One cartridge to hunt dangerous game for the rest of your life and it can't be a 375, what are you going with?

416 Taylor…

Because it’s what I already own :)

I can easily load it down to 375 recoil levels and still have it be effective on cats with soft, fast expanding, 350gr projectiles..

Or load it up with also exactly the same ballistics / performance as a 416 Rigby.. with a 400 gr projectile.. while having the advantages of a standard 98 Mauser action (not the extra length/weight of a magnum action)…

With a 400gr quality projectile like an a-frame or woodleigh hydro traveling at 2400 fps, I can take on buff, ele or anything else that walks the earth…
 
Just to be a snarky ass... .45-70. ;)

Otherwise I am going to have to buy something else. Based on my 2 PHs in Africa, I might be open to a .416 Rigby, or a .458 WM because I could get one in a Ruger No.1.
 
I would pick one of my many .458 Win's as I use it for all game when I only have one rifle, used it for Pigs to Buffalo, including Bush Buck & Crocs !

Lots of .458 projectiles made to do many different jobs & cast bullets are easy to.
 
Since accuracy on the first shot is more important that energy, I’ll go with a .404 J. On an R8.

I’ve taken hippos, ele and buff with an R8 in .375 (would have been my first pick). Amazingly, I’ve not yet shot a rifle bigger than a .375 (other than a .50 BMG and 20 and 12 gauge slugs). But, of all the rifles I’ve shot, an ultralight (7 lbs!) .50 cal muzzleloader with 120 grains of blackhorn 209 and a 300 grain bullet is about the most violent.
 
500/416NE because I always wanted a DR in a rimmed cartridge on a Blaser S2 with a beautiful timber stock.

And everything is still on the menu with a detachable scope for PG out to 200 yards.
 
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I’d use my 404.
Load it up, load it down, can do pretty much anything I want. Wouldn’t limit myself to dangerous game- it is fine for all hunting. With a re-sized 44 magnum handgun bullet, it’s a gentle but effective close range rifle on appropriate animals. (Not that a 400g soft wouldn’t work fine, but sometimes it’s nice to take it easy) And I’ve taken elephant with it, so I know it handles the top end just fine.
 
470 NE in a Krieghoff double. With a red dot. Because I own it and it has proven itself with multiple one shot kills on everything from Cape Buffalo, Sable, Waterbuck, etc down to Warthogs from 5 yards to 160. Also, hunting with a double is so “Africa”!!
 

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Saddlemaker wrote on Never Been's profile.
Thanks for getting back to me, I'll pass, Great luck in sell it . I don't think you'll have it long
FDP wrote on gearguywb's profile.
Good morning. I'll take all of them actually. Whats the next step? Thanks, Derek
Have a look af our latest post on the biggest roan i ever guided on!


I realize how hard the bug has bit. I’m on the cusp of safari #2 and I’m looking to plan #3 with my 11 year old a year from now while looking at my work schedule for overtime and computing the math of how many shifts are needed….
Safari Dave wrote on Kevin Peacocke's profile.
I'd like to get some too.

My wife (a biologist, like me) had to have a melanoma removed from her arm last fall.
 
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