Here's my brush buster. Started carrying it after a 7mm Mag bullet blew up on a twig on its way to an elk. Some college buddies and I did some testing on an old (disused - unwired) fence line with cedar poles. Tried to see how many poles in a row we could shoot through before the bullet deflected. I think my rifle at that time, a Swedish Mauser carbine in 6.5x55 with 160 grain RN Norma bullets did the best - don't ask how many poles, too long ago, but a lot less than you might hope. Anyway, after the 7mm fiasco, carried this 1902 Webley in 450-400 3 1/4 NE with 400 grain heavy jacketed Barnes bullets (the old days, when they pulled the copper tubing to diameter with a Jeep) over 80 grains of 4350 and dared an elk to stand behind a tree. They were so afraid of it, they never gave me a chance to use it.

Not too bad. Even though the barrel has been shortened, probably to make it handy in the "tall grass", it still weights 10 1/2 pounds. Yeah, you know when you pull the trigger but it comes up and torques left instead of knocking you straight back. You have to note that in Africa this cartridge was classed as just a large medium bore and commanded the niche in its day that the 375 H&H does now. It isn't a whole lot of fun from the bench but I got through it fine while working up loads. Definitely more pleasant than a Ruger No 1 in .416 Rigby.

I also have some 300 grain bullets Barnes made me with lighter jackets. These come whipping out at over 2500 fps. These would probably be a more comfortable US hunting cartridge. I also have a box of original Kynoch solid bullets in case we get infested with dinosaurs. These are packaged in a box with the bullets divided like pistol cartridges. OK, here's the real kicker (in more ways than one!). When I got this rifle many moons ago my dealer had two of these 1902 Webleys. The other one was in 600 Nitro Express. It would have been a fantastic investment, but who wants a rifle they will never shoot? Not me.