Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Plains game rifle choice.

It would with almost no alterations like building a .404J.

DF

It’s a Sako AV Deluxe. Yes CRF but I’m happy with it just staying a 375 for now. Just picked it up today. Leupold gloss 2.5-8 will be in this weekend and will be ready to start load development. It sure is a pretty rifle!


Roy

A lefty! Tell you what, don’t use the 375. Pick another and I’ll help you out with this rifle. What do you want for it? 😀

Other than the handle being on the wrong side, very cool rifle.

DF

Morning George! Not gonna happen anytime soon!! Really do wish Sako would put a little softer pad on there and to boot it’s glued on. Wanted to replace with a Pachmeyer Decelerator pad but hate to cut the pad off and a slip on will make LOP a little too long.



Roy

Thanks DF!



Roy

You try it as is for awhile to see if you can live with that buttstock pad. It might be just fine. That Sako is fairly heavy and with the rolling recoil of the H&H, it might be an non-issue.

Yep, I'd rather shoot my .375 H&H, weighing around 9#'s all up with scope, than a 7# .300 Weatherby. One pushes, one slaps. I'd rather be pushed than slapped.

DF

Where I come from, slapping costs extra.

Gonna save my money....

DF

Roy--I took a 7-08 for warthog, impala and blesbok and the 270 Winchester for gemsbok and kudu because of a hand and elbow injury, they both worked fine but I felt a bit undergunned. When we go on this trip I will be bringing my Ruger African in 9.3x62 and either a Cooper 52 in 30-06 or a 7x57/275 Rigby in either Winchester or Ruger flavor! I have some Cutting Edge bullets if you want to try them out.

Sako76,

Why did you feel "a bit under-gunned"?

Sako76
You made excellent choices regarding either the 7-08 or 270W. At the ranges plains game is usually shot I don’t believe there is much difference. The 7-57 or the 30-06 will produce indistinguishable outcomes. Actually on most plains game the 9.3-62 won’t produce a decisive difference.

I believe a 7-08 is a more modern and standardized version of the 7-57. Both are a little more tractable than the 270W.
All are just great.

Ive shot a wide variety of plains game with the 7x57 and had great success. Have of course used others, and the 30-06 stands out as a good all around as well.

I like to shoot plains game with my open sighted big bore.It is a challenge to get up close and it's more fun too.I've not used a scope in years.

Your seven mag and 160 gr noslers seem to be about perfect ,the 300 will probably not be needed.

In the 7-08 I shot the 120 Barnes TTSX on impala, warthog and blesbok, all DRT just about. The kudu and gemsbok were shot with the 270 Winchester using Sako factory 156 Hammerheads that separated on both shots (75 and 50 yards). Both animals dropped at the shot, both needed finishers. John, I've always shot 180 grain bullets in 308's and 30-06's, I wanted to bring a 375 Ruger and a 35 Whelen but my injuries precluded it. I'd rather be overgunned than undergunned, especially when you pay for game when you draw blood whether it's recovered or not. Just being in Africa made me feel like I should be using a 375 H&H.

Looking at your choices the 7mm Rem Mag with 150-160 grain class bullets at 3,000+ fps will be plenty fine for dispatching the plains game you defined. Would bet most shots will be at or inside 250 yards. Setting a 250 yard zero is very useful for the 7mm Rem Mag thereby eliminating any real concern for holdover or hold under for most shots encountered. No need for the 300 RUM unless you want to absorb more recoil than necessary with no real benefit. Best of luck.

Another vote for the 7mm RM with 160 grain bullets. You don't mention the 30-06 , but that would be another great choice. On my only Africa Hunt so far, I used a .375 H&H for everything, but buffalo were on the docket, so that made my decision easy considering I wanted to take only one rifle.

My 2 cents based on personal experience.

Take 2 rifles. For a dream of a lifetime hunt should something happen to 1 rifle, you have to have a backup.

My guide recommended the .375 for an extended plains game hunt. He also recommended bringing a backup rifle preferably in .375 or alternatively a 30 06.

Instead, I had Match-Grade Arms build 2 Model 70's, one in 340 Weatherby and the other in 30 06. Both were scoped with Alpha Glass.

The 3-week hunt covering different areas in South Africa. Day number one after shooting a Bushbuck, the 340 Weatherby rifle was dropped from the Land Rover down the side of a rocky creek embankment by one of the crew. It destroyed the scope.
I had no open sights on either rifle which I'll never do again. Luckily, I had the back-up rifle at the camp but lost an afternoon hunt. FYI, I could have easily made that entire hunt with open sights. I always have quality backup iron sights on my hunting rifles now with QD scopes.

I ended up shooting 9 animals with that 30-06 using a 180 grain Nosler Partition and 56 grains of IMR 4350. I could not have asked more from a plains game rifle. One-shot kills, dead right there. We did recover one of the bullets in a Zebra which had been held back by the skin on the far side. The Nosler Partition was a textbook mushroom.

My next trip, taking the .375 and 30-06 which is my go-to global rifle battery from now on.

Super nice Sako .375 BTW, it is perfect for this hunt.