OP has been a forum member (reader) for about a year. In his mid 30's he became interested in hunting. He booked a hunt with us in Texas for a TX Dall Ram. When he showed up he had never been off pavement, never held a rifle and had no idea what to do. We gave him some quick shooting lessons with my 221 Fireball and he got his ram. A year later he booked the Leverguns Safari. He asked to borrow a gun and I offered a few choices. He told me he appreciated the offers, but he wanted to shoot "a real rifle, you know - one with a lever!" Oh - silly me, I quickly offered up my Savage 99 in 308. Grizzly Cartridge offers accurizing service in which they will develop "the most accurate load for your rifle". Mike Rintoul loaded up some 165gr NP bullets at a nominal 2550 fps. The ammo and rifle arrived in Africa without me every trying the two together. OP had never even laid eyes on the gun. At the range, OP said " you better shoot first because I don't know what I'm doing". I rested the rifle on a 50 pound sandbag on the shooting table and fired off 3 shots at 100 yards. The PH said " Something is wrong, there is only one hole in the paper." We went and looked, and he wasn't kidding. All three rounds went through the same hole making it triangular shaped. OP then listened to operating instructions and placed his first 3 rounds into 1 3/4". That was all the shooting at the range. That night, OP continuously shouldered the rifle and looked through the scope. He worked the action with the snap caps I had brought, and squeezed the trigger. On the second day, his first quarry was an impala ram that stood quartering away at 208 yard according to the Leica rangefinder. Resting the rifle on shooting sticks, OP squeezed the trigger and immediately following the crack he said "where'd it go, where'd it go"? Not to worry, he hit it right at the point of the shoulder, precisely where he was told to aim. For the second hunt ever, OP made some extraordinary shots. He hit a blesbok at 254 yards, dropped a gemsbok with one shot through the ribs and out the shoulder at 170 yards, and dropped waterbuck with a neck shot since the neck was all that was visible! He called today to book another hunt and ended up booking our caribou trip, a bear hunt and another Texas Safari. He'll be bringing his four year old boy to the TX Safari! Another hunter and levergunner has evolved. You fellows can expect to see him more often. Welcome to the family, OP!
He looks like a real pro! (Nice rifle too!)
Certainly fits right in as if he had been doing this all his life!
