Gary Reeder
Several big bears and such have been taken in the last
Monday, July 08, 2024, 18:11

few years in Canada, the U.S., and in Africa.
A couple of bears have been taken with the 10mm Glock and at least one Cape Buffalo was taken with the 10m Glock. Hopefully this won't give hunters the urge to do the same. A couple of years ago my guns and all my gear were stolen on the way to Africa. After waiting for 2 or 3 days for my gear to show up I told my PH that I came to Africa to hunt, not sit around and take naps. He told me to borrow a gun from one of the other hunters and we would go hunting.
The only one of my group that had a gun with a cartridge big enough to use for something big and dangerous was Michael Mendes who had a 454 Casull that I had built for him a year or two before this hunt. He had the revolver and 5 rounds left. I decided to give it a try.
The first day we spotted a couple of small herds of Cape Buffalo but nothing big enough. The second day we spotted a small heard of 3 or 4 big bulls and decided to go for it. We did a sneak on them and got to within 75 yards or so. John, my PH, told me we needed to walk up toward the biggest bull in the group and by walking straight at them, they wouldn't spook as quick.
I figured this was why I came to Africa so why not. I had taken a big bull the year before with my 450 GNR and a 500 grain soft point. This year I had a borrowed 454 Casull but had John with his 500 Nitro double behind me if I screwed up.
We walked straight at the biggest bull. At first he tried to ignore us. Then as we got to within 25 yards or so he started noticing us by snorting and daring us to come a bit closer. The bull was in shoulder high yellow grass and hard to find a spot for the bullet. John told me to walk slowly toward him and he would give me the word when to stop.
As we got to within about 20 yards John asked me if I could see the shoulders thru the tall yellow grass. I told him I could. He said put a bullet on the point of shoulder.
I did what John said and at the impact the bull staggered a bit, obviously hit hard. John said hit him again, right behind the shoulder. Again I did. The bull staggered again and went down on his nose.
We went over to the bull and he was dead, no third bullet required. One shot on the point of shoulder, the other was right behind the shoulder, blowing up both lungs.
When got back to camp I mentioned to Michael that the round seemed light. He said he didn't like recoil so he loaded them to a hot 45 Long Colt. So I had taken my Cape Buffalo with a 45 Long Colt with a 300 grain lead bullet. Two shots. If I hadn't had 3 or 4 hunters with me I would never tell this tale but I had plenty of folks to back up this story. In that camp was Michael Mendes, Ray Shepard and his wife Danielle, Dave Manson and a couple of others to back up this story. But hopefully folks won't start going after Cape Buffalo and Grizzly with a 10mm Glock. It just ain't enough.
The point is sometimes the situation crops up and we do things that if I had a brain I would have changed my mind.
I got real lucky and the bull was unlucky. But I wouldn't do it again.