Safari Express rifle pic thread

[DUKE NUKEM]

Renault, I've heard about those rare Two Dimensional Pygmy Rhinos, if they turn on you and give you a paper cut it's all over! Just have your gun bearers dig a hole right then and there! By the way, really nice shooting, I'm envious.

Looks like he put up a tough fight.

[DUKE NUKEM]

We just released a new forum. SAFARI RIFLES www.safaririfles.net
Were also shopping for several Verney-Carron Double Rifles.

[bburtner@moran]

You guy`s have some awsome firepower and to hunt Africa,wow I can just about afford to hunt grouse in the Catskill`s!!

[Oldsarge]

Africa can, especially for someone on the East Coast, be less expensive hunting than Alaska. It all depends on where you go and what you want to hunt. Yes, a tent hunt in Tanzania or South Africa for the Big Five will run you over a hundred thousand dollars and take at least a month. However, safari companies don't do those all that often. They make their money on plains game (antelope and such) hunts that last around ten days. If you really want to go to Africa, the best introduction is to get an annual membership to Safari Club International and attend one of their January conventions. Don't get wrapped around he formal dinners or the big name celebrities and politicians out giving their schtick. Just walk the main floor and talk to people. Your first safari could be sooner than you think. And you don't need anything bigger than an off the rack .375 H&H. Ain't nothin' in the world you can't hunt with a .375.

[de Stokesay]

I have been following this thread for quite a while now and thoroughly enjoying it.

While I have several firearms I have nothing that qualifies as a modern safari rifle.

That said, I do have an 1876 British army Martini-Henry in 577-450. For anyone not familiar with this rig, it launches a 480 grain solid lead bullet of .469" diameter at about 1350 fps or thereabouts. I know this doesn't technically qualify as an "express" rifle but from what I have read these were used extensively all over Africa to shoot most everything from the 1870s even into the 1930s. Sure hunting elephant with the venerable old 577-450 wouldn't likely be prudent but they seem to have been quite effective in their day on pretty much anything else as long as the shooter did his job. Besides, dangerous game with a single-shot rifle is a real sport.

de Stokesay

[Oldsarge]

I wouldn't hesitate to take anything in Africa with the 577/450 below the pachyderms so long as it was undisturbed! The problem would be in stopping a charge. The frontal area is perfectly satisfactory but the bullet just doesn't move fast enough to stun an angry potroast. However, with careful bullet placement an unalarmed animal should go down very quickly with one of those big fat slugs through its vitals.