THE EDUCATION OF A RIFLEMAN II

In the last column I was emerging, almost penniless, from a divorce that separated me from my prized custom .257 Weatherby, my first custom shotgun and any other firearm worth more than two seashells and a corn cob.

- Terry Wieland

Tucked away inside the cloud of regrets, however, there was a silver lining of newfound wisdom to apply to the rebuilding of my collection. In the course of hunting on several continents with half a dozen different rifles, I’d learned a few things. For one, I didn’t want to hunt anything henceforth with a rifle that did not have a three-position safety, like the Model 70. I not only wanted the striker blocked, I wanted the bolt locked closed as well.

Much as I admire the .257 and .300 Weatherby cartridges, I’d played with those enough and found myself leaning toward my youthful inamorata, the .30-06. Dakota Arms was making its mark with the Dakota 76 action, and I acquired one in its plainest grade. It became my standard hunting rifle through the 1990s. With a 23inch barrel, loaded with 165-grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claws (the pre-Federal originals), I hunted in Africa and North America, from Ungava Bay in the north to deepest Natal in the south. With that rifle, I took my first Ontario whitetail, my first elk and a couple of caribou, among a raft of African game. It confirmed my belief that the .30-06, a venerable cartridge by any standard, is still our best all-around chambering.

When I returned from Africa in 1990, I’d also decided I needed a dedicated Cape buffalo rifle.

Around the time the Dakota came into my life, I turned over an FN Supreme action to my German gunmaker Siegfried Trillus and requested he build a .450 Ackley. About 18 months later I collected it, stocked with a piece of American black walnut from a tree Siegfried cut down, sawed up and carved to shape himself. It was fitted with German claw mounts and a Swarovski 1.5x steel-tube scope accompanied by rugged German-made open sights.