I took my dad's old .30-06 Remington 03A3 with walnut Fajen stock and Bausch & Lomb Straight 8 scope to Namibia this past June, and, horror of horrors, I used the dreaded cup and core Sierra 150 gr FBSP, an old, old, way, way outdated bullet, for hunting.
My PH was totally, unequivocally, shocked, I tell you, that the old combo worked. Nothing plastic. Nothing stainless steel. A scope that doesn't even have one turret, much less two, so no twisty, turny adjustments, since the adjustments are in the mounts. Or even a fandangled adjustable trigger set to 2lbs, 11 oz, and 12 grams.
The old girl did just fine on gemsbok, blue wildebeest, black wildebeest, and a couple of jackals. The gemsbok was one shot (as were the others) about 265 yards facing slightly right. Bullet hit where aimed, point of shoulder, the bullet going through the heart and on back into the paunch. The bullet failed, of course, since it didn't look as new when recovered, save rifling marks. It was a bit worse for wear, didn't weigh what it started out at, and couldn't be used again.
Dad never got to go to Africa, and I don't know as he ever had the desire to do so since he died in 1974, and we never spoke of Africa as I recall. I do know that had he gone, he would have used that rifle combo on everything he would have hunted. It worked for him through the late 50' and early 60's, and up until he built his .25-06 in 1967, before the .25-06 became a thing from the factory.
The only PITA was having to remove the scope mount to read the SN going through SA and Namibia.
It's nice to know that old combo still works. I think dad knew that.
