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On one of my trips to Africa I was accompanied by my girl friend whom I tried to get interested in hunting. I built her a classy little 7X57 on a G33-40 Mauser action, with a 22" barrel patterned on the Winchester pre-'64 featherweight barrel, with a classic style stock and a short schnable foreend.

She never shot the little jewel, but I did, and fell in love with it. I killed game up to Wildebeest size and as recently as last year killed two white tail does in less than a minute at about 200 yards, shooting standing, unsupported.

Around here there's a fairly good availability of S&B ammunition. I assume the same is the case in Oz, if you're interested in factory loads. European 7X57 ammunition is loaded to much higher performance levels supposedly because American ammunition makers are acutely aware of the number of Mauser 93 and Remington rolling block rifles chambered for that caliber still in circulation. If you handload, of course, the sky's the limit.

In my opinion, the 7mm-08 is a dead issue. Ammunition is hard to find in this country and I expect it will soon go the way of another very nice 7mm, the .284 Winchester. Ditto for the .280 Remington.

If you stick with your choice of rifle, be aware that Remington 700's have bolt handles which are silver soldered on and it is not at all unusual for them to break loose at a most inopportune moment. I don't know about the availability of CZ rifles in Oz, but I would give them a look.

My German correspondents are unhappy with the idea of shooting even medium pigs with anything less than a 7mm, and I would be unhappy with anything less than .35 caliber, but that's just me. To me, 7X57 is the best of all possible worlds. WDM Bell used one to shoot elephants, but he was a hell of a shot and a student of elephant anatomy.

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