Herewith some statistics on the SA position of rifles in use - a study conducted by SA Hunters amongst their members that are primarily resident in the Transvaal province of old before we got carved up differently:

1. 30-06 Spr ----- 17%
2. .308 Win ------ 11%
3. .375 H&H ----- 10%
4. .243 Win ------ 9%
5. .270 Win ------ 9%
6. .303 Br -------- 7%
7. 7x57 mm ------ 4%
8. .223 Rem ------ 3%
9. 7 mm Rem Mag ---- 3%
10. 300 Win Mag ----- 3%

Other prominent calibers that did not make the top 10 are:

9,3x62 mm
7x64 mm
25-06 Rem
22-250 Rem

Warrior

Warrior,

Interesting stuff. I was surprised at the strength of the .375 and .303 Brit and at the weakness of the 7x57. I thought the Boers were still in love with that fine round.

Dean

I think the smaller percentage today that we see in the 7x57 is due to sales over the last 30 years by the 30-06 and .308 in a variety of rifle brands that were available as opposed to 7x57 that were essentially K98 Mauser derivatives. Brands like Winchester, Remington, Sako, Tikka and ZC's were fairly thin in the 7x57's and so I think the .300 calibers just became so popular that it dwarfed other calibers. Together they make up more than a quarter (28%) of what hunters are using, and when we bring in the 375 H&H the cumulative percentage goes up to almost 40% (38% actually). That is a major tendency or trend that we observe here.

Warrior

Warrior: Please describe the universe that was surveyed. When you say "hunters", are you speaking of sport hunters and what they use for their own personal hunting, or are you speaking of professional guides and what they might carry when guiding?

Also, I'm assuming that the survey was limited to one or both of these classes, and that farmers and other rural residents who may own and use a rifle but may not be on some list of "hunters" are not included in the survey. If you were to survey "farmers", I'll bet that their standby utiity gun is still a .303 SMLE.

What say ye?

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
Warrior: Please describe the universe that was surveyed. When you say "hunters", are you speaking of sport hunters and what they use for their own personal hunting, or are you speaking of professional guides and what they might carry when guiding?

Also, I'm assuming that the survey was limited to one or both of these classes, and that farmers and other rural residents who may own and use a rifle but may not be on some list of "hunters" are not included in the survey. If you were to survey "farmers", I'll bet that their standby utiity gun is still a .303 SMLE.

What say ye?

1. Only sport hunters - not dangerous game hunters or PH's

2. The members of the association of SA Hunters were surveyed with a questionaire (Membership of +- 28,000)

3. All non memebers (including farmers) did not participate (some farmers are members though)

4. It primarily includes only one province of RSA, as almost all their members are based in the Transvaal.

5. Unfortunately I cannot give you the sample size of the 28,0000 population that participated.

That leaves room to alter the percentages if all rifle owners could be incorporated into such a survey.

Warrior

quote:

Originally posted by Warrior:

1. Only sport hunters - not dangerous game hunters or PH's

Warrior

That is an interesting distinction to make. Are there different licensing requirements to hunt dg as a resident?

Dean

The hunters referred to iro of this survey is for meat hunting only, not for DG where big bores are common.
Anyone that has a gun licence can go and hunt DG, but must be guided by a registered PH.

Warrior

I'm surprised at the .243 being so popular with those who hunt for the larder.
I guess available quarry dictates a caliber's popularity to some extent.

Thanks for the additional information about the survey respondents. They sound like the counterparts to our average U.S. sport hunter and their caliber usage reflects the usage among local sport hunters in SA. Very interesting and informative!

Not to raise anyone's hackles on any touchy subject, but I'm just curious: I'm assuming that virtually all of the persons who belong to the Association are white South Africans, since sport hunting among black South Africans is a mostly relatively new thing. How many black South Africans actually participate in sport hunting? Do you have any guesses or or feel for how many black South Africans are pursuing a hunting pasttime? Just wondering.

I am surprised the 243 and 7mm RM beat the 9.3x62 and 7x64.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Lou:
I am surprised the 243 and 7mm RM beat the 9.3x62 and 7x64.

It surprises me too that the 9.3 isn't more popular than the survey shews.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
Thanks for the additional information about the survey respondents. They sound like the counterparts to our average U.S. sport hunter and their caliber usage reflects the usage among local sport hunters in SA. Very interesting and informative!

Not to raise anyone's hackles on any touchy subject, but I'm just curious: I'm assuming that virtually all of the persons who belong to the Association are white South Africans, since sport hunting among black South Africans is a mostly relatively new thing. How many black South Africans actually participate in sport hunting? Do you have any guesses or or feel for how many black South Africans are pursuing a hunting pasttime? Just wondering.

Good question. There are encouraging signs that more and more black hunters are taking up the sport. Far too few at the moment though.

I am also surprised at the 9,3x62's showing.

Rich

And now the type of rifles in use:

1. Musgrave/Mauser K98 .... 28%
2. Brno ................... 19%
Sub Total ................ 47%
3. Sako ................... 15%
4. Remington ............ 6%
5. Ruger ................... 4%
6. Vektor .................. 2%
7. All other .............. 22%

American-made rifles makes up a small percentage - we endured a long period of boycotts.
The Swedes with Sako has been in our country for a long time, and has a loyal following.
Brnos/CZ is so popular here, like turkey at chrismas in the USA.
Musgrave is no more, but they made plenty rifles locally for South Africans - perhaps unknown overseas.
Some Musgrave actions were their own design, but they also built plenty rifles on K 98 actions.

I like the Pre-64's, but seems to be as scarce as hen's teeth here.
Must be in the category of 1% or even less.

Warrior