Plains game caliber dilemma

[KAROO WILD Safaris]

I say get the .338 - it's so much fun to shoot and who cares if it's too much for plains game. The recoil isn't significant when you're hunting

 

[enysse]

Congrats on buliding your own rifle Cliffy, that is a honor. And you are right, you don't have to spend a fortune on a rifle to hunt in Africa.

 

[Jfet]

To reference the Midway USA commercial with Harry Potterfield

Question: How many rifles does one man need?

Answer: Well, at least one more.

 

[Voodooracer]

I think for my first trip to Africa I will take the old tried and true 30-06 and see how it goes! You folks have made some really interesting points. Definitely food for thought!

 

[Cliffy]

Thanks for the comment enysse!
It was fun doing it but I'm way too slow to ever make money at it. It's just nice to look in the gun case and say "Hey, I made that!". May not be world class but it's classy enough for me. BTW, it started out as a 30-06 Rem 700! Next time I'd use a pretapered short chambered barrel. I'd love to have the $1500 in tools that Harry Potterfield has in his Rem 700 action truing utube. That is the way to do it!

 

[joester]

You said you'd like something different? Why not take a lever rifle along w/ your .375 BLR has them in .7mm or 7 WSM, .300 Win. or .300 WSM, or , to get really cool, . 325 WSM. They all come in takedown models as well

i shot a nice dugga boy in Zim last summer w/ my BLR rebarelled in .375 Ruger. many PH's haven't seen or shot lever rifles. They are real head turners!

 

[spoonieduck]

Hello everyone, I have been looking into a new plains game rifle and im deciding between 7mm rem mag and 338 win mag. I would be comfortable with the 7mm rem mag on game up to eland but i have a 375 h&h mag that im going to be putting a scope on very soon. I would feel more comfortable using that on eland rather than the 7mm mag. I dont have as much experience with the 338 win mag but like the extra energy and larger bullet it's pushing. If there are any other flat shooting calibers that you guys highly recommend I'd greatly appreciate your experiences with them. I'm looking for something different than the normal 30-06's and 300 win mags. As i said before I have a 375 h&h cz 550 for the larger game and a cz 550 in 458 lott for the really big game haha. Thanks again for the input!

Voodooracer

An eland will take a big hit. A 338 with a reasonably heavy, well-built, deeply penetrating bullet will reduce the incidence of long follow-ups.