placement. Pure and simple. I have used that 9" 41 GNR since I cut the barrel to 9" and chambered it to 41 GNR, and that was in 1979, so anyway you look at it that was 40 years ago. The barrel has been on a couple of frames and now rests on a G-2 frame. It has also gone thru several scopes thru the years. But as Scotty mentioned it is all in the ballistics. That 41 GNR will put a 200 grain bullet out of that barrel at a bit over 2000 fps. A 10mm, by the hottest figures I could find and from Double tap, which is what I heard the yoyo used on the cape Buffalo, it puts a 200 grain bullet out at 1250. Now that may not sound like a lot but it is a LOT of difference. The difference between a dead animal and a wounded pissed off animal.
I have been blessed with having a good friend, John Abraham, who was the African Professional Hunter of the year twice and the International Professional Hunter of the year also. He knows my capabilities probably better than I do as he has been my PH on 14 African safaris. With him passing up at least 10 buffalo before we went after the one I got, it was obvious he wanted the big buff as bad as I did. John was the one that got me on the record book kick years ago. He wasn't going to let me take a shot at any bull that wasn't top 3 in the world. So I owe everything to him for my Cape Buffalo. He put me in the right spot on the right buffalo. All I did was pull the trigger. Any Misfit on here could have done the same thing.
Back to bullet placement, I have my good days and my not so good days. Thru the last 8 or 10 years I have taken 13 large 1500 lb animals with that 41 GNR and one 6 X 6 bull elk, (not counting the 4 animals I took on the African hunt). Of those 14, 11 were good one shot kills, 3 were my screw ups.
Of those 3 screw ups, one was a thick haired Yak in a heavy rain. Shooting my 41 GNR before the hunt Kase spotted the scope moving in the rings. Rather than stopping to tighten the rings up and sighting it in, I chose to switch guns. I had an 8" 356 GNR barrel, almost exactly the same gun as my 41 GNR except stainless. I got my shot, a good broadside shot at about 50 yards. The heavy hair was rain soaked and the bullet didn't penetrate. The bull dropped and got back up real quick. I hit him again and again, finally putting him down on the 3rd shot. Again the gun did it's job, I just over estimated the density of that wet hair and screwed up.
Rain seems to be my downfall. Two other times I thought I had the gun sighted in but it was raining hard and I took it for granted the holes I saw in the target were mine. They weren't. One bull took 3 shots as the gun was off about a foot. And the other was the Nilgai that I took the shot on and the gun shot 18" low. The scope had blown on the previous shot and I didn't take the time to stand out in the rain the check it out. I took it for granted all was well. That Nilgai was hit 4 times in the chest and brisket before he ran and jumped in the pond at the HHC and drowned. I'll bet I am the only handgunner to drown a Nilgai.
So maybe the 10mm Buffalo hunter was having a good day but anyway you look at it, his gun was greatly underpowered for Cape Buffalo and you always, always want the shot on an animal to be a good one and to put it down quickly and humanely. That means having a gun and cartridge that will do that cleanly. It all comes down to that.
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