dr0
Member
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2008
- Messages
- 49
http://www.470mbogo.com/BigBoreCompendium/
The above link goes over the really big ones, .505 Gibbs and up.
There is a lot of extra weridness involved in those. Normal actions don't fit them. Brass is non-existant or hard to find.
I like standard calibers for lots of reasons. One thing I've read about quite a bit is that many custom agents look dimly on ammunition that is headstamped differently from the rifle. Thus your ".597 Unobtanium" ammo with brass made from .460 Weatherby might not make it into the country you are visiting.
Of course small lots of properly headstamped brass are available for some wildcats, but maybe not the really obscure ones. I thought the .600 Overkill suggestion eleswhere on the thread was a joke, but it's not! Good luck finding brass for that!!
Having said that I'd probably favor the .416 Remington as the most standard of calibers out there. Remington makes the African Big Game Rifle or something for about $3000.
The Ruger in .416 Rigby would be just as good, but the cartridges might be a little harder to find.
The .458 Win is a fine stopping rifle. The great Finn Aagard, a professional hunter for many years in Zimbabwe and Kenya carried one. But, he advised his clients to carry a .416 if they could handle it. Why? It's a flatter shooting gun and more versitile. You could use it for a long shot on a Zebra. I believe he said that it's the biggest cartridge that is still general purpose with a relatively flat trajectory.
The .416 and .460 Weatherby might bear consideration too. They are well standardized and obviously Weatherby makes guns for them. They both have impressive ballistics and recoil to match.
The above link goes over the really big ones, .505 Gibbs and up.
There is a lot of extra weridness involved in those. Normal actions don't fit them. Brass is non-existant or hard to find.
I like standard calibers for lots of reasons. One thing I've read about quite a bit is that many custom agents look dimly on ammunition that is headstamped differently from the rifle. Thus your ".597 Unobtanium" ammo with brass made from .460 Weatherby might not make it into the country you are visiting.
Of course small lots of properly headstamped brass are available for some wildcats, but maybe not the really obscure ones. I thought the .600 Overkill suggestion eleswhere on the thread was a joke, but it's not! Good luck finding brass for that!!
Having said that I'd probably favor the .416 Remington as the most standard of calibers out there. Remington makes the African Big Game Rifle or something for about $3000.
The Ruger in .416 Rigby would be just as good, but the cartridges might be a little harder to find.
The .458 Win is a fine stopping rifle. The great Finn Aagard, a professional hunter for many years in Zimbabwe and Kenya carried one. But, he advised his clients to carry a .416 if they could handle it. Why? It's a flatter shooting gun and more versitile. You could use it for a long shot on a Zebra. I believe he said that it's the biggest cartridge that is still general purpose with a relatively flat trajectory.
The .416 and .460 Weatherby might bear consideration too. They are well standardized and obviously Weatherby makes guns for them. They both have impressive ballistics and recoil to match.
