7MM Magnum for Texas Nilgai

Buzzsaw

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Mar 18, 2008
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Location
Frisco, Texas
Planning a hunt for next year. Nilgai is on my bucket list. Have my new 7mag , M70 Supergrade. Undecided weather to just buy a box of factory loads or reload my own.

I like making my own but will not pound this rifle with a lot of Maximum loads.

This being said, what would be your bullet choice? hand loaded or factory? I'm looking at the

160gr Partition
160gr Swift A-Frame

Nilgai are supposedly very thick skinned, hard to kill antelope. In fact the guides mostly require a magnum .30 caliber minimum to hunt. I guess they get tired of chaising *** shot animals all around the ranch
 
I would go with the A Frame out of the two. Saying that I shot one with my 7 mag using the 168 Berger and it did not need a second shot. It was not full grown but shot placement is key. Mine was quartering away and ruined the entire boiler room.

I have heard horror stories from guides from every caliber under the sun. Most problems occur when people do not know how to use the equipment they brought. Know your guns and know your shooting limits.

A good friend of mine used 4 shots from a 300 Rum shooting 180 partitions. He tried to shoot a gun he never practiced with cause the recoil was terrible, and rushed the shot because he was uncomfortable with the gun.
 
Nilgai are a tough animal the vitals are further forward then our native animals we have taken numerous when thinning herds on a couple ranches that dont allow commercial hunting a nosler accubond would be a good choice or one of the mono bullets we have taken them with everything from a 243 to 338 lapua but most were taken with a 6.5-06 improved shooting a 140gr. gameking find accuracy what ever bullet you choose as shots can be long if you are hunting a ranch were they are hunted alot Bob is correct about the 30 cal. some ranches require it or larger for some reason a bad shot from a 30 is no better than a bad shot from a 7mm so make a good shot and collect your animal
 
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7 Rem Mag is plenty of shock and trauma on the receiving end. Generally, S TX nilgai are in or near brush, unless they are hangin' out in the Kleberg County roadside ditches at night. Shots over 300 yards are uncommon in the brush country. Heck, over 200 is uncommon especially if you are hunting from a high-rack/top-drive truck in heavy cover.

That said, if it were me, I would load the 160 or 175 A Frames muy pronto and practice up. Remember, Swift bullets tend to like to jump.
 
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Remember that the "clock works" for a Nilgai are much further forward than you would think. The low behind the front leg(meat saver) shot will in the best case be a liver shot but more likely a gut shot. Don't worry about saving meat go straight up on the shoulder to anchor the animal and you will get a quick humane kill. The back straps weigh about 20-30 pounds each and you will have more meat than you know what to do with. Either bullet you named will work, Barnes triple shock worked well for me.
PS I used a 7 mm RM 160 triple shock, 1 shot.
 
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