been using a 30-06 for 14 yrs now, and I love it, can get ammo virtually anywhere on the planet, it works on anything it`s pointed at, thats if I do my bit,
In Africa, I fair bit of stuff. and it always worked fine,
A Baboon at 660 yds (range finder verified) was the longest shot, and actually, I`m not 100% proud of it, but, where we where working, Baboons where to be shot on site with no exceptions, and it`s stopped pigs at "single figure" yards,
Shot a few deer with it in the U.K and more than my fair share of U.K boar, and Its been cristened over here on the deer funny enough it works as well here too
When people start talking about the bigger calibres and start worrying about recoil, the thing I recommend after calibre choice is get a good quality rifle ! one that is built for the job, I use a 458, and it`s sweet to shoot, OK, I not exactly a small bloke, but friends of mine have shot it, and 99% of them say they are surprised at the recoil or lack of it.
One friend of mine shot a boar with the 458 in the uk and he was just gobsmacked at, as he put it, " the pig was dead before it fell over"
I shot a brno 458 last year, the owner wanted to compare to my Heym, and the Brno,although a ok rifle was an absolute pig to shoot, it just didn`t feel "nice" and I dont think it would have instilled me with as much confidence and my rifles do.
And the 458 has drawn blood over here too now, it`s shot 1 rabbit and a Possum
A mate borrowed it, when I asked if it was man enough for the job, he said he wasn`t 100% sure as he didn`t find enough of the Possum to comment.
Safari Rifles is a grt book, written by a man who actually hunted with the rifles he wrote about.
I going to write a book too roughly on the same lines, so anyone want to sponser me and send me a few new rifles to try, it will take extensive testing so don`t be in a rush to get them back,and NO plastic pigs, I think I will start with Heyms, so if anyone can get me one of the new Heyms in 505, that will do for start, then we will move on to the doubles etc
and the book will appear when it appears, may take a while cos i`ll be having fun ,
oh and p.s I will need places to test these rifles so, anyone with contcts in Africa, a few freebies pls