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Nice Buff, what caliber is the rifle?
Mike

Mike,

It's a .458 Winchester Magnum. This was back in the days when there were virtually no "classic" cartridges available. This was my second hunt with it: three weeks in the Selous in Tanzania. I ended up with a lion, a leopard, five buffalo and two elephants, plus assorted plains game. I hate to think what a trip like that would cost today!

The rifle has extra barrel sets in .375 H&H and 20 gauge 3" magnum. All I needed was a plains game rifle to complete my African battery. (The shot barrels got a workout on sand grouse, guinea fowl and, in one instance, teal.)

This guy was standing out in an open field, 80-100 yards away, and no way to get closer, so I put a 500 grain solid in his chest from the sitting position.

The only other time I used the sitting position was on a Burchell's zebra at about 250 yards. I was shooting my Model 70 in .300 H&H, and hit the zebra just as he was taking a step forward. I hit him in the spine, and he literally turned a somersault. The "boys", who were watching from the hunting car, almost died laughing!

I would just hit their websites and look at wha you like. My experience is comfort etc is a matter of opinion

When I was working for a living all the guys who wore glasses had to start wearing safety glasses. I did a little research and found that the lower cost glasses had some sort of polycarbonate glass that was scratch and chip resistant. Top of the line was tempered glass. So I got the tempered glass and have continued wearing the same tempered glass lenses even after retirement. The PC glasses would start to chip,scratch,and get cloudy and since you only got one pair a year that was what you were stuck with until the following year. Frank

For many years, I used the Rayban Aviators for the "cool" factor though they did not fit well. I never had a gun blow up while using them however and I'm damn glad I wasn't using them when one finally did let go. Glass in no way equates to Polycarb lens, esp, in dedicated shooting glasses. The space between the lenses is also large and likely to allow gasses and worse behind them.

As for PC glasses scratching and clouding, you aren't speaking of high-end shooting glasses which are quite different than any safety glasses I've seen, and I have a pile of good ones in the shop. I use the hell out of my gear, but I take care of it too. Those lenses will last many years w/o a mark - so long as you don't have a receiver let go. New lens without a prescription are about $30 anyway so it's not a big deal if you do need to replace them or if you want to try different colors etc. Try to replace lenses on a pair of Aviators or even some Oakleys these days...

I got my new lenses just a week ago and there is NO distortion whatsoever as I rotate my view as Stan describes. NONE.

Damn nice buffalo by the way. That is the one critter that could draw me back to Africa again.

Ballistic poly-carbonate glasses will hold up well and after using them through four deployments I am comfortable in endorsing them

They weigh significantly less than tempered glass and having seen them actually work to save soldiers' vision I know they do the job.

As for scratching up yes they scratch easier than glass, but compared to the poly-carbonate glasses they handed up at the Vickers Hydraulics Factory I worked at 20 years ago the modern ballistic eye wear is very resistant to scratching.

Modern ballistic quality poly-carbonate lens will hold up

We have a lot in common- I've been wearing Ray-Bans for years, but at age 75, I am fortunate in that my distance vision is still 20/15 uncorrected with no galucoma or floaters. I also shot at both "Death Valley"/ Quantico-- and at Fort Benning and Camp Perry- rifle competition inter-Service league. But in 'Nam- the gold plated style frames of the Ray-Bans were a non-no for snipers and their scout/spotter team-mates-- the old mantra of "No Rattle- No Shine" put the kiabosh on the "diddley-bop shades" in a hurry.

Shooting glasses- not a SC or Skeet man per se, but when I do shoot clays at DU Sponsor events, I were Decots-100%, just as I wear shatterproof safety glasses when using chain saws or any power tools used in carpentry/construction projects. And as a long-time welder, who is very lucky to enjoy the gift of Chuck Yeager type vision into his retirement years, the precaution of using shooting glasses when shooting any firearm, or in the hunting field mileu, is SOP-100%..

I was selected for the Far Eastern Division Team in Okinawa in 1965 and all set to go back stateside for the Marine Corps Matches, Interservice Matches and Camp Perry, when the Far Eastern participation was cancelled, leaving me, George Van Orden and Dave Willis, all of us 1st LTs at the time, and the other team members high and dry. I ended up in Danang on the III MAF staff and spent my days riding around in a Mighty Mite toting a Thompson M1A1 (not issue). After I left active duty, I was on the All Reserve team for a while, and afterwards competed as a civilian.

Legged out in 1983, the 499th civilian to go Distinguished. Gave up competitive shooting 8 years ago, when my osteoarthritis prevented me from getting into position. I'll be 78 in February. Ended up a Master in Smallbore Position, Smallbore Prone and High Power. Never made it to High Master in High Power.

The closest I came to sniper duty was when the Reserve Team served as marksmanship instructors for the Reserve Sniper School

Yessir- Lt. Copy that Charlie-Lima. The first Scout Sniper school I recall in "Nam was actually based in Okinawa, Captain Land was the CO. Gunny Hathcock- L'ong Tran (White Feather) was Captain Land's protegee- Carlos grew up in rural AK, hunting and making one shot kills even on flushed quail with the single shot Stevens .22 LR his dad gave him when he was 10. Story was- when he was 12 or 13, he was given a 20 gauge single shot-which he used for a while on quail, but went back to his .22 LR for 2 valid reasons- (1) cheaper to shoot than the 20 gauge, and (2) as he could head shoot a quail on the wing with that .22, he blew up less meat for the family dinner table with the rifle-ditto for all the squirrel and rabbit dinners he also provided. Show me a farm lad who grew up poor and half-hungry, put him in our beloved USMC, and I'll show you a "dinger" in the making.