I offer this this short story to someone whose thoughts on trimming down their rifle battery might mirror my own?? Here’s where I am and how I got here.

I’ve been a rifle junkie for a very long time. Grew up hunting with a .22, .222 and 35 Rem. Pretty much kept up and hunted with the new cartridges as they came along. Too many to remember all. Add to that some expensive hunts I’m very glad I took despite my moderate income. Worth every penny. Would do them again in a heartbeat!!

Now getting up in years – early 2024 – it was time to substantially reduce my rifle inventory. Plan? One rifle for Everything. Did. A beautiful 30-06 – Coyote to Big Bear. The rifle worked. With a few lighter Varmint bullets (handloaded) – not so much. Reboot! Back to the shop. Multiple times, trying to get this right. Always happy to see me come thru the door. Now had 2, then 3 rifles. Going in the wrong direction. Tried a 6.5 and a .270. Nope. Yeah, I know – sorry but no cigar. My apologies Mr. O’Connor - and the 6.5’s just aren’t my cup of tea.

Awhile back, had a .308 Win. Liked it a lot. Deer? DRT with the 168 gr TMK. Probably should have kept it. Isn’t hindsight great!! OK, let’s do this again. Which rifle? Tikka UPR, .308, 24” bbl. In my safe. A keeper. Handling 125 gr Wiley bullets well. Deer bullets? Same. Sub MOA. Coyote hunt coming soon.

Now what?

For Elk and up – just me personally now - I want a little more oomph than the 308 gives. Gave a lot of respect to another ’06. Spent a TON of hours online researching the 300 Win and 338 Win – advantages and disadvantages. Today, I picked up a High Country in 300 Win. Nice looking rifle. A good trigger and the rifle is a little heavier than most – IMHO – that’s an asset with the 300 Win. A cartridge I owned awhile back and could handle. An hour ago, used my phillips-head and got the stock to fit me really well. Thank you, Savage. Range testing tomorrow. Brake stays in the box.

Two BG rifles for everything. Wasn’t easy getting here. Gotta good feeling – mission accomplished. At least until I can afford to hunt M’bogo.

Thanks for spending some time with me.

Cheers. Be safe.

did you know they make 58gr bullets for the 243?
they work great on yotes and rock chucks.

oddly enough the 243 and the 308 use the same case.

Two rifles for every thing.

Say it'd not true Joe.

I might get by with 3.

East of Mississippi my beloved 300sav. model 99

Every thing else 300mag.

223 for varmints.

This like telling a teenager to stick to only half a dozen girlfriends!

quote:

Originally posted by Lamar:
did you know they make 58gr bullets for the 243?
they work great on yotes and rock chucks.

oddly enough the 243 and the 308 use the same case.

I've killed several hundred coyotes with 58 grain V-Max out of my .243. I've yet to find a combo that puts them down faster.Usually there's no exit and the vitals are turned to goo.

I knew a fellow years ago who favored the .243 for elk. His success rate was pretty damn hard to argue with.

Two centerfire rifles for anything?

243 Win, 55 grains - 115 grains, varmints to deer to 1,000 yard match shooting.

375 H&H 200 grains to 350 Grains deer to elephant.

I would pick my .257 Wby and .358 STA as my two rifle battery. The .257 wby with a 100 grain bullet at 3650 fps up to a 120 grainer at 3350 fps will do it's number on all game in the Deer range. The .358 STA with 225 grain bullets at 3200 fps and 270 grainers at 3100 fps will handle the larger stuff. My PH in Africa said he would not hesitate to let me use the STA on Buffalo, but I would have to pick my country to be legal or not. Good Shooting.

If I had to get rid of all but two of them, I'd keep my Argentine Mauser 1909 in .300 H&H Mag. and my pre-64 Winchester Model 70 in .375 H&H Mag.

But that will never happen.

Well, like many of you on this forum, I hunt America & Africa.

I’d need a medium and a large bore. For only two rifles, I’d have to exclude the small bore. These two would have to cover everything from Pronghorn & Elk/Moose to Impala & The Big Five.

Since African DG is on that ticket, I’d want my 404 Jeffery, not only for hunting, but also for close quarter self defense on a follow up. The 375 is a great overall round, my choice for a 1-rifle battery for Africa, but allowed two rifles, the 404 is my definite choice for the large bore.

Now for the medium bore. My favorite for an African second rifle is my 9.3x66. However, as this must also be my American AND African smaller bore, I think the best choice for me would be a 338 Win Mag. I can run 185 to 275 gr. bullets. That covers Pronghorn to Eland, and is workable for Buffalo if my 404 went down for some reason.

So, 404 Jeffery & 338 Win. Mag.!

I'll stick with just one----the 30/06

it works okay with 110gr bullets on 3 oz. ground squirrels, but the powder consumption gets to be a bit out of hand about the 400rd. mark.

I knew of a guy that was a professional groundhog hitman back east. He showed up at your farm with an 03 Springfield and his load was pulled 90 grain bullets from 30 Luger cartridges loaded on the 06's. To say the groundhogs exploded was an understatement.

My default rifle for groundhogs is 22lr. If I have to use a centerfire it's my Colt HBAR AR15.

For deer I would much rather have a 7mm-08 over a 308. Also I really like my 1886 carbine with cast bullets in 45-70.

quote:

He showed up at your farm with an 03 Springfield and his load was pulled 90 grain bullets from 30 Luger cartridges loaded on the 06's

LOL I loaded some Speer gold dots for 32acp at 2600 in a 308win

They was good for about 100 yards.

What ever small varmint they hit was turned to mist

I will submit another pair of rifles for consideration from my rifles I personally shoot. A .270 WSM with 110 grain bullets up to 160 grain bullets. A 130 grain Northfork bullet chronographs at 3450 fps and the 160 grain Nosler Partition at 3200 fps. The second rifle is a .416 Rigby that is ideal for Buffalo with a 400 grain bullet chronographs at 2700 fps or a 250 grain bullet even faster. With these two I can hunt anywhere I wish and not be under gunned. Good Shooting.

I was handling a Ruger Alaskan in a shop recently, then reading the thread here about the Ruger African in .223.

I kind of think I could do what hunting is left to me with an African in .375 Ruger and a matching African in .308 if Ruger could be convinced to make one.

Luckily I don’t have to make that choice…

There is a 9.3 X 62 Ruger African sitting over at the 24 Hr CF for sale...real recently. It looks nice, and they are accurate... and relatively rare.

Just advising for those who might be interested...

If I had to live with only 2 rifles to cover everything, it’d be what I already to to Africa when I take 2 rifles. .338 Win Mag & .416 Hoffman.

DLS,

Sounds like you and I are pretty much in agreement for the type of hunting we both like to do. Good hunting to you!

Surefire7

Good thread making me think. Need to look in my safes and see what’s in there lolo

How about a .243 WSSM and a .416 Remington. These two can cover whatever you want to hunt at home or Africa. A 95 grain bullet from the WSSM up to a 400 grainer for the .416. Good Shooting.

quote:

Originally posted by phurley5:
How about a .243 WSSM and a .416 Remington. These two can cover whatever you want to hunt at home or Africa. A 95 grain bullet from the WSSM up to a 400 grainer for the .416. Good Shooting.

Why the .243 WSSM and not the .243 Win? Both have same capacity and velocities.

Generally, a pre-64 M-70 30-06 with either a Mauser 9.3X62 or early M-70 375 H&H.
Ammunition is almost always available in any African country and mostly everywhere else.

" My 243 has a .277 bore..."
Somewhere between Mogollon, N.M. and Alpine, AZ.
___
"Tierra y Libertad"."Quiero morir siendo esclavo de los principios, No de los hombres." E. Zapata

2 rifles work! Since, at my age, all I shoot are paper targets my .222 and .223 are all I have left.

Mike

pre 64 Win 70 Fwt in 30-06 and pre 64 Win 70 in 375 H&H.

Your good to go. don't over think it.

Two concepts that I believe are important for those going to Africa:

1) Dangerous game vs. Plains game.

If DG is on your wish list, you must have a 9.3 minimum or 375 and may want something even bigger in the 40+ calibers. Then you must consider what happens if your DG rifle doesn’t make it over (lost in transit. Been there, done that), or breaks down (broken extractor for example). Your medium rifle must be big enough to step in and take over for your big bore. This rules out any small rifle caliber, like 243, 257, etc.

2) A lot of American cartridges simply do not exist in Africa like WSM, WSSM, 25.06, 338-06, 358 Norma, etc., etc. Better to take common cartridges like 30-06, 338 WM, 375 H&H, 416 Rigby, 458 Lott, etc. A lot of people will choose a pair that covers all hunting like a 30-06 and 416 Rigby. Great pair…until your 416 goes out of action or is lost in transit. Now you’re hunting Buffalo, Elephant, etc. with a 30-06, unless your PH can loan you a big bore, and then you’re shooting a rifle that may not fit you very well. That’s why I choose a 40+ and a 9.3+ for Africa.

If you only hunt PG, then what you choose will probably be close to a good 2-rifle battery for America as well, but keep in mind calibers that are available in Africa as well, like perhaps a 30-06 & 375 H&H as just an example. Something that will cover Impala to Eland.

South Pender ----- The reason for the .243 WSSM is when Gander Mountain closed a store in my area I got a beautiful Browning A-Bolt in that caliber for a song. I also got several sacs of Winchester Brass for $10 dollars per sac. Never owned a .243 Win but always admired their accuracy, the WSSM is dead on accurate as well. Good Shooting.

Are you saying even though there is a minimum caliber restriction if you heavy rifle is lost or broken you can still hunt DG with the light rifle? I agree having adequate backup is a good idea

quote:

Originally posted by surefire7:
Two concepts that I believe are important for those going to Africa:

1) Dangerous game vs. Plains game.

If DG is on your wish list, you must have a 9.3 minimum or 375 and may want something even bigger in the 40+ calibers. Then you must consider what happens if your DG rifle doesn’t make it over (lost in transit. Been there, done that), or breaks down (broken extractor for example). Your medium rifle must be big enough to step in and take over for your big bore. This rules out any small rifle caliber, like 243, 257, etc.

2) A lot of American cartridges simply do not exist in Africa like WSM, WSSM, 25.06, 338-06, 358 Norma, etc., etc. Better to take common cartridges like 30-06, 338 WM, 375 H&H, 416 Rigby, 458 Lott, etc. A lot of people will choose a pair that covers all hunting like a 30-06 and 416 Rigby. Great pair…until your 416 goes out of action or is lost in transit. Now you’re hunting Buffalo, Elephant, etc. with a 30-06, unless your PH can loan you a big bore, and then you’re shooting a rifle that may not fit you very well. That’s why I choose a 40+ and a 9.3+ for Africa.

If you only hunt PG, then what you choose will probably be close to a good 2-rifle battery for America as well, but keep in mind calibers that are available in Africa as well, like perhaps a 30-06 & 375 H&H as just an example. Something that will cover Impala to Eland.

Hi gunslinger,

When legal caliber rifles go out of service in Africa on safari, most PHs in my experience will allow a smaller than legal caliber of the client’s battery, ‘IF’ the PH feels the caliber/rifle/client is up to the task of the animal being hunted.

In my choice earlier in this thread of a 2-rifle battery, I think many PHs would allow me to hunt ‘some’ DG with my 338WM with a good bullet if my big bore went out of action. With my 338WM for example, in Africa I only take 250 or 275 gr. bullets for this very reason. They have sectional densities of .313 & .344 respectively. I also use premium bullets, most often SAFs & BBSs.

Perhaps not the ideal situation, but many DG have been taken in Africa with much smaller calibers than the legal minimum. And some PHs, such as Karamojo Bell, showed the world what could be done on Elephants with a 7mm small bore.

Some of you old farts (like me) may remember John Jobson who wrote for "Sports Afield" magazine in the 60s. He used two rifles to hunt anywhere in the world, a .270 Win. and a .375 H&H. I think those two would still cover about anything.

Two cartridges for the world’s big game wouldn’t be all that hard as long as one of them is a 375. For the light rifle as much as I like the big 7s it would likely be a 300 Win.
I’m really glad that it’s not a choice I have to make though.
Referencing an above post; JOC said that if he could have one rifle for the world it would be a 375 H&H, two for the world would an H&H and a 270. No reason why that wouldn’t work.

Caliber is second! Your lightest African gun should be elephant capable, at least in a pinch. I settled for the 9,3x62 or the 338 Win for a light gun and the 404 J or 450-400-3" for a heavy in DG country. got by just fine in RSA with a 30-06 to a 338 Win.