My wife and I are going to Gunsite in a few weeks, and there is a good possibility she'll be wanting a rifle of her own when it's over. We're both lefties, and I have a Montana Rifle M1999 short action arriving someday.
I have plenty of horsepower in 300's and larger, but nothing below .270Win. When we return to Africa she'll probably want to shoot so I am looking for a caliber with ammo that is easily available there. My ammo was lost on a trip years ago so this is a source of concern.
I know the 6.5x55 is readily available across Europe, but it this the case in Africa?

Thanks, and Safe Hunting

Clint

Clint,
.270 Win. and .30-06 ammunition was widely available in RSA a few years back. They are probably a lot more common than either 6.5x55 and 7x57, even in Africa.

George

My reply is not really based on facts at all, just gutfeel, but I hope it gives you some idea on availability of 5.6X55 and 7X57 ammo in South Africa. In any one of the major 5 cities you are likely to get at least a few gunshops with at least two choices in either caliber. In the 20 or so next larger towns one of the gunshops may have at least one bullet weight in each caliber. The 7X57 is also locally manufactured and may just be available at an additional few gunshops in maybe only a single brand and bullet weight. In contrast to this you are likely to get at least one type or bullet weight for .243, .270, .308 win, 36-06 and .300 WM from every single gun dealer in the country.

So, if you communicate your intention of brining a 6.5X55 on a South African safari to your outfitter, and request him to investigate possible sources of replacement ammo, you should be just fine. A few telephone calls by any outfitter should soon locate a few alternative sources either in the airport town, or near or on the way to your hunting area.

I personally have never hunted with either, but if I were to re-build a collection of plains game rifles, I would start, and probably, end with a 6.5X55. It is really all that a reasonably good shot and patient hunter requiers for hunting South African plains game.

Verewaaier.

I asked several of my friends in RSA about the 6.5 Swede and they had not heard of it much less have ammo for it. The light caliber of choice in RSA is 243Win. The 308 and 270 also have their boosters. Of course, the 30-06 is available nearly any place in the world.

I found that out in the boonies, the supplies of ammo seem to be about what you'd find here at a country store: 222, 223, 243Win, 303Brit, 308Win, 270Win, 30-06, and maybe 7mmRemMag and 300WinMag. (You don't see many of the lever action calibers over there though.) If you are in a big time store in a slightly larger town, you'll probably find 7mm RemMag and 300WinMag, and maybe 338WinMag and 375HH. Remember that most Africans are meat hunters, and they want rounds that shoot flat and don't tear up the meat. They shoot for the head in many instances because there isn't much to eat there. When culling, they shoot so much, the cost of feeding a magnum or even a 30-06 would get prohibitive. They get a lot of mileage out of the 222 and 223.

In sum, if I were going to have a rifle built for my wife, I'd have a 308Win built or a 243Win with a very tight twist to shoot heavy bullets. Ku-dude

As Ku-Dude said, the .308 is probably your best bet, in terms of availability. There are just so-o-o many .308's around since the days we could get 'liberated' FN-FAL / R1 ammo by the truckload, that any gunshop or co-op will have a fair selection. Having said that, the 7x57 still enjoys a strong following, and I'd be surprised if you can find a dealer anywhere in RSA who couldn't help with a few boxes. The 6.5x55 might be a little more scarce, but I'd bet that I could find several dozen dealers in the Jhb / Pretoria area that could help you.

I'd say 'Go with your heart'.