Safari Match AAR, part 1

Well, this spring's Safari Rifle match is in the bag, and a great time was had by all.  This is my third time shooting the match, and while some of the novelty has worn off, I've been able to use it to fine-tune some of my gear choices and techniques, while having a very enjoyable time at every turn.  The gentleman who runs the match, Bill Poole, is a friendly and cheerful guy who puts a ton of time and effort into running the event.  The folks who participate are also a great bunch of guys, always willing to share knowledge and tips with new arrivals like myself.  I've been in competitions both friendly and unfriendly over the years, and it's a breath of fresh air to shoot with a group like this.  This year we fought the wind to keep our targets upright, but we managed to persevere with a little adaptation and ingenuity.

Let's start with my equipment setup, since testing that is my primary reason for competing.  I ran my Ruger Hawkeye African in 9.3x62mm, topped with an SWFA SS 1-6x in Warne QD rings, shooting my reloads. Because the 9.3 was considered undersized for the final elephant stage, I brought along my old large-frame Ruger Vaquero revolver in .44 Magnum.  It seemed silly that a .44 Magnum handgun would be acceptable where a 9.3x62mm rifle was not, but the rules only considered bullet diameter and I wanted to compete in every stage.  So the 5.5" stainless Vaquero rode on my right hip, with the Wilderness TwinLoader in front and the Westley Richards 5-round ammo pouch behind.

From my experience in the match, I have determined two things:  First, I need a better holster for the Vaquero.  This Hunter holster is rudimentary at best, and though it did suffice for the day, I would want something of far better design, fit and quality if I ever take this piece on a hunting trip.  Second, while my shirt is one of the most comfortable that I own, being a lightweight, long-sleeve soft cotton chamois, the shirt tails are too short and it frequently came untucked under exertion, fouling up on my cartridges.  The WR pouch was a little less affected, as the leather flap helped keep most of the shirt out of the way, but the TwinLoader would frequently be covered by the shirt.  I need to see if Cabela's has the same shirt in a Long/Tall size, as I am otherwise very fond of the material and pocket placement/design.  I avoid shirts with unflapped pockets when shooting rifles, as I find the toe of the stock will often get hung up there during the dismount.  If the pockets have a button flap, the stock will just slide off and all is well.

On my left side, I had my SureFire G2 flashlight and my Leatherman tool, along with an interesting little knife called a Clinch Pick.  The Clinch Pick looks like a small caping knife, but the edge is on the back of the blade rather than the belly.  It's designed as a defensive weapon for use in a grapple (hence the name), and I've been experimenting with where and how to carry it.  Suffice to say, it's not really germane to this forum, so we'll leave it at that.

The only real issue I had with my left-side setup was that the upgraded metal bezel on my SureFire kept banging on my rifle when I had it slung.  I have an old nylon flap sheath for it that I will use in the future to protect my rifle from such abuse.  My Wilderness Frequent Flyer belt, Smartwool Trekking Heavy Crew socks and Cabelas Trail Hiker II pants performed well as always.  I've got no reason to change them at this point.

One interesting bit of equipment issue to note:  headgear.  Being a pale-skinned redhead, the sun is my natural enemy.  I go from zero to lobster in about 15 minutes in the AZ summer, so I take care to dress accordingly.  Thus the long pants and long sleeve shirt even in the desert heat; I can keep myself reasonably cool via hydration and sweating through the loose cotton.  But this being the safari match, previous winners are encouraged to wear their prize pith helmets.  In the spirit of the match, I started out with my helmet, but it meant I had to wear earplugs instead of my electronic muffs.  That makes it harder to hear, and started to irritate my ears in fairly short order.  During the first stage, my scope recoiled into the brim of my helmet, knocking it clean off my head.  I let it lie in the dust and drove on to finish the string, and after that I switched back to my muffs and my soft boonie hat.  The final bit of clothing I used was a thin cotton neckscarf that my good friend bought as a souvenir from his trip to Vietnam and gave to me.  It's similar to a shemagh, but thinner and rectangular as opposed to square.  Wrapped around my neck, it kept me from getting sunburned and still maintained excellent breathability.  I've long found a large bandana to be a great utility item in the field, and this is just an extension of the concept.  This one's definitely going to Africa with me.

Now, I mentioned my shooting sticks in the last post.  I got to really put them through their paces for the first time yesterday, and I'm very pleased.  I also developed an ad-hoc support technique that controls the sticks, insulates the gun from the hard body of the sticks themselves, and allows me to use the push-pull recoil mitigation technique to better control the gun.  It just kind of naturally developed as I was testing the sticks out while I was developing my handloads, and I gave it the acid test at the match.  I'm happy to say that it works great, and I'll be using the technique from here on out (unless, of course, I find something that works better!).  The proof is in the pudding:  I shot dramatically better off the sticks this time around compared to my last two matches.  My only miss was when I got up close to the targets and dumped the sticks thinking I didn't need them.  Sure enough, El Snatcho snuck up and I launched my shot six inches low, missing entirely.  Every single other shot was directly in the heart.  Here I'm demonstrating the technique to another competitor (behind the firing line, so I had to do it without my rifle)

I found my choice of caliber had a lot of advantages in this match, save for the limitation on the elephants at the end.  I was able to load up 5 rounds at a time, and never had to reload on the clock, unlike the folks with single shots, doubles or larger-caliber bolt guns.  I was also able to quickly work the bolt on the charging buffalo.  Nobody managed to get both shots into the brain box on that particular target, but my error was simply rushing the shot.  If I'd had better trigger control, I had the time to make the second hit.  On a non-scored practice run afterwards, I was able to put both rounds into the buff, draw the Vaquero, and still make a headshot with the handgun.  All that time practicing transitions with my carbine and Beretta paid off!

Here's a shot of the match director, Bill Poole, engaging the buff as it charges.  This is probably my favorite part of the match.  That buff moves deceptively fast, and the rocky terrain makes the small brain shot zone bounce all over the place.  Of course, it's nowhere near having a real live buffalo charge you with murder in his eyes, but it's a lot more challenging than simply busting a stationary target.  I have some video that my good friend Michael Novack shot, but I have to take care of some logistical issues to get it hosted and available.  Rest assured, it's coming :)

In the end, my preparations paid off, and I either validated my choices or learned where I needed to improve.  I've got a good handle on where I need to go from here.  And the proof, as I said, is in the pudding.  I was able to keep things together and win the match.  I received the winner's pith helmet!  And of course, I had to wear my previous helmet for the award photo :)  It's just how it's done, old chap, what?

A bit of a teaser

As I mentioned earlier, the biannual Safari Match at Phoenix Rod & Gun Club was held today.  It was a rousing good time, despite the wind playing havoc with our target stands.  We got to see (and shoot!) some incredible rifles, from 1870s-vintage .450 Black Powder Express doubles to a brand-new .500 Jeffrey rifle (which nobody had the courage, or perhaps insanity, to shoot).  This is really what it's all about:  shooting some classic African rifles with a bunch of good-natured and affable folks who share the same interest.

The above photo shows the moment of truth as one of the competitors fires a .470 Nitro Express during the open shooting session after the match's conclusion.  Banging steel from about 75 meters with the various light cannon was just awesome.  It's so awesome that I don't want to really go into detail until I get all the photos and video collected and edited.  Expect some great images over the next few days!

I ran my shooting sticks hard for the first time, and I was very pleased with them.  I've worked out a peculiar grip on them that works well for me.  I need to take a picture to really describe it, but essentially I grip the left-hand stick with my pinkie, ring and middle fingers, while using my index finger and thumb to create a little V-rest for the forend, palm facing towards the target.  I can pinch the stock with those two fingers and get a pretty good push-pull going, while simultaneously controlling the sticks and insulating the weapon to prevent it bouncing up and shooting high.

I shot my reloads, and had one bad primer out of 23 rounds fired.  Fortunately, it occurred on one of the stages that was not timed.  Further testing resulted in four solid primer strikes with no ignition.  Now I've got to pull the bullet, recover the powder, reprime and reload the cartridge to fire again.  I'm going to do a more thorough investigation and see if the primer was seated more deeply than my other reloads, or if any other causes can be identified.

And lastly, I leave you with a taste of what we saw and shot today, to whet your appetite:

Photo credits to Michael Novack

Sunshine and Smokeless Powder

I've been shooting most of my life, and relatively little of it has been centered around 'traditional' hunting rifles.  In all honestly, I'm most comfortable with a semi-auto pistol or pump shotgun than anything else.  So occasionally I like to go out and practice with my favorite toys.  Today was one of those days.

It was a beautiful day in the Valley of the Sun.  Wispy clouds rode the sky, the sun shone through periodically, the temperature was a pleasant 75 degrees or so, and spring was in the air.  The perfect day for shotgunning! I've found that a round of sporting clays is a great way to relax after a rough week at the office.  It just so happens there's a pleasant clays course about 40 minutes' drive away from my home.  So I got some of my coworkers together and we ventured forth.  Having Tom Petty's "Running Down a Dream" pop on the radio as we pulled out just augured well for the day.

Now, I must confess, we didn't look like the stereotypical clays shooters.  For one thing, none of us own sporting-type shotguns.  Seeing as my coworker Gary doesn't (yet) own a shotgun, I let him use my Remington 870.  Now, as I mentioned, I don't have a clays shotgun.  My 870 has an 18" barrel with ghost-ring sights, and looks more like it belongs in a SWAT armory than a sporting clays course.  I took my VEPR-12, which is basically an AK redesigned to fire 12 gauge shotshells.  My other coworker, Jamie, brought along his 870 which is set up very similarly to mine.  So all of our guns had 18" barrels with Improved Cylinder chokes, not exactly ideal for shooting the long birds.  But that's what we had, so that's what we used.

Neither of my two friends had ever shot clays before.  Jamie had used his shotgun in some training classes, but those generally focus on shooting steel human-shaped silhouettes.  Gary's only experience with shotguns was a stockless Mossberg breacher that he used to effect forcible entries in Iraq, and while he didn't care for the recoil, he was willing to give sporting clays a try.

So off to the range we went.

After a short video explaining the rules and safety precautions at a clays range, we headed onto to the course.  We set up on the first station, and I had Gary trigger a pair for me.  My VEPR is a soft-shooting pussycat, so much so that the steel buttplate doesn't even bother me.  The factory-standard RPK light machinegun sights, however, are not really all that conducive to shooting clays.  If you've ever shot an AK, imagine trying to use those sights on a small, fast-moving target.  Still, I managed to bust one of the two, shooting just behind the second bird.  Gary went next, and managed to bust both birds.  I really think the excitement of hitting them both set the tone for the day, as he was continually complaining about the stock battering his cheek under recoil, but didn't seem to mind because he was doing very well for a beginner.  Jamie seemed to have more issues with getting the correct lead on the birds. 

We made our way through the stations, smiling and laughing at each others' performances and learning a few things about shotguns as we went.  I taught both of them to load an empty shotgun through the ejection port, and to use the push-pull method of recoil reduction to keep them from battering their shoulders.  Gary mentioned several times that he instantly realized when he forgot to push-pull.  I let him try my VEPR, and he was amazed at the difference in felt recoil between the two guns.  I offered to switch guns for the remainder of the course, but he said he wanted to stick with the pump gun since that's what he'd likely be buying for himself.  Oh yes, halfway through the course he'd already decided he needed a shotgun, and began plotting how to get his wife to come out so she could get in on the fun as well!

At the final station, the birds came out sideways from opposite directions, at a fairly high rate of speed.  Over the course, I'd discovered that I rather liked the RPK sights on this shotgun.  I was able to use the protective wings around the front sight as a kind of scale, like the anti-aircraft sights on a WWII machine gun.  They actually helped me calculate lead and drop!  So on this last station, I broke both birds, Gary broke both birds, and Jamie missed both.  Gary decided to shoot a few more at that station, even deciding he wanted to try a true double.  He was obviously gaining confidence in his ability, and enjoying himself.  He managed to break one of the pair, which was honestly still good shooting.  I would have had a deal of trouble making them both if launched simultaneously, and the course description was 'on report' rather than a true double.  Jamie tried another pair one at a time, and managed to break one.  He remarked that he'd like to spend more time at a single station to get used to how much he needed to lead targets.  He's always struck me as a more methodical and scientific person, so that makes a lot of sense.  Next time, we'll spend some time at the practice launcher and let him get a better feel for things.  And oh yes, he was insistent that we let him know the next time we went to shoot clays!

So, you may be asking, what in the world does a round of sporting clays with 'tactical' shotguns have to do with preparing for a safari?  Well, I would say a few points are in order.  First, I have heard the bird shooting in Africa can be challenging and exciting, and while I have never actually hunted birds yet, I do love shooting shotguns and I'm a fair hand at clays.  So it makes sense to keep up a little practice at the closest analogy to wingshooting.

Secondly, I feel it's important to be an ambassador for the shooting sports, even to other types of those sports.  I accomplished this in two ways today.  First, I introduced two people to a new sport that they greatly enjoyed, and who expressed desire to continue participating in it.  That's the only way our sports will survive, and I also truly enjoy sharing my passions with others who find enjoyment in it.  Additionally, there is often friction between the more classical shooting sports and the new, upstart 'tactical' or 'practical' sports.  I generally consider myself more of the latter type of shooter, and I've heard 'my' people refer to bird hunters and clays shooters as 'Fudds'.  Similarly, I've heard more than one fine shotgun aficionado wonder why anyone would 'need' one of those scary 'assault weapons'.  So today, I used this opportunity to try to bridge that gap, by being polite to everyone on the course and offering to let others shoot a pair or two with my VEPR.  I had a few folks ask what kind of shotgun it was, and I happily explained it to them.  Most of those folks also were happy to take a few shots with it, and while I doubt any of them will give up their fancy over/unders anytime soon, they left with what I hope is a more positive view of those scary semi-autos.  Our rights are constantly under attack, so it only makes sense to keep all shooters together as a more unified bloc to resist such efforts.  The tactical shooters need the votes and efforts of the traditionalists if we're to keep our sports, and our rights, alive and well.

And finally, I just plain enjoy shooting.  It reduces my stress levels significantly, especially when I have good company while doing it.  Whether I'm shooting my Beretta and AKMS at an IDPA match, my VEPR or 870 at a sporting clays course, or my Ruger 9.3mm in the field or safari rifle match, I find 'busting caps' to be cathartic and relaxing.  It's quite possibly my favorite outdoor activity, and any excuse I can find to go do it, I use.  Today was no exception.  As I drove home, listening to David Gilmour's mournful guitar on "Hey You" coming through the speakers, I just felt... great.  All was right with the world, as far as I was concerned.  Call it what you will:  endorphins, zen, peace of mind, whatever.  Shooting makes me happy.

The moment of truth.

Well, it's time for the moment of truth.  I shot an IDPA match this morning, and did reasonably well.  I shot some follow-up drills and did better.  Then I scampered off to the rifle side of the facility to test out my first-ever batch of rifle handloads.

I set up a makeshift rest with the range's carpet-covered wooden blocks and my folded soft case, loaded up the first three rounds (56.5gr of Big Game) and got to work, checking each individual case for pressure signs.  Then three rounds with 57.5, three more with 58.5 and so on until I got to 61.5gr.  By that time, I had started to develop a bit of a flinch from shooting off the bench, and I decided it would be impractical to continue shooting groups.  I fired one round with 62.0gr from the shooting sticks (mostly to verify there were no pressure signs, and there weren't), and banged steel @ 200 yards.  I fired five more factory Prvi rounds, but the flinch was starting to show.  I buckled down and fired one last round and banged steel.  I like to finish on a high note.

Then it was off to the butts to see how I did.  And boy, was I surprised.  I had a few stringers that I will readily ascribe to the emergent flinch (especially on the last two sets of three), but the 59.5gr load (rounds 10, 11 and 12) shot sub-MOA @ 100 yards!

Now I need to get a chronograph and see how much velocity that load's pushing, and load up some more from about 59gr to 62.5gr and see if that's the sweetest spot or if there are greener pastures.

Now, on to the shooting sticks.  Work bit into my free time, so I only had time to craft one set of sticks.  I used the green Home Depot garden stakes with a section of bicycle inner tube to make a very simple apparatus.  And yet, with a proper hold, I was able to shoot reasonably well @ 200 yards with it.  I found that by laying my hand in the crotch of the sticks, and using that to brace the gun and prevent it from bouncing, I could shoot pretty well.  I really like these sticks.  They're extremely lightweight, stiff, tough, and practical.  Best of all, they cost me all of $7 and change.  I'm thinking of getting a third stake to try the tripod route, but right now I'm finding it hard to argue with the simple effectiveness of the current setup.  Still, experimentation is what this is all about, so I'll give it and the wooden swivel bipod sticks a run for the money.

Calibers Pt. II

As promised, here's the next installment of caliber selection for my safari.  As mentioned earlier, I'm not going to be hunting any of the Big Five, so I won't need any of the .400-caliber or larger rounds.  But I do plan to at least try for a kudu and/or eland, and that's pushing the capability of even the best bullets in a .30-'06 or .308 Winchester.  So what should I use for a 'medium' safari rifle?

The gold standard is the classic .375 Holland & Holland Magnum.  It's the standard for good reason:  it's got manageable recoil, a reasonably flat trajectory, great bullet selection, and enough power to take on just about anything on the continent under reasonable conditions.  I wouldn't want to stop a charging elephant with one, but that's not my concern.  If by some stroke of Murphy I'm charged by an elephant, well, my PH will have a .460 Weatherby in his Johnny Benchian hands.  It's also readily available in Africa if your ammo somehow doesn't make the rendezvous.

But is the .375 truly the best choice for me, even amongst calibers with historical appeal?  Let's look at some of the downsides.  First of all, there's the cost.  I'm not a rich man by any stretch, and safaris are getting more expensive every day.  I would rather buy a more economical (note:  not necessarily 'cheap') rifle and save my money for trophy fees and practice ammo.  And one of the major fixed costs of the .375 H&H is the fact that it requires a magnum action.  That adds $300 or so to the cost of the rifle, easily.  That may not be a whole lot in terms of trophy fees, but it's a fair amount of reloading components that I could use to become more proficient with the weapon.  And while .375 H&H ammo is cheap compared to the truly big bores, it's still not exactly low-cost for training.

Despite all this, until recently I saw no truly better alternative, and resigned myself to saving up my pennies to buy a .375 H&H.  And then I heard about Otto Bock's creation:  the 9.3x62mm.  On paper, it doesn't look like much, appearing to be the Continental equivalent of a .35 Whelen.  It pushes a .366-caliber 286gr slug at a rather sedate 2350 fps (or 2250fps for some loads), compared to the .375's 300gr projectile @ 2650 or so.  So again, on paper, the .375 wins hands down.  But the 9.3 had a sterling reputation in the early decades of the 20th Century.  In fact, the .375 was created by Holland & Holland to supplant it, and there had to be a reason for this.  Several African nations require a minimum of .375 to hunt dangerous game, and several of those nations have an exception to allow the 9.3x62mm.  The commonly heard phrase is "It kills out of proportion to its size and recoil."  It just seems to have that magic formula of sectional density, good bullet construction and moderate velocity that lets it penetrate deeper than you'd expect from such a relatively mild cartridge.  And it just so happens that the 9.3x62mm fits into standard-length actions, with the same magazine capacity as a .30-'06. 

Another explanation for the on-paper performance gap is that the .375 has benefited from years of handloading experience and development, something the mostly-forgotten 9.3mm lacked until relatively recently.  In the last 10 years or so, there has been a resurgence of interest in the 9.3x62mm (and its near-twin for double rifles, the 9.3x74mmR), and the major makers (including Barnes, Hornady, Speer and Swift, as well as European makers like Norma, Prvi Partizan and Lapua) have started producing premium bullets and testing out new powders to bring out the cartridge's potential.  Factory ammo (and reloading manuals) keep the velocity low for much the same reason as they do with the .45-70:  there are plenty of older rifles that can't handle the pressures of a modern high-performance cartridge.  Several companies chambered older-model (pre-98) Mauser actions in 9.3x62, and these don't have the strength or the safety features of the later guns.  In a modern action with modern powders, you can push things a little further.

I heard about the 9.3x62 from my father, who was turned on to the cartridge by Bill Wilson of Wilson Combat fame.  Bill's been hunting in Africa for decades, and learned of the cartridge from some friends there.  He's become a big fan, so much so that he wrote the introduction for the 9.3x62mm section in the Barnes reloading manual.  My father fired Bill's rifle and fell in love with the manageable recoil, higher magazine capacity, faster follow-up shots, and smooth feeding.  He loved it so much, he took a 9.3 of his own to Africa for his latest safari, taking everything from Steinbok to Cape buffalo with it using Hornady DGS solids and 286gr Barnes TTSX .

Only a few years ago, your options for a factory rifle in this caliber, available in the US, were pretty much limited to CZ and Sako (the Scandinavians apparently love this cartridge for hunting moose and bear).  The CZ is fairly reasonable in price, and the Sako isn't particularly bad, but still hovering around the $1000 mark.  The CZ also wasn't available in an 'African' pattern.  And then came Ruger. Ruger created their own .375 Ruger cartridge to duplicate .375 H&H ballistics in a standard-length action, but it came at the expense of magazine capacity due to the fatter cartridge casing required to hold all that powder.  So when Ruger offered their Hawkeye African rifle in 9.3x62mm with a 4+1 capacity, both Dad and I jumped on it.  And a good thing we did; Ruger discontinued the rifle in that chambering within a year or two.  Perhaps they wanted to boost sales of their proprietary .375 and .416 cartridges, I don't know.  But whatever the reason, we were lucky enough to get a pair.  I immediately ordered a set of Warne quick-detach rings, an SWFA 1-6x optic, and some Prvi Partizan 285gr softpoints for practice fodder/donor cases.  Once I got everything set up, it was off to the range to zero.

And that... is another story.

Today's subject: calibers.

I'm a gun guy.  I love guns.  I love shooting guns.  I love reading about guns.  I memorize gun facts like Ken Jennings on Jeopardy.  Thus, it may come as a shocker that I'm doing the first real post about *gasp* calibers.

There are a ton of classic calibers for African hunting.  Theodore Roosevelt took a .30-'03 (yes, you read that right) and a .405 Winchester, among others.  The .375 H&H Magnum has a well deserved reputation as an all-around African cartridge, capable of (if not exactly perfect for) taking any critter on the continent (and, probably, the land surface of the Earth).  The big Nitro Express double rifle cartridges have a cachet all their own, and have been making a big comeback after decades of decline.

Choosing a caliber for your African safari is a matter of logic in many ways:  what game do I plan to hunt?  In what kind of terrain will I be hunting?  What kind of rifle (double, bolt action, single shot, lever action) do I use?  Do I even use a rifle, or do I use a handgun (revolver, single-shot)?  Is the cartridge readily available in gun shops or stores, or is it a handloading-only proposition?  These questions will narrow down your choices.

But safaris aren't exclusively practical.  There's definitely something to be said for the cachet of history.  For me, a big part of the excitement of going on safari is walking in places where giants have walked previously, and I hear the call of the old calibers strongly.  So how does one balance the two?

First thing's first:  game and terrain.  I plan to hunt in South Africa along the Limpopo river, where there is moderate to heavy thornbush.  Most shots will be 100 yards or less, and a 200 yard shot is about the longest I can reasonably expect.  So I don't need a super-flat-shooting wunderpatron.  That's good, because those new supercartridges tend to be hard-kicking, barrel-eating, wallet-raping bastards.  Whatever I pick can have reasonable velocities and good versatility.

I plan to hunt plains game, from the tiny Steinbok up to the kudu and possibly eland, but mostly things like gemsbok, warthog, impala and wildebeest.  Most of these are deer-sized, so I can use a deer rifle.  The bigger critters like eland, kudu and wildebeest (and possibly zebra) might call for a bigger gun with a bit more oomph. So, I'm looking at taking two rifles.  I want a 'light' (what most hunters in the US would generally term a 'medium' rifle, or full-power deer rifle) and a 'medium' (which most hunters in the US would term an 'elephant gun', even though I'll not shoot any elephants or even buffalo on this first trip).  There are a lot of modern, high-performance cartridges in both categories, but let's start with the 'light' rifle.

The first cartridge I looked at was the 7x57mm Mauser.  It's got a long history of use in Africa, it's got decent bullet selection, and it can be had in light and handy rifles.  But to my mind, it's a bit light for most of the larger plains game, and I want something that I can use in a pinch on most anything I see (within reason).  Plus, it's hard to find in an inexpensive, US-made rifle.  So, that's out for now.

The next cartridge I looked at was the .318 Westley Richards.  This is a classic cartridge, but one I don't see very often anymore.  Turns out almost nobody makes it.  Westley Richards will build you a new bolt-gun in this caliber, but you'll pay out the nose for it.  So that's out too, along with the .300 H&H Magnum for the same reasons.

The more I looked, the more I saw similar issues with just about every 'light' cartridge with any significant historical cachet.  And then it hit me:  there is one classic American hunting cartridge that has a long history of use in Africa:  the venerable .30-'06 Springfield.  It's always been a versatile, excellent cartridge with decent trajectory and a plethora of bullet options, but with the newer powders and advanced bullet designs, it's become even better.  For what I need, I figure a passel of 168gr Barnes TTSX handloads will do nicely.  I've used this bullet in my .308 for whitetail, and it's incredible.  It blows my old 150gr Nosler BTs out of the water.  The BTs would occasionally fail to expand when they hit bone, and didn't do well in the brushy country where I hunt back in West Virginia.  The Barnes bullet is just amazing.  It blows through bone, tissue, and hide like it wasn't there.  It's the perfect bullet for deep penetration with good expansion.

So that's settled, now what rifle?  There are a ton of .30-'06 rifles on the market, it's just about the universal deer caliber and every maker produces one.  I'd like a bolt-action, because of the intrinsic strength and accuracy of the design, and my familiarity with it from years of deer hunting.  But do I go for a Remington?  Winchester?  Ruger?  CZ?  Custom?  I've already got a Ruger bolt-action in a larger caliber (which I'll touch on in the next segment), and I've used a Remington Model 7 in .308 for years on whitetail.  This is something I'm still trying to decide, and I may not choose for some time.  But in any event, I've got a set of reloading dies so that I can start working up loads as soon as I get a rifle.  And if worst comes to worst, I'll take that little Model 7 and I'm sure it'll do just fine.