Dangerous Game Rifle
- Thread starter AR15meister
- Start date
If it's the same action and magazine as the 375 H&H the Lott should work just fine............Not too sure how the stock will hold up, they don't appear to have the finest wood around.
AR15meister
CGN Regular
does anyone know where to order a new crf Winchester in a big caliber? Or where they might have some actual stock?
It really is not possibly to go out and "try" a big caliber at the range unless you actually know someone who owns one. The only way to "try" one is to "buy" one or so it seems.
I don't know if I am recoil sensitive or not. I have never used anything on game other than my .308 model 70 and my Beretta xtrema 2 12 gauge.
It really is not possibly to go out and "try" a big caliber at the range unless you actually know someone who owns one. The only way to "try" one is to "buy" one or so it seems.
I don't know if I am recoil sensitive or not. I have never used anything on game other than my .308 model 70 and my Beretta xtrema 2 12 gauge.
Unfortunately you're right. Unless you're "lucky" enough to meet someone at the range with a mean streak......... uh, I mean uncommonly generous nature you are likely on your own.
Our club has a easy going nature and lots of guys are talking while letting barrels cool. I'll often offer others a few cracks out of a big gun if they seem interested. Very few take me up on it, I'd say less than one in twenty or maybe fifty. Where do you live? Maybe someone here can help you out?
If your recoil experience is around the .308 level, you may want to forget about .416s and .458s for awhile. It is something that can be worked up to; but rest assured it is a different league. The .375 is surprising easy, but even that is double or more than what you're used to. A .416 Rigby or .458 will double that again; and it just goes up from there. Good times.
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Where are you located? A lot of us have rifles in this class and I can't speak for everyone else but I would welcome you to come and try them, I enjoy talking to other gun nuts and I enjoy watching people shoot and get excited about the sport as much as I like shooting my self.
AR15meister
CGN Regular
The only reason I am considering the bigger guns is that I want something that can stop a buffalo charge in a pinch. I certainly don't want to go out being trampled by one.
Do you think a .375 is sufficient for a first time dangerous game rifle? I realize many animals have fallen to this caliber over the years but it isn't really a "charge stopper" is it? My PH has offered to lend me his but I don't want to go there and borrow a rifle. Doesn't seem right to me to spend this amount of money on a hunt and borrow a rifle. I want to have the rifle to remember the hunt. It is important to me.
SO, where are you located, several here including myself, are offering to let you try out some "heavies"...........need to know who you might be closest to..............The 375 is NOT considered a "stopping rifle" caliber for dangerous game. The 458 WM, 458 Lott, 470 NE, 505 Gibbs, 500 NE and up are considered stopping rifle calibers, with the 416 Rigby as a maybe on the extreme bottom.
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I wouldn't even think about borrowing a rifle as a main plan, but I'm a gun guy and that's how we think. I did use an outfitters VC double in Australia once, but that was sort of a last minute whim.
Compared to the total costs of a safari the price of an ordinary rifle means more or less nothing to us or Americans. PHs don't always get this, since in their world rifles are expensive and a paperwork nightmare. Many clients from European countries are severely limited to the amount of guns they can have, and don't want to use up there possession limit on something they wont use at home. Many PHs will rent a rifle for $50 a day which is a lot of money to someone who works for 100 plus tips. I'd say to rent too if in that situation.
African hunting is different than at home. Everyone has a job, and your primary one is place your first shot as well as possible. In the vast majority of cases a scope sighted rifle is the best tool for that. A scoped .375 is a very good choice for "hunting" buffalo, and not a particularly good choice for getting in a fight with one, or stopping him from crossing boundaries, or dropping him while he is still in sight, or hitting him so damn hard that nobody else is tempted to put a shot into your buffalo. In the unlikely event of a charge an iron-sighted anything is better than a scope sighted anything and the rifle that seemed big at home won't anymore. That's what your PH will be carrying, because he has a job too. The lines between the roles are a little blurry, but you won't go wrong shooting the biggest thing you can shoot well. If that's a .375, go with it. If you can work through that to something bigger do that. The amount of punishment a buff can sometimes take will stagger you.
Charges are rare, but they do happen. My 23rd buffalo decided he didn't want to be followed and in he came. At that point that .458 felt pretty good, and not big at all.
Compared to the total costs of a safari the price of an ordinary rifle means more or less nothing to us or Americans. PHs don't always get this, since in their world rifles are expensive and a paperwork nightmare. Many clients from European countries are severely limited to the amount of guns they can have, and don't want to use up there possession limit on something they wont use at home. Many PHs will rent a rifle for $50 a day which is a lot of money to someone who works for 100 plus tips. I'd say to rent too if in that situation.
African hunting is different than at home. Everyone has a job, and your primary one is place your first shot as well as possible. In the vast majority of cases a scope sighted rifle is the best tool for that. A scoped .375 is a very good choice for "hunting" buffalo, and not a particularly good choice for getting in a fight with one, or stopping him from crossing boundaries, or dropping him while he is still in sight, or hitting him so damn hard that nobody else is tempted to put a shot into your buffalo. In the unlikely event of a charge an iron-sighted anything is better than a scope sighted anything and the rifle that seemed big at home won't anymore. That's what your PH will be carrying, because he has a job too. The lines between the roles are a little blurry, but you won't go wrong shooting the biggest thing you can shoot well. If that's a .375, go with it. If you can work through that to something bigger do that. The amount of punishment a buff can sometimes take will stagger you.
Charges are rare, but they do happen. My 23rd buffalo decided he didn't want to be followed and in he came. At that point that .458 felt pretty good, and not big at all.
not the same magazine that is right... you ll need the magazine of the h&h to make a Lott.
Saeed on AR has killed dozens. ( maybe hundreds) if buffalo with his 375-404. Basically a 375 Rum, using Barnes and similar bullets. Most he killed with a shot or two. He also remarked that he figured an H&H would have done the same job. But he shoots and hunts frequently, and is an excellent marksman.
He's anything but ordinary, but he has more buffalo shooting experience than anyone else I know of, he can use anything he wants, but he uses a 375. And so do lots of others, so my guess is that the .375 will not bounce off a buffalo. 
I wondered if the OP was concerned a .375 wasn't enough gun for buff, but it's highly recommended by many PH's because people shoot them well and they will kill stuff....Saeed's hundreds of buffalo show what putting a bullet in the right place can do.
Reminds me, I haven't been to AR much in the last 10 years. Wonder how Saeed, Walter and the gang are doing.
I wondered if the OP was concerned a .375 wasn't enough gun for buff, but it's highly recommended by many PH's because people shoot them well and they will kill stuff....Saeed's hundreds of buffalo show what putting a bullet in the right place can do.
Reminds me, I haven't been to AR much in the last 10 years. Wonder how Saeed, Walter and the gang are doing.
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No doubt the 375 kills buffalo. I think I may have said I got 9 with it, but when I sit down and add them up its 10. I find the distance travelled and number of shots taken changes with the bigger caliber. Sawed also uses his 375/404 foreverything, and for backup uses the same thing.
It's much the same there. Lots of fighting and egos. They rallied together and saved a hunt for me this year, that was pretty cool. Good guys. Lots of experience and a boatload of money over there.
It's much the same there. Lots of fighting and egos. They rallied together and saved a hunt for me this year, that was pretty cool. Good guys. Lots of experience and a boatload of money over there.
Johnn Peterson
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Chemainus B.C.
This is all I have that's VERY close. (Opps, forgot photo
)
All I need is some favourable luck on the Loto 649.............. .
Doesn't hurt to dream.Dogleg, I believe when my Daughter & Son In Law went to Africa, basically, they used 300WSM's for plains game. For the 'bigger stuff', my Daughter used a left hand Winchester model 70 in 375 H&H and my Son In Law, a .416 Remington Mag.
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Johnn
Very good choices. I'd be the last guy to bad mouth the .375, mostly because its one of my favorite calibers and would be my choice for the one rifle for the world class. Still, I do believe that if the big guns weren't better for a few things there wouldn't be any big guns.
Very good choices. I'd be the last guy to bad mouth the .375, mostly because its one of my favorite calibers and would be my choice for the one rifle for the world class. Still, I do believe that if the big guns weren't better for a few things there wouldn't be any big guns.
Guessing this is physically impossible without a lot of work. The Zastavas chambered in 375 H&H use a cut out action that is just long enough for SAAMI specs. Given the shorter nature of the 458 win mag I would have to assume they do not cut them out to the degree they would with the 375 H&H so one would also have the ream out the action to get the Lott in there.
That said I own a Zastava in 375 H&H and I would recommend against them for African use. There are too many issues with the cut action that can cause problems in the field VS using a proper magnum action(plus it's only 3+1). As a hunting rifle I like mine, but if I had to go back I'd get a CZ 550 and if I was going to Africa the CZ 550 would be my minimum for quality and functionality.
