I will tell you one thing, after spending the last couple of winters chasing my dogs around the mountains, a rifle gets REALLY heavy after a couple of miles. I was carrying an open sighted .30-06 with a low velocity cast lead bullet. Using a 165 Grain bullet and some Unique powder. I know people who have used .22's and .22 mag's. I have a lot of times only left the truck with my 45 ACP in case I HAD to shoot one. I am now carrying a Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Mag, that I am borrowing from a co-worker, and plan to get my own, either a Blackhawk .357, or .44. No need to get a huge gun for lions IMO.


Oh yeah, definately look at the state's regulations on legal calibers. Some rimfires are legal, others, like Nevada, there are specific regulations and rimfires are not legal. And besides, there should be no reason to shoot a lion at 50 or 100 yards. I don't know of any guide that would allow a person to shoot at a running lion in front of his dogs, and most shots would be however far the lion is up in the tree. But also take into consideration, when making a shot, only the HORIZONTAL distance is what matters in how far it really is. The vertical distance doesn't have too much of an effect on the bullet for quite some time.


Later,

Marcial