Henry Returns to Africa

[tarbe]

Those of you familiar with the story of Dr. Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley (Dr. Livingstone, I presume) might also know that Stanley presented Dr. Livingstone with a Henry in .44 Rimfire.

Well, I am going to Zimbabwe (next door to Livingstone's Zambia) in 2019 to hunt Cape Buffalo.

I have decided that I will be taking my Henry H010CC on this trip. While the 45-70 isn't legal for Cape Buffalo in Zimbabwe (the muzzle energy requirements are a little beyond what I can safely load for the Henry), I do plan to use the Henry to hunt, of all things, a Livingstone Eland.

I will also use the Henry as my first choice rifle for any other, non-dangerous game that I might have time to hunt on this 12 day adventure.

I will be hunting with John Sharp in the Bubye Valley Conservancy (BVC). The BVC is about 850,000 acres with no internal fencing and all of Africa's Big 5 roaming wild. I should have the opportunity to dodge Elephant, Black Rhino and Lion while out tracking Cape Buffalo. Leopard are mostly nocturnal and the Hippo hang in and near the water and I won't likely be in their habitat.

Trying to decide if I should move my Skinner sight from the H010 to the H010CC, or just buy another Skinner.

Will also be trying to decide which bullet to use on the Eland. I have 405gr Woodleigh Weldcores on the bench and I think that is the first stop for my load development.

I wish I could try to whack a Cape Buffalo with the 45-70, but that is legally and ethically probably best left to the Nitro Express.

Anyway, figured you fellow Henry freaks would be interested in knowing that one of your own will be stalking Africa with a H010CC.


Tim

[JEBar]

outstanding .... please take us along thorough future post and pictures .... for many of us, that would be the trip of a lifetime

[The Wiz]

Can I be your gun bearer?

[Henry88]

Wow literally the trip of a lifetime.

I was wondering what you were planning to use on the Cape Buffalo?

[tarbe]

I was wondering what you were planning to use on the Cape Buffalo?

I will be hunting the Cape Buffalo with a Ruger No. 1 falling block single shot in 450-400 Nitro Express.

My PH wants me to load 400gr Swift A-Frames in the 450-400, but I also have 400gr North Fork on my loading bench, and will be taking ammo loaded with that bullet, as well.

He is not familiar with the North Forks, and really doesn't want to "experiment" with something that can kill you in a flash if things go wrong. He's the boss, so I will hunt with the A-Frame...but I do hope to use the North Fork for the obligatory "insurance shots" just so I can show him there are worthy bullets other than the A-Frame!

[tarbe]

I swapped the Skinner peep from my H010 to my HO10CC.

It wasn't supposed to work on the Octagon barrel without a new front sight...but it was dead on at 30 yards, so I think it is going to work.

I left the Skinner on the CC and ordered another for the HO10.

I think this makes my 4th Skinner peep. I should be getting a discount by now!

[tarbe]

I'm in big Henry trouble now!

Not sure the Henry will be going to Zimbabwe after all.

Plan was the H010CC for plains game, and the Ruger No 1 for Cape Buffalo.

Well, this weekend I succumbed to my 45 year itch to own a double rifle...bought a Searcy in .470 Nitro Express. Here it is: http://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-f ... =100663008

So now the double will be the primary Cape Buffalo rifle...and I have to decide which will be my second rifle.

I have been doing a lot of practice already with the 450-400 Nitro...I kinda cannot imagine leaving it behind!

I can't take three rifles...so I have a dilemma!!

[BrokenolMarine]

I'd take the gear best suited for the mission Marine. No one here would fault you for that I'm sure, especially since being undergunned could be a very bad thing.

[Vaquero]

Ditto !! /\

RP

[Henry88]

Literally the trip pf a lifetime. Thankfully, you will not be effected by all the government land grabbing that's going on in the south. Bad situation there.

[Les]

If you ever used a 45-70 on a Cape Buffalo, you would just end up with one very angry buffalo. They are by far the most dangerous of all of Africa's wild game.

Enjoy your trip - Zimbabwe is a beautiful country.

[tarbe]

So, my Cape Buffalo hunting buddy has seriously fallen in love with my double rifle.

I have offered to let him hunt with it...and I will tote my Ruger No 1 in 450/400.

If he shoots a Buffalo before me, I can carry-on with the Searcy, if I want.

Which opens up a spot in my gun case. The Henry might be back in. Either it, or a Ruger No 1 in 30-40 Krag...another old-timer that deserves a crack at old Africa.

Right now, I am thinking the Henry 45-70. But with nearly 12 months to go, and the way I change my mind, who knows?

[tarbe]

Well, my last post above was rather prophetic!

I ended up buying an American Hunting Rifles 450 Dakota and that ended up being the only rifle I took to Zimbabwe.

Here is what I managed to take, on day 6 of the hunt:

IMG_5251 small.jpg

[tarbe]

Here is the whole team...My PH John Sharp and the trackers Isaac and Lovemore (the two guys who probably deserve the most credit...and their tip reflected that!).

IMG_5275 small.jpg

[JEBar]

congrats on your hunt .... were you able to get any size / weight estimates .... what distance did you shoot .... where did you hit the Buffalo .... I'd really like to hear your comments on your Dakota rifle along with the ammo used ... when it was cleaned, what did you learn about the bullet's penetration .... sure appreciate you taking us along ...

[tarbe]

congrats on your hunt .... were you able to get any size / weight estimates .... what distance did you shoot .... where did you hit the Buffalo .... I'd really like to hear your comments on your Dakota rifle along with the ammo used ... when it was cleaned, what did you learn about the bullet's penetration .... sure appreciate you taking us along ...

There is a detailed trip report at AfricaHunting.com...

On the day we took the bull, we hit tracks at 0700 and caught up with the Dagga Boys at 0900.

Then we played cat and mouse with the wind and the buffalo for 7 hours straight until we finally got into position on this bull where we could take the shot.

Many times we were sure we were busted, and I had to rush my shot a bit at the last second as we were certain another bull was about to smell us and take the herd with him.

One shot kill made at 40 yards. I was hoping to get closer, but if I hadn't taken the shot given, we would have been starting over from scratch the next day for sure!

Long story on the bullet, but the 550 grain Woodleigh Weldcore failed. It did not perform as designed or expected. It shredded the heart/lungs after breaking the near shoulder, but only retained 59% of its mass (designed to retain about 80-85%) and it stopped in the lungs!

Head man at Woodleigh admitted they were having some operational issue (bonding bullets at too low a temp for the bonding to take).

I wish they had recalled these bad bullets. Someone could get killed! Here is the recovered bullet next to an unfired specimen:

IMG_0987.jpg

All of that bare exposed copper jacket should have lead attached to it!

[tarbe]

My load was 99 grains of IMR 4350 in Dakota cases with Federal 215 primers.

The muzzle velocity of the 550gr bullet was 2,170 fps.

The rifle was this AHR custom CZ550:

IMG_0524.jpg

[tarbe]

Here is the view from the dining table in camp.

IMG_0908 small.jpg

[tarbe]

No way to weigh the buffalo...here he is in the skinning shed just prior to getting the knife:

IMG_0167 medium.jpg

[JEBar]

thanks for the info .... most interesting about the bullet's performance .... sounds like it still did a great deal of damage