I need help making a decision. I recently bought a Dakota .416 Rem African direct from Dakota that was in their current inventory. The rifle is great and I couldn't be happier. However, I want another rifle to make it a pair for the next safari. They currently have a .375 H&H in inventory ready to be bought. But, I kinda wanted a .338 Win for a more rounded out pair. The .338 would have to be made and the turn around time would be 8-10 months. So the question is would the .416 Rem and the .375 H&H be to close together shooting 400 and 300 grains respectivly? Or should I order the .338 Win and wait the production time and hope nothing happens to Dakota management during that time. The deposit is 5000.00. The rifle combo would be for tuskless,hippo, leopard and plainsgame. Opinions are appreciated.

I have no dangerous game experience but here's my two cents:
The .375 H&H could work as a backup rifle for the .416 on dangerous game as most African countries require a .375 caliber as minimum for dangerous game. The .375 H&H can also cover all of the uses of a .338 Win Mag on plains game. And, the .375 will work just fine on anything from deer to moose here in North America. I think a .375 H&H and a .416 Rem would make a nice pair. Since the .375 H&H rifle is in stock and ready, I'd buy it and be happy.

-Bob F.

I,personally ,have never seen a need for the 338, but that is just MY opinion.

Get the .375. It works on DG, and is not too much for most plains game.

George

Get the .375 and use 270 grain for plains game. Throw a few 300 grainers in your ammo case, which gives you a nice backup, and know the difference in your zero. Can't go wrong with a .375, but I like the .416 better. Have shot everthing from buff to impala with it with no complaint.

The .416 and a .375 H&H makes a wonderful African battery. Wait for the .338 only if you want a very nice rifle for use in North American too.

I personally love the wood and blue rifles for Africa but tend toward weather hardy rifles for North American hunting. Can't quite bring myself to subject pretty pretties to the rain and snow.

You can use the 375 on almost anything anywhere .......... I,ve shot alot of little Sitka Black tail deer with the 375 , and didn,t worry too much about bear when packing them out ... But I prefer a 416 also . The 338 is a great round but the 375 will work great out to more than 400 yards .....

Forgive me disagreeing with my esteemed fellow shooters but, the 375 and 416 are two rifles/ cartridges in the same class. Even mention of the two in the same sentence smacks of redundancy. If a 338 or a 300 takes too long, just travel with the 416 in the meantime. I humbly advise you to wait and have a better setup in the end. Listen, your gut is telling you something
boet

quote:

Originally posted by boet:
Forgive me disagreeing with my esteemed fellow shooters but, the 375 and 416 are two rifles/ cartridges in the same class. Even mention of the two in the same sentence smacks of redundancy. If a 338 or a 300 takes too long, just travel with the 416 in the meantime. I humbly advise you to wait and have a better setup in the end. Listen, your gut is telling you something
boet

Not really IMO. The 375h&h can be a very usefull allround rifle. With 260grNPs or NABs, it's a pretty flat shooting PG rifle that can double fro DG w/ 300gr bullets. The 416rem, 404jeffery, 416rigby can be used for PG but are really good DG rifles. A 300wm or 338wm leave yo a bit shy for buffalo & def. thick skinned DG. So for Africa, the 375h&h makes more sense. If you want another rifle to hunt NA with & a PG rifle, then a 338winmag is worth waiting for.

Thank you for the replies. I bought the .375 today. I asked Dakota to jewel the bolt. So I should have it in my hands by next weekend. I'll post pictures of the rifles when both are here.

quote:

Originally posted by mstarling:
Wait for the .338 only if you want a very nice rifle for use in North American too.

The .375 makes a right nice round for North America too. It is about all I have hunted with for about 3 years now & I am totally satisfied.

My opnion is if you don't need the 2nd Rifle for DG then consider the .300 RUM. I just got back for Tanzania where I used my .416 and my .470 NE. In June in Namibia I used my .300 RUM and my grandson used a 7mm-08. I do swear by the A-Frame Bullets. 2nd choice is Speer Tropy Bonded Bullets.