Hello all,

I am new to this site, and this being my first post. I would love to some day own a nice double rifle, at present my dream gun would be a Krieghoff Big Five Classic in 470NE. But at present the “girl friend with two rings” would kill me if I spent that much money on a new gun before I finished her kitchen.

So in the mean time I have been thinking about a big bore bolt action rifle. I have probably read too much Capstick and so when I think bolt action rifles and Africa I think of a pre-64 Winchester Model 70 in 458 Win. I have a pre 64 mod. 70 but it is a 270 win. It’s a great rifle that my grand father bought for my Dad when he was 14 and it has been give to my as a graduation present (finished up my PhD) from my father.

A co-worker of mine recently bought one of the new magnum bolt guns from Ruger. His is chambered in 416 Rigby. I have fired several round through it and that was very impressive. The biggest gun recoil wise I had fired up to that point was a 7mm Remington Ultra Mag or maybe a 12 gage slug gun. I think I would rather shoot that 416 Rigby then 3 inch 12 gage slugs in my pump gun. I found the recoil of the 416 to be tremendous but manageable and almost pleasant compared to sharp recoil of 12 gage slugs.

The other cartridge I have been reading about is the 458 Lott. Sounds like a nice cartridge from what I have read but I wonder how hard it will be to find ammunition compared to some more established cartridges like the 416 Rigby and 458 Win. Also my choice of rifle is a bit more limited. I also read that it should be safe to fire 458 Win in a 458 Lott since the 458 Lott is simply a longer cased 458 Win. This would be neat if true but do you have to have a magazine space to ensure reliable feed out of the magazine?

Now the other cartridge that come to mind, mostly on prompting from my brother, would be the 375 H&H or its new brother cartridge the 375 Remington Ultra Mag.

So what do you guys think about choices of a cartridge for dangerous game hunting with a bolt action? Would you even hunt dangerous game with a bolt gun?

Thanks ahead of time. This is a really nice site and I have enjoyed reading many of the older post.

Thanks
mcb