,525 fps  4,956 ft/lb 53.4 53.5 ft/lb
300-gr 2,700 fps 4,857 ft/lb 48.9 47.5 ft/lb
230-gr 2,975 fps 4,521 ft/lb 41.3 38.0 ft/lb
Averaged CSM  4,84 kg / 10.66 lb

Performance

The .404 was designed as a short-range cartridge for massive animals. So applied it shines on eland, giraffe, buffalo, hippo, rhino and elephant. On lion I prefer magnum (2,600fps – 3,00fps) velocity cartridges and the .404 Jeffery will do that with 300-grain bullets. My preference should not be interpreted as meaning that lower velocity combinations do not work on lion. They do. I just have my own preference based on my own reasons, but any bullet that expands quickly and massively yet holds together is decent cat medicine.

 

With a 400-grain round nose bullet loaded to 2,350 fps, the .404 Jeffery’s Green-Band stretches to about 85 yards, and with a spitzer to ±100 yards. Loaded to 2,600 fps, the 350-grain round nose bullet’s Green-Band extends to 160 yards, and the spitzer’s

to 225 yards. That more than suffices for any big and dangerous game hunting and any person who finds himself in need of longer range capability should engage in a lot of sharpening up of his field craft.

 

By large bore standards the .404 offers moderate recoil, smooth feeding and 4,700 ft/lb of kinetic energy. There are more specialised elephant stoppers which generate in excess of 5,000 ft/lb of energy, but there are few cartridges as versatile and easy to use as the .404 Jeffery. There is no visible difference between it and the .416 Rigby insofar as killing is concerned, but recorded statistics favour the .404 over the .416. Neither of course exhibits Taylor’s ‘paralyzing .375 effect from which nothing rises.’ The theory is that it does not penetrate as deep as the .416 Rigby. I have not conducted any statistically sound penetration comparisons, but in reality both cartridges offer all the penetration ever needed and any difference is unrelated to field requirements or results.

 

Much is always made about sectional density of a bullet. The popular conception being that the higher the sectional density, the better a bullet’s terminal stability. Generally sectional density exceeding .300 is considered excellent. A 400-grain .423″bullet has a sectional density of .319, while a similar .416 bullet has a sectional density of .330. Both fall in the excellent category.

The late Steve Lunceford on the left, and the author holding his .404 built on a double square bridge Mauser action. Steve ended the crop-raiding days of this big hippo bull near the confluence of the Limpopo and Magalakwena rivers. Author was there for the ride. Steve sadly died in an aircraft crash in 2011.

However, the popular sectional density perception is not supported by science. It should not be rejected, but it has more to do with weight retention than pure sectional density.

 

We have the right idea, we are just tagging it to the wrong definition. We all know that the longer a bullet is, the faster it must spin to remain stable in air. That does not change during the terminal phase, except that an animal’s body is at least 900 times denser than air. It is common knowledge that the denser the medium through which a bullet travels, the faster it must rotate to remain stable and head on.

 

Given the same mass and twist, a solid .423″ bullet (being shorter and having a lower sectional density than a .416″ bullet) should therefore be more stable than a .416’s during the terminal phase! It is also easier to bend a 6″ rod of a given diameter and material than a 3″ one. So, the longer a bullet is (all else being equal) the more prone it is to bending and losing terminal direction. That however is a separate discussion.

 

My intention is not to tote the .404 Jeffery as better than the .416’s, but merely to show that a great number of considerations used by hunters to pick one cartridge over the other are not particularly scientific, but merely the result of attempts at rationalization or susceptibility to propaganda. To understand terminal stability and penetration better, readers are advised to study the most authoritative publication ever on penetration, namely the book Bullet Penetration – Modelling the Dynamics and Incapacitation Resulting from Wound Trauma by Duncan MacPherson.

 

According to CIP specifications the .404 Jeffery is a tad shorter than the .375 H&H Magnum and countless standard length Mauser actions have been successfully converted to handle the .404, by stretching the magazine and doing some work on the rails and ramp. If you load the .404 to standard magnum length this  is not a problem, but a good case can be made for rather mating it to stretched actions.

Optics and Sighting

My .404 Jeffery is not scoped and until my eyesight began showing signs of ageing I believed that a dangerous game rifle should not really be scoped. That view is changing as quickly as my ability to see the front sight well.

 

My favourite iron sight on such a rifle looks like hell, but works extremely well. It consists of a pillar (Patridge) front sight and a large hole ghost ring rear sight on the bridge. Unlike an express sight it does not block the bottom half of the target, which I find increasingly bothersome as my three dimensional perception across the length of a rifle deteriorates. It offers virtual total visual perspective even for ageing eyes. The distance from bridge to front sight is about twice the distance from traditional rear sight to front sight and a lot of parallax is eliminated. It is fast and effective and it does not bother ageing eyes.

 

I admit to now finding low magnification, wide angle, wide field of view, large exit pupil, long eye relief riflescopes quite effective and with that bit of practice you need when dangerous game hunting, one can actually use a riflescope quite effectively. I have also fallen for electronic reflex sights.

 

For non dangerous game hunting a 1.5-5x, 2-6x or 2-7x riflescope with long (3.75″+) eye relief all work well on the .404. For dangerous game hunting the best option is a 1.1-4x and second best a 1.25-4x. Since the recoil of the Jeffery is not that bad, riflescopes generally last on these guns.

Collecting grass to hang over the lion bait so that the vultures do not get hold of the meat first.

With a riflescope the almost perfect zero is about 90 yards using a 400-gr round nose. It offers a 0.2″ point blank range from about 37-100 yards. Very good for bush hunting. Even at 150 yards it is still within 2.3″ of line of sight, but I have grown so accustomed to my 75-yard zero that I personally do not deviate from it any more.

 

Handloading

If you load the .404 Jeffery to the CIP specified 3.53″ (89,66mm), a 400-grain Barnes RN solid is seated about 0.74″ (18,8mm) deep into the case, and a Woodleigh 400-grain RN solid about 0.654″ (16,7mm), while calibre is only 0.423″ (10,74mm). Nothing (except magazine length and/or leade) compels anybody to compromise the .404 Jeffery’s combustion space by seating the bullet deeper than a calibre, just to conform to CIP overall cartridge length specs. Particularly because cartridge overall length is changed by handloaders for all sorts of reasons, including accuracy. You don’t have to stick to crimping grooves either, especially if you use a Lee factory crimp die sensibly. Changing overall cartridge length affects pressures and should not be engaged in by the inexperienced.

Actual Case Capacities

Case  Brand Case Mass Water Capacity
Norma  298.8 gr  113.4 gr
RWS   291.5 gr 114.3 gr

The .404 Jeffery is a natural to seat the bullet one calibre deep only. It compensates for the sloping shoulder and long neck and increases combustion space. If this approach is followed and the chamber leade is generous, the .404 Jeffery becomes longer than the .375 H&H Magnum and then it requires a magnum length action.

 

Modern propellants enable handloaders to increase velocities to around 2,350 fps with 400-grain bullets from long leade 24″ barrels without exceeding the original  pressure specification by much, or without

This custom .404 Jeffery on a Vektor Magnum Mauser action is one of the author’s favourite rifles. In patent applications William Jackman Jeffery did not describe himself as a gunmaker. His company did not manufacture rifles or guns. He purchased them from Birmingham gunmakers and sold these under the WJ Jeffery brand name. That is one of the reasons why he did not maintain proprietary rights to the cartridges introduced via his company.

approaching the higher pressure levels which are accepted as the norm for cartridges of late.

 

If one looks at the various handloading manuals, and also when you punch the dimensional, volumetric and weight data into the better internal ballistic programmes, it becomes obvious that the slower medium burning propellants between Hodgdon’s H-4895 and H-414 provide the best results with the 400-grain bullet. Once the slow burning propellant category is entered into, suitability fast deteriorates. Somchem S-355 and propellants in the IMR-4064 and IMR-4320 class work well in this cartridge.

 

Although a lot of RWS cases still float around, it ceased making .404 ammunition and components around 2000. At this stage Bertram, Horneber, Kynamco and Reed are the best options for cases. I use Norma cases. They offer great consistency.

 

Woodleigh makes the most popular .404 bullets, but Barnes, GS Custom, Rhino, Stewart, Swift and RWS also manufacture good stuff. I use Swift, Rhino and Stewart softs. Rhino bullets are not always the dimensionally most consistent and I find that irritating on the handloading side, but when you put bullet to flesh, they work.

 

When it was active, A-Square also offered .423″ bullets. According to my information A-Square monometal solids were actually conceived and patented by Eric Lutfy of the Thunderbird Cartridge Company in Phoenix, Arizona.

 

To my mind, the day of the round nose solid has come and gone. The new generation of large meplat solids such as the GS Custom and the North Fork have arrived. I don’t use anything else any more.

The one thing to bear in mind when handloading the .404 case is that it is big. It requires a full size press and proper case lubrication, or the cases get stuck in the dies. It is a candidate for premium quality case lubes such as Imperial Sizing Die Wax.

 

Due to the .404’s sloping shoulder, great care must be taken not to set the shoulders back. Fortunately it has a long neck and it is easy to only resize it partially.

 

As with all cartridges intended to be used on dangerous game, full-length resizing of hunting handloads is recommended. Due to the sloping shoulder the cartridge is a smooth feeder and very few problems in this regard are ever encountered on the .404.

 

Despite the fact that the long necks can fairly easily be buckled when crimps are applied, it is easy to handload.

.404 Jeffery / 10,75 x 73mm Load Data Summary

Bullet Weight Propellant Type Min Load Max Load Max Velocity Barrel Length Data Source
400-gr Bullets Accurate  AA-2520 80.0 gr 83.0 gr 2,456 fps www.loaddata.com.
Alliant Rel-15 76.0 gr 80.0 gr 2,379 fps 26.0” A-Square Any Shot You Want. 1996.
Alliant Rel-12 80.0 gr 83.0 gr 2,410 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
Hodgdon H-4350 83.0 gr 86.0 gr 2,221 fps 24.0” A-Square Any Shot You Want. 1996.
Mulwex AR-2209 76.0 gr 85.0 gr 2,450 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
Mulwex AR-2208 68.0 gr 71.0 gr 2,100 fps 26.0” ADI Handloaders Guide. 5th Ed. 2010.
Mulwex AR-2206 75.0 gr 79.0 gr 2,358 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
Norma MRP-2 96.4 gr 2,343 fps Norma Data Center. September 2010.
Norma N-204 89.0 gr 91.0 gr 2,304 fps 24.0” Ladeboken. 6th Ed. 2006.
Norma N-202 76.0 gr 78.0 gr 2,357 fps 24.0” Ladeboken. 6th Ed. 2006.
Norma N-201 71.0 gr 75.0 gr 2,283 fps 24.0” Ladeboken. 6th Ed. 2006.
Rottweil R-907 80.0 gr 84.5 gr 2,362 fps 23.6” RWS Wiederladen Handbuch. 1998.
Rottweil R-903 76.0 gr 81.5 gr 2,346 fps 23.6” RWS Wiederladen Handbuch. 1998.
IMR-4350 84.0 gr 87.0 gr 2,345 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
IMR-4064 76.0 gr 80.0 gr 2,337 fps 26.0” A-Square Any Shot You Want. 1996.
IMR-4895 80.0 gr 83.0 gr 2,420 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
IMR-3031 75.0 gr 79.0 gr 2,350 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
Somchem S-365 72.0 gr 80.0 gr 2,270 fps 24.0” Somchem Data Manual. 1997.
Somchem S-355 74.0 gr 78.0 gr 2,333 fps 25.0” Handload. Not pressure tested.
Vectan Tub-7000 78.7 gr 84.9 gr 2,313 fps 26.0” LHS Germany Data Center. August 2010.
Vectan Tub-Sp11 78.7 gr 81.8 gr 2,362 fps 26.0” LHS Germany Data Center. August 2010.
Vectan Tub-5000 79.0 gr 2,361 fps 24.0” Braceras. Manual De Recarga Armas. 2006.
Vectan Tub-Sp7 74.1 gr 80.2 gr 2,329 fps 26.0” LHS Germany Data Center. August 2010.
Vectan Tub-3000 75.0 gr 2,328 fps 24.0” Braceras. Manual De Recarga Armas. 2006.
Vihtavuori VN-160 90.0 gr 2,161 fps 24.0” Ladeboken. 6th Ed. 2006.
Vihtavuori VN-550 82.8 gr 2,323 fps 25.6” Deva Wiederladen. 5th Ed. 2005.
Vihtavuori VN-150 78.0 gr 80.0 gr 2,307 fps 24.0” Ladeboken. 6th Ed. 2006.
Vihtavuori VN-140 74.0 gr 76.0 gr 2,295 fps 24.0” Ladeboken. 6th Ed. 2006.
Vihtavuori VN-135 73.0 gr 75.0 gr 2,292 fps 24.0” Ladeboken. 6th Ed. 2006.
Winchester WW-748 88.0 gr 2,522 fps www.loaddata.com.
350-gr Bullets Accurate AA-2520 89.0 gr 2,602 fps www.loaddata.com.
Alliant Rel-15 86.0 gr 89.0 gr 2,630 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
Alliant Rel-12 85.0 gr 88.0 gr 2,570 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2006.
Hodgdon H-4895 83.0 gr 87.0 gr 2,591 fps www.loaddata.com.
IMR-4064 85.0 gr 88.0 gr 2,600 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
IMR-4895 84.0 gr 88.0 gr 2,625 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
IMR-3031 75.0 gr 79.0 gr 2,350 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
Mulwex AR-2208 84.0 gr 87.0 gr 2,610 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
Mulwex AR-2206 83.0 gr 86.0 gr 2,600 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2006.
Norma N-204 90.0 gr 2,438 fps 25.6” Deva Wiederladen. 5th Ed. 2005.
Rottweil R-907 85.0 gr 89.0 gr 2,510 fps 23.6” RWS Wiederladen Handbuch. 1998.
Rottweil R-903 85.0 gr 89.0 gr 2,510 fps 23.6” RWS Wiederladen Handbuch. 1998.
Somchem S-341 82.0 gr 86.0 gr 2,523 fps 24.0” Handload. Not pressure tested.
Somchem S-355 78.0 gr 82.5 gr 2,450 fps 24.0” Handload. Not pressure tested.
Vectan Tub-7000 82.6 gr 88.7 gr 2,493 fps 26.0” LHS Germany Data Center. August 2010.
Vectan Tub-Sp11 83.3 gr 89.5 gr 2,493 fps 26.0” LHS Germany Data Center. August 2010.
Vectan Tub-5000 81.0 gr 2,525 fps 24.0” Braceras. Manual De Recarga Armas. 2006.
Vectan Tub-Sp7 76.4 gr 82.6 gr 2,559 fps 26.0” LHS Germany Data Center. August 2010.
Vectan Tub-3000 78.0 gr 2,492 fps 24.0” Braceras. Manual De Recarga Armas. 2006.
Vihtavuori VN-150 80.0 gr 2,411 fps 25.6” Deva Wiederladen. 5th Ed. 2005.
Winchester WW-748 87.0 gr 91.0 gr 2,568 fps  www.loaddata.com.
300-gr Bullets Accurate AA-2520 85.0 gr 89.0 gr 2,789 fps  www.loaddata.com.
Alliant Rel-15 87.0 gr 91.0 gr 2,765 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
Hodgdon H-4895 85.0 gr 89.0 gr 2,729 fps www.loaddata.com.
IMR-4895 84.0 gr 87.0 gr 2,750 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
Mulwex AR-2208 86.0 gr 89.0 gr 2,730 fps 23.6” N Harvey Reloading Manual. 8th Ed. 2005.
Vectan Tub-5000 86.0 gr 2,755 fps 24.0” Braceras. Manual De Recarga Armas. 2006.

 

Bio

Pierre van der Walt grew up on a farm and began hunting from a very young age. He was just ten years old when he took part in his first lion hunt and captured a cub to keep as a pet. During the Angolan War, he served as a combat officer, and subsequently qualified as both a lawyer and a professional hunter. He published his first firearm article in 1992 and has since become Africa’s most prolific outdoor writer. In 2023, he was awarded the John T. Amber Literary Prize by the US publication Gun Digest for an article on the history and evolution of Czech hunting rifles. He has published four books that are internationally recognised as definitive works on hunting cartridges within the African context, and co-authored The Complete Professional Hunter’s Handbook, which is used as the official manual for professional hunter training in South Africa.

What was said about –

 

African Small Game Cartridges

African Small Game Cartridges is the third book in the author’s highly acclaimed series on hunting cartridges for Africa. Just like his previous two books (African Dangerous Game Cartridges and African Medium Game Cartridges), African Small Game Cartridges, is the most comprehensive ever discussion of the cartridges covered.

 

Like the previous books, it is destined to become yet another reference standard, which will serve the international and African hunting, shooting and reloading fraternities for decades. A generous part of African Small Game Cartridges is dedicated to relevant topics such as barrel life, understanding riflescopes, suppressors, and ballistic coefficients.

 

This coffee table quality reference work extends 480 pages with 350 excellent full colour images and countless performance tables of Africa’s 33 currently most popular .172, .224, 6mm, .257 and 6,5mm hunting cartridges. It takes readers on a grand tour of their history, specifica tions, design features, performance and field application, as well as the reloading quirks of each of these cartridges. African Small Game Cartridges provides unequalled data – around 7,200 loads for American, Australian, African, European and Scandinavian propellants.

 

International experts have made the following comments about this book

 

Johan van Wyk (Australia),Editor of SA Hunter magazine

Hunters and shooters are constantly bombarded by marketing onslaughts from all corners, each pretending to be punting the greatest cartridge or item. While progress cannot be halted, we need to sort the wheat from the chaff, especially for the more novice amongst us. With two authoritative books already under his belt, Pierre van der Walt is well qualified to not only steer the inexperienced in the right direction, but to also provide plenty of food for thought for the experienced. I unreservedly give African Small Game Cartridges the thumbs-up. It is well researched and a worthy addition to any shooter’s gunroom.

 

Mats Bergholm (Sweden) Weapon Systems Expert – Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV)

Pierre van der Walt has done it yet again! His first book, African Dangerous Game Cartridges, is the definitive tome about calibers for Africa’s biggest and deadliest. This book, African Small Game Cartridges, Pierre’s third, is nothing short of a masterpiece. It covers the tiniest ‘African’ calibers, but it is as fascinating from a northern European perspective. The calibers presented also cover calibres used for northern European game hunting, from grouse to elk and non-Africa focused hunters world-wide will benefit equally from this book’s overabundance of information. It fits just as well as a coffee table book in a Swedish moose hunting lodge as it does at a game lodge on the banks of the Limpopo River.

 

Ira Larivers (Zimbabwe) Editor African Hunter Magazine

Unequalled! The subject matter in this book fills a gap in Africana and international literature. The fact that it was written by the master of the genre, Pierre van der Walt, makes it essential reading. Apart from crucial calibre choices, he also covers many other important topics. Everything is very well presented. It includes a detailed appraisal of the 33 Africa popular small game cartridges, plus some lesser-known gems such as the .224 African. African Small Game Cartridges offers unprecedented cutting-edge information and a myriad of high-quality photos in a lasting format. Don’t miss out.

Purchase a copy of African Small Game Cartridges for $89 + shipping. Email gerda@pierrevanderwalt.com

Ammo Spotlight: 6.5 Creedmoor

Aug 7, 2025 | General, News, On Ammo

This drawing of the Creedmoor Range depicting the venue and the crowd attending a day of competitive shooting between American and British riflemen appeared in the 6 October 1877 edition of The Illustrated London News. In those days, society did not frown upon firearm activities.

By Pierre van der Walt

Cartridge History

American popularity makes or breaks cartridges and calibres. I have always been amazed at the apparent ignorance of Americans about the world of cartridges beyond the .30-30 Winchester, the .30-06 Springfield, .308 Winchester and the .223 Remington. A typical example is 6,5mm cartridges. Americans overlooked the potential of this calibre and its cartridges for 113 years before the penny finally dropped for them. Although cartridges such as the .264 Winchester Magnum and the 6.5 Remington Magnum had been around since 1959 and 1966 respectively, the 6,5mm calibre just did not gain any US traction.

 

Fortunately, the Americans eventually discovered the existence of some calibres and cartridges beyond the walls of Springfield, Remington and Winchester. This is an excellent development, because for all other American shortcomings, American buying power has been the decisive factor in the survival of the firearm and cartridge industries.

 

The 6.5 Creedmoor is an example. It emanated from a discussion between Hornady’s Dave Emary and High-Power National Champion, Dennis DeMille on the problems experienced by 6mm wildcat users at the 2007 Camp Perry National Matches. They concluded that a modern, SAAMI regulated commercially produced cartridge that was capable of winning National Matches was needed. The 6mm calibre could obviously not achieve that. Emary and his engineering colleague, Joe Thielen, opted to step up from the 6mm to the 6,5mm calibre with its higher ballistic coefficient potential. Their goal was to create a short-action cartridge capable of supersonic velocity out to 1,200 yards while adding the minimum recoil, and they succeeded.

 

The Creedmoor name is steeped in long-range tradition. Let us step back in history to the post American Civil War era. The statistics indicated that Union Army soldiers only hit one Confederate soldier out of every thousand shots fired during the war. This was a great concern and it was decided to establish an organisation dedicated to the improvement of American marksmanship. The organisation, dubbed the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), was established in New York on 16 November 1871. During 1872, the fledgling body succeeded in convincing the New York Legislature to contribute US$ 25,000 to purchase 70 acres (28,3 ha) of farmland from a Mr Creed, for development as a long-distance

Technical Specs

First Regulator SAAMI
Introduced  2007
Country USA
Relative Case Capacity 53.5 gr water (3,474 cc)
Case Trim Length  1.912” (48,57 mm)
Expansion Ratio  7.8
Groove Diameter .2640” (6,71 mm)
Bore Diameter .2560 (6,50 mm)
Groove Details 6 x .0900” (2,29 mm)
CAB-Ratio 71.8
Minimum Barrel Area  0.0536”² (34,58 mm²)
Std Proof Barrel Twist 1:8.0” (1:203 mm)
Max Average Pressure 62,000 psi (427Mpa)
RCBS Shellholder 3

 

Creedmoor 6.5 bullet

rifle range. When a Colonel Shaw, one of the NRA range committee members first saw the piece of land, he said that it reminded him of a moor. So, it became known as Creed’s Moor and later, simply Creedmoor.

 

The Creedmoor range was officially opened on 21 June 1873 and soon hosted historic competitions such as the famous one between the NRA and the Irish Rifle Team (which included the eminent John Rigby) in September 1874.

 It is therefore rather fitting that Emary and Thielen’s dedicated long-range match cartridge, the first commercial rifle cartridge ever specifically conceived and designed for extreme range competition, was dubbed the 6.5 Creedmoor.

 

It took a while before the 6.5 Creedmoor captured the imagination of the American shooting fraternity, but when the 6,5mm penny finally dropped, it did so big time. Today the 6.5 Creedmoor is the best-selling long-range, match cartridge on the planet.

Characteristics

The 6.5 Creedmoor is an indirect sibling of the .308 Winchester. In 1982 Winchester introduced the .307 Winchester cartridge as a rimmed version of its .308 for the Winchester M-94 Big Bore lever action. The concept did not catch on, but around 2007 the Thomson Center company requested Hornady to create a .30 calibre cartridge for its then new Icon bolt action rifle. Hornady’s Dave Emary is said to have modified the .307 Winchester case by thinning its case walls, shortening it and turning it into rimless configuration to create the .30 TCU cartridge. Both the .307 Winchester and .30 TCU have now fallen by the wayside. The 6.5 Creedmoor is said to have been created by necking a .30 TCU cartridge down to 6.5mm by means of a 30° shoulder. I find this a bit strange, as it would have been simpler to use the .308 Winchester case.

 

The 6.5 Creedmoor has 0.37° body taper and a 30° shoulder, as opposed to the .260 Remington’s 0.69° body taper and 20° shoulder. Despite the Creedmoor being 0.115” (2,92mm) shorter than the .260 Remington, these features, combined with thinner case walls resulted in the .260 Remington beating the Creedmoor by just shy of 4% in the water capacity stakes. The 6.5 Creedmoor has the advantage of a 107.6% of calibre neck as opposed to the Remington’s 97.9% neck.

 

This all sounds as if the 6.5 Creedmoor is way ahead of the .260 Remington and in factory format it does indeed lead, but there is a lot that can be done to ‘improve’ the .260 Remington. For example, if both cartridges are loaded to the same overall length (2.825”) and the same pressure level (62,000 psi – 428 MPa), the performance outcomes actually favour the .260 Remington. The margins are so small however that I have come to consider the two cartridges identical performers.

Dave-Emary-Creedmoor-Hornady

Dave Emery has since retired, but he was one of the conceivers of the 6.5 Creedmoor and played a crucial role in its development. Dave was also involved in the design of several other cartridges during his tenure at Hornady Manufacturing.

It is commonly claimed by retweeting gunwiters that the tighter twist of the 6.5 Creedmoor and its ability to stabilize heavier bullets than the .260 Remington is what gives it the edge. That may be so when used across bush-ranges (≤ 150 yards) and when using 156 – 160 grain bullets. Truth is – nobody uses the Creedmoor in that fashion. The Creedmoor is used across extended ranges in both match and hunting application. It is so rare to find any hunter using bullets heavier than 143 grains for any application, that it can effectively be discounted as an advantage or consideration.

 

The CaB-Ratio of the 6.5 Creedmoor is 71.8 and the Expansion Ratio 7.8. That is middle of the road for both features and translates to reasonable barrel life. The Creedmoor’s CIP ‘S’ measurement or gas turbulence point is inside the case neck – even if barely so. If that is indeed beneficial as claimed by some, I find the position too precariously close (0.03” – 0,76mm) to the mouth to render a truly tangible benefit. An aspect that counts in favour of the Creedmoor is that it usually requires less of a given propellant than the .260 Remington for comparable performance. I compiled a VC Comparison table from the load data tables. According to the data used the Remington requires 2.1% more propellant to achieve a 3 fps (0.11%) velocity advantage. The Creedmoor’s conversion of propellant to velocity (Velocity ÷ Charge) ratio is 1.9% better in the example used. All this means that a 6.5 Creedmoor is the more efficient and that Creedmoor barrels should last to around 2,000 shots in competition and 3,000 for hunting use.

Bullet Propellant   260 Rem 6.5 Creedmoor  
Weight   Type Charge  Velocity V/C  Charge Velocity  V/C
160  H-4350 43.0   2538   59.0  40.6 2500 61.6
150 H-4350   42.0 2635 62.7  41.2 2638 64.0
140 H-4350 42.2 2755 65.3 42.3 2731 64.6
130  H-4350 42.7 2816 65.9  43.0 2800 65.1
120 H-4350 46.5 2960 63.7 45.0  3022 67.2
Average    43.3  2741 63.3  42.4 2738 64.5

 

Performance & Application

 

Handload Performance Figures at 100% Bullet Expansion (24.0” Barrel)

Bullet Velocity Muzzle RTP RTP RTP RTP Recoil
Weight  Threshold Energy Muzzle 100 yd 200 yd 300 yd 8 lb Rifle
160-grain 2,575 fps 2,356 ft/lb 35.1 30.7 26.6 23.0 16.4 ft/lb
156-grain 2,625 fps 2,387 ft/lb 35.6 31.6 28.0 24.7 16.6 ft/lb
150-grain 2,700 fps 2,429 ft/lb 36.2  32.0 28.2 24.7 16.9 ft/lb
143-grain 2,775 fps  2,446 ft/lb 36.5 32.0 27.9 24.3 16.9 ft/lb
140-grain 2,800 fps 2,438 ft/lb 36.4 31.7 27.5 23.8  16.9 ft/lb
135-grain  2,850 fps   2,435 ft/lb 36.3   31.6 27.3 23.5 17.0 ft/lb
130-grain 2,900 fps 2,428 ft/lb  36.4 31.1 26.7 22.7 17.1 ft/lb
123-grain   2,950 fps 2,377 ft/lb 35.5 30.1 25.3 21.2 17.4 ft/lb
120-grain 2,975 fps 2,439 ft/lb 36.4 30.7 25.7 21.4 17.6 ft/lb
110-grain  3,125 fps 2,399 ft/lb  35.6 29.1 23.7 19.1 17.6 ft/lb
100-grain 3,225 fps 2,310 ft/lb 34.4  27.2 21.3 16.5 16.3 ft/lb

 Averaged CSM = 5.29 lb (2,40 kg)

The bullets used for the calculation of the RTP (Relative Trauma Potential), and the Green-Band are quality hunting bullets, not extended range, high ballistic coefficient paper punchers. The hunting bullets used, drop below 2,600 fps at the end of the Red-Band, below 2,200 fps at the end of the Green-Band and below 2,000 fps where the Amber-Band ends.

 

The 6.5 Creedmoor is a great extreme range match cartridge, but for hunting it’s just a 350-yard option and can be stretched to 500 yards given a carefully selected bullet. That disregards my half-second time of flight principle. The needs of hunters differ massively from that of the extended range target shooter. The latter is not at all concerned about terminal ballistics. Their concerns are with external ballistics, not terminal ballistics. Sport shooters want to minimize time of flight, achieve the flattest trajectory possible and extend the supersonic velocity of the bullet as far as possible.

 

Whereas the 140-gr hunting bullet used in the tables fall below 2,000 fps at around 475 yards already and goes subsonic around 1,225 yards. A Berger 140-gr Match Hybrid Target bullet will, for example, only do so at around 585 and 1,575 yards respectively, depending on altitude and atmospheric conditions.

 

Hunters are concerned with reliable expansion, bullet integrity, wound channels and venison destruction. It is so that Karamojo (Walter Bell) hunted elephants with a 6,5mm cartridge in days gone by, but let’s be honest; none of us is Karamojo Bell and times have changed. We should use cartridges within more realistic parameters.

 

A realistic approach is that he 6,5mm cartridges are small game cartridges best suited to species weighing up to 330 lb (150 kg) on the hoof.

Handloading

 

Hornady, Peterson, ADG and Lapua are the leading manufactures of cases for the Creedmoor. Hornady’s have standard large rifle primer pockets while Lapua offers both large and small rifle primer pockets.

 

I am not convinced small primer cases indeed deliver better precision than large primer cases, but as far as I’m concerned, that is only relevant for extreme range precision. Even competitive shooters are at odds about the matter. When you investigate this aspect, it becomes obvious that small primer preferring shooters are pushing the Creedmoor beyond specification. So, we are facing the same

The other big name in the development of the 6.5 Creedmoor was Joe Thielen, also of Hornady. Here Joe is with a nice nyala bull he bagged.

situation with the Creedmoor as the 6mm situation that led to its creation! The high pressures generated by pushing the cartridge beyond specification stretch the primer pockets rather quickly. To strengthen the case head and improve case web integrity, Lapua opted to leave more brass in the area by opting for the smaller primer option. I remain a sceptic.

 

What I can confirm is that case volumetric consistency and case neck tension are major contributors to long-range precision. Lapua cases are extremely consistent out of the box and should be case of choice for the precision shooter. To extract the utmost precision from the 6.5 Creedmoor, rigorous case classification of neck wall consistency and water capacity should be applied. That must be followed by dedicated case preparation steps such as primer pocket uniforming, flash hole deburring, neck turning and regular annealing. So are the use of a top-class press, competition dies and loading techniques.

 

The 6.5 Creedmoor works with a variety of slow-burning propellants in the H-4350 to H-4831 bracket with all bullet weights. Vihtavuori is the one company that developed a dedicated 6.5 Creedmoor propellant: N-555. It burns between the two Hodgdon/ADI propellants mention above.

Bullet  Propellant  Min Max Max Barrel Data
Weight  Type Load Load Velocity Length  Source
160-gr Bullet Accurate AA-4350 37.0 39.8 2450 24.0” Hornady Handbook. 9th Ed. 2012
Alliant Rel-15 34.0 37.2 2450 24.0” Hornady Handbook. 2021
Hodgdon H-4350 37.5 40.6 2500 24.0” Hornady Handbook. 2021
HodgdonVarget 33.4 35.2 2400 24.0” Hornady Handbook. 2021
IMR-4350  37.7 40.5 2600 24.0”  Hornady Handbook. 2021
Norma URP 37.0  39.9 2500 24.0” Hornady Handbook. 2021
Norma N-203 33.6 36.7  2450 24.0” Hornady Handbook. 2021
Ramshot BigGame 36.8 40.2 2500 24.0” Hornady Handbook. 2021
Somchem S-385  41.5   44.0  2600 24.0” Handload. Not pressure tested
Somchem S-361  41.5 43.6 2526  24.0” Handload. Not pressure tested
Somchem S-365 39.9 41.8  2600  24.0” Handload. Not pressure tested
Somchem S-355  34.1 36.4 2525  24.0”  Handload. Not pressure tested
Winchester WW-760 40.0 42.9 2550 24.0” Hornady Handbook. 2021
Winchester WW-748 34.4 36.5 2400 24.0”  Hornady Handbook. 2021​

 

Bio

Pierre van der Walt grew up on a farm and began hunting from a very young age. He was just ten years old when he took part in his first lion hunt and captured a cub to keep as a pet. During the Angolan War, he served as a combat officer, and subsequently qualified as both a lawyer and a professional hunter. He published his first firearm article in 1992 and has since become Africa’s most prolific outdoor writer. In 2023, he was awarded the John T. Amber Literary Prize by the US publication Gun Digest for an article on the history and evolution of Czech hunting rifles. He has published four books that are internationally recognised as definitive works on hunting cartridges within the African context, and co-authored The Complete Professional Hunter’s Handbook, which is used as the official manual for professional hunter training in South Africa.

What was said about –

 

African Small Game Cartridges

African Small Game Cartridges is the third book in the author’s highly acclaimed series on hunting cartridges for Africa. Just like his previous two books (African Dangerous Game Cartridges and African Medium Game Cartridges), African Small Game Cartridges, is the most comprehensive ever discussion of the cartridges covered.

 

Like the previous books, it is destined to become yet another reference standard, which will serve the international and African hunting, shooting and reloading fraternities for decades. A generous part of African Small Game Cartridges is dedicated to relevant topics such as barrel life, understanding riflescopes, suppressors, and ballistic coefficients.

 

This coffee table quality reference work extends 480 pages with 350 excellent full colour images and countless performance tables of Africa’s 33 currently most popular .172, .224, 6mm, .257 and 6,5mm hunting cartridges. It takes readers on a grand tour of their history, specifica tions, design features, performance and field application, as well as the reloading quirks of each of these cartridges. African Small Game Cartridges provides unequalled data – around 7,200 loads for American, Australian, African, European and Scandinavian propellants.

 

International experts have made the following comments about this book

 

Johan van Wyk (Australia),Editor of SA Hunter magazine

Hunters and shooters are constantly bombarded by marketing onslaughts from all corners, each pretending to be punting the greatest cartridge or item. While progress cannot be halted, we need to sort the wheat from the chaff, especially for the more novice amongst us. With two authoritative books already under his belt, Pierre van der Walt is well qualified to not only steer the inexperienced in the right direction, but to also provide plenty of food for thought for the experienced. I unreservedly give African Small Game Cartridges the thumbs-up. It is well researched and a worthy addition to any shooter’s gunroom.

 

Mats Bergholm (Sweden) Weapon Systems Expert – Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV)

Pierre van der Walt has done it yet again! His first book, African Dangerous Game Cartridges, is the definitive tome about calibers for Africa’s biggest and deadliest. This book, African Small Game Cartridges, Pierre’s third, is nothing short of a masterpiece. It covers the tiniest ‘African’ calibers, but it is as fascinating from a northern European perspective. The calibers presented also cover calibres used for northern European game hunting, from grouse to elk and non-Africa focused hunters world-wide will benefit equally from this book’s overabundance of information. It fits just as well as a coffee table book in a Swedish moose hunting lodge as it does at a game lodge on the banks of the Limpopo River.

 

Ira Larivers (Zimbabwe) Editor African Hunter Magazine

Unequalled! The subject matter in this book fills a gap in Africana and international literature. The fact that it was written by the master of the genre, Pierre van der Walt, makes it essential reading. Apart from crucial calibre choices, he also covers many other important topics. Everything is very well presented. It includes a detailed appraisal of the 33 Africa popular small game cartridges, plus some lesser-known gems such as the .224 African. African Small Game Cartridges offers unprecedented cutting-edge information and a myriad of high-quality photos in a lasting format. Don’t miss out.

Purchase a copy of African Small Game Cartridges for $89 + shipping. Email gerda@pierrevanderwalt.com

Rigby’s Trafalgar: 250 Years Celebrated Aboard Historic Warships

Jun 13, 2025 | News, Product News

In the storied annals of British gunmaking, certain evenings stand apart as a defining moment that captures not merely a celebration of heritage, but the vibrant promise of a tradition reborn. The recent 250th anniversary celebrations of John Rigby & Co., held aboard HMS Victory and HMS Warrior in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, constituted precisely such an occasion, a magnificent testament to a company that has not only survived two and a half centuries but has emerged from periods of uncertainty to reclaim its position at the pinnacle of global gunmaking.

 

The evening of May 16th, 2025, saw an impressive gathering of the international hunting and shooting fraternity against the backdrop of a perfect English spring evening, with clear skies and a gentle breeze setting an auspicious tone for the celebrations. Notable attendees included America’s first son, Donald Trump Jr., Nigel Farage MP and several Middle Eastern dignitaries including two Crown Princes. The guest list read like a who’s who of the gun and hunting world, with representatives from premier gunmaking houses across Britain and Europe, alongside celebrated gun writers and correspondents from publications spanning five continents.

 

Managing Director Marc Newton, the visionary who has helmed Rigby’s remarkable resurgence over the past twelve years, welcomed guests to the event beneath the shadow of HMS Victory, a vessel that shares the date it was ordered by the Royal Navy with the births of Rigby’s founder, John Rigby and Lord Admiral Nelson, all three in the same year of 1758. This poignant connection between three enduring British treasures set the tone for an evening choreographed with military precision, yet infused with the warmth and camaraderie that has characterised the Rigby experience throughout its history.

 

“Twelve years ago, Rigby in the UK was nothing more than some ideas in my head and a box of papers in my car,” Newton told the 250 assembled guests below whilst standing upon the poop deck of HMS Victory, his voice momentarily catching with emotion. “To see it now, to see all of you here, not as a group of individuals, but as one unified Rigby family, is without question the proudest moment of my professional career.”

The evening commenced with a tour of HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, where Rigby craftsmen and women demonstrated traditional gunmaking techniques amidst the atmospheric surroundings of the low oak-beamed gun decks. Visitors marveled as master engravers, stockers, and action filers practiced their art in the same candlelit conditions that would have illuminated Nelson’s quarters, creating a tangible link between past and present expressions of British craftsmanship.

 

At precisely 7:30 pm, one of the evening’s most emblematic moments unfolded as Melissa Rigby, a direct descendant of founder John Rigby, proudly carried the company’s banner at the head of a spectacular procession. She was followed by the Waterloo Band and Bugles of the 7th Battalion The Rifles and the Pipes and Drums of the London Scottish Regiment, with the specially commissioned “John Rigby’s Gunmakers March” filling the evening air. Composed by Pipe Major John Calum MacKenzie, this stirring piece celebrated “the craft of gunmaking and the pride Rigby has in continuing the long line of tradition, whilst striving for betterment and progression in the industry.”

The transition from Victory to Warrior represented Rigby’s evolution through the Victorian era, a period that saw the company develop some of its most iconic firearms innovations. These included the famous Rising Bite action that continues to inspire awe among hunters and collectors today and the indomitable .416 Rigby cartridge.

 

The evening’s program unfolded with characteristic Rigby panache, each element meticulously planned to balance historical reverence with forward-looking optimism. A Spitfire display represented another apex of British engineering excellence, not one but two of these iconic fighter’s graceful elliptical wings and thunderous Merlin engines providing a perfect aerial complement to the naval setting below, bathed in evening sunlight.

 

Throughout the event, The Company of Pikemen and Musketeers of the Honourable Artillery Company, dressed and equipped as they would have been in the 17th and 18th centuries, provided a living tableau of the martial traditions that influenced early gunmaking. Their presence offered guests a window into the era of Rigby’s founding, creating a seamless connection between the company’s origins and its present.

 

Newton’s speech aboard HMS Warrior elegantly connected Rigby’s Victorian-era innovations with Britain’s role in shaping the modern world. “No country on earth has shaped the modern world quite like Britain has,” he observed, “with the Victorians spearheading this remarkable period of human advancement.”

 

The dinner service aboard Warrior’s gun deck was a masterclass in quality British fare, featuring new English asparagus with Dorset crab, braised wild fallow shank and a prune and Armagnac Bakewell tart, all paired with exquisite wine. Even here, the connection to authentic British tradition was unmistakable, with dishes that honoured both naval and hunting heritage washed down with some quality left bank claret, for good measure.

 

John Henderson, recently appointed as Managing Director of Holland & Holland, commented: “The Rigby journey has been a very impressive one. Being friends with Marc Newton for several years now, it is not surprising to see what he and the whole Rigby team have achieved, in the successful turnaround of their iconic British brand. Being brave, creative and hard working is no doubt a huge part of this success story.”

Earlier that week, Rigby hosted three exclusive VIP banquets in Nelson’s cabin aboard HMS Victory, where celebrated Michelin-starred game chef Mike Robinson served five sumptuous courses as the company unveiled its Victory Edition rifles. These unique masterpieces incorporate oak reclaimed from the oldest sections of HMS Victory whilst undergoing restoration. In the spirit of Rigby boyish fun, the theatrical ordering process became a spectacle unto itself. Each order was confirmed and celebrated as the customer shouted “Fire!” through Nelson’s cabin window to Lieutenant Colonel Simon West, who stood ready with a period cannon below. The resulting blasts proved so enthusiastic and numerous that the police on the naval base eventually halted proceedings at 11pm on the first night after receiving noise complaints from as far away as Southampton.

“The oak ‘V’ for ‘Victory’ you see inlaid by hand into the forend once formed part of this historic vessel,” Newton revealed to his inner sanctum of Rigby customers. “It has absorbed the footfalls of Admiral Lord Nelson, weathered fierce Atlantic gales, and trembled with the thunder of cannon fire that changed the course of nations.”

 

This masterstroke of brand alignment, connecting Rigby with perhaps the most iconic vessel in British naval history, exemplifies the company’s genius for blending heritage with innovation. Five percent of proceeds from each Victory Edition rifle will support Victory’s ongoing restoration, creating a virtuous circle between these two legendary institutions forever.

 

Donald Trump Jr., a notable hunter and Rigby owner, was among the first to place an order and fire the cannon to confirm a Victory Edition. “What Rigby has accomplished this week isn’t just about celebrating history, it’s about making history,” he commented.

 

On the Friday night celebrations, Nigel Farage told the MailOnline: “Don Jnr is a Rigby customer, a great British firm celebrating their 250th anniversary. I support manufacturing excellence.”

 

What is perhaps most prodigious about the evening’s gathering, and indeed Rigby’s broader renaissance, is the attention the company has attracted to British gunmaking as a whole. The presence of global political figures, business leaders and heads of state from multiple nations represents a significant shift in how traditional gunmaking is perceived in the contemporary public eye. Rather than being relegated to museums or the nostalgic reminiscences of aging enthusiasts, Rigby has successfully positioned fine gunmaking and adventure as a living, thriving art form worthy of recognition at the highest levels of international society.

 

“What we’re witnessing is nothing short of a coup for the entire British gun trade,” observed Paul Roberts, former owner of Rigby and a veteran of the British gun trade. “When Crown Princes and political figures from across the globe travel to celebrate a gunmaker’s anniversary, they’re not just honoring Rigby, they’re elevating the perception of our entire industry. This kind of visibility creates a rising tide to lift all ships.”

 

The recognition from such prominent figures sends a powerful message about the cultural and economic significance of traditional gunmaking in modern Britain. In an era when much manufacturing has been outsourced to cheaper labor markets, Rigby’s success demonstrates that there remains substantial demand for authentically British-made guns of exceptional quality, a message that resonates far beyond the gun trade itself. Several attendees from adjacent luxury industries, including yacht building, watchmaking and bespoke tailoring, noted that Rigby’s example provides a blueprint for preserving and promoting traditional British craftsmanship on the global stage.

 

Throughout the evening, conservation emerged hand in hand with gunmaking as a central theme, reflecting Rigby’s long-standing commitment to wildlife preservation. Newton spoke eloquently about the company’s contributions to conservation initiatives worldwide, noting that over the past decade, Rigby has channeled more than one million dollars of its own funds into vital conservation projects across the globe.

 

This commitment was further exemplified in the evening’s gifts to guests, 250 unique bracelets crafted from melted-down snares recovered from African bushland. Created in partnership with Blood Origins, these Rigby branded mementos transformed implements of destruction into symbols of conservation, with proceeds supporting anti-poaching initiatives worldwide.

 

For many attendees, the celebrations marked the culmination of Rigby’s extraordinary comeback story, a narrative chronicled in the newly released book “Rigby Resurrection” by Newton and firearms historian Diggory Hadoke. Limited to 1,000 numbered copies, the 350-page tome documents the company’s journey from near-extinction to its current status as Britain’s most prolific creator of Best guns and rifles.

 

It was clear on this special evening that Rigby has achieved something remarkable in not merely surviving but thriving in an era when traditional craftsmanship faces unprecedented challenges. The company now employs more gunmakers than at any point in its history, with production levels that would have been unimaginable a decade ago, all while maintaining the exacting standards that define a true “Best” gun.

Following an after dinner speech given by The Right Honourable The Earl of Yarmouth, the evening built toward its spectacular conclusion. Guests were ushered to the upper deck of HMS Warrior where the night sky awaited transformation. The air was filled with the stirring sounds of traditional Scottish pieces including “Highland Cathedral” and “79th Farewell to Gibraltar” performed by the Pipes and Drums of the London Scottish Regiment in their distinctive Hodden Grey tartan.

 

The musical program culminated in a stirring rendition of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” , a piece that could not have found a more fitting setting than aboard a historic warship of the same era. In a display of coordinated precision, the climactic cannon fire in the score was provided by actual artillery pieces operated by The Garrison Artillery Volunteers, while members of the Honourable Artillery Company’s Pikemen and Musketeers discharged period-accurate muskets from a flying bridge over the deck in perfect time with the music.

This spectacle served as the prelude to a firework display of such magnificent scale that, according to local reports, it was visible across much of Hampshire. Against the backdrop of Portsmouth Harbour, illuminated rockets and cascades of golden light and Rigby blue reflected off the water’s surface, creating an ephemeral cathedral of fire and light that served as a fitting tribute to a company whose own creations have always balanced artistry with function.

 

As the final embers of the fireworks faded into the night sky, the assembled guests were left with a sense that they had witnessed not merely a celebration of the past, but a bold statement about the

future of British gunmaking. In an age of increasing automation and declining appreciation for traditional craftsmanship, Rigby stands as a beacon of excellence, proof that the values that built Britain’s reputation for manufacturing superiority remain not just relevant but vital. This evening transcended merely gunmaking and was truly a celebration of British craftsmanship, export, engineering and success.

 

“This celebration marks not just our past, but the beginning of our next chapter,” Newton told guests in his closing remarks. “To everyone who has contributed to making Rigby what it is today and what it will become tomorrow – thank you.”

 

What makes Rigby’s achievement particularly noteworthy is that it represents not a nostalgic recreation of past glories, but a vibrant, forward-looking enterprise that has reimagined the very concept of a British gunmaking house for the 21st century. While competitors have often defaulted to ever-decreasing production and ever-increasing prices, Rigby has pursued a more ambitious path, expanding its model range, investing in apprenticeships and embracing modern marketing with the help of world renowned communications agency Tweed Media. Rigby has now cultivated a global community of enthusiasts who see themselves as part of the “Rigby family.”

 

As the evening drew to a close with the haunting notes of a lone piper echoing across the historic dockyard, one could not help but feel that Rigby has accomplished something extraordinary, not merely surviving for 250 years, but emerging from recent decades of uncertainty to establish itself as the pre-eminent Best gunmaker in the world. The night’s celebrations didn’t just honor a historic milestone; they declared in spectacular fashion that for British gunmaking, the golden age need not be confined to the past.

 

Those fortunate enough to witness this remarkable event departed with the understanding that they had participated in a defining moment for the British gun trade, one that positions Rigby not just as a custodian of tradition, but as a standard-bearer for a vibrant and sustainable future where craftsmanship, innovation and its people continue to flourish. The so-called “good old days” of British gunmaking may be fondly remembered, but as Rigby demonstrated with unmistakable clarity, the best days may still lie ahead.

Tanzanian Chui

Apr 24, 2025 | Hunting Stories, News

By T.J. Schwanky

The plan was perfect; we’d slipped into the blind during the pre-dawn darkness with minimal fuss and now all we had to do was wait for the sun to rise. The big male leopard had been showing up on the trail camera just before dawn and feeding well into the morning. It all seemed pretty easy. Perhaps too easy. Chui has a way of changing plans.

 

It was still an hour before legal light when we heard a thump on the ground in front of the blind. I looked over to Vanessa, and even in the near pitch-black, I could see her eyes get wide. It sounded like the leopard had just jumped out of the tree. Night hunting for leopards is illegal in Tanzania, so it really changes the game. We were filming the hunt for our television series, Outdoor Quest TV, and I was in the role of hunter and Vanessa was running camera. Capturing a leopard kill in broad daylight seemed a tall order, but our PHs Stephan Stamm and Paddy Curtis were confident we could get it done. They average around 90% success on leopards, and getting a daylight kill on film was going to be no problem according to them.

 

It was eerily quiet in the blind. The doves had yet to begin their morning serenade, and even with my gunshot ears, I could hear the soft sounds of an animal padding over the ground as it walked past us. We were right on a hippo trail, but this definitely wasn’t a hippo. I looked back at Paddy but his ears were worse than mine, and he sat blissfully unaware. Vanessa, however, was at full alert. The animal walked down the hippo trail toward the Rufiji River, and soon the sound was gone. Both Vanessa and I took a first breath in what seemed like several minutes. Had the leopard sensed our presence and vacated the tree? Was it just going down to the river for a drink? There were so many possibilities, and only when the sun peeked over the eastern horizon would we get our answers; or so we thought.

 

It was about 30 minutes later when we heard the raspy breathing. Vanessa was in the side of the blind closest to the trail, and through the thatched wall, I could see the broken outline of an animal. It was quite literally inches away from Vanessa, with only the branches and leaves of the crudely constructed blind separating them. I had no doubt it was chui. The next move was his. Each movement of the second hand on my watch seemed to take minutes. We were all frozen still, and no one even took a breath. I’m not sure who we thought we were fooling. The leopard knew exactly what we were, but all we could do was remain still and silent and pray.

 

We never heard the leopard move off, but a minute or so later he let out a number of guttural grunts a few yards in front of the blind. He continued to grunt as he moved up the dry wash, away from the tree. The leopard had let us know he was in control, and as the sun began to rise and the doves welcomed the morning, none of us were surprised that the tree was empty.

 

We were on a two-week safari with Heritage Safaris Tanzania in the famed Selous Game Reserve, and had hippo, buff, leopard and some plains game on our list. Buffalo was definitely at the top, but after walking about 20 miles the first couple of days and being outsmarted several times by big bulls, we ran into a good hippo bull in a postage-stamp-sized puddle, miles from the river. While hippo was on my list, I had reservations about how I’d feel taking one in the deep water, so when this one presented itself, basically on dry land, I wasn’t about to look a gift hippo in the mouth. We were able to stalk to within about 80 yards, but ran out of cover, so I had a decision to make. I set the .375 H&H up on the sticks and managed to lean my body against an adjacent tree. The crosshairs on the scope were rock-steady. I found the sweet spot just behind the big bull’s eye and, as the rifle recoiled I quickly regained my sight picture, but there was nothing there. Stephan urged me to shoot him again, and after seeing the bull had fallen right in his track, I put a second round into his spine for insurance. There was no need for it, but insurance on dangerous game is never a bad idea.

It was pretty amazing taking a hippo so far inland, and it was truly amazing seeing the impact they had on the habitat. I had no idea that hippos were such voracious grazers on land and how much they competed with other grazers like buffalo and plains game. Along most of the river, the grass was grazed right down to the dirt for several miles inland, entirely by the hippos. The Rufiji is home to thousands of hippos, and from what we saw, their management is critical to the long-term survival of all the grazers in the area. We saw dozens of hippo skeletons up on the plains during our hunt. Most had starved to death during a drought two years previously. We now had some camp meat and leopard bait as well. We’d been in short supply of both.

 

Vanessa was next up, and she had buffalo in her sights. While buffalo were plentiful, as were good-quality bulls, opportunity was not. We spent the bulk of our time in some dried-up river channels where the buffalo would come to lie in the cool sand in the afternoons, but they would spend the remainder of the day in the thick adjacent cover. We tracked numerous bulls and got to within 20 yards several times, but a shot opportunity just never presented itself. In the 100-degree heat and high humidity, it was hard to keep hydrated, but we kept up the pace, covering 15-20 miles a day.

 

It was on our fifth day that preparation and opportunity finally came together. We’d done yet another morning march through the thick cover and tall elephant grass, and got so close once that we could hear several bulls chewing – but again no opportunity for a shot was presented. It was as we were walking back to the Cruiser that we ran into three bulls in the riverbed. Our tracker, Karlos, quickly evaluated the bulls and got Vanessa on the sticks. She wasted no time sending a 250-grain bullet on its way, and the big bull reeled at the impact but spun hard and ran before Vanessa could get another shot into him. Karlos tapped his side and gave Vanessa a thumbs up. The shot had been good.

 

Blood was sparse but the trail was easy enough to follow, and of course it led into the thick stuff almost immediately. We could hear the bulls and see movement, but there was no way to tell which bull Vanessa’s was. Paddy suggested we wait a bit and let things settle down before following the blood trail any further. It was sage advice from a veteran PH who had followed up many bulls in the long grass.

Sweat stung our eyes as we inched through the heavy thorn brush. Paddy, Stephan and Vanessa all had their rifles at the ready. We had no doubt the big bull would not go far, but we also knew he would position himself to take on anything following his trail. About 20 minutes into the trail the blood stopped. Paddy took one of the trackers and headed right, and Vanessa and Stephan went left. The buff was running out of cover and we knew he was close. Whatever was going to happen, was going to happen soon. Then a shot rang out about 20 yards to our right. And a second. Then all was quiet. A million scenarios rushed through our minds until Paddy called out. They’d found the bull down in his bed and put a couple of insurance shots in him. Vanessa had her very hard-earned bull, and he was magnificent.

 

We spent the next four days searching for a bull for me. I came close many times, but either the bull just wasn’t what I was looking for or I just couldn’t seal the deal. And then, when Lady Luck did decide to grace us with her presence, it was in a most interesting way. We’d just stopped for mid-morning coffee under the shade of a big sausage tree when our game scout came running over, pointing to the south. We peeked around the tree and saw a herd of about 200 buffalo moving our way across an open plain. It was an amazing sight as they plodded along, a dust plume rising behind them. They were undoubtedly headed to the river to water, and Stephan urged us to grab our gear, so we could try to cut them off.

We worked through the heavy cover along a side channel of the river, but as we’d learned by now, the wind was anything but consistent, and as I felt a breeze caress the back of my neck, I knew the gig was up. We never heard them run off, but as we looked south, there was a huge dust cloud on the horizon. The buffalo had wasted no time getting out of Dodge. We returned to finish our coffee.

 

Before we could pack up after coffee, one of the trackers came running and indicated the buffalo were back, so we grabbed our rifles and headed off in their direction. The wind was swirling madly as it did every afternoon, but we had nothing to lose and soon we had managed to sneak right into the middle of the herd. We were surrounded by buffalo, but had only seen two good bulls in the group, and finding them in the heavy cover was going to be nearly impossible. My heart raced as buffalo moved all around us, many less than 15 yards away. It was exhilarating, but it was dangerous, too. If any of the buff took a dislike to us so close, someone was going to get hurt. Dangerous-game hunting is the ultimate adrenaline rush, and it makes otherwise rational people do irrational things. And, being right in the middle of 200 agitated buffalo was about as irrational as it gets.

 

Suddenly, the wind swirled hard and the buffalo bolted for the open. We followed. It was a mass of black bodies all moving as one, and I struggled to locate one of the bulls but then, as if on cue, the mass separated and a big bull emerged to challenge us. He stood facing us, his head held high in defiance. I asked Vanessa if she had him in the video camera. She did. I slipped the safety forward on the .375 and found the bull’s chest in the crosshairs. It literally felt like time stood still and that I was the only one in motion. I’m sure it was only a second or two, but it seemed to take minutes for the crosshairs to settle. If time did indeed stand still, the report of the .375 put it back in motion. The big bull humped up at the impact of the bullet and ran off with the herd. With so many buffalo running over its track, it was going to be difficult to follow up.

Much to my relief, we found blood in the first 20 yards, a sure sign the bull was badly injured and unable to keep up with the rest. The blood trail was heavy, and within 90 yards we found him down in the trees. A little insurance, and I too had my buffalo.

 

Time was growing short, and while we had plenty of leopards on bait, there were no big males coming during daylight hours. Stephan suggested we hunt some plains game for more bait for some new areas. I’d had my eye on a Nyassa wildebeest since we’d arrived, and after several botched attempts, I managed to take a nice bull. We wasted no time setting up four new baits, and by the next day three of them had been hit, including one by a nice male leopard, well after sunrise. With only two days remaining in the hunt, we decided to sit the next morning.

This time, however, we made plenty of noise as we approached the blind in the darkness. If the leopard was in the tree, we planned to scare it off, with the hopes it would return later after the Cruiser had left. Sneaking in definitely hadn’t worked earlier in the hunt. We still had about two hours before legal shooting time, but we wanted to be well settled and ready in case the leopard returned in the dark.

 

The doves had already begun their morning serenade when we heard a bushbuck bark in the riverbed below. It left little doubt in our minds the leopard was near, but as the sun continued to rise in the east, there was no sign of Mr. Spots. It looked as though it was going to be a no-show. Then, like an apparition, he jumped up on the trunk of the tree. I nudged Vanessa to push the record button on the camera. The leopard just stood there still, looking directly at the blind. None of us dared move. I had the rifle barrel supported by a rope but still needed to bring the stock to my shoulder. The leopard leapt up into the tree closer to the bait, but still showed no interest in it. He remained focused on our blind. It was as though he was looking directly into my eyes. Then he turned his head, and I slowly began to raise the rifle to my shoulder. But the leopard looked back, and I stopped. Sweat dripped into my eyes, but I dared not wipe them.

 

It was nearly five minutes before the leopard turned his head again. I was matching his patience, but my arm was now shaking from being frozen in one position so long. I lifted the rifle up, and found the familiar spot on my shoulder. I’d heard so many tales of missed and wounded leopards that I began to question my ability, despite the crosshairs being locked solidly on the leopard. There was no way I could screw this up, I thought to myself. But then I remembered that chui has a way of making his own rules. My finger tightened on the trigger. The crosshairs never wavered. At the shot, the leopard leaped high in the air and then hit the ground hard on his back. There was no way he was running off after taking that hit with the .375… but he did.

 

Paddy put his hand on my shoulder but we all knew this wasn’t over until it was over. Stephan radioed the trackers and they quickly showed up, shotguns in hand. There was no celebrating, no congratulations offered. They were all business. They’d all been on wounded leopard tracks and knew the gravity of the situation. I slipped another round in the .375 and we took up the track. The blood trail was massive, and within 20 yards we found the leopard… very dead!

 

Seasoned African hunters look at you differently when you tell them you’ve hunted Tanzania. Many say that you’ve got to experience real Africa. The truth is, all of Africa is real, it’s just in different states of development or political chaos. Tanzania, however, is raw Africa. While much has changed, much hasn’t. This is a place where things can and often do go wrong. It’s a place where insurance shots are a way of life…preserving life that is. I consider myself blessed to have experienced the Selous. With talk of hydro dams on the Rufiji River and settlements to go with them, it likely won’t be this raw forever. Hunting anywhere in Africa changes you, but hunting Tanzania lets you experience Africa in its most raw and untamed form. I suppose it’s a bit like experiencing old Africa – or at least as old as it can be in the 21st century.

Bio

TJ Schwanky is host of Canada’s longest-running television hunting series, Outdoor Quest TV and an award-winning author. He’s hunted on six continents and has been to Africa for 11 safaris, and will be returning again.

One for the Road

Dec 5, 2024 | Hunting Stories, News

Masailand, 2006.  A scene that could have occurred in 1906, or 1806, or… But memories are more real than any photograph.

By Terry Wieland

 

Dreaming, Remembering, Reliving

 

Three levels of fantasy

 

In a column for Esquire in 1935, called “Monologue to the Maestro: A High Seas Letter,” Ernest Hemingway reflected on the mechanics of writing and, in particular, how to recreate action so as to have your reader experience it as you did.

 

The key, he told the Maestro— “Mice,” for short, a young man who’d traveled to Key West to seek advice from the master—is to relive the event, isolate the specific thing that caused your emotion and, if you then describe it truly enough, you will evoke the same emotion in your reader.  Hemingway’s example was watching the fishing line strip as a big fish ran, and the line rising into the air and squeezing out the water so it hung in drops, refracting the sunlight.

 

I read that first in 1977—I can remember exactly where and when, but I won’t belabor it—and took it to heart as I attempted to write serious literature in the years that followed.  First, I learned that reliving, and simply remembering, are two different things.  Those who relive and then recreate, on paper, are a world away from those who merely remember and describe.

 

For the record, the former is exhausting.  At the end of a morning, you may be completely wrung out and have one short paragraph to show for it. The latter is considerably less taxing, depending on the writer’s determination to do it well, which is why we have good writers, bad writers, and those who should never touch a keyboard.

 

In 1988, I hunted Alaska brown bears on Montague Island and, some months later, attempted to recreate the incident in a magazine article.  It entailed less than 60 seconds of action as the bear came in fast, responding to a deer call, and finally dropped, five shots later, with its neck broken.  In attempting to relive that event, I learned that one can, through a process almost of self-hypnosis, relive something but (in my case at least) one can do it only three times.  After the third time, it becomes merely remembering.

 

Something similar occurred, attempting to relive a very hot few moments with a Cape buffalo high on Mount Longido in 1993.

 

Sometime in the early 1970s, Gene Hill, who wrote for Guns & Ammo and later for Field & Stream, made a safari in Kenya.  He loved Africa, and after he got home he kept his bags still partly packed with his Africa gear, just in case he got a last-minute invitation to return.  This remained in his closet until after Kenya closed hunting in 1977 and he knew he would never go back—not, at least, to the places he’d been and remembered with a fondness so fierce it resembled Humbert Humbert’s feelings for Lolita.

 

Hill, an extremely gifted writer, wrote about finally unpacking his things, surrendering to the reality that the dream could never come true.  Not now.  The Kenya he’d hunted, and experienced, and grown to love, was gone.  All he had left were dreams.  At least, he called them dreams.

 

Reading that piece, now almost 50 years later, I began reflecting on the difference between dreams—anticipation of things that may never come—and memories—recollection of things that really happened.  And, finally, the reliving of an event the way Hemingway described it.

 

As age has crept up on me, I find myself, usually in the early afternoon, feeling the need to sprawl in a nice chair and close my eyes, just for a bit.  Very rarely do I actually fall asleep, so this hardly qualifies as the much-storied “nap.”  I do, however, descend the cosmic stairs toward nap-dom, one step at a time, and occasionally enter a realm, in the infinitesimal interface between sleeping and waking, that is like time travel.

 

It’s not a dream and it’s never long; it’s a snatch, a snippet—a glimpse at a real place, that I really experienced, years before.  The glimpse is brief, but so intense as to be almost painful.  The water of the lake is real water, the smell of the juniper is real, and the ferns in the hot sun.  Rarely is there any action, just a vivid image lasting only seconds, after which I always jerk back to consciousness, and I am often panting.

 

Never having been hypnotized, I can’t say if this is similar.  From what I’ve read, it appears to be.  Sometimes I can sort of will it to happen, but more often as I drift off my mind wanders and suddenly, there I am—in a tent in Africa in the early morning, with the ever-present cooing of doves, or walking into a biltong shop in Pretoria and smelling the droewors.  And the smell of treated canvas, like old tents?  Back in the army, back in a campground at the age of eight, back in the Okavango.  Could be any of them.  Ah, but that old canvas smell!

 

Sometimes it can be sparked by a whiff of gunpowder or, more usually, a spice.  The merest sniff of cumin and other, mysterious, spices can put me back in the open market in Kampala in 1971— a world that has truly disappeared—and the smell of creosote, well, we won’t go into that.  But if you can’t imagine creosote as an aphrodisiac, think again.

 

The most famous instance of this phenomenon in literature is Marcel Proust and his taste of a madeleine cake dipped in lime tea that brought forth all the memories recounted in Remembrance of Things Past—all seven wondrous volumes—and in the outdoor field, closer to home, Robert Ruark’s The Old Man and the Boy series in Field & Stream in the 1950s.

 

Memories sparked by an aroma are, of course, a different thing than the deliberate drawing of one’s self back into an event in order to isolate the emotional center, à la Hemingway.  In that case, I found, if you do it only twice, leaving the third and last time for a later date, then you always have it, like a diamond tucked away for safe keeping.  It’s always available to be taken out and relived, but you never do it, because then you wouldn’t have it anymore.

 

This is, I know, a long way from Gene Hill’s Field & Stream column about dreaming of Africa, and remembering, and—in his case—regretting that which once was and would never be again.

 

The truth is, and I hate having to quote Thomas Wolfe, who wrote only one memorable thing in his word-drenched life, and that a title, but you can’t go home again.  No, really, you can’t.  Many have tried, and maybe that’s why children today never want to leave home in the first place.  But once gone, we quickly learn that what we left ceased to exist the moment we left it.

 

My Kampala of 1971, or Nairobi of 1972, or even, most recently, 1999.  The Okavango in 1990?  The Rift in 2006?  Gawd, I even remember when downtown Johannesburg was a pleasant place, and the Carlton Hotel in the center of town, with its pinball arcade in the bottom floor, attracted the little black African kids off the street, and they would challenge us to pinball matches and always win.  They were pinball wizards worthy of The Who, and I learned a few words of Xhosa and Zulu, long since buried, and I wonder where they are now?

 

One time, I caught a whiff of woodsmoke and was instantly transported to a campfire outside Gaborone, grilling mutton on sticks.  I want to say the wood then was acacia, and there are varieties of acacia in America, so the firewood must have been some of that.  Where it came from I have no idea, and it passed as quickly as it came.  More’s the pity.

 

Speaking of wood, sand a piece of walnut and you’ll find me back in my parents’ basement in the 1960s, refinishing the stock on a Cooey .22.  Or melt some linotype for bullets and I’ll be in the composing room of the newspaper where I started out way back when, and everything will be bright in spring and everything will be possible, because that’s the way it is when you’re 19.

 

They say your sense of smell is the strongest link to memory, and I have found nothing to dispute that.  Hearing—music—is a distant second, while sight and touch do not figure at all.

 

What I’ve learned from all this is that our memories long outlast even the most pleasurable experience.  They are a world, however, that most people never bother to really, truly, explore.  Which is unfortunate cuz, I hate to tell you, eventually that’s all you’ll have, and a little practice ahead of time never hurts.  It’s all I have left of the Africa I knew.

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