6.5 Bullet for Africa plains game

[Mike Matteson]

Been to Africa twice. All shots were one shots. Most of the animals I hunted were as large as Elk or larger. The biggest thing is know where the kill zone is. Where the line at the crease just behind the shoulder here works well. It's behind some with Africa animals. Need to move ahead some to do the Job. I use accubonds both times. I increase the caliber from 308 to 338. All my shots were under a 100 yds. except to one. I did take 50 rounds with me, just in case my scope got out of line. Make sure you have all your forms with you, and keep and extra copy too. Never know items can get away.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting
SSS
Mike

 

[8upwithit]

Did you use Berger's 140 gr VLD Hunting bullet? I have used these along with Nosler 142 ABLR to good effect in my 26 Nosler.

MerlinMC. For all three 6.5 calibers, we loaded the 140 grain Berger Elite Hunters.

 

[Lycanit]

Airlines are dropping prices to Africa already. Some are 40 to 50 percent lower. The question is whether someone is going to sit in an aircraft for sixteen hours with a possibly infected person sitting next to them. I don't see anybody going anywhere until they start administering tests at the boarding stations.
Edit: OR have a vaccine or relatively reliable cure.

There is no cure, we will all get this eventually, and it'll become another H1N1 type seasonal vaccination. Currently the treatment modalities are from SARS CoV1 so improvement in treatment will happen.. honestly I expect 2022 as a endpoint to this.
Sorry for the long response. Message me for any further information.

 

[Starlite]

MerlinMC. For all three 6.5 calibers, we loaded the 140 grain Berger Elite Hunters.

This winter I completed my work up of the 140 Berger Elite Hunter. It's going to be my western Canada Mountain hunting load. It and the hybrid target gave consistently great results despite changing powders like Varget, H4350, Hybrid 100V and lately StaBall 6.5

There is no cure, we will all get this eventually, and it'll become another H1N1 type seasonal vaccination. Currently the treatment modalities are from SARS CoV1 so improvement in treatment will happen.. honestly I expect 2022 as a endpoint to this.
Sorry for the long response. Message me for any further information.

i totally agree to a point. I don't think everyone will get this but do believe there will be a vaccine. I also think social distancing will be a new normal and traveling while wearing PPE will also be more prevalent.

 

[Starlite]

I've also heard that cutting Edge 130gr Copper Safari Solid with the Meplet BBW#13 nose profile work really well for the thicker more difficult hides.
Anyone have experience with them?
Pleas excuse if this has already been discussed. I'd be lying if I said I've read 100% of the posts here. But, I do try

 

[Stgraves260]

Trying to decide what bullet to load for 6.5 PRC to go to S Africa. Will have 375 loaded with 300 Swift aFrame for where appropriate.
Planned to use 156 Oryx but initial tests are not promising as accuracy is not acceptable but do have another round of testing with different powder.

156 grain Berger's.

 

[Lycanit]

This winter I completed my work up of the 140 Berger Elite Hunter. It's going to be my western Canada Mountain hunting load. It and the hybrid target gave consistently great results despite changing powders like Varget, H4350, Hybrid 100V and lately StaBall 6.5

i totally agree to a point. I don't think everyone will get this but do believe there will be a vaccine. I also think social distancing will be a new normal and traveling while wearing PPE will also be more prevalent.

This will be the same as H1N1, viral, mutative, and ... eventually seasonal. This is truly epidemiology history occuring. Just as 1918 and influenza. Saying some people will not get this is the same as saying, Never had the flu. This is the second SARS CoV to jump into human genome. That's why we say a Novel virus, we know next to nothing about it, we infer much. All treatment modalities are based off SARS CoV1 treatment and we are learning fast. The social distance is strictly to manage the rate of infection so we can help those that won't survive without medical intervention. Ironically ventilator use seems to not be as helpful as initially thought as it has its own side effects.
Not being rude, truly wish to help and teach. This is a seriously horribly time in our lives. The expectation is 4% mortality.. we have ? 500 million in the US? 6 billion world wide look at John's Hopkins covid19 website. Not wanting to highjack. Sorry OP. Message me for questions.

 

[ZAR LRH]

I grew up in South Africa, culled and hunted a lot and also guided when I was younger. Most important thing to note is the difference in kill zones between N.American and African game and based on the feedback of some of the guys that I guided is that some game are tougher.

My recommendation would be the Nosler Accubond as long as you ensure that the distances that shoot will result in the bullet expanding. If ranges exceed that of the Accubond, I would firstly suggest something bigger (7mm or 300) and then ELDx (can't comment on the LR Accubonds), but wouldn't use them at shorter range.

The 6.5 is a very capable caliber, but my recommendation would always be, shoot the biggest caliber you can shoot accurately and straight. The best bullet is worth nothing if you can't hit what you are suppose to hit, so always make sure about your shot placement, especially if you use the 6.5 on bigger game.

Enjoy.