Since the last few posts have discussed African series collections, in my previous post I had mentioned the 2008 Boddington Africa Adventure Series of Ruger No. 1's as an example of a more diverse collection of calibers: Leopard - 7x57 Kudu - 300 H&H Lion - 375 Ruger Buffalo - 450/400 Elephant - 450 Nitro Express 3 1/4"
But as to be expected, everyone would probably want to tweak that caliber selection to reflect their personal preferences. Obviously, if I could only switch one, I would change the Elephant to 458 Win Mag. I imagine that most followers of this particular thread would agree that this would improve the collection. Ruger's unflinching support for their 375 Ruger as a preferred replacement for the 375 H&H makes their selection for the Lion rifle understandable. I wouldn't be surprised if Ruger never makes another 375 H&H again as it might be seen as an admission that the 375 Ruger is somehow wanting. It would negate a lot of marketing to persuade hunters otherwise if they ever chose the classic over their own creation. Maybe they selected the 300 H&H for the Kudu as a way to appease anyone who was disappointed the 375 wasn't an H&H.
I'm assuming variety wasn't as much of a concern for the SCI collection since there was no expectation that a single person would buy all five rifles. Looking at it that way, having the highly-popular 375 H&H as the most common repeated cartridge makes a bit more sense.
Everybody's different but if I had been in charge of a series, it probably would have looked something like this. The fourth slot would be the tough choice that I might have to puzzle over for a while. Of course my collection would be available in both RH & LH models : 7x57 9.3x62 375 H&H 450/400 or 404 Jeffery or 416 Ruger 458 Win Mag
This is reflective of my biases and somewhat resembles what I already have in my small gun safe: Ruger No. 1 RSI - 275 Rigby Ruger No. 1A - 9.3x74r Winchester Model 70 Safari Express - 375 H&H Winchester 1885 Traditional Hunter - 405 Winchester Ruger M77 - 458 Win Mag
Everyone might not like my choices but hey, Vive la différence! I enjoy shooting them. As it was pointed out in the preceeding posts, taking the 458 WM from the top end & combining it with a single rifle from the lower end gives you two-rifle battery that covers a lot of situations often making the middle options somewhat superfluous.
:
As it was pointed out in the preceeding posts, taking the 458 WM from the top end & combining it with a single rifle from the lower end gives you two-rifle battery that covers a lot of situations often making the middle options somewhat superfluous.
