When I mentioned 200-250 yard shot being on the long side, that would be in typical bushveld country--and probably 75% of plains game safaris take place in that kind of country.

There are a lot of places where 300-400 yard opportunities are common, but even there a .30-06 or one of the "average" .300 magnums is plenty.

A lot depends on the hunter. My wife Eileen has been to Africa twice, in very different kinds of country (flat semi-open bushveld in Namibia, and much more open-country, up-and-down terrain in the Eastern Cape of South Africa) and has taken everything she went after neatly with a .30-06 with 165 Fail Safes and a .308 with 150 E-Tips, both at about 2800-2900 fps.

The animals included blue wildebeest, zebra, kudu, gemsbok and several smaller animals including red haartebeest, impala, warthog, bushbuck, springbok, etc. The longest shot she's taken was at most 300 yards. She is quite capable of 400-yard shots but has never felt the need to take one that far in very varied African terrain.


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