Hunting Elephant With The 585 Nyati - HuntNetwork

Feature
Feature
Hunting Elephant
with the 585 Nyati
by Daniel McCarthy
The herd of 12 elephant trumpeted as they came over
the hill running directly toward us. They were still 200
yards away, but they were heading straight for the
sound of the shots that had killed one of their own.
We sprinted through the brush and up the ridge away from the coming
herd and their downed comrade. Running with the wind at our backs
made it more difficult for the elephant to catch our scent and cause us
a great deal of trouble. As we made our way back to the safari car to
wait for the herd to move off, no one could contain their smiles at a
successful elephant hunt with a rifle in 585 Nyati.
When considering a first safari, most experienced Africa hands suggest
a plains game hunt in South Africa or Namibia to get a feel for things
before progressing to more difficult hunts and eventually dangerous
game. For some reason, the idea of staying in a five star lodge and
hunting a fenced (although large) ranch just was not appealing to me. In
North America I prefer primitive tented hunts on public land, including
occasional backpacking hunts, and I saw no reason why an African
safari should be more comfortable or any less of an athletic challenge. I
wanted a dangerous game hunt with a big bore rifle, and I was not going
to be satisfied until I had one.
Planning for the safari began two years in advance. The first issue was
the rifle that I would use. Having been a big bore fan for many years but
not having the budget for both a double rifle and a safari, a bolt action
was the obvious choice. There are many fine big bore bolt guns available
now, such as the 505 Gibbs on a Mauser action from Dumoulin Herstal
or Reimer Johannsen, the excellent 500 Jeffery custom
rifles from master riflesmith Ryan Breeding, and the less
dramatic but well-proven .458 Lott on a model 70 action
from D’Arcy Echols. A number of other gunmakers offer
top quality big bore bolt action rifles on a made to order
basis, including Dennis Olson, Joe Smithson, Sterling
Davenport and Butch Searcy. The rifles of these fine
craftsmen will build a rifle that fulfills the requirements of
a dangerous game rifle: claw extractor, flawless feeding,
and large diameter heavy bullets moving at around 2200-
2400 f.p.s. If the customer can afford such a rifle project,
he will receive a product that is a work of art in its own
right.
But for a first safari, something more was needed to satisfy
this big bore fanatic. Ross Seyfried had written about his
development of the 585 Nyati cartridge, and the cartridge
intrigued me. The 585 Nyati uses a shortened 577 Nitro
Express case with a slightly rebated rim. It can easily
duplicate the 577 Nitro Express load of a 750 grain bullet
at 2050 f.p.s., or push the same bullet beyond 2400 f.p.s.
if desired. The cartridge has a maximum
overall length of 3.600”, so it will
theoretically fit into any standard length
action, such as a Mauser 98. The very wide
case dimension and blunt bullets necessitate
a custom magazine box and intricate rail and
ramp modifications. Mr. Seyfried designed
the .585 Nyati cartridge to bring the power
of a .577 Nitro Express cartridge to a
relatively affordable bolt action rifle. Such
a rifle is truly a custom affair and one of the
more difficult projects that a gunsmith can
undertake. At present there are no factory
rifles offered in the calibre.
.585 Nyati cartridge next to
the .375 H&H and .458
Lott.
.585 bullets from left to right: 750 grain Woodleigh solid; 750
grain TCCI solid recovered from elephant; 800 grain Bridger
grooved FN solid which the author believes to be the best
design; 650 grain GS Custom grooved FN solid; 750 grain
Woodleigh soft point; 750 grain Hawk soft point; 750 grain
DKT soft point; 900 grain Woodleigh flat point; 1200 grain
cast bullet from NEI mould
Typical elephant hunting country in the Chewore South concession of
Zimbabwe. Can you spot the elephant in the picture?
German-born and raised gunsmith Franz Bryner of Ogden, Utah agreed
to undertake the .585 project for me. Since he prefers to work with the
Winchester Model 70 action, that is where we started. I selected
stainless steel for the action and barrel because of the possibility of
using the rifle in the rainy season in Africa or in Alaska. Pac-Nor
supplied a pre-chambered barrel, and a stock blank of Turkish walnut
that was cut in 1968 would be the stock.
Nearly a year later, Franz finished the project. He turned out a
masterpiece of utility and function. The action is as smooth as a Krag,
the barrel contour is stiff but not gawdy, and the stock is a straight
classic design with little drop to handle recoil and minimize muzzle
jump. The rifle includes a barrel band sling swivel, a removable muzzle
brake, an NECG masterpiece rear sight and Talley scope mounts. A
Leupold 2.5x scope tops it all off. The weak point in a big bore rifle is
often the scope or mounts, but both the Leupold scope and the Talley
mounts have functioned perfectly through more than 200 rounds of
shooting the behemoth .585 cartridge.
Building a magazine box for the giant .585 Nyati cartridges was a very
difficult proposition. Eventually Franz settled on replicating the Schuler
design that was used on the original Jeffery .500 rifles. The Schuler
design allows two cartridges single stacked in the magazine and one in
the chamber. The follower is configured to allow the
rounds to ride high in the magazine so that the bolt will
pick them up without passing over the rebated rim. Feeding
of the .585 Nyati with this magazine design has been
flawless.
While the rifle was being built, booking agent Ron Young
located a fabulous deal on a tuskless cow elephant hunt
for me. I was permitted a tuskless cow elephant, a trophy
bull Cape buffalo and a kudu for less than the cost of a
typical Cape buffalo hunt. Secure in the knowledge that
Ron had all of my travel arrangements well in hand I turned
to load development for the .585.
There is a rather limited bullet supply available for the
.585 Nyati. Woodleigh offers 750 grain softs and solids,
but the Woodleigh bullets are intended to be driven at
2050 feet per second, not the greater velocities possible
with the .585 Nyati. Hawk and DKT offers a 750 grain
soft point, but soft points are generally not suitable for
elephant hunting. Woodleigh made a single run of 900
grain .585 bullets, but it is not clear if those will be offered
again. Barnes and TCCI offer brass solid
.585 bullets. Additionally, NEI Handtools
offers a mould for casting a 1200 grain lead
bullet. Recently for a brief period of time,
Bridger Bullets offered an 800 grooved flat
point design which is my favorite .585 bullet.
GS Custom makes a 640 grain bullet for the
.585, but it is too light for my preference.
I began my work with the Woodleigh and
TCCI solids. TCCI’s were preferable to
the Barnes solids for two reasons. First,
TCCI’s have a cutting shoulder to cut a clean
bore diameter hole in game, but the Barnes
does not. Second, the batch of Barnes I had
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suffered from significant
variances in location of the
cannelure, giving each bullet
its own individualized
personality. The
consistency of the TCCI’s
and Woodleighs was
excellent, however.
After using several powders,
I finally settled on 130 grains
of Reloader 15 and Federal’s
215 primer with both the
Woodleigh and TCCI solids.
That load chronographs an
average of 2267 f.p.s. from
the Model 70 with the TCCI
bullet. Recoil is startling but
manageable. From the bench
at 100 yards I could shoot 1
¼ to 1 ¾ inch groups, and
offhand the rifle could be
controlled without undue
difficulty. Recoil would
generally move my shoulder back about a foot, but it was more of a big
shove than a sharp jab. The recoil of this round is not painful, but the
shooter must hold the rifle tightly and be psychologically prepared for
his shot. The additional 200 f.p.s. that my load achieves beyond the
original 577 Nitro Express load was intended to provide increased
penetration on the largest game animal.
With the rifle and load ready to go and all particulars of the hunt
arranged, I boarded a South African Airways 747 in Atlanta and headed
for Zimbabwe via Johannesburg. With the help of a sleeping pill, I
temporarily conquered my excitement and slept nearly the entire way,
arriving in Harare, Zimbabwe with little jet lag. In Harare I noted that
several airport employees “assisted” me in locating my firearms, clearing
them through customs and proceeding to the safari car (a red Toyota
Land Cruiser diesel). In exchange for that assistance, I tipped the locals
in the hope that they would find assisting hunters more profitable than
pilfering items from luggage as is so common in many third world
countries. Later I learned that the professional hunter had also tipped
them, and I wonder if airport employees face any ethical constraint
against double dipping.
The professional hunter for this trip was Peter Wood of Roger Whittall
Safaris. Peter is a very experienced and enthusiastic elephant hunter
and was eager to get on the road to the Chewore South game concession.
In Zimbabwe, a game concession is government-owned land on which
no people are permitted to live. The land is completely reserved for
game and hunting. A safari company leases the concession and only
allows its staff and clients to enter the land. There is a great advantage
in this arrangement since the presence of other humans would tend to
interfere with any hunt.
We arrived at the camp just after dark and relaxed for the evening. The
next morning we checked the zero on my rifle (it had not moved) and
went hunting. We tracked and saw elephant every day, and on day
three a professional hunter trainee in our camp saw a tuskless cow
walking along a river bottom. First thing the next morning we were on
her tracks and moved hard and fast from first light until 11 a.m. when
she moved across a river and out of the concession. Tired and
disappointed, we returned to the Toyota. Our luck soon turned, as one
of the trackers spotted another group
of elephant from the back of the
vehicle. Use of the binoculars revealed
three tuskless cows in the group and
we began our stalk. Sometimes luck is
better than hard work.
We set off after the elephant and first
moved several hundred yards uphill to
gain a wind advantage and then moved
to within 25 yards of our target. During
previous discussions with Peter, I had
decided to use a heart-lung shot on my
elephant rather than a brain shot. The
brush was thick and Peter called out
when to shoot as one of the tuskless
cows moved into a relative clearing. At
the shot the elephant turned 90 degrees
away from me and began to run. I put
Above - Tuskless cow elephant downed with two shots from the
.585 Nyati. The first shot was a 750 grain Woodleigh solid,
followed by a 750 grain TCCI solid.
Right - Elephant heart showing bullet damage from a .585”
diameter 750 grain Woodleigh solid.
Cape buffalo downed with one shot from the .585 Nyati.
the next shot at the base of
her tail, just off the spine,
and she went down.
Another elephant in the
herd began pushing the
fallen cow to urge her to get
up. When several attempts
were not successful, the
remainder of the elephant
in the herd moved off.
Elated, we all walked to the
downed elephant. Peter
had me fire another shot
into the elephant’s lungs
through the top of her back,
and a final shot into her
lungs through the bottom of
her chest. It seems that
downed elephant are
famous for getting up and
running away and Peter did
not want any such
surprises.
Those additional two shots caused a commotion, however. We heard
elephant trumpeting and saw the herd that we had just scared off
running our way. They were about 200 yards out but were headed for
the sound of the rifle shots. In the 110 degree heat and strong sun, we
sprinted to safety. I am sure that is not as terrifying as a close range
charge, but it was plenty of excitement so we moved out of the area to
let things settle down.
The .585 Nyati proved itself a capable elephant round, although there
was never any real doubt. The first shot was with a Woodleigh solid
and passed through the top of the heart and bottom of the lungs. The
skinners did not recover the bullet and it may have exited. The second
shot did not break the spine but hit so close to it that the shock knocked
the elephant down. I recovered one of the TCCI solids undamaged and
as new except for the rifling marks on it. The load I had selected
generates mild pressure so extraction was not a problem even in the
heat of the Zimbabwe summer. The .585 Nyati had done its job and
served the function for which Ross Seyfried designed it. The elephant
visibly reacted to both shots, and was on the ground within several
strides of where she was standing at the first shot. The professional
hunter did not need to fire his rifle, although it was comforting to have
him there. I was very pleased that the .585 Nyati hunting experiment
seemed to be a success. But just to be sure, I decided to test it further.
We had been glassing Cape buffalo each day, but after taking the elephant,
we went after Cape buffalo in earnest. Following the tracks of dagga
boys (a pair of older bachelor bulls) for more than six miles, I had a
chance for a broadside shot at one of the bulls from 25 yards. The
TCCI solid from the 585 Nyati passed through both lungs and broke
the offside shoulder. The buffalo ran 20 yards or so where he piled up.
His partner gave us a bluff charge at more of a trot than a run, but
changed his mind on hearing a warning shot from the 585 Nyati.
Through the hard work and planning of many people, my new rifle and
my hunt were a great success. I suppose that neither elephant hunting
nor the 585 Nyati are for everyone. Elephant hunting generally requires
walking great distances at a rapid pace in the hot sun. Even rigorous elk
and deer hunting in the steep Rocky Mountains and long backpacking
trips did not prepare me for the pace that the trackers set. The 585
Nyati is an impressive although
daunting package. Personally, I can
only tolerate 10-15 rounds of full
power loads before a headache sets
in. Rifles for this calibre are difficult
to build and few gunsmiths will or
should undertake the challenge. Dies,
brass and bullets are expensive and
substantial skill as a handloader is
needed to produce cartridges that a
person’s life can depend on. The
typical hunter will be much better
served with a .458 Lott, a .416 Rigby,
or even a .375 H&H for many
practical reasons. But the success of
my .585 Nyati on elephant and Cape
buffalo makes this hunt one of my
fondest memories.
Page 8 www.african-hunter.com African Hunter Vol. 10 No. 3