What would you rather hunt DG with if money was not an issue and why?
Bolt. But only Blaser.
Had an interesting experience reloading for a friend’s 375 H&H Blaser barrel for a trip to Zim about 12 years ago. The rifle appeared to go completely into battery with the reloaded cartridges, except it wouldn’t fire when the trigger was pulled. Visually the bolt was fully closed and no indication of any problem was identifiable.
When I measured headspace of those cartridges, it became obvious the cases, once fired in another rifle were slightly long for the Blaser chamber. Easy adjustment with a body bump die. However, had this happened in the field when my friend was facing a Cape buffalo, it could have ended poorly. In contrast with conventional Mauser or Winchester M-70 type of bolt action rifle, the bolt would have obviously not locked into battery and an easily identified visual cue would have alerted the shooter to the problem.
I am not arguing about the use of the straight pull Blaser mechanism, but it would clearly not be my choice for a true DGR bolt. I disclose that I personally use Win M-70 and Ruger M-77 CRF bolts preferentially for DGRs so I have a bias for that mechanism. It’s never let me down. I’m just relating my experience and acknowledge that YMMV.
BTW, I resolved the reloading error I made and my friend used his Blaser with the 375 H&H bbl for a nice Cape buff and his 300 Win Mag bbl for several PG & a leopard.
