4 bore double rifle info

[jgvarno]

Does anyone have info on 4 bore double rifles. I have found some from a Canadian on the web but info is scarce. I am always interested in big guns. If I shoot a deer and don't get hurt from the recoil the gun was too small! Always looking for gig black powder gun info. jgvarno

 

[Fiveshooter]

Check This Out

A good read if you have not already read it.

http://www.african-hunter.com/4-bore_part_i.htm



http://www.african-hunter.com/4-bore_part_ii.htm

 

[armoredman]

Have fun - I do NOT intend to support a chiropractor in my old age...

 

[oneshooter]

Try these sites:

http://www.possibleshop.com/muzzle-shotgun.htm

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=3529

http://www.gunsamerica.com/1410/1410-random-1.htm

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

 

[highlander 5]

I have seen several pics of Mike Venturino firing either a 4 or 8 bore.Not my idea of a way to spend the afternoon. I have an 8 bore slug weighs 2 oz throw it at some one and you'll kill them. One of the sporting goods store in Me sells 8 bore ammo or at least that's what I think it is SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS A ROUND??!!! Way out of my budget

 

[Plink]

If you want tons of good info on a 4 bore, you need to talk to Steve Zihn. He makes them but says he hates to sight them in. He posted a pic on muzzleloadingforum of a guy almost being blown completely off his feet by the recoil. If I remember right, Selous (don't remember his first name), the famous African game hunter, said he regretted ever getting involved with 4 bores, as it left him with permanent nerve damage. Realistically, an 8 bore will be more than enough for any animal on earth, and without the severe bruising and nerve damage.

 

[armoredman]

Didn't the hero of "UC" have a 4 bore?

 

[.38 Special]

If I remember right, Selous (don't remember his first name), the famous African game hunter, said he regretted ever getting involved with 4 bores, as it left him with permanent nerve damage.

Frederick Courtenay Selous (F.C.) did use the four bore muzzle loader and later complained that "it affected my nerves for all time" and that "I heartily regret ever using it". Not nerve damage, exactly, but something like an incurable flinch.

I've fired both the 4 and 8 bore muzzle loaders and yeah, they kick. It isn't as violent as a modern smokeless load in .577 or something -- you hear folks talk about "just a big push" -- but as Ross Seyfried says, "It pushes a lot like a freight train".

Realistically, an 8 bore will be more than enough for any animal on earth, and without the severe bruising and nerve damage.

Never shot anything but paper with any of the big boys, but I understand that neither the 4 nor the 8 really gave reliably satisfactory penetration on dangerous game. I imagine, though, that it would drop the average whitetail rather quickly.

BTW, October Country made some very nice 8 bore doubles and 4 bore singles. Don't know their story these days but you might check into it. They were selling either for around $5,000.

 

[arcticap]

There's a well known gunwriter in one of the popular gunmag.'s (who's name I don't recall) that detached a retina from shooting modern high powered rifles. Now he's a handgun hunting specialist and all he ever writes about is handguns and hunting. He mentions that fact regularly in his articles too. If I recall, he even had to re-learn to shoot handguns with his other, previously less dominant eye. Shooting any kind of long gun with significant recoil is something to seriously consider the potential consequences of.

 

[Plink]

Frederick Courtenay Selous (F.C.) did use the four bore muzzle loader and later complained that "it affected my nerves for all time" and that "I heartily regret ever using it". Not nerve damage, exactly, but something like an incurable flinch.

That makes a lot more sense. I was going off decades old memories and didn't quite remember the story.

Never shot anything but paper with any of the big boys, but I understand that neither the 4 nor the 8 really gave reliably satisfactory penetration on dangerous game. I imagine, though, that it would drop the average whitetail rather quickly.

Perhaps not with a round ball, but the conicals, even in 8 bore, weigh several ounces and for dangerous game, are pushed with immense loads of several hundred grains of powder. In 4 bore, it seems it would be equally dangerous at both ends!

I used to want a 4 bore badly until some discussions with Steven Zihn about them.

 

[.38 Special]

Perhaps not with a round ball, but the conicals, even in 8 bore, weigh several ounces and for dangerous game, are pushed with immense loads of several hundred grains of powder.

Again to reference Ross Seyfried (all the interesting big bore info seems to come from him) he once wrote up hitting some sort of Indian waterbuck (big damn thing, 2,000 pounds or so) with an eight bore shell with a conical. Said it utterly flattened the beast, like hitting a jackrabbit with a 10 gauge. He also reported using the same cartridge on cape buffalo, with pretty unimpressive results. Took two shots and several hundred yards of running, IIRC. In the same article, he reported that the coming of the .577 nitro was a relief for the old hunters, on several counts: more effective on the animal, easier on the shoulder, and no more huge clouds of smoke hiding potential charges.

I used to want a 4 bore badly until some discussions with Steven Zihn about them.

After my experience with the 4, I gave very, very serious thought to buying one of my own. The October Country gun that I was looking at was absolutely huge -- 21 pounds should go a ways toward helping the recoil -- and was designed for round balls, which also reduce the kick. And of course, being a muzzle loader, it could be downloaded. I figure somewhere around ten grains of Fg should be pretty comfortable!

Ultimately, though, I just didn't have the cash to make it fall together. Which was probably just as well, as I can hardly think of anything less practical.

But to have been afield after wild California boar with such a weapon!

 

[Plink]

Cost has been my limiting factor too. I tend to collect oddities that aren't always practical but the 4 bore lost its appeal to me. That's interesting about the cape buffalo, but not all that surprising either. Those things are tough! I've always fantasized about a black powder hunting trip to Africa, but I honestly don't think I'd want to go for the Big 5 using one, at least not without backup from large centerfires just in case.