Best Dangerous Game Rifle?
- Thread starter bigbore14
- Start date
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
The .375 H&H is the world standard big game rifle. The neat thing about it is it will dump your buffalo, but it will also kill your impala with less damage than a .270. While the rifle shouldn't be extremely heavy, neither should it be a flyweight. I think 9 pounds is about right. A 22" barrel would be a reasonable compromise, but if you had your heart set on a 20" there would be little velocity loss.
I don't know what experience you have with powerful rifles, but the best bet is to get your rifle as quickly as possible and get lots of shooting in before your trip. Not only is it useful to get used to the rifle, it is also important to work out any glitches it might have or develop. Some disagree, but I've had a miserable time with stocks of my powerful rifles failing, and I now consider a bedding job and the addition of cross bolts to be a prerequisite to any serious use.
Don't over-scope it; a 2.5-8X is about the limit, particularly if you think you will be hunting in heavy cover. The scope should have generous eye relief, and probably should not extend behind a line even with the rear bow of the trigger guard. QD rings are a good bet, so that if the scope is damaged it can be changed out, or so you can use the irons. On a big dollar trip, a second scope in rings is cheap insurance.
If the rifle does not have the forward sling swivel on the barrel, consider having it moved to the radius of the fore-end to protect your hand. You will want to make sure that the bolt shape does not result in your hand getting bumped in recoil, and the pistol grip may cause the knuckle of your shooting hand to get bumped if it crowds the trigger guard. If it does, a simple filer can be installed behind the trigger guard to deflect your knuckle.
Don't neglect to get an in-transit gun permit for any country you land in on the way to your hunting destination.
I don't know what experience you have with powerful rifles, but the best bet is to get your rifle as quickly as possible and get lots of shooting in before your trip. Not only is it useful to get used to the rifle, it is also important to work out any glitches it might have or develop. Some disagree, but I've had a miserable time with stocks of my powerful rifles failing, and I now consider a bedding job and the addition of cross bolts to be a prerequisite to any serious use.
Don't over-scope it; a 2.5-8X is about the limit, particularly if you think you will be hunting in heavy cover. The scope should have generous eye relief, and probably should not extend behind a line even with the rear bow of the trigger guard. QD rings are a good bet, so that if the scope is damaged it can be changed out, or so you can use the irons. On a big dollar trip, a second scope in rings is cheap insurance.
If the rifle does not have the forward sling swivel on the barrel, consider having it moved to the radius of the fore-end to protect your hand. You will want to make sure that the bolt shape does not result in your hand getting bumped in recoil, and the pistol grip may cause the knuckle of your shooting hand to get bumped if it crowds the trigger guard. If it does, a simple filer can be installed behind the trigger guard to deflect your knuckle.
Don't neglect to get an in-transit gun permit for any country you land in on the way to your hunting destination.
7mm Remington Magnum, 160gr X bullet.
later that day, the cartridge penetrated both shoulders of the bear and left a fist size exit wound, dropping the bear in it's tracks.
and about the bear how long what did the skull measure...
I can't recall exactly, as it was my buddies bear, and it was several years ago, but I think it was just over 23"
It was a nice bear, but nothing like the monster Srupp's buddy shot in the same area, in 2007. That one looks like a bison!
You'd have to go a long way for some of that action.....Fly in float plane or boat treacherous ocean, then somehow get your kayack up up stream to the falls.
Check out Kwatna River on Google Earth
I thought you said the bear made it out of sight and you found it (not far away) breathing its last?
The 7 mags are fine if everything goes well....Darwin may or may not show up.
I like my 375's or 416 for that sort of stuff...Especially on coastal bear hunts. So long as its built by Guntech of course!
I thought you said the bear made it out of sight and you found it (not far away) breathing its last?
Specifically, It was shot through both shoulders, and did a face plant, in his tracks, but the bears rear legs kept working, and he cartwheeled it's butt over it's head, and rolled down a small bank, and out of sight, just as I shot at it's rear- which I doubt had much effect other than to put an extra hole in the hide, really.
We walked up to it and approached cautiously, and it was breathing it's last. Bear didn't get far with no shoulders and no lungs.
Once again Good shot placement + Good bullet worked perfectly.
Velocity can do wonderful things with a relative small but well constructed bullet.
I have never had to stop anything before, becides a enraged wounded moose, that i just happened to walk upon ( hit by a car a week earlier) and a 338 did a good job, but I do like the 416 rigby and my 458 win mag.
I have never had to stop anything before, becides a enraged wounded moose, that i just happened to walk upon ( hit by a car a week earlier) and a 338 did a good job, but I do like the 416 rigby and my 458 win mag.
My vote is for a 416 in whatever persuasion you desire.
I shot a bison with a 416 Rigby and there's no doubt a bigger bore flattens them if you hit them right. I've been involved with 4 bison being shot and in my opinion bigger is better IF you can hit them.
I also have a 375 H&H and a 416 Remington. Both would work fine.
I shot a bison with a 416 Rigby and there's no doubt a bigger bore flattens them if you hit them right. I've been involved with 4 bison being shot and in my opinion bigger is better IF you can hit them.
I also have a 375 H&H and a 416 Remington. Both would work fine.
Republic of Alberta
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- ,location, location
THE BEST out of the box big bore rifle I have ever seen is my Win M70 375 H&H it feeds flawlessly, positively and very smoothly for a CRF, no binding, shoving or dicking around.
THE WORST has to be the CZ's I just got to handle yet another one at the range the other day that was a piece of s**t JAM 0 MATIC. Has to be the most over hyped safari bolt action of our time. Great platform for a full out custom (receiver work over think thousands of $) but junk out of the box. Completely unusable.
THE WORST has to be the CZ's I just got to handle yet another one at the range the other day that was a piece of s**t JAM 0 MATIC. Has to be the most over hyped safari bolt action of our time. Great platform for a full out custom (receiver work over think thousands of $) but junk out of the box. Completely unusable.
If the shot is a bit longer the 45-70 just doesn't reach out with the trajectory of the other faster/flatter trajectory rounds it isn't that it doesn't have the power to kill a big bear at longer distances its that the rainbow trajectory is more than the average shooter/hunter trains for or can handle.
So the potential of a miss or an injured animal starts to rise as the distances increase.
Last year when I shot my grizzly I used a 375RUM with 300gr Partitions I switched to a Marlin 1895GS in 45-70 with 525gr WLNGC's @ 1600fps when we headed into the thick bush after it we could only see a max of 20 yards and the average was more like 10 yards.
I don't find that a lever is faster than a bolt action I can shoot either just as fast...
So the potential of a miss or an injured animal starts to rise as the distances increase.
Last year when I shot my grizzly I used a 375RUM with 300gr Partitions I switched to a Marlin 1895GS in 45-70 with 525gr WLNGC's @ 1600fps when we headed into the thick bush after it we could only see a max of 20 yards and the average was more like 10 yards.
I don't find that a lever is faster than a bolt action I can shoot either just as fast...
Specifically, It was shot through both shoulders, and did a face plant, in his tracks, but the bears rear legs kept working, and he cartwheeled it's butt over it's head, and rolled down a small bank, and out of sight, just as I shot at it's rear- which I doubt had much effect other than to put an extra hole in the hide, really.
We walked up to it and approached cautiously, and it was breathing it's last. Bear didn't get far with no shoulders and no lungs.
Once again Good shot placement + Good bullet worked perfectly.
So the 375 finished it off? LOL!
Just messin with ya!
Talking about this alot lately 
375 ruger african , on top a Leupold VX III 3.5 -10x50 with leupold QRW rings for" quick bush hunt" pushing a 235 gr barnes tsx at 3000 fps should take care of most critters that walk this planet.I hope !!!
375 ruger african , on top a Leupold VX III 3.5 -10x50 with leupold QRW rings for" quick bush hunt" pushing a 235 gr barnes tsx at 3000 fps should take care of most critters that walk this planet.I hope !!!
Even the velocity wasn't even that high. I loaded the ammo for my friend, and loaded the 160gr X bullet at about 2800-2850fps.
Shot placement was good and bullet performance excellent. I've used the 7RM to take deer, moose, black bear and some smaller stuff, I never thought it was lacking. I'd hunt grizzlies with it too, if I didn't have my 375 Ruger
Not sure I agree with that.
While I'm not the biggest fan of the brno all of my 602s and 550's have fed to near perfection. They are big, heavy, clunky, and have counter intuitive safetys, but they always go bang when you pull the trigger. Accuracy was always acceptable.
I still have a 602 in 375 Wby.
My only model 70 was a Super Grade 375 H&H.
It would feed well on the bench, but would jamb miserably as soon as you worked the bolt quickly. The rifle also seemed to have an ignition problem as it would occasionally misfire...It shot like a POS too.
My first and last model 70.
Republic of Alberta
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- ,location, location
Any of the off the shelf bargain basement safari rifles can be a piece of s**t. These things are cheap like borch assembly line crap all screwed together and shipped out the door.
You take your chances with any of them. To my eye the new CZ's are most likely to be unusable out of the box.
Want a dangerous game rifle that has been put together with the intent of trusting you life in it?
Go here. http://www.martiniandhagngunmakers.com/forsale.htm
You take your chances with any of them. To my eye the new CZ's are most likely to be unusable out of the box.
Want a dangerous game rifle that has been put together with the intent of trusting you life in it?
Go here. http://www.martiniandhagngunmakers.com/forsale.htm
