elephant-peregrine-bullets
elephant-peregrine-bulletsElephant_Skullshot
Recovered-solid-brass-bullet-elephant		 Many years ago, shortly after the end of the Rhodesian war, I was invited to Zimbabwe as a guest of Zimbabwean Parks Department to attend an Elephant cull in Hwange. I was to be the guest of Dr John Condy, the state veterinarian. At the time I was a newly qualified pilot and owned my own Cessna 210. which made travel to Zimbabwe easy. And so began a long association with Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife which over the years included a full immobilizing course which I attended in Harare, complements of veterinary services. Thereafter I was invited to take part in the elimination of buffalo in an area adjacent to the famed Lion & Elephant motel where I was allowed to use the road just across from the hotel as a runway for taking off and landing. We were collected by chopper and myself and three other hunters, two were youngsters from Tsetse Control, were deposited deep in the bush to await the arrival of a herd of Buffalo stampeded directly on to us by the chopper. Four very lonely guns with Doc. Condy, unarmed, who acted as our spotter and gave the word to fire only when the Buffalo were mere meters away from us.Walking into, right into, a heard of Elephant cows, four hunters and their bearers, the hunters carrying and array of weapons ranging from a 404, Clem Coetzee (now deceased) carrying a .375 and the others armed with .458 rifles is not for the feint hearted. I got myself the job of bearer carrying, as the bearers all did, army issue FN rifles.Shooting with these “Brave Hearts” was a privilege not to be repeated – ever! And they were good, believe me they were good. Elephant and Buffalo alike went down and did not get up, that’s culling!Many years went by, 30 plus, where I occasionally hunted, shot a few Rowland Ward trophies and the odd Impala on the family farm in the far Northern Transvaal. I took up Bird shooting and shot with my son, Graeme over some of the most wonderful dogs. We still do that. Some time ago I met up with the author Ron Thompson, Hwange’s ex chief warden and was introduced to his writings. I at the time was disgusted having seen and smelt at close quarters a remains of a PAC Elephant shot under license to the renowned David Groenewald (Arrested for Rhino poaching, still awaiting trail). Having borne witness to the way in which Zimbabwe Parks utilized and cleaned every bit of skin, meat, bone, I set about doing the same.To date I have been fortunate to have arranged and participated in seven Elephant hunts. I carry my Brno .458 loaded with 500 grn Peregrine Bullets. I received an enormous amount of assistance from Adriaan Rall (of Peregrine Bullets) in setting this load up, starting with measuring the magazine box to accommodate the long bullet thus eliminating compression of the power charge through to the seating and crimping of the bullet. This man’s quiet respectful disposition as well as his obvious knowledge makes him a pleasure to work with. I look forward to hunting with him. The bullet leaves the muzzle at 2100 fps and has proved itself on Elephant. A recovered head shot into and Elephant a few weeks ago suffered no distortion whatsoever, in fact save for the slight engraving of the lands visible under careful scrutiny, this head could be reloaded and reused.All my rifles: my .223, .308, 30-06, 300 Weatherby Mag, .375 and my trusty .458 all havePeregrine heads loaded which is now and will remain my “bullet head of choice” for all future hunting trips.

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