Jun 13, 2018 | News, On Ammo
Ammo Column 23.4
Wieland
February 28, 2018
MATCHING THE BULLET TO THE SITUATION
Every year, the SHOT Show produces a stream of new-product announcements — before, during, and after. Predictably, many have to do with bullets and ammunition, and this year was no exception. It would be impossible to cover them all at one time, so we shall pick and choose our topics.
One of my all-time favorite bullet makers is Sierra, originally of California but now located in Sedalia, Missouri. Sierra was one of the early specialist companies founded after 1945. Others were Speer, Nosler, and Hornady. Since then, each has carved out a specific niche, although in recent years all except Sierra have branched out into related parts of the industry.
While Nosler and Hornady have added brass, loaded ammunition, and even — in Nosler’s case — complete rifles to their lines, and Speer has become part of a major conglomerate (Vista, née ATK), Sierra has stuck to its original plan: Making the finest match and hunting bullets they possibly can.
As with others in the industry, the SHOT Show produced a new-product announcement from Sierra: Seven new bullets in their renowned “MatchKing” series. These range from a 95-grain .224 to a 230-grain .308. All are aimed at the semi-booming “long range” market. At first glance, this would seem to have little impact on hunters. After all, no one hunts with these bullets, or even with rifles that can accommodate them.
Over the years, Sierra’s unquestioned prowess in making match bullets has spilled over into a reputation for hunting bullets that are among the most accurate in the field. In turn, however, this has tended to relegate Sierra’s GameKing bullets to also-ran status in the headlong rush to adopt “premium” hunting bullets for all applications. This, I believe, is a mistake.
Since 1990 — and I plead guilty on all counts — hunting writers have promoted tougher bullets that hold together, retain their weight, and penetrate. This is unlike many factory bullets from large companies — Winchester and Remington particularly — which at times seemed to evaporate on impact. Names like Trophy Bonded (now owned by Federal), Swift A-Frames, and Woodleighs took over as the bullets for the cognoscenti, and Sierras and Hornadys fell from grace.
I am still all for a bullet that holds together and penetrates, but just as there is such a thing as a bullet that is too soft, there are also bullets that are too tough. On impact with smaller animals, they behave like a solid, don’t open up, and zip on through, causing little immediate damage and leaving no blood trail.
In Africa, there are all kinds of animals that can and should be hunted using bullets that will open up more readily. Thomson’s gazelles, Grant’s gazelles, duikers, impalas, reedbuck, bushbuck — all are small, lightly constructed animals that present little resistance, and without resistance, no bullet opens up.
John Taylor was among the African hunters who insisted that, on such animals, no bullet was superior to a pure lead projectile (in black-powder days) and later, one that showed “a lot of blue” in the nose. The latter is a bullet with a light jacket and a good deal of lead showing, promoting rapid expansion.
Generally speaking, the Sierra GameKings are “soft” softs, whereas a bullet like the Nosler Partition or Swift A-Frame could be called a “hard” soft. GameKings open up reliably at lower velocities. This lower velocity could be the result of starting out slower or striking the animal at longer range. Regardless, it’s all to the good, and combined with Sierra’s consistently dependable accuracy, provides all-around loads that perform a multitude of tasks reliably.
Although Sierra has never produced loaded ammunition, more and more ammunition companies are loading Sierras as a “premium” load. Usually, these are MatchKings, in match ammunition, but sometimes they do it to provide a hunting load like those described above. HSM in Montana is one such.
I doubt that anyone at Sierra is losing sleep because its bullets are more associated with match shooting and ultra-accuracy than with hunting. In this age of long-range tack drivers, that’s an excellent reputation to have. I just hope they never decide to abandon the hunting market, because several of their bullets are among my favorites.
One bullet that should be noted is the .375 300-grain GameKing spitzer boat-tail. That bullet was developed long, long ago, specifically for the .378 Weatherby, as a long-range projectile for soft-skinned game. Essentially, it was to provide the same service as a 250- or 270-grain bullet in the .375 H&H, and it was practically unique in that regard.
There may have been no new hunting bullets in this year’s offerings from Sierra but, to the best of my knowledge, they did not discontinue any of my favorite bullets, of which there are a couple of dozen. And as long as Sierra continues to refine its match bullets, we can expect their game bullets to be pulled along in the slipstream, getting better all the time.
Mar 2, 2018 | News, On Ammo
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Based on Chris and Mathilde Stuart’s book, “Game Animals of the World,” published by African Hunting Gazette, here’s everything hunters need to know about the Giant (Lord Derby’s) Eland
English: Giant (Lord Derby’s) Eland
Latin: Tragelaphus (Taurotragus) derbianus
German: Riesen-Elenantilope
French: Éland de Derby
Spanish: Gran elán Africano
Measurements
Total length: Male 3.6 – 4.4 m (11.8‘ – 14.4‘)
Female > 2.7 m (8.9‘)
Tail: 55 – 78 cm (22” – 28”)
(some records go to 90 cm (35”)
Shoulder Height: Male 1.5 – 1.8 m (4.9‘ – 5.9‘)
Female 1.5 m (344.5”)
Weight: Male 450 – 907 kg (992 – 2 000 lb)
Female 450 kg (992 lb)
Description
A large, ox-like antelope with distinctive shoulder hump and dewlap on the throat which is most developed in bulls. Dewlap is fringed with a mane of dark hair. Ears noticeably larger than those of the common eland, and horns more massively structured, especially in adult bulls. The spiral of the horns is more open than in the other eland. Bulls generally have no forehead mat of hair. Coat colour is reddish-brown to chestnut, and there are 12 to 15 narrow white, vertical lines on each side. Eastern subspecies, T. d. gigas, tends to be more sandy in colour and usually has only 12 vertical white stripes, but western race, T. d. derbianus, is more reddish and usually has 15 white stripes. Neck and forequarters tend towards grey in older animals. Bridge of nose is charcoal-black, and there is often a white or tan-coloured chevron present between the eyes. The giant eland derives its alternative name, Lord Derby’s eland, from one Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby, who apparently was responsible for transporting the first live animals of this species to England in the 19th century.
Distribution
Once had a continuous range from Atlantic Ocean shore of Senegal, eastwards to Uganda. The western race now is only definitely known from Senegal and adjacent western Mali. The eastern race survives in northern Cameroon, CAR, and possibly adjacent areas of Sudan and Chad, and is only legally huntable in Cameroon and the CAR.
Conservation standing
The western race is severely endangered with perhaps only 200 animals. Eastern giant eland number about 15 000, with vast majority in Cameroon and the CAR. Hunted to extinction in Uganda by 1970, it is generally held that safari hunting for eastern giant eland is the most likely justification for the long-term conservation of this, other species, and the vast tracts of savanna woodland that this eland requires to sustain the populations. Without the trophy value of this antelope it would probably become extinct in the wild within a decade. The seriously endangered western giant eland was huntable as a trophy animal up to about a decade ago in Senegal, but severe meat poaching has meant that trophy hunting is no longer viable unless numbers are allowed to increase.
Habitats
Woodland savanna lying between the tropical forest belt to the south and the Sahel to the north. It is found in Isoberlinia and Terminalia-Combretum-Afzelia-dominated woodland
Behavior
Despite its large size, the secretive nature of this antelope has ensured that it remains poorly known, and has never been studied in detail. In some areas they tend to be fairly sedentary, but in others they undertake seasonal movements. Most herds are of 25, or fewer individuals, but herd size may rise to 50 – 60 eland at certain times. Predominantly herd animals, but sightings of solitary adult bulls not unusual.
Breeding
Gestation: 285 days
Gestation:
Number of young: 1
Birth weight: 23 – 35 kg (50.7 – 77.2 lb)
Sexual maturity: Bulls 4 – 5 years; cows 15 – 36 months
Longevity: To 25 years – believed to be captive
Food
Browsers, that frequently will use their horns to snap branches that are out of the reach of the mouth. May graze when grasses are fresh. One of its most important foods is said to be the shoots and leaves of the tree Isoberlinia doka that occurs throughout much of its range. They are said to move into burnt areas with new plant growth, and this may be regular and seasonal, based on natural and man-made grass and bush burning.
Rifles and Ammunition
Suggested Caliber: .338 – .375
Bullet: Expanding bullet designed for penetration.
Sights: Medium-range variable scope.
Hunting Conditions: Expect medium-range shots in open woodland.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”14165,14166,14167″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Feb 28, 2018 | News, On Ammo
If backed into a corner at gunpoint and forced to name my candidate for “most influential cartridge” of the 20th century, I would probably say it was the .280 Ross.
There is no shortage of candidates, and the .375 H&H would be my second choice. But while the .375 H&H has the most grandchildren, it was hardly the most influential. The Ross set in motion a quest for small-caliber, high-velocity performance that continues to this day. We can trace that influence through the .275 H&H, .270 Winchester, and 7mm Remington, right through to the over-long, over-wrought 7mm creations that are now raising dust and causing deafness.
The Ross’s standard load of a 146-grain bullet at 3,100 feet per second (fps) was the first commercial cartridge to breach the 3,000 fps barrier. That velocity instantly became the goal for others, and the benchmark for measuring every new cartridge to come along.
The Ross had a stormy history, to say the least. Designed by Sir Charles Ross and F.W. Jones, it sprang upon the world in 1908, first as a match cartridge and, once it became ruler of long-distance shooting at Bisley, it took up a new career as a hunting cartridge. Its performance at Bisley inspired the War Office to design a new military round to replace the .303 British (.276 Enfield) and a new rifle to go with it (Enfield P-13). Only the outbreak of war in 1914 caused that project to be shelved.
Although the most famous rifle for the .280 Ross was the remarkable Ross M-10, it was so good that Mauser adopted it as a standard chambering for the Magnum Mauser sporting rifle, and a great many custom rifles were chambered for it or rebarreled. Charles Lancaster, which had a close association with Sir Charles Ross, built a pair of double rifles in his .280, with their oval-bored rifling, and King George V used them on his 1911 grand tour of India as the newly crowned King-Emperor. He used them on anything up to tigers and rhinos, and pronounced them “excellent.”
Few remember the King’s hunting tour of India, but many recall that other incident in 1911, when George Grey (brother of the British foreign secretary) wounded a lion with a .280 Ross, and was killed when the high-velocity bullets failed to stop its charge. Blaming the Ross for that failure is manifestly unfair. Dying in hospital in Nairobi, Grey stated frankly that it was his own fault for riding too close to the lion. He was hunting on a farm in the Aberdares, and the informal rules of hunting lions on horseback was, one, never to get too close, and two, never to shoot from less than 150 yards. Grey did both and paid the price, but the .280 Ross has been paying as well, from that day to this.
In connection with the .280 Ross, Sir Charles Ross made several other significant strides, ballistically speaking. In the U.S., he persuaded du Pont to produce a new, coated, slow-burning powder (DuPont #10). It made possible high velocity with heavy bullets, and was used in the later .250-3000 (the first American commercial cartridge to reach that velocity) and fathered a whole family of ever-slower “Improved Military Powders” (IMR) from du Pont. Sir Charles also pioneered the use of heavy-for-caliber bullets with spitzer noses and long ogives — what we would today call “extra-low drag.” The .280 Ross, loaded with Sir Charles’s 180-grain match bullet, was unbeatable on either side of the Atlantic.
In 1920, advised by his doctor to get a good rest, Sir Charles booked a long safari in East Africa with his extra-marital friend, the New York big-game hunting socialite, Mrs. Emily Key Hoffman Daziel. He shot almost everything on the ticket with the .280, to prove that allegations of inadequacy were wrong. When he got home, he commissioned a bust of himself in safari garb; the marble Sir Charles’s marble cartridge loops were occupied by marble .280 Ross rounds. The bust still resides at the Ross ancestral home, Balnagowan, near Inverness.
It is impossible to say how many rifles were chambered for the .280 Ross, but it must have been substantial. Eley-Kynoch kept the cartridge in production until 1967. There is still a demand for brass from handloaders, and Quality Cartridge does periodic runs.
Oddly enough, no other notable cartridges were designed using the distinctive Ross case — long for its time, with a marked taper and a semi-rimless head. Nor did anyone create a wildcat cartridge. It’s too bad: The tapered case would be excellent in hot climates to prevent sticking, while the rim would give more purchase than a standard rimless, without the feeding difficulties of a rim. It has about the same diameter at the base as the later .375 H&H belted case, so there’s no shortage of powder capacity.
The one exception to this was the strange case of Harold Gerlich and his .280 Halger, in the 1920s. The Halger was simply the Ross case with a different headstamp and a raft of opium-induced claims. Possibly this is the sincerest form of flattery, but I rather doubt Sir Charles Ross would have found it so.
Dec 9, 2017 | News, On Ammo
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]LOADS FOR THE LADY (AND ME)
Buckets of ink are spilled annually analyzing what rifle and ammunition is best to take on safari, but almost all are aimed at men. Little thought is given, it seems, to what rifle a woman should use.
There are women who hunt big game on their own, and do so with the same implements of destruction as their male counterparts, but they are rare. Most women who go on safari and shoot a few animals are accompanying their husbands as he makes his dream trip.
It is a fact that women are generally smaller and lighter than men, and that they do not like recoil. In reality no one does, but men are likely to grimace and insist they don’t mind it. Women, sensible creatures that they are (on this subject, at least,) have no ego-driven impulsion to pretend they like being battered by a rifle.
In recent years, the most famous of women big-game hunters was Jack O’Connor’s wife Eleanor. She accompanied him on big-game hunts from mountaintops in the Yukon, to tiger-hunting machans in India, to safari cars in Tanzania. Early in their marriage, she hunted with a .257 Roberts. Later, she moved up to a 7×57 and shot most her game with that thereafter, although in some instances (tigers and her one elephant) she used a .30-06. Mrs. O’Connor fired her husband’s .375 H&H one time, he reported, and decided he could keep it.
The key to Eleanor O’Connor’s success with the 7×57 was precise shot placement, and the fact that she insisted on stalking as close as possible before pulling the trigger. She took no misplaced pride in making a long shot if it wasn’t necessary, although she was good enough to make one when she had to.
O’Connor himself was a great admirer of the .270 Winchester, but he loaded his own and loaded them hot. A hot .270 has both a bark and a bite, and this did not appeal to his wife at all. However, the .270 Winchester can be loaded in such a way that it is both relatively (!) quiet and well-behaved, yet still pack all the punch most of us need.
I once put together such a load for a lady of my acquaintance. We used a 130-grain Sierra GameKing spitzer bullet. Sierra makes both a spitzer and a spitzer boat-tail in the GameKing, but the flat-base was more accurate in this load. With a muzzle velocity of about 2,800 fps, it was both deadly and deadly accurate, and no more uncomfortable to shoot than such noted pussycats as the .257 Roberts.
For the non-handloader, finding comparable factory ammunition was difficult. Now, a company called HSM (hsmammunition.net) is marketing an extensive line that includes specifically low-recoil combinations. Among their .270 Winchester loads is one that more or less duplicates my handload, using the Sierra bullet. They say (and I have no reason to doubt them) that it has 53 per cent less recoil, and my own experience with it would tend to confirm it’s somewhere in that neighborhood.
I chose the Sierra GameKing for my own load because it’s accurate, and also because it expands well at lower velocities. Put the bullet in the right place, and it will expand and do the job. In this age of premium and ultra-premium bullets (with prices to match) the Sierra GameKing is often overlooked. It should not be. It is one of the world’s great all-around hunting bullets.
HSM ammunition is available from a number of sources, including MidwayUSA, which makes it easy to find.
One should add that, just because a load is civilized, its use is not limited to women. I will always load my own .270 ammunition, and some of it’s pretty warm, but I’ve developed a distinct taste for using my “ladies’ load” for practice. One of these days I may just forget and take it hunting. If I had to bet, I would say I would notice no difference as long as the bullet went in the right place.
And, a .270 for a lady’s rifle on safari makes a good back-up as well, in case something goes awry with the main armament. You may have to arm-wrestle her for it, but that’s your problem.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”12636,12637″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
