I have a 1950's Westley Richards bolt gun in .425 WR that I have been using as a personal defence rifle in polar bear country.

I shoot about 20 - 25 rounds a year through it, all at targets or other game, as I have never yet had to kill a polar bear with it.

It is a excellent cartridge, very hard hitting but fairly soft recoil, ammunition is available for it and not that expensive and it is a cartridge that deserves to be preserved.

I've inherited it from one of my grandfathers who had used it on numerous game, I think four times in Africa. His other gun is a .318 WR bolt gun that I use for moose. I will never part with either, not because of familial ties, but I just love the cartridges and what they do...and they do it so well.