Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Dangerous Game Rifles for Professional Hunters in Africa?

Ken Stewart of Stewart Bullets who live in Pietersburg also loads a lot of ammo for guys (esp PHs) in Zim & Bots. He'll also make cases and/or bullets of absolutely any calibre to order.

That is really handy. It allows old or obsolete (such as 375 Ruger ha ha) to be procurred. If a person was worried about loosing ammo they could order a couple boxes to their specs and be assured they would hunt their own rifle. |Thanka for the info. How much lead time does he require? I suppose a request for ammo should be made when booking the hunt.
Randy

Randy,

I'm not sure about his delivery time nowadays but he's never been particularly fast I'm afraid!

In any business, if you are in high demand, you can work at your own pace and people will wait.

Ken is in his 70s (at least) now and is also an absolute prefectionist and never does anything fast..... FWIW, he's also an incredible guy. He was one of the old East African PHs, knew or was related to all the old names such as Alan Black etc and also served his apprentiship as a PH with Alan. - Later he had his own game capture business at a time when they used to chase after the game in old Land Rovers and Champs etc and then lassoo them. He also provided all the game for the Born Free movie.

Some of his pics of the old days are breathtaking!

Norma are now making some of his bullet designs.

My PH had a Win 70 CRF custom in 458 Lott. Weighed about 6 1/2 lbs with plastic stock and no scope. He said it kicked a bit.

My PH had a Win 70 CRF custom in 458 Lott. Weighed about 6 1/2 lbs with plastic stock and no scope. He said it kicked a bit.

Would anyone consider a Sako 85 C.R.F.?? And are they as reliable as a Win 70 or a CZ??

I am pretty sure the Sako's are not true CRF. Have not handled one for a while so I cannot say unequivicably but I have also not ever seen one in Africa.

Texagator,
You might discover that Africa could be cheaper than Alaska if you are talking about plains game and not the "Big Five".

Rugers may have a claw extractor, but they are not a controlled round feed IMO.

Find yourself an old Mauser action and try it out yourself.
You will see the difference.

A true controlled round feed must be fed by the magazine
and not directly into the chamber.

If you want a very reliable rifle try an old FN Belgian commercial Mauser like a Browning Safari.You can pick them up at gun shows once in awhile usually because the owners no longer able to hunt because of age.

They were very high quality and still are a good choice IMO.
whelennut

I guess if you are just opining that's ok, but the fact is Ruger (MKIIs) are CRFs. jorge

Yes, the Mk11 are control feed rifles..mark one up for JorgeI.

I might add that GS Customs of South Africa makes as good a game bullet that I have ever used, which is surprising as I am normally not a big fan of monolithic bullets, but these babies work like a charm and I have never seen or heard of one failing, not so with the other monolithics I have used.

PS.
I ain't using no damn push feed rifle on DG!

I've got a few rugers and winchesters and a Montana action. There all CRF, however the Rugers will eventually lock the rim to the bolt face where the winchesters and Mausers do it the very instant the shell comes from the magazine.

I have seen a few rugers that were as flawless as a winchester with this process, not sure if they were worked on or just lucky? The rugers I have in my own cabinet will not grab the shell until the bolt is much closer to being closed then the winchester and Montana or a true mauser is.

Just as an example my Hawkeye with the muzzle pointed at the ground and the bolt cycled when a shell comes up from the magazine will slide right down into the chamber. it does not go under the extractor. With the others it sliders under the extractor ever time.

They are both CRF but the precision of the Ruger is a bit less then the way the others function. Certainly way better the a PF, but it's just missing the artistic and ingenious function of the Mauser/Win/dakota/montana-- etc.

That has been my experience with Rugers as as well. Sometimes it seems to be cartridge specific. I had a Mark II in .350 Remington Magnum for a while that I had to work on for a couple of hours one afternoon to get to feed smoothly, and even then it didn't pick up the rim all that quickly.

On the other hand the Ruger Hawkeye in .375 Ruger I had for a while was the slickest feeding rifle chambered for a dangerous-game cartridhe that I have ever seen out of the box. It fed flawlessly and smoothly no matter how rapidly or slowly the action was worked, and what the shape of the bullet.

Just for the record, have even seen one military Mauser 98 action that wouldn't feed the cartridge it was chambered for (7x57).

wow! I have never seen a milsurp Mauser that wouldn't feed, but hey they were made by man...

I tweek every gun that I am going to hunt with, and I mean I really tweek them, especially DG rifles, but I enjoy working on them so its no big deal..timeing is everything with a CFR..

wow! I have never seen a milsurp Mauser that wouldn't feed, but hey they were made by man...

I tweek every gun that I am going to hunt with, and I mean I really tweek them, especially DG rifles, but I enjoy working on them so its no big deal..timeing is everything with a CFR..

Who was it on one of these threads that said their gun would feed with them hanging upside down from a tree or underwater, Cool! but I have never shot a buff or any other animal hanging upside down with my rifles and I ain't going swiming in Africa with or without my rifle. Maybe the blood just rushed to that guys head a little fast before he posted.:):)

Yeah, that was a real weird one, a Mexican action. It took some work to get it to feed, but not as much as it took the Ruger to feed the .350 RM slickly....

I've not fooled with many of the Ruger MkIIs, but my 1992 vintage .338 Win Mag RSM feeds as slick (out of the magazine, rim under the extractor well before the round hits the chamber)as any Model 70, or Mauser (including a Brevex .375 that's a dandy). Guess it just depends on the individual rifle.

Based on just 3 safaris - I saw the PHs carrying 375 H&Hs on various Mauser actions for backup on DG (buff), but the outfitter had a 470NE W&S DR. On a PG hunt in RSA our PH carried no backup but kept an old scoped re-barreled 308 Win he inherited from his grandfather who'd shot it competitively for RSA.

Last hunt - for elephant - my PH carried a 500NE 3 1/4" DR and a tracker carried his scoped - 3x Leupold - 375 H&H for the PH to use on outbound follow ups. BTW, this PH loads for his 500NE. Another PH I met had a 416 RM Custom Shop SS/synthetic which shoots very well.

JB it soounds like you got your MK11 350 Rem. to feed, mine had a WSM box, not a normal magnum box, as confirmed by Ruger (same part # as for a WSM caliber) and my gunsmith could never get it to feed as one would expect.