....so I am planning on building a 35 W on a FN large ring Mauser action that is currently an 8x57 Mauser. Am I limiting my future reloading by using a shorter action/mag box than a "true long action" such as a donor 3006/270 Remington or Winchester ? The commercially available BARNES 200 gr TTSXBT measures an OAL of 3.340 and the 8x57 bolt nor magazine has any difficulty with loading and stacking rounds in the mag.....so if I handload with some 225 gr or 250 gr bullets will I exceeded...

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When I left for Botswana, I thought this trip would be about elephant hunting and my favorite double rifle. I took my 1901 John Rigby & Co. .450 Nitro Express Rising Bite, and over the course of the safari I was blessed to take two elephant and two buffalo. The rifle performed flawlessly, including two frontal elephant shots at less than 23 yards. Yet somewhere along the way, the hunt became about something far greater than the animals themselves.

What I will remember most are the people...

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Just a discussion...
As I get close to my first trip to Africa, I watch buffalo hunting videos every day. I watched one yesterday where the hunter using a heavy recoiling cartridge had to go to work on adrenalin crazed, heart shot, charging buffalo and he handled the bolt rifle like an expert. And put 4 accurate shots in him very fast.
But that seems to be the exception, I see a good number of hunters in the videos struggle with the bolt on their magazine rifles. Some jamb things up from...

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Soliciting thoughts on insurance considerations for a trip into Namibia’s Caprivi strip. I usually do not get insurance, but taking my teen son, I am wondering if medical/ evac coverage might be worth considering.

I went a bit crazy and ordered all of the Peter Flack's Spiral Horn series plus the Hunting Icons of Africa.
Haven't read word number one on any of them but just thumbing through they look awesome. Should keep me busy for a while.



Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year