Are Your Guns Ready?
Safari Sight-In
Tank’s Ruger African .375 Ruger was a very consistent performer.
This Black Wildebeest was taken at 350 yards.
Nothing is more important than sighting in your guns for the hunt of a lifetime. Heck, even local hunts require sighting-in for success. We owe it to the animals and ourselves to make clean kills to the best of our ability. This means placing the bullet where it needs to go. Some say the bullet is the most important for the hunt. I disagree. The correct bullet needs to be properly placed to do its intended purpose and proper sight-in ensures this.
The payoff is perfect performance when everything works!
Guns? Ammo?
I’m nine days out from leaving for Africa as I write this. I’m bringing my own guns for this trip, so I had to be selective in what to bring. Game hunted will include Cape Buffalo, followed by large plains game like both black and blue wildebeest, sable, wart hog and an impala or two. Those are my target critters, along with any other interesting species presenting itself.
My first choice for Cape Buffalo will be the Ruger/Marlin SBL in .45-70 using Skinner Sights excellent peep sight and Bear Buster white line front sight. Sure, there’s better guns for Cape Buffalo but the .45-70 is my favorite cartridge and I love leverguns. It’s a package kind of deal I want to make work. Using an iron-sighted .45-70 levergun for Cape Buffalo has been a life-long goal of mine.
My second gun is one I bought back in the late ’90s. Even then, I was getting prepared for Africa but never dreamed it would happen. It’s a Ruger African chambered in .375 Ruger wearing a Leupold 3.5-10X40 scope. It will be my long rifle. Again, there are better long rifles, but the walnut stock seems right for this hunt. Plus, it has the power to handily take a Cape Buffalo if option number one fails to produce.
Lastly, I’m taking my custom 9″ octagon-barreled Magnum Research BFR in .454 Casull to get within stalking range of something and using it.
Here’s four shots from the SBL at 100 yards with a 6 o’clock hold. Ready for hunting!
Tank’s first two shots at 100 yards were about 6" low with a 6 o’clock hold on the target. By raising the rear sight and filing the front sight on his Marlin SBL, he got it dialed in.
Range Time
I started shooting for this adventure three months ago. The first call of duty was ammo selection. For the Marlin .45-70 I had two contenders — the Buffalo Bore 430-grain cast load (8A) and their 380-grain Monolithic Solid (8DG). My Marlin also liked Buffalo Bore’s 350-grain (8C) JFN, with three-shot groups clustered into ¾”, while the cast load went 3″ to 4″ at 100 yards. Every gun is its own entity and has its own preferences. My gun just liked the Monolithic solid. Being a cast bullet junkie, I was a little disappointed.
My Ruger African was fed 270-grain Barnes TSX bullets (D270) loaded by Buffalo Bore. The rifle liked them right off the bat, shooting three shots under an inch at 100 yards.
Lastly, was the BFR .454 Casull. It absolutely loved the Buffalo Bore 360-grain cast load (7C). Groups of 1.5″ at 50 yards are the norm with this combination using iron sights.
Having my ammo figured out, I had to tweak some of my equipment. I had to file my front sight down on the Marlin to adjust point of impact. I’d shoot, file, shoot, file, while watching the point of impact rise. After about 40 minutes, I had POA and POI matching. A quick re-blue on the top of sight and I was done.
I had to file the front sight down for the BFR also. Same deal, done on the same day. Once everything was taken care of, I felt very relieved. Do this testing early as you don’t want to feel rushed.
The Ruger African was easy to dial-in with its Leupold scope.
After my main sight-in, the only things remaining were practice and fine tuning my adjustments. Next came practicing from field positions, such as shooting from sticks with all three guns, along with off-hand shooting. While off-hand is not desirable, sometimes it’s the only opportunity you’ll have. This is how I shot my kudu in ’19 in Botswana, a 240-meter off-hand shot. Not my preference, but it worked.
No, the Impala wasn’t wearing a Barranti chest rig.
Practice paid off with a 75-yard offhand shot.
Showtime
This hunt proved taking the proper time to sight-in, adjust your equipment and practice pays in dividends of success. I was able to take my Cape Buffalo with one shot at just over 100 yards. Same for my Sable. And a blue wildebeest.
I took a nice impala and killed a blesbok with my Magnum Research BFR 454 Casull. My Ruger African .375 Ruger also worked splendidly! Its farthest shot at 350 yards killed my black wildebeest and a list of other game. Yup, if you’re going on an expensive hunt, take the time to practice and adjust your equipment.
But be forewarned, by doing this you might find your taxidermy budget going through the roof! But that’s how we want it, right?
