No detached retinas for me. The .458 Alaskan on a M70, shooing 560gr. cast at 2,200fps was quite enough. Enough that I bought a .458 2" reamer, shortened the barrel, rethreaded, rechambered to .458 2" and no have a pleasant, hard hitting "North American" Thumper that is difficult to improve upon. This gun merely replaces my old .458 2" that I retired after 15,000 rounds. Best loading with jacketed was 510gr. softs and solids at 2,060fps.
: Indeed, Elmer himself suggested that with my 560gr. flat nosed cast bullets, hardened and driven at 2,000fps, that my old 2" would work well in Africa for all the really Big Game. Of that, I am totally in agreement. A backup of 500gr. steel jacketed solids at 2,060fps would also work.
: Best loading presently, very easy to shoot, are 350gr. and 400gr. Barnes "X" HP's and 450gr. solids at 2,150 fps to 2,300fps. They would also do for most game "over there".
: The 2" case (or newer .450 Marlin on a bolt gun) is very much neglected by the faster is better modern crowd. This is unfortunate as it is the "bestest brush gun" (out to 250/300 yards) that a big game hunter here could use when after big moose, elk and big bear.
: Hoppdoc - I used to revel in how my AYA 10 bore crumpled ducks and geese. I re-worked the chokes and got it shooting 94% right, 96% left. At 40 yards, the mallard silouette had 184 pellet hits with #5's. "Crumpled" is the correct term.
: Dnovo - that 20 bore rifle should work on groundhogs, if you hit them right.