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One Shot
Buffalo
-by Mark Clammer
After several days and stalks, the professional hunter and I were
able to leopard crawl inside a small herd of fifty cape buffalo to see if I could let the air out of a huge old
bull with my pistol.
We (the professional hunter and trackers) had been following three
very large bulls over the course of several water holes and other herds. They seemed to wander in and out of the
herds and be by themselves throughout the evening and mornings. We just couldn't catch up to them, until today.
Ernest the professional hunter from Spear Safaris, said,
"Here's the plan, Mark, we are going straight in the middle of the herd. Everyone is lying down
except that Big Boy so get your pistol ready and follow me. Soon as I give you an all clear, take your time and
then take him."
I mentally checked my wrist ammo carrier for two spares, took a
long deep breath and hoped this .416 Lockhart loaded with a 400gr. sledgehammer solid was going to have enough
Oomph to bring this Bad Boy down. Fred at Bullberry Barrel Works had talked about a round that I could use
for big stuff and I liked the .416 Lockhart that he and another person had come up with. It's based on the 350
Remington Magnum case which is still plentiful and it is a darn strong case to open up to a .416 diameter.
So that was the plan, we stalked to within 70 yards of this monster
bull and waited for a clear broadside shot when Ernest said, "As soon as that cow moves to the left, you've
got a clear shot." and so it was. I launched that solid at 2000 feet per second and the herd exploded
with movement all around us but instantly I could hear a long drawn out bellow coming from the center of the
surrounding herd.
I still couldn't see the bull because of all the commotion.
"Is that a death bellow, Ernest is he down?" Ernest the entire time had his binoculars fixed on the
bull when he said, "He's down, Mark and you have yourself a excellent bull. One shot!"
Wow, I did it, a Cape Buffalo with a pistol. The pleasant surprise
about the whole thing is he is tied with # 4 SCI record books for Cape Buffalo with a handgun. After the
60 day drying period and a re-measure it should still be in the top Ten.
This .416 Lockhart is an outstanding cartridge capable of taking
just about anything with the right loads and lots of practice. Fred told me it was very similar to the Ken
Waters .416 Express and that Redding made dies for it. So I want to thank Fred for an incredible barrel with
excellent fitting tolerances to my Encore frame, not once has it not shot accurate with all of the powders I
have tried. The old tried and true Dupont IMR 3031 gave excellent low pressure loads and accuracy. That in
combination with the muzzle brake made this quite the Buff' rig for Africa.
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