John, thanks for the reply and you mentioned some top of the food chain firearms that failed. This could be a rather excellant discussion, taking a brand of firearm that someone could and would rely on for this type of high volume shooting.
I recently drove 2,200 miles (round trip) with my Ithaca double barrel as my only firearm, but I knew it would hold up to the number of shots I was going to take and it didn't fail me.

South America, however is a whole nother ball game.