The Nearly Perfect Safari Rifle — Interview with Larry Potterfield | MidwayUSA
The Nearly Perfect Safari Rifle — Interview with Larry Potterfield | MidwayUSA
Where did you come up with the idea for The Nearly Perfect Safari Rifle? How did you decide on the caliber for this rifle? Watch along as Larry Potterfield, Founder and CEO of MidwayUSA, answers these questions and more on The Nearly Perfect Safari Rifle.
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that rifle is so pretty that it belongs on display in a museum. my rifle of choice for large bears [ never hunted africa ], is a 1948 husqvarna, 9.3×62, built on a commercial fn98 action. paid $600. canadian. to each, his own. of course, your job, is to sell expensive rifles, to people with a lot of money!
Don’t ever let anyone on safari carry your gun , only a backup gun ! And they could take your scope caps off and play with it .
3 position safety aka Mauser or Winchester, Bolt handle from a Mauser , trigger aftermarket …….. but the near perfect safari gun for Larry is a remington ?
All I have to say is Larry potterfield is a scumbag. He says he’s a service member and served in the chair Force and doesn’t give military members respect by at least giving them a 10% discount I will never shop at Midway USA again. He had the nerve to say that military and civilians get equal pricing, well I guess he cant determine which one of the two sacrifice there life so others can have the freedoms they have from this country.
Mauser 98 with iron sights!
Nearly perfect safari rifle? I don’t go on safari. I go 90 miles away to hunt whitetail deer. I don’t believe in killing something I can’t eat
I like to hunt but i don’t understand way
This asshols kill lions and elephants hipos
Shame you can’t carry your nearly perfect Safari rifle properly! Put a sling on it and carry it properly on your shoulder not over your shoulder. I bet you don’t walk around your hunts in the US with it humped over your shoulder like some African porter!
I like Larry, but shooting elephants is no bueno
Thank you for bringing up the fact that it’s the action that someone is more familiar with. I own a couple mausers and a few Remingtons,my preference is also the 700 push feed action.
I think my Mauser 30 06 is the perfect big game rifle with walnut stock and stainless steel bolt with control round feed and Bushnell scope. But i do need to get a night scope
Larry, I was able to predict each aspect of your nearly perfect rifle, not because you are predictable but because we MUST be kindred spirits. I love yours and I’m very confident you would love mine. I love your choices, I love your company, I love your products and I love hunting.
Having watched this for the first time ; Excellent. I think the .375 Holland is the best of all , from Deer on up. Mine is a Browning A-Bolt , 26" Bl. Perfect for me. Most if not all deer you hit with the .375 HH don’t run far if at all….
Nice so you’re nearly perfect rifle is a Winchester 70 or mauser, lol. You went through a lot of time and cost to build basically a weaker model70/mauser
It’s perfect except it’s short a barrel and has a scope.
I would like to smoke a good ,cigar and have a fine brandy, in a wood paneled room ,in front of a fire ,with Larry and talk guns.
Remington 700 308 Leopold scope
Whatever you can hot load anything and blow the limbs off of anything you want
Well, I take Mauser 98 Magnum .450 Rigby for hunting the big 5… iron sight.
Larry Potter.
Whatever you can hot load anything and blow the limbs off of anything you want
So Larry says…….The nearly perfect safari rifle is the one in your safe you’re familiar with. Me looking in safe……..Ruger 10-22
There is nothing “nearly perfect” about any hunting rifle with push feed.
Why isnt it compensated? Sure tames the recoil on the .375 i have
I have killed people (Army, they could shoot back…and often tried to kill me.), birds, white-tail deer, mule deer. But I could NEVER shoot an animal which was rare or endangered or about to be. Larry, you obviously have a very good mind. But I can’t for the life of me understand how you can shoot elephants and and lions. Oh, and I wasn’t kidding about my army days…I have killed some men who wanted very much to kill me…and threatened our nation. I didn’t like it, for a whole lot of reasons, but I did it. I would not kill an elephant or lion or most animals unless there was good reason to do so. E.G. over-population.
Most folks don’t think of one difference in control round feed or push feed. On my firearms the control round cocks the bolt upon closing the action and the push feed cocks the bolt upon opening the action. The control round requires more energy to close the bolt because it is cocking against a spring. This can make a difference in the choice one might prefer.
Basically this rifle already existed, the Husqvarna 640 with FN M98 receiver. https://youtu.be/Ooh_c91YxSo
My "Nearly Perfect Safari Rifle" was purchased second or third hand, about 35 years ago. It’s a Remington 700 BDL Safari Grade in .375 H&H. It came with a compact 2-7 power scope. I got it for grizzly hunting. Back then, you could do that in north central BC.
I worked up a load using 300 Gr. Nosler Partitions, 72.0 Gr. of IMR 4350 (love that stuff!!) and CCI large rifle magnum primers. At about 2400 fps, that’s about 3800 foot pounds of muzzle energy.
That said, because it’s a heavy rifle, perceived recoil is manageable. And it seems to go ‘Boooommm’ with a hard push rather than ‘CRACK’ with a stiff jolt. My lighter weight .300 Win Mag feels like it kicks a lot harder. Of course, on game the .375 has never needed a follow up shot. A 300 Gr. Partition through the boiler room is always fatal and usually rapidly so. (Okay, any proper hunting bullet through the boiler room on any animal is fatal.)
Thats no longer a Remington action lol. Its closer to a post 64 winchester model 70. Lol
How do you compare 375 vs 416 Rem Mag into his equation in a nearly perfect? I mean he prefers Rem and it’s a Rem!
My nearly perfect safari rifle would be a modern Winchester 70 with CRF in 458 win mag. That’s as much recoil as I can handle without massive flinch, and in a gun I’ve spent a good portion of my life shooting, the model 70.
For sights, I would use a Nightforce 1-8×24. I trust Nightforce durability more than any other brand, and 1-8 power is plenty for 10 yards up to 800 yards. Not that I’d shoot at game that far, but I practice shooting at up to double the distance I intend to take game at, so I know I can make the shot at the game.
For a trigger, I’d just get a Timney MOA trigger set to 1.5-2 pound range.
Scope would be on quick detach on the off chance something manages to damage a Nightforce, with iron sight backup.
For the stock, I have a rather bad right wrist, so I’d get something with a pistol grip so my right wrist doesn’t have to be at a painful angle like it is on a standard “hunting” profile. It’s not as pretty, but that’s why it’s “nearly” perfect. It’s functional for my health.
I have no intention of ever going on a safari, but it’s fun to dream.
Would listen to what Larry had to say
I learned a hell of a lot about how to customize rifles for hunting big game. This guy is smart,unpretentious and articulate, speaks to the point calmly yet convincingly. Very enjoyable video.
Very good information so if I purchase a .375 H&H rifle do I have to disassemble it to support the barrel like you did on the Remington 700.
This is not the best advise. He talks about the bolt action rifle but, reality, the double rifle rules.
When an elephant, buffalo or rhino charges after a shot & you are stunned & waiting for the result , the double rifle is king. This was determined years ago.
No hunter of dangerous game gets more than one extra shot when it counts when he’s on his own.
The double rifle is the ultimate in dangerous game hunting. Bolt action rifles are the showmans rifle when they have plenty of backup. In reality, the double rifle rules when dangerous game are the target.
My perfect safari rifle for canada of course is the 303 british no1mk3 shtle 1914. This rifle will drop anything on the canadian safari.
I hunt deer and bears elk and Moose but I could never kill An elephant or a tiger or a lion may be a water buffalo but no endangered animals safari hunting I do not agree with I only grew up hunting we could actually eat meat
Big game hunting is on my bucket list. Great video.
Meh. Not even close.
But don’t know if I would like to shoot one
This is a nearly perfect gun for me too, I enjoyed every detail and insight. This gun has been loved from start to finish. This could only serve to add in abundance to any hunt. I would enjoy seeing you hunt with your nearly perfect gun.
"Are you (Larry) going to take something other than a Remington rifle to Africa"? Well, if it’s going anywhere near dangerous game then I’d have thought the simple answer is, yes! You can take a ‘push feed, spring-actuated button extractor rifle if you want; but don’t get all pissy if things go pear-shaped at just the wrong moment. If you’re going to hunt DG in a responsible way, you need a controlled-feed action with a claw extractor and a fixed (non-mechanical) ejector. A Mauser 98 is the obvious choice but a clone like a Winchester would do just fine in most cases.
watching this using Safari
After all those modifications he turned a Remington 700 into a Winchester model 70!!
He built a push feed winchester…….one of the least sought after rifles of the last 60 years.
I think in Africa maybe a crocodile or warthog would be the only thing I would want to hunt…..I could never kill an elephant or a big cat unless they were coming after me in camp. Buffalo….maybe. It would also make a difference if the meat fed someone…..if they were feeding the poor with the buffalo meat I could go for that.
I think a camera safari would be best with a rifle for self protection.
I’ll never understand the point of big game hunting. Trophy hunting should be completely outlawed unless some kind of population issue exists that would jeopardize conservation.
If you’re going to kill an animal, you should consume it. All of it. No part of that animal should go to waste. It’s meat should be eaten, it’s bones ground up for fertilizer and it’s hide tanned and made into textile.