A year ago I was hunting in South Africa for the first time.  It was an amazing trip, and we are headed back next year.

I am planning on taking a bow with me, and probably a .44 Magnum Super Blackout.

Anyone here have any experience with pistol hunting on Safari?

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I shot this Cape buffalo from about 30 yards on Friday...

I don't know anything about going on a safari with a 44.  I'm curious though, because it's probably something I'll never do.

What are are you going to go after?  What loads?

My hunting SBH:

I love your Ruger, I saw it in the 44 mag loads thread.

I thought I was ready to start reloading, but realized I don’t have a shell holder - it’s supposed to be here on Monday.

We went to South Africa last April and I used a .308 for everything I took except birds.  I went with my friend I’ve hunted with for 20 years, and we both brought our wives.  It was wonderful having the girls with us, but we didn’t spend much time hunting together.  So, we’re headed back in about a year.

I picked up a bow for the first time this past fall, and loved the challenges a bow presented, so we’ll both be bringing our bows on Safari 2.0.

I took a Blesbuck, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, And Jackal, and my wife got a Gemsbok - so those aren’t on my list for next year.  We didn’t get a warthog, largely due to the fact that there was a unusual amount of rain for the two weeks before we got there and the warthogs weren’t coming to waterholes.  Also, in the area we hunted there were no Black Wildebeest or Springboks, we needed to drive a half day to another area to hunt those two.  I really wanted a Kudu, but my budget was shot and the trophy fee on a big Kudu kept me from hunting them last time.  And finally, baboons, which we didn’t see any of in the area we were in, but we also didn’t apply for any primate permits before we got there.

So, my list for 2020 Safari is:
Warthog
Black Wildebeest
Springbok
Kudu (maybe)
Baboon

I’m looking forward to learning to load up my own cartridges, and I’ve got a full deer season to make sure my gun and ammo combination works for me here before I use it in Africa.  I’ve been shooting about 200 rounds a week of 240 grain bullets, which I think is what I would hunt with, but I only know what I’ve read on the internet and have no personal experience with killing anything with .44 mag.

I’m hoping someone comes into this thread with personal experience handgun hunting in Africa.

And again, your SBH is beautiful!

Sounds like you and your friend have started a great tradition.

Your hunt sounds great too!

Back in 2012 Lyme disease hit me hard. Nearly killed me. After years of antibiotics, I feel better at 53 than I did in my 20s.  One thing though, I'm still hesitant to get back in the woods hunting. I miss it. There's just something about getting back in the woods hunting, among all the ticks.

I permethrin everything like crazy now!  I really hate ticks!

Thank you you for your kind comments about my SBH.

@Henny

That's absolutely beautiful. Love the brass grip frame and the "barrel band" front sight area. Did you have that custom built?

Wish I could find brass grip frames in the Bisley shape, it just fits my hand better than the traditional SAA/Dragoon style frames.

It's not actually brass, it's Cerakote.

Custom built...kind of. I took it to my buddy to shorten the barrel and fit a round trigger guard. As I got older ( I had this pistol since I was 14 ) the dragoon trigger guard started hitting my knuckle during recoil. I hated shooting it.

Anyway, that's what I asked for. He had some extra Shilen tapered bore 44 cal barrel in his shop and wanted to know what I thought of a banded sight. I said sure. A couple weeks later this is what I got back!  It's now one of my favorite handguns to shoot!  It shoots very well!

Hope you were able to get your Safari in with the pandemic.

If not hopefully you can reschedule.

For what you have listed a 240 gr load will work dandy. If you are wanting Wildebeest and other large critters I would be loading a 300 gr LBT WFN on top of a LOT of H110/296.

I’m not really much big a 44 mag hunting guy any more as I have moved to the 45 Colt but the same principals apply.

Finally rescheduled the trip for April.

I ended up going with a Redhawk in 454 Casull, and I shot the hell out of it in preparation for the hunt.  I plan on using it on whitetail in VA this fall and winter.  The nice thing about the 454 is that it makes the .44 mag seem like it barely recoils, and that I can practice with 45 LC , which is a caliber I already keep around.

The same leather works for both RedHawks, so I just have to decide by the time I start the permit process (again).

I’m still planning on mainly hunting kudu, but I’m interested to see what the COVID has done to be he price of Cape Buffalo, which is another reason to have a little more gun - in case the guides talk me into going big once we get to camp.  They are really great salesman, especially a few brandy and cokes into the evening...

Sounds like a great trip. I shot 17 animals on my first safari.

Who are you hunting with and what province?