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2 weeks ago | 
sportsafield.com | Craig Boddington
Why we love our .30-calibers. Photo above: Although its velocity has been eclipsed by “modern” fast .30s, the .300 H&H was (and is) an important development and is fast and versatile. The author used a rebarreled Remington M700 to drop this excellent southern greater kudu with a .300 H&H and 200-grain Sierra bullet. America’s lasting affair with .308-inch bullets began in 1892 with the .30-40 Krag.
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1 month ago | 
rifleshootermag.com | Craig Boddington
My son-in-law Brad Jannenga has a battered, still shootable, 1873 Springfield cavalry carbine. We don’t know who it was issued to or what stories it could tell. By serial number, it was assigned to the 7th US Cavalry in the spring of 1876. I get goosebumps thinking this rifle might have been present at the Little Big Horn. I get almost the same feeling when I handle a modern .45-70, bemused that this relic of the Old West is still one of our most popular rifle cartridges.
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1 month ago | 
sportsafield.com | Craig Boddington
Beyond lions and leopards, the Dark Continent is home to other fascinating felines. Photo above: The author considers the serval the most beautiful of Africa’s small cats. This is a captive serval, obviously well fed. Boddington has only seen two of these cats in the wild. Among Africa’s cats, the lion and leopard get the most attention. That’s as it should be, because those animals that fuel hunters’ dreams sometimes bring us back time and again as we try to fulfill them. We aren’t always successful.
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1 month ago | 
gameandfishmag.com | Craig Boddington
Our unique and successful North American Model of Wildlife Conservation gives us access to millions of acres of public hunting land. Many Americans don't need to own land or travel to have a good place to hunt. Culturally, this is why many of us do most of our hunting close to home for locally available game. Whether mule deer in the West or whitetails everywhere else, we take fall deer hunting for granted.
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2 months ago | 
sportsafield.com | Craig Boddington
Don’t wait too long. Just take the plunge!I hear it in every American hunting camp, and constantly at every hunting convention: dreams of an African safari. “When the kids are out of school. When the mortgage is paid. Maybe in a couple of years. Someday.” The great booking agent Jack Atcheson, Sr. had a great sales slogan: “Go hunting now, while you are able.” Someday is not guaranteed, nor are the health and physical abilities to enjoy it. Much in life is a matter of priority.
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2 months ago | 
gunsandammo.com | Craig Boddington
At our Timber Trails deer camp in southeast Kansas, our hunters arrive after lunch the day before the hunt. I’ll have a bench set up in the pasture, so the first order of business is to check rifles. I’m as serious a gun guy as a hunter, so I’m curious to see what our deer hunters bring. Our hunters come from all over. I’m sure they expect flat country with big, open fields they might need to reach across. That’s not our Kansas. Instead, rolling ridges and thick oak forest.
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2 months ago | 
shootingtimes.com | Craig Boddington
Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We earn from qualifying purchases. I’ve been writing about this stuff for 50 years. With seniority, some skepticism is inevitable. I’ve seen many brave new cartridges come and go. When younger, I was quick to embrace the latest whiz-bang. Today, I’m more likely to sit back and see what happens. Much of this skepticism came 25 years ago, when the market was flooded by long, short, and super-short unbelted magnums.
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Feb 25, 2025 | 
sportsafield.com | Craig Boddington
The wildebeest is often called “the poor man’s Cape buffalo.”Legend has it that African antelopes are “tougher” than similar-sized animals elsewhere in the world. It’s certainly true that with a full suite of predators to worry about, Africa’s prey species are constantly on edge, ready for that surge of adrenaline that might speed them out of harm’s way. As for toughness, it varies. I can’t think of an African animal that’s hardier, pound for pound, than an impala.
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Feb 19, 2025 | 
gunsandammo.com | Craig Boddington
The Ruger Super Redhawk is a big, burly revolver. Since its introduction in Guns & Ammo’s November 1979 issue, it’s been chambered in powerful handgun cartridges. The .44 Remington Magnum has been its mainstay, but it was also the launching platform for the .480 Ruger in 2003, the first cartridge to bear the Ruger name. It’s also among few production revolvers to be chambered to the .454 Casull. More recently, it’s been chambered to 10mm Auto.
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Feb 4, 2025 | 
sportsafield.com | Craig Boddington
Hunting the elusive Coues and Carmen Mountain whitetails. It’s early February and I’m in northern Mexico, one of the best places on Earth in late winter. Mornings are brisk, midday sunny and pleasant under a cloudless sky, bright campfire at night. I’m hunting Coues whitetail, the grey ghost of southern Arizona and northwest Mexico. I’ve been at it for three days, haven’t seen a good buck yet. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, really don’t care.
