The new Ruger Hawkeye handles extremely well, and this one shot Hornady’s fast 270-grain spitzer and 300-grain full metal jacket .375 Ruger bullets into one cluster.

Empire rifles are essentially built to order with a wide variety of options, but most custom firms occasionally have "shop" guns to show that incorporate the most-asked for features. Last year George sent me such a rifle, a fairly plain but really nice .375 H&H on a left-hand double-square-bridge Mauser-type action--his walnut stocked Legacy.

In addition to having a left-hand cast to the stock, it was stunningly accurate, and I really liked the sight arrangement. In addition to a detachable scope mount and classic express irons, George sent along a nifty aperture sight that mated into the rear receiver bridge.

I liked the rifle, and I knew I should have bought it. It was worth the money (not much more than Kimber's Caprivi), but as I've often complained, I don't spend near enough time with my own rifles these days, and I didn't want my old .375 H&H to get jealous. So I sent it back.

Then early last year I had the chance to hunt water buffalo at a place in Florida. I called George Sandmann and asked if that left-handed .375 was still around. It was.

Water buffalo are considerably bigger than Cape buffalo, and we were going to hunt them only on foot, often in swampy cover, so I left the scope at home and carefully checked the zero of that aperture sight.

After a bit of looking we found an old bull with heavy horns feeding along the edge of a tree line, and we made a good approach through the trees. It almost worked, but at close range a branch blocked the shot, and the bull ran out into open ground. The outfitter and I dashed to the edge, and the bull stood facing us at around 100 yards. My first shot with a Swift A-Frame caught the bull in the center of the chest, and the follow-up solids raked him as he ran. He never made it to the far side of the clearing.

True big bores are fun, and on the largest game they work wonderfully, but don't lose sight of the great value of versatility. To this day you get more of it with a .375 than with anything else.