YT video Cape Buffalo Hunt with .69 caliber Black Powder rifle

[Kurt]

[Chocktaw Brave]

Great hunt!
Did he say 225 grains of powder? I’ll bet that ball was smokin.
Very well placed shot, those Cape Buffalo are tough.

[Daryl]

That load would produce about 2020fps in my rifle., .682" and .030 denim patch.

[Daryl]

I've never thought of the 14 bore as being a cape buffalo rifle but I guess this proves it. No idea what ball he was using. Could have been the same as I use, 15 bore 14 bore, depending on the alloy required.

[Yazel.xring]

Thanks for filming these. Great to watch.

[rich pierce]

Looks mighty close.

[Dphariss]

I would assume that its a hardened ball. My reading its that hardened balls were the norm back in the day and it seems to start pretty hard. Based on historical information this bore size would be a little light for the bigger game in Africa. Though in “The Sporting Rifle and Its Projectiles” by Forsythe we learn with a 137 gr of Halls #2 (probably FFF) powder and a ball hardened with Mercury he could drive a ball of this size through an Indian Elephant's head from side to side. So penetration should be adequate. In “Pondoro” by John Taylor he talks of killing “13 good bulls”, Elephant, and several Rhino with a 10 bore smooth with 167 gr of powder and a hardened balls. Never lost an animal. But he was ambushing them near a waterhole at night for the most part. But he said while it worked well, and while the ML is derided by modern hunters they are very effective, he would not want to face a charge with a 10 bore. This would have been in the 1930s I believe.. Reading Forsythe, Taylor, Selous and Baker (an others) a great deal can be learned.

[dadybear1]

WOW IMPRESSIVE POWER ---LOTS OF MEAT/TISSUE TO GO THRU---JEFF in TEXAS

[New Fowler]

That is impressive. I agree with Daryl, that is a light gun for dangerous game. Probably wouldn't do that without a guy with a big repeater behind me.

[Dphariss]

Great job… The rifle. The hunt. The shot placement. Just outstanding. Bad shot placement by a client is a just a PITA hunting deer. But on one of these guys???

I would like to have seen the depth of penetration, etc. Obviously hit the right spot.

If I were to win a lottery I would likely do such a hunt.
My .67 cal Flint, with a .662 ball (16 to the pound) did really good velocity gains to 1600 FPS with a 140 gr of FF Swiss. But at higher charge weights the velocity gains dropped off. And 140 is not a pop gun load and it was nearly identical to Forsythe’s 14 bore load of 137 gr. And I believe the velocity was about the same. I calculated this out with a ballistics program years ago using his known trajectories and IIRC it was about 1600. But this was 40 years back so…..  And I believe he was using a powder more like FFF and a shorter barreled percussion rifle.

[Dphariss]

I've never thought of the 14 bore as being a cape buffalo rifle but I guess this proves it. No idea what ball he was using. Could have been the same as I use, 15 bore 14 bore, depending on the alloy required.

It obviously gave adequate penetration. And if shot place is good then the out come should be as well But I think 10mor 8 bore wouldbe better.
As I recall Turner Kirkland went the Africa and shot an Elephant with a 4 bore. I think it was one of those awful Belgium made trade guns. But he used pure lead which gave inadequate penetration and IIRC he shot it twice in the chest area and the PH put it down. Contrast with Selous who shot quite a number of Elephant witn 4 bores with hardened balls and stated he never shot anything that “drove better”.

[Daryl]

Francis Selou said the 4 bores were an elephant killers. He used shortened cap-lock Dutch Fowlers, loaded with round balls and his "gun barer" used 2 hands full of powder from a bag hung at his waist. I could find no notes on ball and patch, or just a bare ball loaded, perhaps with a wad of some sort.
He also noted he'd wished he'd never heard of a 4 bore as he could never get rid of the flinch they induced in him.

[bob in the woods]

I use wheel weight balls in my 10 bore for black bears and I know for a fact that they will shoot right through a very large bear from any angle including lengthwise with my heavy load of 140 gr FFg and a .735 ball.  I have now dropped down to 100 grains [ shots are usually close range ] and still get pass throughs . Moose load is still 140 gr but that is more for the flatter trajectory than power. They just don't go far when hit. I don't want to think about a 4 bore and 2 hands full of powder !   I once [ only once] double charged my 10 bore at the Ontario Provincial Matches when distracted by another shooter talking to me. The recoil wasn't something I'd like to experience again 

[Daryl]

I did a similar thing when chronographing my .69 back in the 1980's. I'd gone to 200gr., achieving 200fps with a patched .682" ball.
That kicked quite enough, I thought, although not really excessive. I picked up the the 165gr. measure and dropped in a load for a retest.
Yes, talking to the bloke I was teaching about muzzleloading and shooting. I inadvertently dropped in a second 165gr. for a total of 365gr. 2F
and loaded the patched .682" ball. I sat down on the log chuck I was using for a seat, leaned over my "gopher" table and touched it off. THAT
was excessive. I ended up standing behind the chunk of wood that was my chair. Good thing my form was "poor" as my feet were behind "the
chair". The recoil had lifted me up to standing. Now, was was a lot lighter back then, but not a wall flower & as a very strong 190pounds.
The velocity recorded had gone up a mere 70fps over the 200gr. load. At that time, I was getting 1,550fps from 165gr. 2F. That was my moose load.