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Thread: Nilgai/Blue Bull Cartridge/Load Selection

  1. #1
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    Nilgai/Blue Bull Cartridge/Load Selection

    Going to shoot a bull on a buddy's ranch next weekend. Probably will also take deer with the same rifle/load.

    There was a time when I would have bought into the standard Safari goer suggestion of 375 H&H, or a .338 Win Mag. But I'm not doing that. I will take the .300 Win Mag but I don't load for belted magnums yet, so I'm stuck with factory ammo. The 165gr. Barnes TTSX and 200gr. ELD-X in Hornady Precision Hunter are the loads I own and that I know shoot well.

    Will the lighter Barnes bullet hold up better/penetrate better than the heavier ELD-X?

    I'm not worried about either with good shots, but heat a lot about a "dermal plate" on these animals that can supposedly cause problems combined with their thick hide.

    Suggestions? Experiences?

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    I would take the 200gr ELD-X if it shoots well out of your rifle. I would not use 165gr on that animal, personally.

    300Win with the 200 gr Nosler Accubond is personally what I use on large game. The 200gr Partition has a great track record also. They both have factory options available at most of your big box stores.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jwknutson17 View Post
    I would take the 200gr ELD-X if it shoots well out of your rifle. I would not use 165gr on that animal, personally.

    300Win with the 200 gr Nosler Accubond is personally what I use on large game. The 200gr Partition has a great track record also. They both have factory options available at most of your big box stores.
    Is the thinking that the extra mass will do more for me than the toughness of a mono?

    Definitely a fan of accubonds, have used them with great success in a .270 WSM on deer. Liked the load so much I bought a couple hundred rounds...then decided that for deer and hogs it was hard to beat .223 TSX since I can use the same load for hogs, deer, and defense. Interestingly enough I've never had an exit wound with an Accubond...always recovered the bullet underneath the far hide except for one that blew up after hitting a bone in the shoulder on a slightly pulled LONG(400-500yds) and turned both lungs and the heart into completely unidentifiable soup.

    Federal used to do a bunch of loads with them but everything I find now in a bonded construction from them is their own bullet with some sort of nickel coating(presumably snake oil or just corrosion resistance at best.)

    My biggest issue is that the timeline of the hunt is leaving me scrounging box stores and for whatever reason I'm having a tough time finding heavier bullets(granted in TX there isn't a huge demand for heavy for caliber stuff.)




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    I would assume that these animals are no tougher then a bull elk or moose? If I remember correctly these things only get to 600lb on the top end? I prefer the BC of the 200grs and the greater energy they carry. The Barnes is still a good bullet. But if you only have the 165 and 200gr choice, I pick the 200 all day. I think a good 180gr Bullet would be good enough also.

    What distances are you looking at for this hunt?

    I don't necessarily think finding the bullet in the back hide a bad thing on large game. The bullet completely lost ALL of its energy inside of the animal. Went through the vitals completely and did not waste anything out the other side. The hide on the other end can be like a trampoline effect and hold the bullet in in many cases.

    I've shot many of elk with a 30-06 with 165gr bullets back in the day. Just when you said these are tough animals, I think magnum and 200gr pills. That's just me.
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    Nilgai/Blue Bull Cartridge/Load Selection

    Thank you for talking me through this, I think I'm just nervous and overthinking it because it's new, and a free opportunity to do something people pay a lot of money for.

    400-600 lbs is average for a bull(though I'm not completely against shooting a cow given that there is already a breeding population on this ranch and only one other person hunts it.) The cows are smaller though I don't know how much smaller.

    The longest stretch I've seen there is fairly short...probably 300 yards. And there's a ton of mesquite and other brush which should hopefully allow us to not worry about distance/bullet performance at distance/wind conditions, though I do really like the ELD-X so far...in terms of accuracy and good numbers at distance, but have never put it on game. Hornady does claim pretty decent weight retention at higher velocities (inside of 400yds) and still decent expansion beyond that though. Something like 50-60% retention at 2800+fps and 90% while still expanding at 1800fps(which in my rifle isn't until 900yds.)

    From my reading online, it seems that there are two trains of thought. Either that Nilgai are equal to moose/elk and are quite tough but nothing special, or that they're damn near mystical in their ability to escape harm from cannons. I do know that most of the game ranches that sell hunts request 30-06 and up(some allow the big 7mms) but none offer much guidance on bullet selection, at least not on their website.

    I'm always skeptical of gun writers' accounts of good shots, but he tells of lung-heart-lung shots that required followups as they ran away etc....
    https://www.safariclub.org/what-we-d...of-south-texas

    Chuck Hawks has a more reasonable suggestion list.
    http://www.chuckhawks.com/exotics_nilgai_cartridges.htm

    Other sources online suggest that it's an opportunity to add the .375 H&H that I didn't know I needed etc.... I disregard this as total bullshit.

    My guess(and maybe I'm using this as a way to talk myself through something new to me) is that the truth is somewhere in the middle. That is to say that they're as tough as an elk is with a good double lung shot, and that in fact the dermal shields(I guess it grows to protect their vitals from puncture given the pointy nature of the horns) can in fact screw things up with light for caliber bullets and/or poor shot placement.

    I figure on shooting ~2 ribs back from the "shoulder" like I would on a deer/elk and if the damn thing keeps going I'll look to crush the bone in that shoulder to take his legs out from under him or the neck if I can manage it.

    I don't want to headshot it because A) I've seen a deer missing its jaw and the memory stuck, and B) I'd like to do another European mount to go with my others. And while a neck shot may be the next best bet, they look awfully meaty in the neck and I'd like to avoid messing up as much meat as I can.

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Edited because apparently my initial rambling wasn't enough in my mind and really needed to make it practically unreadable. My apologies.
    Last edited by thopkins22; 01-08-17 at 19:35.

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    I haven't hunted nilgai (yet....just need the TPWD to draw me for a hunt damnit), but personally, I wouldn't feel under-gunned with a 300 WM and 165gr TTSX. It expands and penetrates above its weight class when compared to typical hunting bullet construction. Good shot placement is always a factor, regardless of what pill is being used. I would go with whatever shoots the most accurate out of your gun and what you have the most confidence in.

    And if your buddy ever needs more nilgai eradication that you or he can handle, then I'm your huckleberry! :P

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    Both loads are <MOA out of the Tikka...despite 1/11 being slow for the long bullets. I suspect mine is faster than advertised.

    And I'll keep that in mind! I'm trying to sell them on the notion that aggressive management will make their property more valuable.

    Could be a hell of a weekend if I can do a Nilgai and deer quickly enough. Rio Grande turkey are in season in Brooks county too....

    At the risk of jinxing the whole thing, I never thought I'd be worrying about cooler space when I know I'm taking two 120qt. Igloos and a 65 yeti.

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    My elk load is the 165gr TTSX and considering the Nilgai is about the size of an average cow elk I wouldn't worry about about using it. Any good 180gr round would be fine also of course. I'd go with whatever you feel most comfortable with and what shoots best out of your rifle.
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    curious how this hunt turned out...

    I'm going to guess that some of the folks here equating nilgai to elk because of their similar weight have never hunted nilgai before.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by kyle1974 View Post
    curious how this hunt turned out...

    I'm going to guess that some of the folks here equating nilgai to elk because of their similar weight have never hunted nilgai before.
    No luck. I’ve since only seen them when I only had a bow in my hands, and wasn’t at a distance(nor confident enough that it would expire while still on our property) where I felt comfortable taking the shot.

    The big TSX’s only shoot one inch off of my ELDX load at 100...I keep a couple on the gun at all times now for my opportunity. The only annoying thing is I feel super overgunned for deer which is what I’m there for most of the time.

    I have helped a buddy chop one up, and if I could express how thick the hide and cartilage is up front, nobody would think of them as elk. I’m sure you could kill them with lighter loads out of smaller rifles, but I do believe you start accepting a lot more risk of a wounded animal putting a lot of dirt between you and it before it expires.

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