Dusk was turning to dark, and we were just about to call it a day when we saw the first tawny animal slipping through the brush. It was an eland, Africa's largest antelope, and it was a bull. But this was a young bull, with slender horns. He was followed by another bull, then another. Slowly, nervously, they trooped into the clearing, six bulls in all.

The Remington M798 is based on a Mauser Mark X action manufactured in Serbia. It's a no-nonsense working rifle that, in .375 with good loads like Remington's Swift A-Frame, can do anything any .375 needs to do.

The first three were youngsters. The fourth bull was getting there, heavier in body and horns. The fifth bull was larger yet, and the last was the one to shoot.

I raised the rifle slowly, then I let them come all the way into the clear. The last bull, the big bull, was quartering to me when I shot him. He took the bullet hard, then turned away, and as he turned I shot him again. It would be dark much too quickly for tracking, and I needed him down right there. After a few more steps he stumbled and turned broadside. I shot him once more, carefully, and that was that.

There's nothing like a .375 when you need one. But this wasn't just any .375. It was a Mauser .375.

I was hunting on Erindi in central Namibia with some folks from Remington. Our primary purpose was to mess with their .300 Remington Ultra Mag ammo loaded in three ascending power levels. I'd been using this setup for more than a week, and the rifles, the ammo and the concept had worked very well on a variety of antelope at a variety of ranges. But I had been just a wee bit jealous. Concealed in my companions' gun cases had been two Remington Model 798s in .375 H&H, and one of them was a prototype left-hand action. They had been using these rifles all week, with the spectacular effect one might expect from a .375, and when an animal was taken their watchword had become "I 'Mausered' him." On the next-to-last day we switched out so I could "Mauser" something. As luck would have it, that evening at dark I got the first chance I'd had at an eland bull.

The designation "M798" is a good one, if a little tongue-in-cheek. Remington bolt actions have carried some permutation of a "7" model designation throughout my lifetime, and of course "98" denotes the most famous Mauser action. Actually, the M798 has nothing to do with any of Remington's domestic Model "7XX" rifles, nor, technically, is it a Model 98 Mauser. The actions are made in Serbia, and if you recall your recent history, not too long ago Serbia was part of Yugoslavia. The M798 is essentially a Mauser Mark X action, a primary difference between it and the Model 98 being the sliding two-position safety alongside the cocking piece rather than Peter Paul Mauser's safety on the cocking piece.

The Mauser Mark X was a popular action in the United States back in the 1970s. I had a couple of beautiful rifles on this action back before I made the switch to left-hand bolts. I wish I still had them, but they were among the rifles I lost in a disastrous 1981 burglary. Later the Interarms version of the Mark X became popular, and I well remember that several members of the old Petersen Publishing staff had them in .375 and .458. In the early 1980s Jack Lott himself rechambered a couple of those .458s to his newly created .458 Lott. My own Mark Xs were in .270 Winchester and .300 Winchester Magnum. The Mark X, whether in medium cartridge or large, was accurate, dependable and affordable.