Ron , just remember, you guys talk about foreign hunters coming to hunt in South Africa. I grew up here in South Africa on a huge farm, I am farming on it now, but, from a local prospective……….I hunt small game , steenbok, duiker , springbok, impala ect, with my .222 Remington, depending on the average distance to shoot it.
In open country, like the Karoo, I will use my 243 for longer shots on Springbok and blesbuck, around 300 to 400 meters, depending how close you can get to the animals. In the beginning of hunting season, you can come close, 100 m= .222. Att the end of hunting season you will not get closer to 300 or 350 m= 243.
For general plains game in my area ( very open area) , I use my custom build 7x57 ( 7 mm Mauser on a CZ model 557, 1:9 twist, Nightforce SHV scope,with 160 gr Speer hot core bullets.
I used to be a PH and photographic Safari Guide so I used to use my 458 Lott for that job……. But these days I only hunt a Buffalo every now and then at my friends farm for meat, I will use my 375H&H ( shooting 350 gr Woodleigs)for this.
I do have 28 rifles and about 18 fifferent calibers, from .22 LR ( for steenbok on my farm) to my 458 Lott, in this I have 50 cal muzzle loaders and a 577-450 Martini Henry that I load my own paper wrapped bullets with, I use all of these other rifles to hunt with every now and then. But my main hunting rifle; as a local , growing up here, is my 7x57.
My brother’s favorite hunting rifle is a MUSGRAVE 308 rifle ( MUSGRAVE  rifles is Made here in South Africa and is a top Quality rifle), and my friend’s favorite rifle is a Musgrave 7 mm magnum, my cousin shoot a 6 mm creedmore,lol , sorry about this but he is only 17, lol, let us forgive him, lol. ( dang , but I bought him that rifle for his birthday,lol, I wanted to buy him a 6,5 x 55, but he wanted a “need more”, lol, oh my!!)
I hunt animals from Blesbuck up to Eland with my 7x57, I hunt nearly every week, as you know, I hunt for meat for me and my workers on the farm.
My accurate 7x57 ( 7 mm Mauser) is doing everything for me from day to day.
For black back Jackal hunting ( they are a huge predator specie here on my farm and kill a lot of my sheep) I call them in by night and shoot them with ( just switched to thermal) with a 22-250 or my 243 with light bullets for it’s flat trajectory, at nights here on my farm I have virtually no wind.
So, my staple is my beloved 7x57!

I still shoot my Parker Hale 30-06 every year here in South Africa. The meat ended up in the freezer year after year. Simply the best all round calibre for plains game in Africa, so I agree with 100% with Werner here.

Hunted over a thousand antilope in South Africa as a boy using a 243,308,7x57.
Would always recommend a 30-06 because it covers everything. If you do dangerous game it’s just more fun to use a 416 Rigby.

As a hunter of 50+ years, I have to restrain myself of getting too excited about cartridges and arms. The hunt, is the important thing. Interesting video. Sensible advise.

shot my first moose with a .303 Brit and federal blue box at 175 ish yards

7x57 & 9.3x62 are my absolute favourites.

I brought my 338 Win Mag for my plains game hunt and was very happy with the results

My first S. Africa hunt, my friends and I rented rifles.  The PH handed me a 30'06 and I took all of my plains game successfully.   My buddy was handed a .308.  The oldest guy in our group wanted to use the .375, and it was way overkill on everything we hunted.  I will say he brisket shot (frontal shot) a Wildebeest at ~125 yards, and it existed out the back.  Pretty crazy!   P.S. I love Werner's accent.  It gives me fond memories of S.A. and the amazing people that live there.

9.3x62 is also widely available in South Africa. Can't speak for Botswana, Zim or Mozambique but I wouldn't be surprised if it is. It is about as african a calibre as it gets

I've hunted in SA. I live here. Agreed with with the 3006. My goto. You can use 150 to 180 grain.

Big guns - 375 and 458 is needed for big stuff. Buff etc. Very expensive to run here but you don't need many shells.

3006 with 180 grains - you can shoot anything.  


Small game. I never bothered but if I had to a 3006 with a 150 grain. A bit under loaded. You don't want to cause too much damage.

Ron, from my high school physics class, it's spelled 'joules'.

Ron's soul was crushed when he mentioned 308😂

Just really enjoy people that speak sense fullstop!

Hopefully the 375 Ruger will catch on soon, totally love mine

My dad and I have hunted many years in South Africa for plainsgame with a .30-06 loaded with 220gr Hornady interlocks and it works a dream on anything up to Eland in the bushveld. There's always the .375 H&H in the safe ready to go as well though

My former father in law, born and lived his whole life in Angola, grew up hunting in the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s said two rifles: 243 Winchester and 375 H&H. He also spoke highly of the 308 Winchester and 30-06.

7 x 57 Mauser for me. Can hunt anything I intend to here in South Africa. But, yes, nothing wrong with 308 and 30-06. They all work.

I've taken my .264 Win Mag to Africa twice and pretty much hunted everything with it up to kudu and zebra, but the last time was there in 2025 I honestly came back feeling I was a bit under-gunned and wished I'd have brought my .300 Win Mag as well. All African game is tougher than what we are used to here in the states, but the blue wildebeest (and golden) really surprised me. On a side note, my PH told me to aim for the center of the body on my steenbok so as not to ruin the mount. He was correct by the way.

I was surprised you took the 9.3x62 off the table.

This man knows what he talks about. The only rifle I have been using for the past 35 years and hunted everyting with it😎🇿🇦👌