The Empire Legacy the author borrowed not only has a left-hand action, but also has left-hand cast to the stock. It handled extremely well, fit like a dream and was very easy to shoot from any position.

The hunt presented a unique opportunity to use a .375 in almost every way and context that a .375 can or should be used. One morning I put a 300-grain solid through a beautiful little steenbok with very little meat or skin damage.

Later I killed a fantastic old eland bull. Eland is one of the things the .375 is perfect for. We got on the bull twice in heavy cover, but all I could see was the neck. The third time he was quartering away at a bit over 100 yards. The Trophy Bonded Bear Claw worked perfectly.

There were elephants on the place, and there had been continuing problems with two ill-tempered young bulls, so Federal's Anthony Acitelli and I had what were essentially animal-control permits for these troublemakers. Thus we put the Kimber Caprivi and the .375 H&H to its ultimate test, taking the two elephant bulls with frontal shots with 300-grain Sledge-hammer Solids. As I've said, the .375 is on the right side of the margin for elephants and has been used effectively on these big animals for almost a century.

I stretched the barrel out a bit on gemsbok, kudu and springbok. Obviously I didn't need a .375 for any of these animals, but with a .375 that isn't the point, is it? The point is that one day I could take a frontal brain shot on an elephant bull at six yards, and the next day I could take a kudu at 250 yards, all with the same rifle. I also used the gun to take a leopard, and while I don't rate the .375 as a great leopard round, the rifle and caliber acquitted themselves well.

These days most of my African hunts are more specialized, so it's rare to have the opportunity to really work out any rifle or cartridge on a wide range of game. This was a perfect opportunity for the Caprivi, and it proved once again what I have known for many years: If you have a good .375 with an equally good scope you really don't need anything else.

There are factory rifles and then there are factory rifles. Ruger's Hawkeye is a wonderful factory rifle offering .375 or better performance at almost no premium over a standard factory rifle.

The author expected an easy hunt for fallow deer, but this buck was tricky, finally offering a shot at about 225 yards and demonstrating the versatility of the .375 Ruger cartridge.

Kimber's Caprivi is a production gun that incorporates a host of features generally found only in custom rifles and commands a retail price more than three times that of the Ruger Hawkeye ($3,300 versus the Hawkeye at just a bit over $1,000).

And then there are custom rifles. A relatively new company that has really impressed me in recent years is Empire Rifles, run by attorney-gone-straight and rifle nut George Sandmann. Empire's growth has been dramatic, and I put that down to two critical factors: George is a good guy, and he makes a good rifle.