two gun battery for africa

[JJHACK]

I wish you well with that Ruger Alaskan. I certainly hope you don't need to find ammo for it anyplace.

The 375HH has been used in Africa for 100 years, and it's been the staple of big bear hunters in Alaska since before it was a state. I've seen shells for it in Turkey, England, Germany, Mongolia and throughout Africa.

If you want to stay away from a "gimmick" stay with the foundation of all the wolds big game hunting rifles and be done with it. The use of that Ruger design in Africa will take a very long time to catch on if it ever does. It will not be an easy task to push the already well established king of the bush in that caliber out of the way.

I can say with strong confidence that there will not be many places in Alaska that will stock that ammo, and the odds in Afrcia are about zero. You can venture into an ACE hardware in any of the port island cities in SE Alaska and find all the common ammo. You won't likely be seeing any short mags, Ultra mags, Ruger 375's, or any of the specialty magnum handgun ammo.

You will see 223,243, 270, 7mm mag, 308, 30/06, 338, 375HH, ( very limited) 416-458, and a selection of 12-20 gage shells along with .22, 9mm, 357mag and .44mag shells. from there the selection gets thin to non exsistant in a hurry.

[ronangelia7]

            I think that if a person spends that kind of money and time to go to Africa.The the smart thing would be to take the advice of the PH that is going with you.It only makes since to take the advice of someone with a lot of experience in whatever region you are hunting in. JJ what type of scope on one of the 30 calibers do you recomend for PG. I have var-x III leupold in 50mm. I have had this scope for sometime,but would I be well advised to put a differant scope on rifle that I was planning to hunt African game. I bought the scope at the time hoping to use it in low light conditions and did not have Africa in mind,but it  is more difficult to shoot off the shoulder or in a hurry like you said. Did not know that when I purchased the scope...Thanks

                                   Ron

[JJHACK]

There may be some conditions where a 50 is an advantage to actualy shooting something. But they are a very rare exception. You will lose sight of the crosshairs long before you lose sight of the animal. I've done a test on these when I was writing for the magazine they sent me a butt load of high end scopes to use. I could see big game in the trees at twilight with a 150 dollar Weaver or a 1800 dollar Schmidt and bender. The main difference was I could still see the big thick cross hairs of the SB and I could not on the lesser quality scopes. I've never in my whole life been able to see and animal with the expensive scope and not see it with a cheap scope. Shooting is different by seeing has nave been a problem.

With that proven to me during the magazine test,  what's now become much more important then the brightness which seems to be the key term used for people talking scopes is the design of the crosshairs. For my money nothing beats the German 4A reticle. I can see mine in a Leupold VXIII 2.5-8X32 or a 3.5-10VXIII all night long with a full moon. How a 50mm objective would benifit me to justify the higher rings and awkward handeling is beyond me.

For a special application Sure it's a great plan but for a day in day out primary hunting machine.............no way!

Leupolds custom shop will put just about any crosshair you could want in your scope now. Check out thier website.

[deltecs]

Luckily, I am planning to do some DG hunting in Africa relatively soon.  I have a friend who was born in RSA and has his guides license for Zim too.  My parents have hunted DG several time with differing weapons very successfully.  I've researched Taylor and Robertsons books thoroughly for just the right 2 gun combination IN THE RIFLES I PLAN TO USE.  I personally love the shotgun safety of the Ruger Mark 1's and have no complaints regarding their reliability.  Controlled round feed is more positive, but the Rugers hold the cartridge in the mag and follower enough in the feed cycle that even upside down and fed extremely slow, the cartridges do not fall to the ground.  That eliminates one reason for owning and using crf rifles.  The postion and fast use of the safety to me offsets its liabilities.  So, back to the 2 gun safari.  How about a 338-06 A Square and a 404 Dakota?  The 404 Dakota shoots a .423  400 gr at 2350 fps with Woodleigh soft or solids.  Both rifles have scopes.  One had Leopold 1x4 heavy duplex and the other has 1x5 heavy duplex.  Also, both rifles have Rugers machined scope bases and I have a New England peep sight for those bases as a spare sight.  Any suggestions?

[JJHACK]

There are no longer South Africans licensed in Zim to hunt, the way around it is to hire a PH in Zim to tag along with you and then you can run the operation under his license. But no South Africans living outside Zim can actually get a Zim PH or Outfitter License.

There are those who do this, and will end up in a Zim Jail. Remember ZIm is the same country that sold hunting rights to outfitters in several parks. Then they arrested the outfitters and the hunters for "poaching"  in those areas. They found out that the government official sold the permits illegally.

Government official still sitting in a bar in Harrere with a pocket full of money,

 PH with Foreign clients sitting in the pokey for poaching. ........ Feeling lucky???

[deltecs]

Thanks JJ, didn't know about the non resident guide license in Zim.  He did have one a few years ago and hunted with Yannie Meyer of Zim.  I kind of lost track of him lately and do not know of the newest regs though I do know changes have and are being made there.  What about the choices for a hunt?

[James B]

1. 375 Ruger
2. 375 Ruger.

[Dixie Dude]

I have heard that in some places in Africa, a 375 HH is not enough, and there is a minimum .40 cal. law.  Does anyone know anything about this?  I was planning on buying a 375 HH and use it in the states until I can get to Africa. 

[Dixie Dude]

I have a 300 WM Remington 700 and a Ruger .308 77 for Plains game.  I was going to purchase a 375 HH, but do I need a .416 Rigby or .458 Lott instead?  I was thinking availability of ammo.  I was also thinking of selling either the 300 WM or the .308 and getting an old reliable .30-06 because of availability of ammo.  What do you think? 

[WL44]

I'm not sure if you guys can get it over there , but in the latest (or maybe a month ago's) African Outfitter magazine there was an article on the 45-70 under the "favourite calibers" section. Maybe worth looking at. I'm aware that buffalo have been taken with 45-70 lever actions. There were a few pics too. Of course we don't necessarily know the story behind the picture, but a 45-70 rifle load must easily be up to heavy .45 Colt and .454 loads as used by many handgun hunters.

I'm not recommending the 45-70, but as a special challenge it's worth doing if that blows your hair back. Much like handgun, muzzle loading and bow hunting.

By the way, Sverre made it to an issue himself a while back.

I don't have the magazine as the issue didn't really interest me and I only purchase it occassionaly.

[Prebanpaul]

FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH HERE IS MY BATTERY

CUSTOM MONTANA 99 CHAMBERED IN 308 LAZZERONI WARBIRD.  THIS IS A 165 GRN MRX BULLET AT ABOUT 3700-3800 FPS.  300 YRD ZERO WITH A ZEISS 4.5X14 SCOPE.

NEXT IS THE STEAL THAT I JUST DID ON GUN BROKER MY SAKO MANNLICHER IN 375 H&H (GOT HER LIKE NEW IN BOX FOR $850 IT WAS ON THERE FOR 17 MIN YEAH FOR ME) TOPPED WITH THE NEW 1.5X5 ZIESS OR STRAIGHT 4 POWER DONT KNOW WHICH.  THIS GUN WILL HAVE QUICK DETACH RINGS IN CASE I HAVE TO DITCH THE SCOPE. 100 YRD ZERO.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM    I LIKE THE 416 REMINGTON CALIBER BETTER BUT WITH THAT DEAL COULD NOT  PASS IT UP.

[dpastordan]

Should one of my uncles pass away and through some strange circumstance leave me with some extra cash for Africa...I would probably take:

1.  A .270 or .30-06
2.  My combo in .22Magnum and 20 gauge or my 12 gauge over/under.

I doubt I would go after the biggies [elephant, cape buffalo] but would want to hunt some of the birds and small game.

But if I changed my mind... I would go with a .375 (Ruger bolt action) and .30-06.