Best Rifles, Calibers & Ammunition

There are many options that range from the very expensive Holland and Holland, Rigby, Blazer, Krieghoff, etc. to the more manageable price offerings from CZ, Winchester, Sako, Browning, Weatherby, Kimber, Sauer etc.. The .375 Ruger is gaining popularity and more and more manufacturers are producing rifles in the .375 Ruger caliber. The most common rifles can be found from Ruger, Savage, Mossberg, and Howa. These can be significantly less expensive than the H&H. All will do the job but shop around and do some homework before you buy.

Should you buy an expensive classic safari rifle or a more budget-friendly one? Wood or a synthetic stock?  Well, that depends on your budget and personality. If you are a person that likes the finer things in life and uses them without worrying about scuffs or damage, then buy the best you can afford in a classic safari rifle with a high-grade wood stock, nothing will feel better. If potential damage or scuffing to your prized rifle will ruin your safari, then maybe take a different path. Let’s think about these facts; during your safari your rifle will most likely be sitting in the back of a truck in a rack. It will be transferred up and down from the truck several times during the hunt. It will go through the African bush. It will be handled by sweaty hands, and you may have to crawl on the ground with it to get close to your game. If this panics you then maybe a high-end expensive rifle with a lavish stock is not the one to take with you. You may want to consider a less expensive rifle with a synthetic stock.  Your choice, your budget, and your personality. I have both and hunt with both, my personal comfort level is using something of good quality that I do not worry about. My favorites’ are a CZ 550 in a 9.3×62 and a custom Mauser in a .458 Win. Mag. and both have synthetic stocks.

There are many caliber options for dangerous game hunting. As I mentioned earlier the .375 is the legal minimum in most Africa countries, though the 9.3×62 and the 9.3×74 are sometimes acceptable. For dangerous game, there is no doubt that a larger caliber with more knockdown power is safer, especially in the case of a wounded or charging animal.  However, shot placement is still the most critical, the heaviest caliber will not stop an animal if your shot is not in a vital area. There are several considerations when choosing dangerous game rifles. One consideration is to choose a caliber with as much recoil you can comfortably handle without flinching or sacrificing accuracy. Calibers such as .416, 458 win, 460 Weatherby, 505 Gibbs, 470 and 500 nitro express all have tremendous knockdown capability, but they also carry a significant amount of recoil. The design of the stock, the recoil pad, and the weight of the rifle all impact the degree of the felt recoil. The lighter the rifle the more recoil will be felt. Heavier rifles will reduce felt recoil but are heavy to carry all day in the field. If you are not accustomed to heavy recoiling rifles you can work your way up to shooting them. I comfortably shoot my 458 win and 416 Rigby, I do not enjoy the recoil but I can manage. However, it did take me a while to get accustomed to shooting these beasts. In my opinion, a good dangerous game rifle to start with is a .375 H&H weighing around 9lbs with a good recoil pad such as a Limbsaver or a Pachmayr Decelerator. It will handle everything up to an elephant without sending you to a chiropractor. If you know someone who owns a large caliber safari rifle and you want to test your limits, ask them if you can shoot it. Be courteous and offer to pay for the ammo, as it can be expensive. This leads into another consideration, some of the larger calibers can cost more than $100 per box, the .375 is about half that.

For plains game, there are many options for calibers, manufacturers, and rifles. African plains game animals are tough and again shot placement is key. For effective plains game hunting there are two key factors to consider; the distance you will be shooting and the ammo you intend to use. I will discuss ammunition in the next section. Most articles and forums will say that the ideal plains game rifle is a 300 win. Mag. It is a long range caliber capable of shooting well beyond 300 yards, it is available in various bullet types and grains up to 220 grain, it’s flat shooting, has a lot of knockdown power, and is available from just about every rifle manufacturer. It will take down any plains game animal even an Eland, the largest of Africa’s horned antelope (some experts will recommend a 9.3×62 or a .375 for Eland due to its size). If you have this rifle, it would be the rifle to bring. If you don’t have a 300win mag and are not itching to buy yourself a new toy, any of the other deer calibers such as 270, 7mm-08, 308, 7mm Mauser, 30-06, 7mm mag etc. will work well with the right bullet and good shot placement. If you have a 30-06 it will also serve you very well. It offers a large variety of bullet weight including 220-grain bullets for larger animals like the Kudu and Eland. One thing to mention, at closer range (under 200 yds.) using a very high-velocity cartridge like a .300win, 300 Weatherby, or 338win mag along with a low expansion bullet can actually go through the animal (paper punch) with less internal injury and knock down. This may result in tracking a wounded animal and potentially losing it. The most critical point to make for plains game is that your shot placement and the right type of bullet are primary, all the calibers mentioned above will do the job.

Like with rifles and calibers, there is a lot of literature and opinions as to who makes the best ammo and what is the best bullet type. To keep things simple, I will state that the bullet type and weight will depend on the conditions and terrain you will be hunting, as well as the animal you will be taking. Also for simplicity, I will characterize bullets in three categories; solids, expanding, and homogeneous expanding. 

Solid bullets are non-expanding and can be either made of one solid material (monolithic) such as copper or copper with a lead core. In either case, they are made to break bone and penetrate deep into the animal. When hunting very large thick-skinned dangerous game such as elephant, rhino or hippo a solid bullet will almost always be required. In the case of Buffalo, an expanding bullet is used for the initial shot with a solid for a backup shot. In the case of expanding soft bullets, it becomes a little more complex. You want the bullet to travel to your target without deforming, penetrate as deep as possible, expand to create the maximum wound channel, and retain as much of its mass as possible. Today’s bullet manufacturers miraculously have been able to achieve this requirement with the partition bullet. The bullet is designed in two parts, an open thin metal jacket over a lead core at the nose and a solid copper core portion in the back. After entry, the nose of the bullet provides good expansion and the solid part of the bullet assures good penetration and mass retention. To further improve the performance most manufacturers are now providing a ‘bonded’ core bullet. Bonding the copper jacket with the lead core prevents the bullet from prematurely expanding when it hits the target. 

The last category of the bullet is the homogeneous expanding (Barnes X). This type of bullet is solid copper with a center hole. It provides excellent penetration and upon impact will open up into an almost perfect 4 leaf pedal and retains 100% of its mass. This type of bullet is excellent for penetrating and breaking through bone as well as providing a good wound channel. One possible drawback to mention is that at if you do not hit bone and are at close range with a very high-velocity cartridge the bullet can go right through the animal and not cause sufficient internal trauma.  I have used different manufacturers and bullet types on my safaris and all performed very well.  My personal preference is to use Hornady ‘Dangerous Game series’  ammo for dangerous game and Federal ‘Fusion’ on plains game. 

In net, any good bonded bullet or solid from a good ammunition manufacturer (Hornady, Winchester, Remington, Federal, Norma, Weatherby, Nosler, Barnes, etc) will get the job done.

Reference table: Suggested minimum calibers and bullet weights.     

Whether you are hunting Africa, Europe, Alaska, Colorado or any other destination, good optics are essential. As with your rifle, my advice is to invest in the best you can afford. This not only applies to a scope but a good pair of binoculars as well. There are many excellent scope and binocular manufactures; Schmidt and Bender, Swarovski, Zeiss, Leica, Leopold, Trijicon, Vortex, and Nikon.  Other than the higher end manufactures you can get good optics in around the 300-600 dollar range. If you plan to hunt dangerous game, I would recommend a 1-4X or 1- 5X scope and quick disconnect scope mounts if your rifle has open sights. Most dangerous game will be hunted at close range and possibly in the brush, a low magnification will work best. If in the event you need to track down a wounded animal that may charge, you want to be able to shoot quickly and with both eyes open which will require low mag on your scope or open sights. For plains game, a common 2×7 or 3×9 scope magnification is perfect for most conditions. If you are a long range shooter then you already know the equipment you will need for your hunt. 

Binoculars are more straightforward, buy a good pair in 8X or 10X by 42mm. It is the most common configuration used. Make sure they are HD (high definition), water, fog, and shockproof. Most of the manufacturers I mentioned above build them that way and also provide a limited lifetime warranty. My advice would be to determine your price range and then go to a store to try them out. If there is a Cabelas or a Bass Pro Shop near you they usually carry all major brands and have them on display. Check their website for sales on new or possible upgrades.  I find Optics Planet an excellent online store; they carry a huge selection of optics, scope mounts, and other accessories at a very reasonable price and their customer service is outstanding. I personally have purchased most of my optics and accessories from them.