Doug and I were talking about universal rifles

and my .375 sizer is .377, lol. I have a BAR .338 I shoot some. It is a sweet soft shooting blaster. You can't take semi-autos many places today. It's banned in many foreign countries and even US states for hunting too. An Assault rifle it's labeled.

My old 6-shot, 8 lb., O6' with the same bullet and powder is only about 100 yds. farther back. How big a disadvantage that is would be good campfire discussion.

The checkered steel Niedner butt plate is a bit unforgiving even with the .30-06 with T-shirt attire! But it really gives the M98 gun a custom hand built look. As much as I spent, on the old 1908 DWM Brazil contract gun, I need that. The barrel is a med. wt. 4-groove from WWI, Timmeny Trigger, MKII safety, 1909 floorplate, Claro Walnut, and Ebony wood from Africa as a forend tip. I glassed the action and floated the barrel from the end of the chamber. The old gun shoots pretty good.

I settled for something that should be fine and hopefully not used.

One thing I got from Africa postings was that you just may want to take something bigger that you were not planning on. Personally, I would not take a chance of turning a Hunt of a Lifetime into a Regret of a Lifetime by coming back with a "you should have seen the one that got away" story because I didn't have the right tools.

obviously the terrain is varied. We ended up taking some longer shots than I believed due to the fact this area had sone areas with limited cover. I was glad my hunting partner had a 300 WM with a nice 4.5 x20 scope. Sure, it was heavy and no fun on the stalk, but confidence was high out to 300. That is more scope than you need but it was neat when the guide said “are you on it? “ then cranked my magnification until I was really on it. My zebra and eland were basically bam flop and they are tough animals. With the tools available today, use enough gun should be supplemented by use enough glass. I have a 340 weatherby that may make the next trip (I really want to just handgun) consistent with Gary’ great advice above. When you have paid for the trip, you want to score and cheaping out on equipment is not sound in my opinion. YMMV

with his 416 Rigby. The Kudu jumped up in front of him at about 40 yards. Kase hit him up the ass with a 400 grain soft point. The Kudu flipped end over end. When we got almost up to him he jumped up and ran. Kase hit him again up the ass. Again he flipped end over end and got up and ran again. We tracked him for a while until it got dark. We were back at daylight the next morning and found him about 25 yards from where we quit. Everything inside him was mush. Both bullets were under the skin of his chest. His internals were totally destroyed, yet he ran several hundred yards before he fell.

On another hunt Colleen shot a Gray Duiker (maybe 25 lbs), with a 270 she borrowed from John. Our guns were a day late getting there. The Duiker flipped end over end at the shot, got up and ran. When we got to where the animal had fallen his heart was in a bush behind where he stood. yet he ran at least 200 yards with no heart.

On another hunt we spotted a big Impala that was going uphill from us. John told me to hit him. Again another Texas heart shot. Up the ass with the 378 GNR at about 60 yards. The bullet exited at center chest. The Impala fell but got up and ran. When we got to where I hit him all his guts were in a pile where he fell. The 378 had blown everything out yet he ran at least another 250 to 300 yards before he gave up.

So I am not telling you not to bring your 270 or 30-06 but if you shoot a larger caliber as well, bring it. Probably 90% of my Africa animals have fallen with one or at most 2 shots but you want your African hunt to be a hunt to remember, not one where you wished you had done differently.

have a 300 Win Mag in the works and should be ready by April 2019.

Gary finished a 475 GNR carbine barrel for me. Would a fast(ish) 275gr Speer bullet be sufficient for Africa?