Show me your dangerous game rifles

JShirley said:

Quite the collection.

John

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I got a little carried away.

I have read a lot of books about African hunting but this one tops them all. It is the autobiography of John Hunter, who was perhaps the greatest "White Hunter" of all time. (Yes, I know, that term isn't used anymore. Many fine PHs are Black, I'm told) Hunter was born in 1887 and went to Africa as a teen ager. Once he realized that one could make a good living from hunting he knew he had found his vocation. The book was published in 1952. by that time Hunter was at the top of the PH world, and also worked for the Kenya Game department. These were the glory days of African hunting. There were no endangered animals in the first half of the twentieth century. Rhino's were everywhere. Hunter shot over a thousand of them, under the guidance of the game dept., to clear land for the natives. Leopards were vermin and finding an elephant with a hundred pounds to a side was not at all hard to do. He witnessed several Masai lion hunts. There was a reprint of the book a few years back.

There is an interesting quote in the second pic which pretty much sets the tone for the book.

.38 Special said:

There's a joke in there about Caucasian walnut vs. Black walnut, but I'm sure as hell not going to be the one to make it.

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I think it's "Circassian" walnut...not Caucasian. But, I'm French and we have our own walnut.

LoonWulf said:

I think most of us own our "dangerous game" rifles more for enjoyment than actual use on said game.

The 416 Rem is more of a stopping rifle than it is a general purpose large game rifle making it a little less common for guys not explicitly looking for such. It also doesn't fit in a 30-06 length action, and so far I think most of the bolt guns posted on here aren't 375 length, So going with a 458 Winchester also makes a bit more sense.

Just my teereez



Id bet @Offfhand has at least some kinda 416........and id bet it gorgeous......

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Yep no argument there; although I am planning a trip to Africa sometime in the next few years and would love to incorporate a DG hunt, which is why I'm building the 9.3x62.

As I recall, the 416 Rem is a 375 H&H necked up to .416? At one point in time, I wanted to go with a 375 Weatherby (essentially a 375 H&H improved) because you could use 375 H&H ammo in a pinch. I may still go that direction some day but I have a custom safari rifle plan for my 9.3x62 which I'm using a 1903 A3 Springfield and getting JES to do the rebore and rechambering. As much as I love Weatherby rifles, they don't tick my boxes for the ultimate safari rifle.

AR10 with 25 dangerous tamer pills

or my R700 in 7mm RM

Here is one for seriously dangerious game: Tigers! a Westley Richards drop lock .400/.360 Nitro Express. According to provanance that came with it, the first owner was an Maharaja who had it built for hunting tigers in his native country, so I expect it could tell some great stories. In addition to the usual express sights it is also fitted with a flip-up aperature real sight for longer shots, which is very unusual for a double rifle. I've only hunted elk with it, which were not very dangerous.

I don't have any big bore guns specifically designed for dangerous game.
That said, I do know that two of my guns, (7mm Mauser, and .303 British) have both been used in the past to take dangerous game many a time, so at least I have the capability.
I'd use my Lee Enfield If I were going to hunt dangerous game.
It has the faster action, and with the red dot, a much faster sighting system.

Serbu BFG-50 in 50 BMG. Damn fun to shoot! Though I wouldn't want to be doing it all day long.

I had a cased .470 Nitro Army and Navy made by Cogswell and Harrison for a decade ending 25 years ago . I shot it a few times in 10+ years and cartridges were crazy expensive and I was really scared the Walnut was gonna crack like other heavy recoiling OLD firearms I have seen. I did make bank on the resale of it as I bought it fairly cheaply and sold for a couple times greater .
I too gave away as a tip to my PH in the late 80s my first "heavy"; a push feed Winchester .458 I bought for my first Safari. I also took a German made Mark V Weatherby .300 on that safari , which I sold about a decade back.
I have gone the last 30 years to .375 Weatherby ( most my .375 H&H are reamed to the .375 Weatherby since the 90s) as factory .375 H&H works fine in them and the subsequent reloaded .375 Weatherby works finer !
I have a Whitworth actioned Mauser custom .375 weatherby with a 26" heavy barrel , it replaced my .358 Norma heavy barrel long range heavy game rifle I sold to Tony Runmore . I have a Brown Precision 700 Remington Stainless lightweight 8 pound scoped ..375 Chet Brown made me that somehow will feed upside down after he worked his magic with a Sako extractor. Gentry Quiet braked it is accurate and a keeper ! I also have a 1955 Winchester Model 70 .375 with Lyman Irons that I have not sold yet, that one is NOT reamed to the weatherby caliber., I did not want to lower it's collectability !
I got the .375 with a 1956 .458 Winchester Safari Grade Model 70 which I can't bring myself to sell . recently two of my sons shot it as I got three boxes of older shells for it. It has the early Winchester factory Express sights which are fabulous IMHO for dangerous game . It hits dead on at 50 yards with the 510 grain load and is a kicker at just 9 pounds but very accurate for what it is ! I have 50 cases to reload and am thinking my own cast 450 grain bullets I use in .45-70s and my son's Runmore uppered .458 Socom .
I am still hobbling around a bit from knee replacement but Ill get some pictures added at later date.

For when they clone this.



I'll be waiting my turn.

DG rifles. I, too, read a lot of Ruark when I was a young man. Ended up with a Winchester model 70 Express in 375 H&H…..a gun that will never go to Africa. After that was a Ruger #1 African in .416 Rigby..
Both are great shooters and taught me a lot about how to handle heavy recoil.

My dream rifle is a English double rifle in 470 NE, but firearms is just one of several hobbies that vie for my time and money so that will probably never happen. I live by the saying that if you can't afford to buy nice stuff, then you better be able to make nice stuff, so my 505 gibbs build will probably have to do for me.

Offfhand said:

Here is one for seriously dangerious game: Tigers! a Westley Richards drop lock .400/.360 Nitro Express. According to provanance that came with it, the first owner was an Maharaja who had it built for hunting tigers in his native country, so I expect it could tell some great stories. In addition to the usual express sights it is also fitted with a flip-up aperature real sight for longer shots, which is very unusual for a double rifle. I've only hunted elk with it, which were not very dangerous.View attachment 1089557 View attachment 1089558 View attachment 1089559 View attachment 1089560 View attachment 1089562

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I have a William Evans double chambered for the 400-360 Purdey. There being five different 400-360 cartridges, no two of which are interchangeable. They have very similar ballistics I don't know if I would consider it a stopping rifle. The Purdey version runs a 300 grain 0.367 bullet at 1950 fps. (I do have some vintage solids in the collection.) The Westly Richards version runs a 310 grain 0.360 bullet at 1900 fps if I recall correctly.

.38 Special said:

Yeah, once they start engine-turning the lockwork, you know you've moved on to another level...

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Here's a better picture of both sides of the engine turned locks. The rifle originally came with two sets of locks, which have sadly long since disappeared. But there are still a pair of firing pins tucked away under the trapdoor grip cap in another pic. Also shown a view of the locks in place in the receiver. Among other interesting features is the "bolted" safety, which is a safety that prevents movement of the main safety tab, which was to prevent gun bearers from accidently moving the safety and firing the rifle, sometimes with tragice results. An occurance that has been recorded in safari literature. And a tiger's image engraved on the trigger guard. The engraver did beautiful scrollwork, but wasn't all that great on tigers, in my opinion.

My Winchester 70 Alaskan 375 H&H that I fired 5 times

Offfhand said:

Here's a better picture of both sides of the engine turned locks. The rifle originally came with two sets of locks, which have sadly long since disappeared. But there are still a pair of firing pins.

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Very neat gun with some very interesting features.

Thanks for sharing it.

For the dangerous game hunter that likes to keep some danger in the equation.



It’s not quite what I consider a dangerous game rifle, but it is the only gun that I've actually taken a head of dangerous game with. It is a 444 marlin loaded pretty hot with a 320 grain hard cast at 2200 fps. I took this 19-1/2” black bear with it at about 75 yards from the ground. He didn’t take another step but I still reloaded and gave him another. (And then reloaded again just in case!)

Rockrivr1 said:

Serbu BFG-50 in 50 BMG. Damn fun to shoot! Though I wouldn't want to be doing it all day long.

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Hope you never have to "put a thumb in it," shooting that thing.