Hunting with .458 Win Mag vs. Cape Buffalo

The .458 Winchester Magnum was designed by Winchester in 1956 for the sole intent of hunting dangerous game. The idea was to provide comparable performance of the powerful double rifle cartridges in a bolt-action rifle. It did not take long before the .458 Winchester Magnum became a success as dangerous game hunters adopted the cartridge. Additionally, game wardens, and professional hunters in Africa began use of the .458 Winchester Magnum as part of their every day job duties. In short order the .458 Win Mag became the standard African dangerous game cartridge.

A look at .458 Win Mag ballistics

The .458 Win Mag is a belted magnum cartridge. The belt, just above the rim on the case helps to assure proper head spacing or chamber positioning and aids in smooth feeding from the integral box magazines found on most bolt rifles. Below are just a couple of examples of .458 Winchester Magnum ammo available today.

Hornady .458 Win Mag Dangerous Game 500 Grain DGX Bonded

Federal .458 Win Mag 400 Grain Bonded Bear Claw

As you can see the .458 Win Mag is not designed for long range shooting, but rather closer distances in thick brush or timber. It is an excellent cartridge for moose, bear, elk, and of course all manner of dangerous game in Africa. Many Cape buffalo, hippo, elephant and the like have been taken with this cartridge on the Dark Continent.

Hunting Cape Buffalo with the .458 Win Mag

My experience with the cartridge came on my first trip to the Dark Continent over 40 years ago. Although I have not hunted with the cartridge since, I put it through its paces on the plains of Zambia in the best way possible, hunting Cape buffalo. The manner by which I came to utilize the .458 Win Mag and the buffalo taken with this cartridge is the real story.

Having a contact in the South-Central African country of Zambia made my first safari a bit easier. A good friend, Ray Mwenifumbo, a native of Zambia, happened to be chief warden at one Zambia’s conservation areas, Kafue National Park. I met Ray early in the 80’s while attending New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico in the wildlife science program.

Ray and I often talked about his native country and its wildlife. When the time came for Ray to return home, I had an open invitation to be a guest at his headquarters inside Kafue National Park. He said “just get to Lusaka (the capital of Zambia), and we will take care of the rest.” Ray also hinted at the possibility of hunting as he knew how much I wanted to hunt in Africa. I decided right then and there I had to make this happen. A year after Ray returned to Zambia, I found myself landing at the Lusaka airport in July 1985.

Firearms Available

While I spent a great deal of time game viewing and taking photos of Zambia’s diverse wildlife species, hunting was always in the back of my mind. However, I was unable to bring firearms on my trip as I was not on a “scheduled safari” for that purpose.  However, Ray did have in his keep three long guns for “official game warden business”. Two Winchester pre-64 Model 70’s, one in 30-06 and the other in .458 Winchester Magnum. The third gun, was a Winchester 12-gauge pump shotgun. Both rifles were iron sights only. Unfortunately, we had limited ammunition for both rifles. There was a fair supply of 12ga 00 buckshot however.

Checking zero on the rifles was limited to one round each but I found that at 50 yards I could keep each shot more or less centered on the base of a metal five-gallon bucket. Ammo available for the .458 Win Mag — Winchester 500 grain solids.

Now to the “official game warden business” and the heart of the story. Ray had conveniently managed to schedule the monthly meat ration hunt to coincide with my visit. These ration permits were used to provide food for workers who resided within the park headquarters. As it so happened, Ray arranged for me to conduct most of the hunting for the month’s meat rations during my stay. All hunting was to take place outside of Kafue NP in the surrounding hunt concessions. What a deal.

The Hunt Begins

Although we were allowed plains game our main target was Cape buffalo due to the amount of meat obtainable in short order. I was still able to hunt plains game and took species such as waterbuck, hartebeest, reedbuck, warthog, zebra, and oribi. The latter two required a separate license fee on my part as they were not considered standard meat rations. As a point of interest, I took the oribi, warthog, and reedbuck with the shotgun. We used the 30-06 for the larger plains game. In case you’re wondering, the park staff utilized every speck of meat from all game taken.

Cape Buffalo Hunt

On the day we set out to hunt buffalo our goal was to kill three to four specifically for meat rations. We set out before sunup with the sole purpose of finding one of the large herds of buffalo residing in the area. The game scouts knew of a particular herd that left the park every night and would feed in the outlying savannah before heading back into the park around sunup.

Before long we found fresh tracks of a large number of Mbogo (Swahili for buffalo), as they are also known, crossing a two-track road headed towards the park. Within minutes we found the herd numbering 100-200 strong. I don’t mind saying I was a bit apprehensive about getting out on ground level with so many these bovines. Some call them Black Death.

The scouts knew their country well and hurriedly took an old road that would get us in front of the herd and in a good shooting position. By the time we stopped and exited the beat-up Toyota Landcruiser pickup and covered 100 yards of ground through the miombo woodlands on foot the first of the herd was already crossing in front of us in open savannah. I carried the .458 Winchester and Dixon one of the game scouts had the 30-06. Dixon’s instructions to me; you have five rounds of ammo, kill three to four adult buffalo. I can do that!

Loading Up & Taking My Shot

Already having three rounds of the big finger long cartridges in the magazine, I opened the bolt, held the top round down and dropped a fourth cartridge directly in the chamber and closed the bolt and placed the safety on. The herd was crossing left to right at 50 to 75 yards. I put the iron sights on a youngish bull and pressed the trigger. He went down in a cloud of dust. Working the action on the old model 70 and picking up what I believed was an older cow, I pressed the trigger again; she collapsed. Two for two at this point.

I was determined to pick a bigger bull next. Of course, the herd was now in full run. A bull came passing by that I believed was as good as I could hope for and I put a 500-grain solid behind his shoulder. He kept going but was obviously hit hard. Working the bolt frantically I chambered the last round in the rifle and fired again as he quartered away aiming for that front shoulder. He ran another 15 or so yards and was down.

Success!

When the dust settled there were four buffalo down, as Dixon also took a yearling bull via the 30-06. We salvaged every scrap of meat including the stomachs and internal organs. Once back to the compound the folks living there showed up with tubs, pots, and buckets to get their share of protein. In a matter of minutes, the meat was all gone.

As to the bigger bull that I picked out at the end of the melee, he was just at 40 inches wide with good heavy bosses. I salvaged one of the 500 grain solids from that bull along with all four of the empty cases I fired to take down three buffalo. I still have those in my possession today, 41 years later. The .458 Win Mag cartridge certainly performed well and I would have no issue using it again.

I have taken buffalo since that first safari, but I must say it will be hard to top that day in the African bush with Mbogo so many years ago.