The most common of the REALLY big bores

[Paul B.]

Well the .458 Win. Mag is not bad to shoot. If you have one, and prefer ammo from the big "W", you'd best buy up all you can. In it's wonderous wisdom, Olin Corp. has dropped the .458 Win. Mag. from production according to several magazines I have read. Other rounds include the .358 Win. (is being reinstated along with the .348 Win. according to a magazine I just read) 7x57 Mauser, and a couple of others I don't remember.
I have had the doubtful pleasure of shooting a .600 NE. I'll pass the second opportunity, thank you very much. I'm not into pain. I was 17 at the time (just turned 61) and I probably held the damn thing wrong. All I remember was that it hurt. A .700 NE? Hell! Didn't the last dinosaur die almost 65 million years ago? Elmer's dead. He'd probably use it for a varminter. Just being snide folks. Don't take offense. None meant.
I'll stand by my original statement. The .375 H&H.
Just for kicks, did anyone notice the rounds for the double rifle in JURRASIC PARK, THE LOST WORLD? Looked like the .600 NE to me.
There is somebody in Australia making replica Farquharsens in .600 NE, for those who are interested. Cases for the round are about $10.00 each according to Huntingtons.
I heard someplace that ammo for the .700 NE was something like $100 a pop. Good I'll take two dozen.
I'll stick to the .375. No doubt about it.
Paul B.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Paul,

Yep there were several rifles made for The Lost World.. all .600 NE box locks with engraved triceratops on the lockplates. I saw them for sale in "the Gun List" at something over $20k eack. Small price to pay for a dino busting .600 huh?

My only real experience with "big bores" is shooting 12 ga. 3 in. max slugs out of my remmington 870 with a 20 inch bbl and rifle sights and rem choke rifled tube. The gun wieighs like six pounds loaded and recoils so hard it will lock itself open and throw the spent shell out from a rest on the sandbags. Six rounds of that and I'm DONE sighting in...

any idea how to cut down the OOMF?? I have a factory recoil pad and wear a PAST recoil shield at the range and I still manage to bruise myself.


OK Ok... I know the guys at Roarke's Drift were shooting .577 martini and henry's all day with stell butt plates and never waivered.. how can i train for that? (short of letting a horse kick me or dropping bowling balls on my shoulder from a great hieght??) Am i just a wimp? Do i need to eat more spinach? or is it the hold i'm using? I'm not "recoil shy" by any means. I'll shoot 30-06 all day and have mastered not flinching while launching a 425 grain minie ball out of my 54 hawken with 100 grains of ffg.

So what's the kick like on a really BIG bore?? I'm curious?

Dr.Rob

 

[Gale McMillan]

Because of the fact that the 375 was an adequate bear and moose gun insured its continued long life even though it is considered a light rifle in terms of big bore rifles. You will find few 375s in the hunting circles of Africa. By far the most popular rifle of choice there is the 416 Rigby. A trip to the show room of Rigby will let you wonder through racks of double rifles chambered for every thing from the 22 Hornet to the 600 you will find about the same number of 458s as 460s which is none. My personal feelings are that the 416 is about all the rifle I can comfortably handle and when we build one for a customer you never see this old man at the range testing it. That's left to one of the junior gunsmiths in the shop.
We do have customers who do use the 50 BMG for hunting. I know of one antalope taken at 800 yards from a rest.
Gale McMillan

 

[Rich Lucibella]

Gale-
It's a pleasure to have you join in. Welcome to The Firing Line.
Rich

 

[Gattling]

Hmmm some old quite bigish cartidges have come back, sort of, here in scandinavia.
.45-70Govt loaded for strong actions beyond feeble factory ammo is getting more popular.
9,3X62 and 9,3x64Brenneke seem to gain favour as well. Then there is allso the old boar one, necked up 7,62x54R->9,3X53R.
Some seem to have .458WinMags as well but many wonder why it wasn't the length it should be (and .458Lott is)equal with its parental case .375H&H as it appears that every .458 readily available on the markett (or most attleast) are build around actions that are long enough to take .375.

The above rounds are pretty pleasant to shoot. Notable inconvenience going somewhere between 12,7X108 and 14.5B depending on the weight of the weapon. To my great regret I havent got the chance of firing 20x138Lahti (yet I hope) but it is known that some have even fired the fully auto version without the mount and lived to tell the tale (well okay to save their one and only life but still...) Considering that 20mmLahti has aprox. 2,6X times the muzzle-energy of a .50bmg one must sit up and take a note.

So if the inconvenience is withstood healthy human anatomy can actually absorb pretty amazing amounts of recoil energy without getting injured permanently.

I had live demonstration of this when I shot some 12/76 shells loaded with 52g(1,85oz.) of shot from a pumpaction shotgun (Fabarrm Sdass) that only had pistol grip and weight of aprox. 5,5lbs. My palm turned dark blue and wrist got swollen but no other ill efects were to be detected.
I'm actually aware of gunsmith clubmate of mine that has fired .50BMG Pistol (SICK!
and appears to have all his joints still operational. Him being 6'6" and the short barrel eating up the power might have a thing to do with it as well.

Gattling

 

[Zee]

Hi all,
I'm new too this group, but I've been reading your posts for quite a while. I felt like this might be a good place for me to jump in
With all this talk of Big Bores I thought some of you might find this round someone just told me about interesting. It's called a 950 JDJ from SSK industries. It's based on a 20mm vulcan round and fires a 3600 gr. bullet. I'll post a picture of it, I hope thats alright. The 950s on the left, and thats a 50 BMG in the middle.

[This message has been edited by Zee (edited September 13, 1999).]

 

[Gale McMillan]

I hesitate to mention my unlimited 50 that I built year before last for the nationals. It shoots a 900 gr. Bullet 3600 fps. It is on a 20MM Vulcan that is shortened and necked down to 50. It looks just like a PPC if you don't have a size reference. We bushed the primmer pocket to 50 and made a primer pocket and flash tube so we have front ignition. I think it is the most accurate rifle I ever saw if I could get 5 shots before the barrel metal fouled so bad I can't finish. The first record target I shot had the first 4 in 2 inches at 1000 yards, All through the spotter disk and the fifth was 18 inches out and the 6th was 3 feet. Problem was I was vaporizing the bullet base and actually copper plated the barrel and muzzle brake. I latter found out the Air Force had the same problem with their high velocity 50 experiments. We tried steel bullets but could not get enough pressure to make it work so have set it aside till we figure how to keep the barrel from fouling.

 

[Cheapo]

re: that Vulcan necked down to .50:

May I suggest rebating the boattail and installing a mild steel gas check? You might even need to carefully consider tolerances and use a gas check made of the same steel as the barrel, to eliminate any differences in one material vaporizing easier than the other & causing problems...

It hurts to even think about this one!

 

[Long Path]

Wasn't it Gizmo99 who made the query about celebrity sightings on TFL?

Welcome to discussions, Gale! We're honored.

 

[BMWGS80]

As far as "Big bore" cartridges go they start at .40 caliber and go up. We book big game hunts all over the world. Here is the breakdown that we have with our clients.
For US Hunting the .338 is the most popular size. In Europe it is the .338 and the 9.3X74.Africa .375 H&H. I am partial to the .416s and the .425s. For a "fun" gun large bore I would suggest either a 45-70 or a .444. I have seen single shot rifles,lever actions and some custom Bolt actions in these calibers. The shells and components are easily obtained in the states. I would love for someone to make a .50 AE lever action or Ruger #3 in this caliber. I have a .50 AE upper on order for my ar-15. Another real neat double gun that I still think might be available is the Kodiak double rifel that was a copy of the old Colt double in 45-70.

Good hunting,

ts