one rifle/four continents/ twelve animals

This is such a neat real life story. One of my shipmates ask if we could sail up to Portugal and we did. While here, we went to a "widow's get together". One of the widow's from Portugal shared a story about her and her late husband. He was diagnosed with a life ending illness. He always wanted to hunt Africa, New Zealand, North America, and Spain. They decided to sell their home and have one magnificent trip together. Their daughter has a guest cottage on her property and that is where the wife will live out her days.

They ( he hunted but she accompanied him on every hunt ) hunted the following with one caliber rifle and one bullet, which I will not disclose at this time. ( he actually took two rifles of the same caliber )

Europe--Boar, Mouflon, Ibex
New Zealand--Red Stag, Tahr, Chamois
North America--Moose, Grizzly, Caribou
Africa--Kudu, Eland, Gemsbok

What caliber rifle and what weight bullet would you take to hunt these twelve animals ? (one caliber rifle and one weight bullet for all twelve )

OK, I'll play:

8mm Mauser

For sure, an 8mm Mauser would work very well (as would a .308 Winchester or a .30-06 Springfield). A 6.5X55 would work despite being a tad light for my liking with grizzly (as would a .270 Winchester or a .280 Remington). There are a lot of cartridges that would fill the bill. There are a plethora of cartridges that I could take and feel very comfortable using for these game animals. However, the question is, "Why didn't he go to Argentina?"

First I would ask what cartridge is available in all locations and second what bullet weight would get the job done . My guess boils down to 2 cartridges that I would use, a 30-06 or a 9.3X62. Both have a good selection of bullets to get the job done and easy to find.

Dr Mike, I have no idea what prompted him to choose those animals or those continents. This happen a few years back, but while listening to her speak of the hunts, you knew they had made the correct life choice--for them anyway. It was an evening I enjoyed and will not forget soon

thanks Rodger, Dr Mike and Ray

Europe,

I've had 2 rifles in 8mm Mauser.
So began reloading for them.
Tried a lot of bullets from 185 to 220 grs.
Finally settled on a 200 gr for both of them.
While I probably pick my 9.3 for 1 rifle to take all that game listed,
I think I could take all that with my 200 gr reload with either 8mm Mauser.

.30/06 and a 180 grain Nosler Partition. A little on the light side for grizzly and eland,but shot placement trumps "power" IMO.

If I wanted to hunt the world- a .300 (take your pick of flavor) with a 180gr Partition would give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

The .300s all carry a lot of power and shoot flat- which is pretty nice when hunting unfamiliar animals in unfamiliar terrain. The .300 Weatherby is a perennial favorite among the worldwide sheep/mountain hunting crowd.

Well,

Knowing you April, it had to be a cartridge with some heritage behind it for you to be inspired enough to start a thread. That or you are waiting on happy hour? :>)

He could have used a 30-06 with a 180 grain Partition. Yawn..................

A .375 H&H with a 270 grain woodleigh would have been more likely and a classic choice.

A 9.3x64 would have been even cooler using a 286 grain A-frame?

An old mauser in 8x57?

300 Wby with 180 grain AccuBond?

And yes, a .270 win with a 150 grain A-Frame.

300 H&H with 180gr bullet

375 would be my pick

And yes, a .270 win with a 150 grain A-Frame.

Click to expand...

How'd I know that was coming? :grin:

Dwh7271":zoo1lp5c said:

375 would be my pick

And yes, a .270 win with a 150 grain A-Frame.

Click to expand...

How'd I know that was coming? :grin:

Click to expand...

I'm behaving myself...................for now............... :lol:

I would feel comfortable using two of my larger caliber rifles that I have.

Ruger 1B in 30-06 with a 180 gr. Partition although the 165 gr. Partition or AccuBond that I currently shoot would work okay. On a grizzly I would prefer the heavier bullet though

Winchester Classic Sporter in .280 AI with either a 140 gr. AccuBond or Partition although I might try and load up some 160 gr. bullets in those two to try out for this special trip!!

I would assume a 300 Wby since it was so popular, and a 180 Nosler Partition, but maybe since he was from Portugal he brought a 7x57 Mauser -AKA Rigby .275, or the 7mm Spanish Mauser and used a 175 Nosler Partition.

Both cartridges were used all over the World.

I'm with Doc on this one. As much as I love my 270 and 280AI, since grizz is on the list I'd prefer to have something 30 cal or up. I might just have to call in my Nosler Legacy in 300 Win from the bullpen!
V/R,
Joe

Winchester Model 70 in 300 wsm and 180g Partition.

Great post, April.

What a wonderful story! I like their style!

I'd reach into my safe and pull out:

.30-06 Rem 700 CDL, and a few boxes of 180 or 200 grain Nosler Partition ammo. No hesitation.

Or, if I was feeling particularly frisky, I might grab the .375 and 260 grain Nosler AccuBond ammunition.

Guy

I am going to guess that he hunted with a 300 H&H with a 200 gr bullet, especially with grizzly bear and eland on his list. Although I would imagine another good guess would be the 7x64 with a 175 gr bullet.

For me for this list, I believe that I would choose my 338-06 with the 210 gr Nosler Partition (the rifle and load that I will be taking to Africa next year). Other choices that I would consider in my battery would be the 7mm STW w/ 160 gr AB, or 300 WSM w/ 180 gr AB. Shot placement and presentation would definitely be key considerations on the grizzly bear and eland with these two choices. I am confident that they would do the job as long as I do mine.

I am assuming these where " guided hunts " so he may have used a "light rifle" and since he was European, I am guessing, either 7mm/64. Or the 9.3mm/62 ???

For me it would most likely be our old pre64 "Model 70 Winchester in 30/06" with Nosler LR Accubonds bullets in both 168/210 grs, that would have A nice advantage on longer shots over the Partition bullets. The rifle would be toped off with a scope that could be quickly dialed for elevation compensations.

Gil, is correct. Bruce was correct on the caliber but not the bullet weight, and Hodgeman was also correct, in a generalized sort of way, but again off on the bullet weight.

Charles, the caliber of rifle used, did in fact, bring a smile to my face. But the warmth in which she recounted this time with her husband was unmistakenly special.

I find, as time goes on, I remember fewer and fewer of the times my husband and I disagreed and more of the times we agreed and enjoyed life in one way or enough.

Not to get to far off topic, but, I am not as smart about this as many here are and definitely did never even try to understand it as my husband did. But I do remember him saying that the 200 in the 300 H & H brought more of everything except trajectory, and that was not much different so always wondered why more folks did not use the 200gr instead of the 180gr. Bruce, Hodgeman, why did you choose the 180 over the 200 and Gil what made you choose the 200 over the 180 for this old war horse of a caliber ? I also remember him feeling the WSM brought even more than the H & H and with less powder, but we never got one.

Anyway, Portugal was nice, at least the part I saw. This was my first visit to this country.

Thanks to everyone for contributing to this thread