The author’s Rifles Inc. .300 Weatherby went on an Azerbaijan tur hunt because he thought long shots might be in the cards. And that’s the beauty of the caliber: You can’t go wrong with it in unfamiliar country.

.375
I’ve written a fair bit about this caliber over the past couple of years, so my pick should come as no surprise. Today there are several .375 cartridges, all very good. The fastest .375s (.375 Remington Ultra Mag, .375 Weatherby Magnum, .378 Weatherby Magnum) shoot flat and hit extremely hard, but recoil goes up sharply as velocity increases. The new .375 Ruger is great. It’s a wee bit faster than a .375 H&H but housed in a short action. However, in picking my favorite .375, I must bow to 95 years of tradition and my own 40 years of satisfaction: It has to be the .375 H&H.

.40
In the last 20 years, the cartridges that John “Pondoro” Taylor identified as “large mediums” have made a tremendous comeback. The various .416s and their ilk are not as versatile as the .375 but are a bit better for buffalo and definitely better for elephant. Here I must pick two favorites: one for magazine rifles and another for doubles and single-shots.

I have used most of the .416s (factory and wildcat), and I like them all, but as my large-medium cartridge is primarily for buffalo and rarely elephant, my favorite in a bolt action is the .404 Jeffery. Recoil is mild, performance is much more than adequate, and the case can be crammed into most .375-length actions. My friends at Gun Creations in Lubbock, Texas, are just completing an aperture-sighted .404 for me.

In doubles and single-shots, you really want a rimmed case for absolutely reliable extraction and/or ejection. Choices below .470 have been limited, so Hornady’s reintroduction of the .450/.400-3-inch (a.k.a. .400 Jeffery) answers the mail. Whether in Ruger’s heavy-barreled No. 1 Tropical or a sweet-handling 10-pound double, the .450/ .400 3-inch is a pussycat to shoot but is amazingly effective on buffalo and adequate for elephant.

.450
The true big bores are the most specialized of tools, ideally suited only for the largest game on Earth. Again, I must pick two favorites, one for bolt actions and another for double rifles and single-shots.

In magazine rifles my favorite big bore is the .458 Lott. It has enough velocity to ensure penetration on elephant from any sane angle. Its recoil is very stout, but its simple, straight case allows the use of milder .458 Winchester Magnum ammo (for practice or in a pinch).

In double rifles, my favorite is the .450-31⁄4-inch Nitro Express designed by John Rigby in 1898. Its readily available .458-inch bullets at 2,150 fps are plenty adequate for everything. Its advantages are that its straight case offers better load density with modern powders than the bottlenecked .470 case.

I’m sure I will continue to use many other cartridges because, at least in part, that’s my job. But for anyone who cares, the cartridges named are my favorites. Some are sensible, some quirky--but it’s my list. If I see you at a show or around a campfire, you can tell me your favorites. Maybe you can change my mind. But I doubt it.