For the want of a screw, the hunt was nearly lost.

The rifle for this Africa hunt is my Tikka T3 in the ever so reliable 308 Winchester. I am a one-rifle man. I believe a man should own only one rifle at any point in his life. He must learn how to shoot dime-sized groups blindfolded. He must feed it the right ammunition. He must keep it clean and well oiled, like a newborns, umm, rump!

He must try very hard not to do silly, maudlin things like naming it after a girl. So of course, I use nothing but my own carefully weighed and well-tuned handloads for Buffy - she of the unerring aim and, er, undead-slaying skills. With180 gr Hornady Interbonds, 42 gr. Varget, Federal 210 primers in Lapua match quality brass, she can do sub-MOA at a 100 yards.

Buffy also lost a trigger guard screw a few days before the hunt. Now mind you, this is a screw that keeps the stock attached to the action as well. This is not a good thing to happen days before the hunt of a lifetime. Certainly not a very respectful thing for a man to do to his rifle. Tsk.

Disaster, quite naturally, comes with company. What happens when you take a Finnish rifle, imported by an Italian company into the United States? Give up? You get a spare parts nightmare. No one has these strange little screws in stock. Not Brownells, Midway or any of the many online retailers. A frantic trip to the local Gander Mountain yielded nothing more than some very sympathetic gunsmiths. Finally, my hunting partner and good friend John manages to find someone at Beretta who has these screws. A few phone calls, credit card charges and one overnight package later, I now have a spare set of the worlds most expensive screws.

Buffy lives, and the hunt is saved.