From RSA.

[PAGM77]

Good day.

I live in South-Africa and recently bought my first Savage rifle.

I was actually looking for a low recoiling, accurate heavy barreled rifle specifically for culling. I usually use a suppressed 338 WM and a 30-06 for culling as they work well in windy conditions, but thought it was time for a lower recoiling, affordable to shoot rifle :)

I picked up a Savage 12 LRPV dual port 223 as I am hoping it will give me consistent accuracy and not heat up quickly.

Well, in short, that is how I ended up with my first Savage. I do however still have to collect the rifle from my local gun shop as we have a very slow licensing system around here.

Hoping that I could get some valuable info on these rifles in the meantime.

Pieter

[BlueDog]

Welcome Pieter! Ok, you've got me intrigued... What are you culling down there in South Africa?

[PAGM77]

Welcome Pieter! Ok, you've got me intrigued... What are you culling down there in South Africa?

I appreciate the welcome message. We cull anything from Wildebeest to Springbok. I will mainly use this rifle for culling Springbok. Shots range between 170 and 260m. 90% of the shots has to be head shots as the meat gets sold commercially. I know plenty of guys believe it is not the ideal shot placement at that distance but we get used to the behaviour and movement of the animals, it becomes just like any other thing you practice a lot. My suppressed 338 WM is my favorite but it does warm up quickly and the recoil is a touch more than what I prefer for the application. I guess a 22-250 might have been slightly better in the wind but the 223 is slightly cheaper to shoot.

I hope I bought a shooter :)

Pieter

[drybean]

Welcome aboard

[PAGM77]

Welcome aboard

Thank you.

[BlueDog]

Thanks Pieter for the info. I've always found stories of shooting in other places fascinating. What may seem mundane to some, is exotic to others. Is ammunition hard to come by? (Ecspecially the 338 Win Mag?) Is it all imported?

[Rick_W]

Welcome

[PAGM77]

Thanks Pieter for the info. I've always found stories of shooting in other places fascinating. What may seem mundane to some, is exotic to others. Is ammunition hard to come by? (Ecspecially the 338 Win Mag?) Is it all imported?

All the 338 WM ammo gets imported. We do however have an ammo manufacturer PMP Denel and they manufacture for the more common cartridges. I have not bought ammo for a very long time as is simply too expensive for me to not reload. Our 338 Bullet selection is a little limited but if you phone around you should get what you need. Our biggest problem is the limited selection of powders as we only get Somchem which is also locally manufactured. One positive thing is once you get a good load with one of these there will almost always be available.

Pieter

[BlueDog]

Very interesting. Thanks Pieter!

[JCalhoun]

Ed and I went to RSA a few years ago on a plains game hunt. I absolutely loved hunting the springbok.

[Hotolds442]

Welcome!