Rifle - Big Bore Rifles and Cartridges 2014

ALL NEW SPECIAL EDITION!

Historical .500s Why the .450 is Best .375 Super Mediums

Back-Up Plan: Big Bores and Dangerous Game

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Big, American Cartridges!

.450 Ackley Magnum

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.505 Gibbs

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.50 B&M Alaskan

Fall 2014

RIFLE’S

R I F L E S

On the cover . . . This .416 Remington is among the first &

C A R T R I D G E S

from Remington’s custom shop prior to the cartridge’s introduction (Layne Simpson photo). Below is a Zoli .450/.400 Nitro Express 3 Inch double carried in Alaska brown bear country (Phil Shoemaker photo).

Fall 2014 - Volume 46 • Special Edition ISSN 0162-3593

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Early Big Bores in North America

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Spotting Scope -

Perspective from an Alaska Master Guide

Dave Scovill

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What Is a Big Bore?

Phil Shoemaker

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Campfire Contention Continues to Burn On

The Perfect Big Bore For enthusiasts, the quest may never end.

Mike Venturino

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Medium Big-Bore .375s Power and versatility make the .375 a top choice.

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.338 Winchester Magnum It’s a big bore and then some.

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Terry Wieland

Jack Ballard

Big Enough and Small Enough

Stopping Power Opinions have shifted in the last 120 years.

A Century of Similarities Phil Shoemaker

.425 Westley Richards “Rifle System” A Century Ahead and Better Than Most Terry Wieland

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The .45-70 Mostly Long Guns Brian Pearce

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Big Bores and Big Bullets Walnut Hill Terry Wieland

2014

Managing Editor – Roberta Scovill

John Haviland Ron Spomer Brian Pearce Stan Trzoniec Clair Rees Mike Venturino Gil Sengel Ken Waters Terry Wieland

A Historical View of the .416 Ruger

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Associate Editor – Lee J. Hoots

Straight-Walled Cartridges with Muscle to Spare

Ganyana

The “Big 50” The .500s moved in fits and starts.

Publisher/President – Don Polacek Publishing Consultant – Mark Harris

Senior Art Director – Gerald Hudson

Terry Wieland

John Haviland

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Big Medicine and Elk

Why the .450 Is the Best All-Around Big Bore

Brian Pearce

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Staff Listing

Editor in Chief – Dave Scovill

Layne Simpson

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Black-Powder Big Bores The Evolution of Big, American Cartridges

John Barsness

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Big Bores and Brown Bears

Background Photo: © 2014 Vic Schendel

Production Director – Becky Pinkley

Contributing Editors

Advertising Advertising Director - Tammy Rossi [email protected] Advertising Representative - Tom Bowman [email protected] Advertising Representative - James Dietsch [email protected] Advertising Information: 1-800-899-7810

Circulation Circulation Manager – Kendra Newell [email protected] Subscription Information: 1-800-899-7810 www.riflemagazine.com Rifle® (ISSN 0162-3583) is published bimonthly with one annual special edition by Polacek Publishing Corporation, dba Wolfe Publishing Company (Don Polacek, President), 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona 86301. (Also publisher of Handloader® magazine.) Telephone (928) 445-7810. Periodical Postage paid at Prescott, Arizona, and additional mailing offices. Subscription prices: U.S. possessions – single issue, $5.99; 6 issues, $19.97; 12 issues, $36. Foreign and Canada – single issue, $5.99; 6 issues $26; 12 issues, $48. Please allow 8-10 weeks for first issue. Advertising rates furnished on request. All rights reserved. Change of address: Please give six weeks notice. Send both the old and new address, plus mailing label if possible, to Circulation Department, Rifle® Magazine, 2180 Gulfstream, Suite A, Prescott, Arizona 86301. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rifle®, 2180 Gulfstream, Suite A, Prescott, Arizona 86301. Canadian returns: PM #40612608. Pitney Bowes, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

Wolfe Publishing Co. 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A Prescott, AZ 86301 Tel: (928) 445-7810 Fax: (928) 778-5124 © Polacek Publishing Corporation Publisher of Rifle® is not responsible for mishaps of any nature that might occur from use of published loading data or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. All authors are contracted under work for hire. Publisher retains all copyrights upon payment for all manuscripts. Although all possible care is exercised, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for lost or mutilated manuscripts.

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EARLY BIG BORES IN NORTH AMERICA SPOTTING SCOPE

by Dave Scovill • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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he evolution of big-bore rifles and cartridges in North America in some ways parallels the development of large-bore African cartridges, albeit the megafauna on the Dark Continent fairly dwarf larger game found in the lower 48, Canada and Alaska. This also explains why the largest rifles in the early days of sporting hunting – and poaching – in Africa maxed out with the hoary 2-, 4-, 6-, 8- and 10-bores (gauges), while the largest sporting rifles in the muzzleloading period in North America reached their peak at about .75 caliber, effectively a 10-bore. Either way, the common denominator on both continents in the early black-powder, muzzleloading era was big, heavy lead alloy bullets backed up by heavy charges of black powder that might be best measured by the handful. In the early days of the blackpowder cartridge era, the size of the cartridge was limited by the size of the rifle that could handle the shock produced by large charges of powder required to produce acceptable performance in the caliber of interest. In the United States and Canada, the American bison dictated power

tion of the plains buffalo, the U.S. Springfield .50-70 trapdoor. By 1873, the .45-70 became the military standard, sufficient to shoot the horse out from under a mounted combatant, but also it was suitable for relatively long range against entrenched troops. Originally known as the .45-2.1 Sharps with a 400- to 500-grain lead alloy slug, the .45-70 set the standard for the medium big bore in North America. By African standards, similar cartridges were relegated to plains game not much larger than the North American

Above, the .475 Turnbull with a 450-grain cast bullet (center) is shown with a 400-grain Barnes TripleShock (left) and Barnes banded solid (right). Right, Dr. Jeff Rodgers is shown with a Model 1886 .475 Turnbull that was used to take this “management” problem white rhino.

requirements that were defined for the most part by Sharps and Remington single shots, and in the early days of what would ultimately become the near eradica-

elk, or moose, and not quite up to snuff for potentially dangerous game on either continent. For the largest, most truculent game, the North American standard became the Big .50, either the .50-90 Sharps or Winchester’s .50100-450, which were similar in terms of case capacity but vary somewhat by bullet weight. Owing the limited powder restrictions associated with the toggle-link action of the Model 1876 Winchester, the .50-95-350, circa 1879, was phased out in favor of the more powerful .50 calibers. The standard bullet weight in the .50-90 Sharps was 473 grains while Winchester’s .50 Express featured a 300-grain hollowpoint slug that wasn’t much heavier than a round-

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Rifle Special Edition

Winchester struck gold with the Model 1886 that could handle all the most powerful cartridges of the period, including the .45-70, .45-90 and .50s. The significant difference between the single-shot cartridge and its lever-action counterparts was the bullets for the latter were limited in size (diameter), length and weight by the length of the rifle action. So where the Sharps, for example, could chamber and fire the .45-70 Government cartridge with either 405or 500-grain roundnose bullets, tubular magazines that are common to lever-action rifles required flatnose bullets, and ammunition was headstamped either .45-70 Marlin or .45-70 WCF, albeit both loads were manufactured by Winchester.

The Model 1886 Winchester (circa 1891) is a full-size rifle with a button magazine and half-round, half-octagonal barrel of the style preferred by tiger hunters in India. The Extra Lightweight takedown (right) is much lighter and handier, circa 1902 and later.

ball in the same caliber. Winchester added the .50-100-450 to the cartridge lineup for the relatively

The .50-90 Sharps (left) is shown with the .50-100-450 WCF (center) and the .50-110-300 WCF, aka .50 EX, (right) with an original 300-grain cast hollowpoint.

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The C. Sharps Model 1874 (left) is of the type used by buffalo “runners.” The Springfield Officer’s Model .45-70 (center) and the Winchester Model 1885 .45-90 WCF (right) came along after the buffalo were nearly gone.

new Model 1886 lever acton in 1895 with a 450-grain lead alloy flatnose bullet seated over 100 grains of black powder. With a listed velocity of 1,475 fps, it was designed for crushing power at modest ranges, while lighter bullets at higher velocities in the .50 EX and the .50-95 WCF provided somewhat flatter trajectory over extended ranges. (For comparison, an RCBS 450-grain, .514-inch cast bullet seated over 105 grains of Swiss 11⁄2 Fg averages 1,473 fps from a 25-inch barrel.)

Since the original Marlin Model 1895 had a longer action than the present-day Marlin of the same model number, it was also adaptable to most of the 2.4-inch Winchester cartridges, including the .40-82 and .45-90. On the other hand, the barrel thickness over the chamber on the Marlin was insufficient to accommodate the 2.4inch .50 calibers known variously by .50-100, .50-105 and .50-110, depending on the powder charge and bullet weight. Currently, some custom-gun outfits build leveraction rifles for the .50 Alaskan that is based on the .348 WCF case, which in turn is based on the

With acceptance of the .45-70 Government in 1873, and the established big-bore standard in the .50 calibers, the assortment of .40s and .44s slowly disappeared, albeit a number of buffalo “runners” continued to use them until the bison herds were nearly vanquished. With the success of the Winchester and Marlin, lever-action repeaters were in large demand.

Mark Harris, former Wolfe Publishing president (left), and Dave pursued this big shaggy for several hours across the foothills near the Idaho-Montana border.

Rifle Special Edition

.50 EX of 1887, in modern Model 95 Marlins. Custom rifles can also chamber the .450 Alaskan that can be made from .348 WCF or .50 EX brass that is necked down and trimmed to proper length. Currently, .50 and .450 AK brass is available from Starline and ammunition is produced by Buffalo Bore. That .450 AK was the brainchild of an Alaskan gunsmith, Harold Johnson, who bored out Winchester Model 71 .348 WCF barrels to .458 caliber. Johnson’s wildcat boosted a 405-grain bullet up to 2,000 fps in a 24-inch barrel, outclassing any big-bore, brown bear cartridge available from domestic factories at the time. In the last 20 years or so, the .348 WCF has been used to form a variety of wildcats, including .375, .416 and .44 calibers. At least two other “medium” bores, that while they might not quite match up to some folk’s definition of African dangerous game standards, qualify for North America’s largest game. Both cartridges appeared in the Model 95 Winchester, circa 1903/4, the .35 WCF and .405 WCF. In typical fashion, as required by iron sights, ammunition was loaded with a single bullet weight, 250 and 300 grains, respectively, both at roughly 2,200 fps from a 26-inch barrel. Theodore Roosevelt made the .405 WCF famous when he took it to Africa in 1909, regarding it as his “lion medicine,” but the .35 WCF languished on the vine until it was replaced by the Winchester Model 71 .348 WCF in 1935 that reportedly developed upwards of 2,320 fps and nearly 3,000 ft-lbs of muzzle energy with a 250-grain bullet, although factory loads fell short of that claim. Nevertheless, the .348 WCF was highly regarded as a fine cartridge for most of North America’s largest game, including elk and moose, but recommendations softened when it came to stopping big bears. With modern premium bullets, aka Swift, Barnes and Nosler, the .348, (Continued on page 90)

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SP Big EC B IAL o ED re ITI ON

What Is a Big

Bore?

John Barsness

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couple of decades ago, a Montana outfitter named Bill Beck extended an invitation to hunt black bears in the northern end of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. We stayed at his lodge just north of the Bob and rode horses into the wilderness each day. Since neither dogs nor bait are allowed for bear hunting in Montana, the common spring hunting method is to patiently glass the green openings where bears feed after leaving their dens, so there’s normally lots of time for conversation. 10

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Campfire Contention Continues to Burn On Rifle Special Edition

Bill’s rifle was unusual for Montana, a Ruger No. 1 single shot .375 Holland & Holland Magnum, with much of the bluing gone from the barrel due to years in saddle scabbards, and the nice walnut of the buttstock scarred by branches and rocks. On the second day I asked, “Do you carry a .375 because of grizzlies?” He shook his head. “I carry it to finish off elk my clients gut-shoot with their brand-new .338s.” Many hunters on their first guided elk hunt choose the .338 Winchester Magnum, because back home their hunting buddies told them to “use enough gun” instead of the wimpy .270 Winchester they’ve shot for years on whitetails. Now, there’s nothing wrong with using a .338 on elk, but the cartridge was introduced in 1958 due largely to Elmer Keith, the original bigbore boy among twentieth-century gun writers, who once wrote nothing less than a 250-grain, .33-caliber bullet was truly adequate for elk or big mule deer. This was due to the lack of premium bullets during the first 50 years of Keith’s life, and with standard cupand-core bullets, 250 grains does penetrate deeper than, say, 130 grains, especially on animals larger than the average whitetail. Over the past decade or so, however, I haven’t run into as many .338 fans in Montana, probably because more premium bullets are available than in 1958, and more hunters are willing to pay for them. The problem

Defining a big bore actually resembles defining words. While many people somehow believe dictionary definitions are as unchangeable as the laws of physics, in reality they’re based on common use. Words arise from talking, not some committee of ancient professors arbitrarily deciding their “correct” meaning. Since common use changes over centuries and even decades, definitions change as well. This is why most modern Americans don’t understand Middle English, and how “like” recently became a synonym for “said”: “And she’s like, ‘Where is everybody?’” This new definition of “like” is even in the Oxford English Dictionary, considered by many the final word on words. Somehow, for some hunters, John Taylor’s 1948 book African Rifles and Cartridges became the Oxford English Dictionary of rifle bores. As soon as somebody asks, “What’s a big bore?” somebody else answers, “As Taylor stated, it’s .45 caliber or larger.” Well, not exactly. Taylor broke rifle calibers into several categories, but he called cartridges of .45+ “large” bores, not big bores. However, he separated medium bores into two sub-categories, “large medium bores,” between .40 and .45, and cartridges below .40 caliber, including cartridges as a small as the 6.5mm Mannlicher-Schönauer. In fact, Taylor’s definition of medium bores was

Facing page, even the muzzles of a .470 Nitro Express double are less than .5 inch in diameter, and what’s big about .5 inch? Right, by one definition these .33- to .375-caliber cartridges are medium bores, but in North America most would be considered big bores (left to right): .338-06, .338 Winchester Magnum, .340 Weatherby Magnum, .35 Whelen, .350 Remington Magnum, .358 Norma Magnum, 9.3 Barsness-Sisk, 9.3x62 Mauser, 9.3x74R, .375 H&H Magnum and .375 Ruger.

with the .338 Winchester Magnum isn’t its performance on game but its kick. A 250-grain bullet at 2,700 fps generates 40 foot-pounds (ft-lbs) of recoil in an 8.5-pound rifle, twice as much as a .30-06 with the standard 180-grain factory load at the same 2,700 fps. As a result, a substantial percentage of brand-new .338 users flinch, the reason Bill Beck carried an even bigger rifle to clean up their mistakes. And that’s one of several reasons many hunters regard the .338 Winchester Magnum as a big-bore cartridge. Can the definition of big bore be this flexible? Some hunters don’t believe so, just as many don’t believe in moral relativism, though categorizing bullet diameters doesn’t rank as high in philosophical circles. 2014

about as flexible and slippery as a campaign speech. Sometimes it appears to be based on the sectional density of specific bullets, since he includes the 6.5 Mannlicher-Schönauer’s 160-grain load in the chapter titled “Medium Bores,” and its 135-grain load in the “Small Bores” chapter. Yet he discusses the 140-grain .275 Rigby load in “Medium Bores” and the 180-grain .318 Westley Richards load in “Small Bores.” Some people suggest these fuzzy definitions disqualify African Rifle and Cartridges from being the final arbiter of the precise threshold of “big bore.” There have also been historical changes in bore-size perception due to technological advances. Back when Dan’l Boone headed west to Kentucky, his .45-caliber www.riflemagazine.com

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What Is a Big Bore? muzzleloader was considered average. After fur trappers pushed west across the Mississippi River into bison and grizzly country, they came to prefer a minimum of .50 caliber, and some Hawkens had even larger bores. When practical black powder cartridge rifles appeared in the last half of the nineteenth century, .45 caliber was still average in the American West but was a smallbore in Africa, where 12- or 10-gauge rifles with .70-caliber plus bores were considered minimal for all-around use. When the first .45-caliber smokeless powder cartridges were introduced for African use in the 1890s, older hunters continued to refer to them as smallbores. Perhaps it would be most appropriate to define big bore by com-

The .45-70 probably took more bison than any other cartridge, because rifles and ammunition were widely available, and it worked, despite ballistics that would disqualify it as a “true” big bore among many twenty-first-century hunters.

mon use, whether in different parts of the world or different parts of one continent. (This may sound like moral relativism but isn’t.) The use of the .338 Winchester and .375 H&H Magnums in the Bob Marshall Wilderness is a good example. A few hunters might insist they’re medium bores, due to having heard some definition somewhere that mediums are car-

Below, African PH Luke Samaras owns several big-bore doubles but carries his genuine Rigby bolt-action .416 Rigby (right) more often when backing up hunters. Right, this Cape buffalo was taken with a single 500-grain bullet from a .458 Lott, which would not have been considered a big-bore cartridge in 1880.

tridges between .30 and .40 caliber, but most Montanans firmly believe both the .338 and (especially) the .375 are big bores. Even this definition, however, varies in different parts of North America, due to most hunters having little experience with cartridges larger than the .30-06. Back when a .338 Winchester Magnum was my biggest rifle, I guided for a couple of years on a ranch in central Montana. One evening several mule-deer clients and I sat around shooting the bull. All but one were a group of guys who worked for a timber company in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They’d only hunted there and in Montana, but one guy from California had also hunted Alaska, as had I. One of the Michigan boys asked what rifles we used “up there.” I said my .338 Winchester, and they nodded rather vaguely, apparently because there weren’t many .338s in Michigan. The Californian said “a .300 Weatherby Magnum.” Immediately a chorus of comments arose, ranging from, “That’s huge!” to “How hard does it kick?” But despite the opinions of those Youpers, calling any .30 caliber a big bore is stretching things, even if the cartridge does have the Weatherby headstamp. Back in the day when many eastern whitetail hunters walked around the woods instead of sitting in trees, lever-action .30-30s were the most popular rifles, though a few backwoodsmen preferred the .35 Remington, claiming its 200-grain “big-

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Left, Jay Rightnour took this bull with a .338 Winchester Magnum, which most elk hunters consider a big bore. Right, Eileen Clarke shot this bison with one Barnes 130-grain TSX .270 bullet through the lungs, and the bull only went 40 yards before falling. Is the .270 Winchester now a big bore?

college in Montana, he brought along not only his Savage 99 .358 Winchester but the certainty that it was a very powerful cartridge, adequate for “anything this side of a freight train.” He also bragged about its brush-busting ability, especially after a 250-grain Silvertip punched through a lodgepole pine sapling and killed a mule deer. bore” bullets killed deer and, especially, black bears more decisively. New England’s whitetail country is also where the myth of the brushbusting bullet held on longest, one reason many eastern hunters preferred heavier, larger caliber bullets. One of my hunting mentors grew up hunting the Catskill Mountains in New York, and when he went to

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He eventually became a part-time outfitter, and some of his elk clients brought rifles chambered for the .338 Winchester Magnum and .340 Weatherby Magnum. After that he didn’t brag so much on his New York whitetail rifle, even though the .358 had taken more than one elk, including a big 6x6. But the bull had appeared unexpectedly

across a sagebrush park, and four roundnose 250-grain Silvertips were fired before he finally found the range. His clients packing .33caliber magnums wouldn’t have encountered the same ranging difficulties, though from Bill Beck’s experience, they might not have landed a 250-grain bullet in the correct area of an elk’s anatomy.

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What Is a Big Bore? However, I’ve killed some whitetails, mule deer and blacktails with the .338 Winchester Magnum, in states from Texas to Alaska, but on average haven’t found it to kill bucks any quicker than the .35 Remington or .358 Winchester. In fact, in my experience bullets of .35 caliber and above do seem to hit game harder and more decisively than .30- and .33-caliber bullets, whether hunting whitetails with a .35 Remington or .358 Winchester, or African plains game with a 9.3x62 Mauser or .375 H&H. Is .35 one minimum level of “big bore” on some game? I’ve also heard discussions of brush-busting bullets in Africa, where many professional hunters (PHs) are convinced roundnosed “solids” punch through vines and thorn branches more reliably than “softs.” Of course, they often qual-

ify this by suggesting only bullets of a certain weight and diameter will do the job, with 300 grain and .375 the usual minimums, probably due to .375 being the most common legal caliber for large, dangerous game. Most PHs then qualify their statements further by saying solids of at least .40 caliber and 400 grains work far better. Please note most. American hunters often believe African PHs are of one ballistic mind, perhaps because they read John Taylor, or know exactly two PHs who happen to agree. I’ve gotten to know a bunch of PHs over the decades, and perhaps the most contentious evening I’ve spent in Africa was among several who consumed considerable beer while arguing about cartridges and bullets. In comparison, most North American elk camp debates about the .270 Winchester have been pretty mild. Among today’s African PHs, .450/ .400 seems to be the dividing line for big-bore performance, at least

among those who haven’t accepted John Taylor’s book as the “Oxford English Dictionary for Resolving Late Evening Safari Arguments.” In fact, many PHs of long experience don’t get as excited over the difference between, say, .416 and .458 bullets as many American safari clients. One of the myths of Africa hunting is that Harry Selby, the thenyoung PH made famous by Robert Ruark in Horn of the Hunter, made do with a bolt-action .416 Rigby after his .470 Nitro Express double rifle was accidentally run over by a safari vehicle. According to the legend, Selby had to immediately run to Nairobi and buy a rifle to continue the safari, and the .416 was the only halfway suitable rifle available. However, a few years ago, Selby set the record straight. When the .470 double got crunched, Selby did not rush back to Nairobi because the safari (and indeed that year’s safari season) was almost over anyway. Instead, the .416 was a very conscious purchase. “I estimate that over a fifty-five year career I have used .470s for four years and a .458 [Winchester] for maybe six to eight years. The Rigby .416 was always my weapon of choice and if I was to start a hunting career all over again the first rifle I would acquire would be a Rigby .416.” This was just an interesting anecdote to me until a few years ago, when I hunted with renowned PH Luke Samaras’s outfit in Tanzania. Samaras started guiding hunters in Kenya and Tanzania before both countries banned safari hunting in the 1970s (Tanzania’s ban was eventually lifted.), so he’s seen quite a bit of African hunting. On this trip Luke was guiding Bob Nosler after elephants, which happens to be Luke’s favorite game, and he carried a Rigby bolt action in (what else?) .416 Rigby. This was despite the oft-heard contention among American safari hunters that modern elephant hunting requires a “big-bore” double rifle, especially in the hands of the PH, because of the extremely thick cover big bulls normally inhabit today.

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Above left, in North America the 9.3x62 Mauser is considered a big-bore cartridge, suitable for our largest game, like moose, while in Africa it’s considered a medium bore, most commonly used on tougher plains game, such as wildebeest (center). Right, few hunters refer to slug guns as big-bore rifles, but they are. John took this Vancouver Island black bear with a Federal slug from his old 870 Remington, with a bore diameter of over .70 caliber.

Like Harry Selby, Samaras acquired his .416 Rigby quite consciously. A wealthy client had hunted with Luke for years, and after one safari said he was going to commission Rigby to build a pair of rifles, one for him and one for Luke, who chose a .416 Rigby after using several others over

2014

several decades. Luke also has several nice doubles, but when I asked about the .416, he said he prefers it for general back-up, both because of the extra rounds in the magazine for close-up work, and because it shoots flatter and more accurately than any largercaliber double at longer ranges –

and not all back-up shooting is done at short range. So is there a single definition of “big bore,” or can it be a .358 Winchester in New England, a .375 H&H in Alaska and a .416 Rigby in Africa? Some would say yes, and some would say no, which is what hunters have done ever since somebody devised a new method of knapping spear points, and one reason hunters sometimes don’t get to bed nearly as early as they R should.

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SP Big EC B IAL o ED re ITI ON

The Perfect

Big Bore Layne Simpson

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n African Rifles & Cartridges, John Taylor grouped cartridges into several categories. He described the .470 Nitro Express, .505 Gibbs and .600 Nitro Express, along with several others, as “large bores.” His “large medium bore” group included the .416 Rigby, .400 Nitro Express and other cartridges up to and including the .425 Westley Richards. As far as I know, an official dividing line has yet to be carved in stone, but proper or not, some of us simply lump everything from .400 on up in the big-bore category. A quest for the ideal big-bore cartridge began soon after my second trip to Rhodesia during the 1970s. At the time, there was a bush war, and hunting was quite affordable. I had been making plans for elephant in Kenya, but the offer of a 14-day hunt in Rhodesia for $2,900 changed my mind. The package included

roundtrip airfare from New York – but excluded hunting license, trophy fees and the other usual items. Professional hunter John Tolmay was at the airport when I arrived in Salisbury, and from there we flew to Kariba, then took a long boat ride across Lake Kariba to the Bumi Hills Lodge, located on a tall hill with a magnificent view overlooking the lake. Phil Palmer, another PH, hooked up with us at Bumi Hills. In addition to a Ruger Model 77 .458 Winchester Magnum, John carried a Ruger Mini-14 with a couple of 30-round magazines. Phil had a Mauser in (I believe) .404 Jeffery, as well as his government-issue FN FAL. My buffalo rifle was a Browning Safari Grade .375 H&H Magnum built on the FN Mauser action. Its two handloads consisted of the Sierra 300-grain softnose and Hornady solid of the same weight over 85.0 grains of H-4831. The plan for the .375 was to use a softnose close behind the shoulder and into the lungs of a buffalo, followed by solids wherever they could be placed. Possibly due to its boat-tail design, the Sierra

For enthusiasts, the quest may never end. 16

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Rifle Special Edition

A trip to Zambia led to the purchase of this Model 77 Magnum .416 Rigby when Ruger introduced the rifle in 1989. The Zeiss DiaVari C 1.5-4.5x scope is in quick-detachable rings from Alaska Arms.

This preproduction Model 700 Safari .416 Remington Magnum was used for moose several months before the cartridge was officially introduced by Remington.

A Winchester Model 70 Super Express in the Rigby or Remington .416, in the hands of the average hunter, can be effective, because they are more comfortable to shoot.

Stocked in American walnut by Bob Cassidy, this custom Marlin New Model 1895 .45-70 is one of the most accurate lever actions Layne has ever shot.

I first used it in the 1970s. I would not hesitate to use it on buffalo tomorrow, but few will argue that moving up in bullet diameter and weight increases cartridge effectiveness on game enough to notice. This brings up the .416s in general and the Rigby and Remington versions in particular. I am by no means an expert on big-bore cartridges but have used the .416s and .458s enough to be convinced that while the larger of the two has an edge in effectiveness on heavy game, the smaller caliber is more effective in the hands of the average hunter due to less recoil. The .458 Winchester Magnum and .458 Lott are better stoppers, but the .416 Rigby is preferred simply because, when the chips are down and the heat, dust and miles afoot have taken their toll, I shoot it a bit more accurately. During the 1980s, I came up with several wildcats on the 8mm Remington Magnum case, the first being the 7mm STW built by Kenny Jarrett in 1987. Lesser known is the fact that it was a switch-barrel rifle with its second barrel chambered for the 8mm Remington Magnum case necked up to .416 inch. Clymer ground the chamber reamer and RCBS made the dies. That rifle, its barrel marked “.416 Experimental,” appeared on the cover of Rifle No. 121 (January-February 1989) several months prior to Remington’s official announcement of its .416 cartridge. Before getting around to writing about the wildcat, I learned that Remington was collaborating with George

often shed its jacket, but the lead core was usually found nicely expanded against the offside hide. Some would consider that bullet failure, but the ghosts of several buffalo might argue the point. The Hornady .375 solid also fell short of perfection in those days. If one of the .458s made by Hornady at the time was recovered, its condition was good enough to allow it to be shot again, should one have chosen to do so. Not so for the .375 solid, as it often bent when encountering heavy bone. Even so, the buffalo shot then and later with the Hornady and Sierra bullets never took more than four shots before tossing in the towel. My second rifle, a 7mm wildcat on the .308 Winchester case, accounted for a very nice impala. When we later moved to the lowveld, the little 7mm proved to be equally capable of taking greater kudu, sable, reedbuck and various other antelope. For it, there were two handloads, but mostly I used the then-new Speer 160-grain Grand Slam over 50.0 grains of W-785 for a velocity of 2,710 fps. Every animal taken with that rifle was a one-shot kill. Much better bullets available today for the .375 H&H make it even more effective on large game than when 2014

ambia, Layne in Z mm y b d se u e8 16 Rigby ered for th e African .4 fle chamb th ri n t o il d u A Kimber re -b a tt e 16, app his Jarre s .4 a to ll e p . w u e s a ked gazin n case nec f Rifle ma Remingto 89 issue o 9 1 ry a ru eb January-F

This scoped rifle with six-groove rifling and a 1:20 twist was used to take a caribou at over 200 yards.

This earlier production .444 Marlin has Micro-Groove rifling with a 1:38 twist.

Built by SSK Industries, this stainless Model 1895 .50 B&M Alaskan has a McGowen 22-inch barrel with a rifling twist of 1:18 inches. The open sights are N.E.C.G.; the scope is a Weaver 1.5-3x.

Hoffman on the development of a commercial version of his .416 cartridge. Hoffman was killing game with his cartridge long before Jarrett built my rifle. The shoulder of the .416 Remington case is a bit farther back than on the .416 Hoffman case, giving it a slightly longer neck, but the ballistics are the same. The Remington cartridge can be fired in a rifle chambered for the Hoffman cartridge – but not conversely. In 1988, several months before the cartridge was officially introduced, Remington rounded up several writers and hauled us to Alaska to hunt moose. The load used was one previously developed for the Jarrett rifle, a Swift 400-grain AFrame atop 75.0 grains of IMR4064 for about 2,450 fps. We used the first Model 700 Safari rifles in .416 Remington Magnum built by the Remington Custom Shop. I later took the same rifle to Australia for Asiatic buffalo with outfitter Bob Penfold, where the perform-

The Perfect

Big Bore 18

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ance of Speer’s 400-grain African Grand Slam softnose was great, but an overly complex design made it expensive to manufacture so was discontinued several years ago. I first used a .416 Rigby only a few weeks prior to the moose hunt in Alaska. Greg Warne, who with his father Jack founded Kimber of Oregon during the 1970s, had just introduced the Model 89 African rifle in various calibers. So we headed to Zambia with a couple of rifles in .416 Rigby and .505

Gibbs, as well as two equally new Kimber Big Game rifles in .270 Winchester. At the time, elephant had recently been heavily culled in the area, and it seemed every cow we encountered had a big chip on her trunk. Only a few weeks prior, our PH Johan Potgieter was driving through tall grass when a cow suddenly appeared, plucked one of the guys from the back of the safari car and ended his life in a flash. I did manage to put the .270 and .416 through their paces, and one of the .416 Rigby rifles we

Built by Sterling Davenport, this Oberndorf Mauser .500 Jeffery belongs to Tony Hober of Swift Bullets. Shown with it are a couple of cartridges and three 570-grain A-Frame bullets, one recovered from Tony’s Cape buffalo.

Michael McCourry has developed these cartridges for bolt-action rifles using North Fork and Cutting Edge bullets (left to right): .416 B&M, .458 B&M, .458 B&M Super Short, .475 B&M, .475 B&M Super Short, .50 B&M, .50 B&M Super Short and .500 MDM. The .416 Remington Magnum (center) can be fired in a .416 Hoffman (right) chamber but not conversely. Due to greater case capacity, the .416 Rigby (left) operates at lower chamber pressures, making it a bit more desirable for use in tropical climates.

hunted with also appeared on the cover of the Rifle issue mentioned earlier. For the Rigby, 400-grain Swift AFrame and A-Square monolithic solids were handloaded, both at 2,375 fps. While in Zambia, I grew quite fond of the cartridge, and when it became available in the Ruger Model 77 Magnum in 1989, I immediately purchased one. A second one in .375 H&H soon joined it. Both wear identical Zeiss DiaVari C 1.5-4.5x scopes. If I were a brown bear guide in Alaska, the .416 Remington would be the first choice simply because

of its availability in rifles of less weight. Due to the larger powder capacity of the Rigby case, it reaches the same velocities with 400- and 450-grain bullets at considerably lower chamber pressures, and for that reason it is a better choice for the heat of Africa. I have a soft spot for lever-action rifles, so my quest for the perfect big bore has not been restricted to bolt guns. Four have bores bigger than the .38-55 Winchester I used to take a nice black bear on Vancouver Island. All are Marlins, two custom and two off-the-shelf. One, stocked in very nice American walnut by Bob Cassidy, is one of the first New Model 1895s in .45-70 to leave the factory in 1972. First-year rifles are easily recognized by a straight-grip stock, square-shaped finger lever and front sight dovetailed to the barrel. A closer look

Four big-bore cartridges for lever-action rifles are shown here for comparison (left to right): .30 WCF, .38-55 WCF, .444 Marlin, .45-70, .50 B&M Alaskan (.500-inch bullet) and .50 Alaskan (.510-inch bullet).

2014

will reveal 8-groove rifling, which eventually was changed to 12 groove. Not too long ago, the .45-70 fired a five-shot group at 100 yards measuring .354 inch, the smallest I have shot and probably will ever

The NEW

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This is a gage to measure consistency of rim thickness on .22 rimfire ammunition (a .22 rimfire rifle’s headspace is determined by case rim thickness). The more consistent the rim thickness, the more consistent the ignition of the primer and the powder charge in the case. In other words, the firing pin will fall the same distance every time if the same rim thickness is used on every case being fired for a particular group. By sorting the shells into various groups by rim thickness, a reduction in group size of up to 25% can be realized in some IF NOT MOST rimfire rifles. This information about group reduction comes from the .22 rimfire benchrest participants who compete in the extremely difficult BR-50 matches. All of the top shooters sort their shells into groups by checking rims and weighing the unfired cartridges.

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The Perfect

Big Bore

shoot with any lever action. It is by no means typical of what the rifle is capable of doing on a consistent basis, but it is proof that a good load fired in a good Marlin by a rifleman who occasionally

Select Big-Bore Loads bullet (grains)

powder

charge (grains)

velocity (fps)

95.0 95.0 100.0 93.0

2,368 2,384 2,335 2,167 2,351 2,344 2,365 2,359

.416 Rigby (Ruger Model 77 Magnum Rifle, 24-inch barrel) 400 Barnes Banded Solid 400 Barnes TSX/FB 400 Swift A-Frame 450 Woodleigh Weldcore 400 Barnes TSX/FB Federal Premium Cape-Shok 400 Speer TBBC Federal Premium Cape-Shok 400 Speer TBSH Federal Premium Cape-Shok 400 Swift A-Frame Federal Premium Cape-Shok

H-4831 RL-19 RL-22

.416 Remington Magnum (Jarrett Switch-Barrel M700, 24-inch barrel) 350 Barnes TSX/FB 350 400 Barnes Banded Solid 400 Swift A-Frame 450 Woodleigh Weldcore 400 Barnes Banded Solid VOR-TX 400 Barnes TSX/FB Federal Premium Cape-Shok 400 Speer TBBC Federal Premium Cape-Shok 400 Speer TBSH Federal Premium Cape-Shok 400 Swift A-Frame Federal Premium Cape-Shok

Varget RL-15

83.0 82.0 76.0 80.0 72.0

2,594 2,622 2,355 2,378 2,217 2,422 2,349 2,388 2,412 2,369

.444 Marlin (Marlin Model 444SS, 22-inch, six-groove, 1:20 twist barrel) 225 Barnes XFB 240 Swift A-Frame 265 Hornady FTX* 265 Hornady InterLock FP 280 Swift A-Frame 300 Hornady HPXTP 300 Sierra JSP 300 Swift A-Frame 265 Hornady FTX LeverEvolution 280 Cor-Bon BCSP Hunter 265 Hornady InterLock FP Superformance 399 Buffalo Bore JSFN Heavy

VV-N120 IMR-4198 A-1680 RL-7 H-322 VV-N130 TAC H-4895

50.0 48.0 47.0 46.0 52.0 46.0 50.0 51.0

2,524 2,364 2,272 2,177 2,231 2,029 1,987 2,029 2,348 2,239 2,318 2,161

.50 B&M Alaskan (SSK Custom Marlin 1895, 22-inch McGowen barrel) 300 Hornady FTX** 325 Swift A-Frame 395 Cutting Edge HP 400 Barnes Buster 425 Cutting Edge CS 500 Hornady FP-XTP 500 Hornady FP-XTP

IMR-4198 RL-7 IMR-4198 RL-7 RL-10x

67.0 66.0 64.0 59.0 62.0 58.0 62.0

2,428 2,251 2,122 2,057 2,080 1,876 1,947

.500 Jeffery (Davenport Custom Oberndorf Mauser, 22-inch barrel)*** 570 Swift A-Frame

RL-19

125.0

2,150

* Trim case to 2.070 inches for cartridge overall length not to exceed 2.59 inches. ** Trim case to 1.97 inches for cartridge overall length not to exceed 2.55 inches. *** Data courtesy of Tony Hober, Swift Bullets. Notes: Powder charges should be reduced by 10 percent for starting loads. Cases: Norma for the .500 Jeffery, Starline for the .50 B&M Alaskan, Federal for the .416s and Hornady for the .444 Marlin. Primers: Federal 215 in the Jeffery and the Rigby; Federal 210 in all others. Velocites are averages of five or more rounds by an Oehler Model 33, 12 feet from the muzzle. Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.

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gets lucky can result in a braggingsize group. The load consists of a Federal case, a Federal 210 primer and a Hornady 325-grain FTX bullet over 51.0 grains of Reloder 7. There are also two Marlin .444s with 22-inch barrels. One has the earlier Micro-Groove rifling with a one-in-38-inch twist rate; the other has six-groove, one-in-20inch rifling. Heavier bullets are preferred in this cartridge, and whereas the quicker twist shoots all 300-grain bullets quite accurately, the slower twist is accurate only with the Speer and Sierra bullets of that weight. Accuracy of the two rifles is about the same with bullets from 240 to 280 grains. A lever-action rifle in .444 Marlin is hardly the ideal choice for opencountry hunting, but a hunter who does his homework can get by with it. I first learned of its existence while in college. The cartridge was brand new at the time, and prior to its introduction, several Marlin employees had used it on caribou in Canada. Little did I realize at the time that about four decades later, 2003 to be exact, I would receive an invitation from Marlin to hunt caribou in Canada. I also had my pick of rifles. This was before the .308 and .338 Marlin Express cartridges were introduced, but even if they had been available at the time, I probably would have chosen the .444 Marlin simply because of the article I had read so many years before. The load settled on, 54.0 grains of H-322, pushes a Swift 280-grain A-Frame along at 2,231 fps. Zeroed 3.5 inches high at 100 yards, it is dead-on at 200 yards. Using the first and second tick marks on the lower quadrant of the vertical crosshair of a Burris 3-9x Fullfield scope for aiming puts the A-Frame dead-on at 250 and 300 yards. Accuracy for five shots seldom exceeds 1.5, 2.75 and 4.5 inches at 100, 200 and 300 yards. That knowledge, along with a laser rangefinder, allowed me to easily take a nice caribou bull at 248 yards. All the world’s game animals requiring nothing less than a bigRifle Special Edition

The Perfect

Big Bore This Alaska-Yukon moose was shot with one of the first Model 700 Safari .416 Remington Magnum rifles built by Remington’s custom shop.

bullets and big holes through rifle barrels seems to never fade. Layne took this buffalo in Rhodesia in the 1970s with a Browning Safari Grade .375 H&H Magnum, a Sierra 300-grain softnose bullet and a Hornady solid.

bore rifle are easily counted on one hand, and only a very small percentage of hunters are fortunate enough to hunt one or more of them. Yet many big-bore rifles continue to be sold each year. I am told that the majority of big guns purchased by Americans are never taken out of the country. Whether or not this is true I cannot say, but a survey by Winchester some years after the .458 Winchester Magnum was added to the Model 70 revealed that a surprisingly small number sold were actually hunted with. Yet our fondness for thumb-sized

Several friends own rifles chambered for big cartridges for different reasons. One is an avid bulletcaster who has probably pushed about a half-ton of scrap wheelweights through his Ruger No. 1 .458 Winchester Magnum. Another has a library full of books on Africa, and while he enjoys reading about hunting there, he has no interest in doing so himself but owns vintage rifles chambered for several big cartridges, including O’Connor’s old favorite buffalo-thumper, the .450 Watts. Others have no special interest in big bores but simply prefer to take an old classic on their one and only safari. Another friend borrowed money to purchase a very handsome Westley Richards double .470 Nitro Ex-

This Cape buffalo was taken with the Kimber Model 89 African .416 Rigby. Two loads with 400-grain Swift A-Frame expanding and A-Square monolithic solids, both at 2,375 fps, were used.

press. He went to Africa, got his elephant and buffalo and soon after returning home sold the .470 for more than he paid for it. Long after the last elephant is shot and buffalo are too expensive for most of us to shoot, big-bore rifles and cartridges will remain popular, not because they are actually needed but due to the love and affection so many of us have for them. Swift Bullets’ Bill Hober and son Tony are examples. Among other game, Bill has taken several elephant with his Holland & Holland double .470 Nitro Express. A couple of years ago Tony began planning a hunt for Cape buffalo in Zimbabwe with Clinton Rogers. When Christmas rolled around, Santa surprised him with a custom rifle built on a Oberndorf Mauser action by Sterling Davenport. I have handled the rifle and found it to be magnificent to say the least. One of the .416s or perhaps a .458 would have been a practical choice in cartridges, but Tony got his buffalo with a single 570-grain bullet from the .500 Jeffery at 40 yards. A PH’s dream come true, he practiced shooting the rifle offhand (no shooting sticks) until he was quickly and consistently keeping a magazine full of shots inside 2.0 inches at 50 yards. Michael McCourry is another friend whose hobby (or perhaps addiction) is developing big-bore cartridges. Rather than simply creating a new cartridge and leaving it at that, he comes up with a com-

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Rifle Special Edition

plete package consisting of the perfect bullet and rifle for the cartridge. I have lost count of the number of times he has been to Africa and Australia. His creations range in size from 9.3mm to .500, some almost as long as your arm, others on super-short cases for the Winchester Model 70 WSSM action. My latest custom rifle is a Marlin New Model 1895 chambered for Michael’s .50 B&M Alaskan. It pushes 450- and 500-grain bullets along at 2,000 and 1,950 fps. Built by SSK Industries, the 22-inch McGowen barrel has Masterpiece open sights made by N.E.C.G., No. 61 Adjustable at the rear and No. 661 Banded Ramp with the S-4 sight up front. In addition to a fixed, 3⁄32-inch silver bead, the front sight has a 11⁄64-inch white bead.

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The larger front bead can be hinged up in front of the smaller bead for use when light is bad or hinged down out of the way when it is not needed. The idea goes back well over a century and was an option offered on sporting rifles by English makers. The British called it a “night sight,” and the white folding bead was often made from warthog tusk, because it does not turn yellow with age as elephant ivory is prone to do. The .50 also wears a Weaver V3 scope attached to the SSK T’SOB base with Warne quick-detach rings. Unlike Harold Johnson’s original .50 Alaskan and its .510-inch bullet, the B&M uses .500-inch bullets made for the .500 Smith & Wesson revolver cartridge. The 500-grain Hornady FP/XTP, as well as several bullets from North Fork and Cutting Edge in that diameter, have proven capable of handling any game the cartridge is suitable for, but I also wanted the option of using the Swift 450-grain A-Frame and the 500-grain Woodleigh. These are .510-inch diameter, but one trip through a Corbin .500-inch draw die in a CSP-1 press takes care of that. Only someone who does not appreciate big-bore rifles and cartridges would dare ask why someone would go to so much trouble to shoot something they honestly R do not need. 2014

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SP Big EC B IAL o ED re ITI ON

Medium Big-Bore

.375s Brian Pearce

T

he October freezing rains had made it nearly impossible to walk on the slippery rocks, not to mention limiting visibility. It also made it difficult to “read” the quicksandlike bogs, with my rifle and me submersed in the muck multiple times while traversing river banks. As a result, Ed Stevenson and I often found it easier to walk in the middle of the rivers, searching the nearby alders and willows for a bear. A dark brownie appeared on an island a half-mile upstream but quickly disappeared. After reaching the brushy island, we moved carefully to not spook the bear, when it appeared, running full tilt toward the river bank directly in front of us but suddenly stopped, apparently to see what was invading his territory. The shot at around 100 yards was good, and while not necessary, two more bullets were fired into him. He retreated into the alders, and we quickly made our way upstream. Handfuls of berries and large sections of bone and tissue were scattered more than 30 feet behind where he stood. A heavy blood trail led into thick alders, where he expired less than 25 yards away. The cartridge chosen for the hunt was the .375 H&H Magnum handloaded with then newly designed Barnes 270-grain Triple-Shock bullets. The .375 H&H Magnum was introduced in 1912 by 24

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the British firm Holland & Holland as a versatile medium-bore cartridge, but American hunters generally consider it a big bore. Period British cordite loads included 235-, 270- and 300-grain bullets pushed 2,800, 2,650 and 2,500 fps, respectively, although some sources list velocities slightly lower. Western Cartridge began offering ammunition in 1925, but velocities were increased to 2,690 and 2,530 fps for 270- and 300-grain bullets, respectively. Beginning around 1935/36, Winchester began offering its Model 70 rifle that positioned the .375 H&H Magnum to become popular worldwide. Previously the cartridge was primarily available in fine British double rifles, single shots and magazine rifles, but these were difficult to obtain, with limited quantities produced, and they were comparatively costly. The Model 70 was a no-frills rifle with a robust and reliable design and was priced within the reach of most hunters. Alaskan moose and brown bear guides and hunters Rifle Special Edition

This Winchester pre-64 Model 70 .375 H&H Magnum features a Leupold VX-3 1.5-5x 20mm variable scope.

remedy, a belt was placed around the cartridge head just forward of the extractor groove. Although this was not the first belted case, it was one of the earliest and certainly the version that first came into widespread use. Around 1920 the .375 was necked down (with other small dimensional changes) to create the .300 H&H Magnum. In the years since, it has been the parent case for countless wildcat cartridges and dozens of commercial offerings, including many of Weatherby’s cartridges from .270 through .375; the .264, .300, .338 and .458 Winchester Magnums; the 6.5, 7mm, 8mm, .350 and .416 Remington Magnums; and many others.

Power and versatility make the .375 a top choice.

The original concept of the .375 H&H Magnum was a cartridge that could work in practically any big game hunting situation that might include taking elephant, lion, Cape buffalo or any of the African big five but also offered a flat enough trajectory to handily take plains game in open country where shots were out of reliable reach of bigbore, “stopper” class cartridges that propelled blunt bullets with

found favor with it. In Africa it became a widely popular “working” rifle and cartridge among professional hunters and still enjoys widespread use. With an overall cartridge length of 3.60 inches, the .375 H&H requires a long action, not to be confused with .30-06 length actions that house cartridges of 3.340 inches. The case was gracefully tapered and featured a minimal shoulder that was inadequate to maintain proper headspace. As a Popular .375 cartridges include (left to right): .375 H&H Magnum, .375 Weatherby Magnum, .375 Ruger, .375 Remington Ultra Mag, .378 Weatherby Magnum and .375 Winchester.

2014

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There have been several other .375 cartridges developed, including wildcat and commercial, in an effort to improve in some way on the original H&H version. Some have been credible, but the original .375 H&H is the most commonly encountered and is the standard by which others are compared. A traveling hunter will probably be able to find ammunition should his supply become lost or depleted.

Above left, the .375 H&H Magnum (left) is a medium-bore cartridge of unusual versatility. It is not a “stopping” cartridge, such as the big-bore .600 Nitro Express (right). Right, (left to right): .375 H&H; .375 Weatherby Magnum based on blownout .375 H&H brass; .378 Weatherby Magnum with increased powder capacity and velocity; .375 Ruger that fits in a .30-06 length action.

Medium Big-Bore

.375s low ballistic coefficients at muzzle velocities of around 2,000 fps. It would only be great at a few things but could do all things with respectability. Many experienced and worldly hunters consider it the best single cartridge choice for taking all game under a variety of circumstances, which is difficult to dispute, especially when considering that the .375 is the minimum legal caliber in most African nations for select dangerous game, including elephant.

more work for the guide and is not how we respect the game animals we admire and enjoy hunting. The .375’s recoil is certainly more stout than typical deer hunting cartridges, but it is not sharp when fired from suitable bolt-action rifles that typically weigh between 9 to 11 pounds, with and without a scope. The .375 H&H recoil is more of a healthy push with notably more muzzle rise. While most shooters will only “enjoy” a few shots per shooting session, seasoned big-bore riflemen can shoot several boxes of ammunition in a single session without developing a flinch.

While hunting bullets are not the focus of this article, it should be mentioned that .375 H&H performance is better today than at any time in the cartridge’s history due to today’s large selection of premium bullets (available as a component or in factory loads) that are designed to accomplish a variety of tasks. Some feature a high ballistic coefficient for long-range work, while others offer controlled expansion and deep penetration on heavy game. There are also some excellent solids engineered to provide arrow-straight and deep penetration. Bullet choices are broad for the .375 H&H. There have been several “improved” .375 H&H Magnum cartridges, such as the .375 JRS Magnum (based on the 8mm Remington Magnum necked up) and .375 Ackley Improved, but the most popular version is the .375 Weatherby Magnum (WM) developed around 1944 or 1945 by Roy Weatherby as simply a “blown out” version that increased pow-

All major ammunition companies offer .375 H&H Magnum loads suitable for a variety of hunting applications.

One of the virtues of the .375 is its ability to deliver a heavy blow to game while offering manageable recoil. As most PHs and guides will tell you, accuracy is paramount. If a client is shooting a gun that he is afraid of, and it causes him to flinch, missed shots or poor bullet placement is the result. This is disappointing for the hunter, creates 26

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Rifle Special Edition

Medium Big-Bore

.375s

der capacity and velocity. Factory loads push a 270-grain bullet 2,940 fps or a 300-grain bullet at 2,800 fps. Incidentally, .375 H&H Magnum ammunition can be fired in a rifle chambered for the .375 WM. The added velocity and flatter trajectory offered by the .375 WM can be an advantage when hunting in open country where shots are long. For example, when stoked with Hornady 270-grain Spire Points, it offers a flatter trajectory over 500 yards than the .30-06 loaded with 165-grain Spire Points. Its downrange power and authority cannot be ignored – nor is it free. In this instance the primary “cost” is a notable increase in recoil. Nonetheless, if recoil is not objectionable, it is an excellent cartridge, especially when hunting heavy game in open country. In spite of the development of the even higher velocity .378 WM, Weatherby still offers rifles and ammunition for the .375. There may not be a practical need for greater velocity than is delivered by the .375 WM (or cartridges with similar performance), but Roy Weatherby developed the

Popular .375 hunting rifles (left to right): Winchester pre-64 Model 70 .375 H&H Magnum, Ruger Hawkeye .375 Ruger, custom Winchester Model 70 Classic .375 H&H, Kimber Model 8400 Talkeetna .375 H&H, Ruger No. 1 .375 H&H and Weatherby Mark V .378 Weatherby Magnum.

.378 Weatherby Magnum in 1953. The large case was new with strong similarities to the .416 Rigby case but with a belt added, and it featured the same double-radius shoulder found on other Weatherby cartridges. It is advertised to push 270-grain bullets 3,180 fps or a 300 grainer at 2,925 fps, and it remains the most powerful of regular production .375s. This performance requires a large-ring, magnum-length action (for cartridges of 3.655 inches), reduced magazine capacity, increased ammunition cost and recoil. For those willing to pay those prices, the

.378 Weatherby Magnum delivers impressive performance. Beginning in 1999 Remington introduced the .300 Remington Ultra Mag (RUM) on a new beltless case that was similar to the .404 Jeffery case (but not dimensionally exact). Remington quickly necked that case up and down and created a series of new cartridges, with the .375 RUM appearing in 2002. With an overall cartridge length of 3.600 inches, it is designed to function in .375 H&H length actions but offers notably greater powder capacity and increased velocity. Advertised factory loads push a 270-grain bullet at 2,900 fps or a 300-grain bullet at 2,760 fps. This modern .375 is no longer listed by Remington, but ammunition is available. The .375 Ruger was the result of a joint effort between Ruger and Hornady and first appeared in late 2006. All the above .375s feature an overall cartridge length of 3.600 inches or longer, while the .375 Ruger has an overall cartridge length of 3.340 inches and can be housed in a .30-06 length action. The beltless case is new (although similar to the Newton case) and

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Rifle Special Edition

has a head diameter of .532 inch, the same as the belt on the .375 H&H case, which results in an increased case diameter and more powder capacity. The shoulder angle is 30 degrees. In spite of being a comparatively short cartridge, the .375 Ruger is advertised to push a 270-grain bullet 2,840 fps, or a 300 grainer 2,660 fps. In testing early factory loads in a Ruger Model 77 Hawkeye with a 23-inch barrel, velocities were 2,859 and 2,745 fps, respectively. Extreme spreads were remarkably low, and 100-yard groups often measured under an inch. The .375 Ruger easily outperforms the .375 H&H but in a short action. With Ruger Model 77 Hawkeye rifles fitted with 20- (Alaskan) and 23-inch (African) barrels, rifle weight is around 7¾ pounds, a combination that has quickly become popular among big-game hunters and guides around the world. I find the .375 Ruger the

2014

most interesting of all improved or modern .375s. The .376 Steyr was developed as a joint effort between Hornady and Austrian-based rifle manufacturer Steyr and was first announced in 2000. It was intended specifically for the Steyr Super Scout rifle and delivered notably greater big-game punch than the .308 Winchester, for which the Scout rifle was originally designed, but it falls short of .375 H&H ballistics. It has an overall cartridge length of 3.110 inches and can be housed in select .308-length actions but not all. It is advertised to push a 270-grain bullet 2,600 fps, which is nonetheless formidable power. The .375 Winchester was introduced in 1978, along with a strengthened Big Bore version of the popular Model 94 Carbine, with Ruger, Marlin, Thompson/ Center and others soon offering rifles. It was essentially a modern version of the black-powder .38-55 WCF but loaded at much greater

pressures (52,000 CUP). The new cartridge utilized .375-inch bullets rather than the .378- through .380inch bullets that were common with the .38-55, and it featured a slightly shorter case with heavier construction. (These two cartridges are not interchangeable.) Advertised ballistics push a 200-grain bullet 2,200 fps or a 250 grain 1,900 fps. Winchester still offers ammunition, although rifle manufacturers no longer chamber it. This is unfortunate, as it is an excellent woods cartridge for deer and black bear, particularly in a handy lever-action carbine. The H&H Magnum remains the most popular .375. It is readily available in most corners of the world and remains the standard by which others are compared. It is a beautiful blend of caliber, bullet weight and velocity that results in manageable recoil and reliable terminal performance, when the correct bullet is matched to the game and R shots placed accurately.

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SP Big EC B IAL o ED re ITI ON

.338

Winchester Magnum

It’s a big bore and then some. 30

Rifle Special Edition

John Haviland

A

ccording to an informal survey of fellow rifle fanatics, the .338 Winchester Magnum qualifies as a big-bore cartridge. Several respondents said a strict interpretation of a “big bore” is a cartridge that fires .40-caliber or larger bullets, and by that definition the .45-70 meets the requirement but the .338 falls short. All agreed bore size alone does not determine what is considered a big-bore cartridge and noted the .338 Winchester qualifies as a big bore more by the comparative energy and the terminal performance its bullets deliver at a distance.

A rifle chambered in .338 Winchester Magnum is light enough for elk hunters to carry all day.

The .338 Winchester Magnum shooting a 250-grain bullet with a muzzle velocity of 2,700 fps develops 4,000 foot-pounds (ft-lbs) of energy. That is quite a bit less than the energy produced at the muzzle by a 500grain bullet fired from a .458 Winchester Magnum or a 400-grain bullet fired from a .416 Rigby, two true bigbore cartridges. However, the .338 bullet’s energy surpasses the .458’s at 200 yards and pulls even with the .416’s bullet at 300 yards. If those figures are compared to other cartridges popular for hunting big game in North America, then the .338 Winchester Magnum truly is a big-bore cartridge. Gun magazines during the 1970s and 1980s indoctrinated American hunters to buy magnum cartridges. My friends took the bait and traded their .30-06s for .300 Winchester Magnums. How a couple of hundred feet per second increase in bullet velocity killed elk and bears all that much better escaped me. Until I had figured it out, I kept my eyes downcast and kept to dark alleys bearing the shame of hunting with such an obsolete cartridge as the .30-06. The .338 Winchester Magnum solved my predicament. The cartridge was a larger edition of the .30-06 and shot 250-grain bullets at the same speed as the ’06 shot 180s. It also shot 200s at the velocity the ’06 shot 150s and 225-grain bullets at the pace of 165s from the ’06. On a summer Saturday morning in 1981, I browsed through a general store in town that sold everything 2014

from cosmetics and kitchenware to reloading supplies and rifles. I returned home carrying an oblong box in which only a rifle fits. Inside the box lay a new Ruger Model 77 .338 Winchester Magnum. I was ready for any big bull elk or bulldozer of a bear. The rifle’s kick was nasty shooting 200- and 250grain factory loads. Replacing the thin bumper of tractor tire rubber with a thick recoil pad helped soften the blow. Standing, instead of sitting while shooting from a bench, allowed my shoulder to roll with the punch and kept my spine from compressing like an accordion. Gradually I learned how to handle the rifle shooting loads containing reduced amounts of powder, but to this day I dislike shooting more than 10 hunting loads during practice and make every effort to avoid shooting it in the prone position. The ability to place bullets of different weights at nearly the same point from 100 to 300 yards is one convenience and ammo-saving attribute of the .338 Winchester Magnum. With the same sight setting, at 100 yards handloaded 210-grain bullets hit about one inch high of aim, 225s right on, 250s 1.25 inches low and 275s 1.75 inches low. Combined Technology 200grain Ballistic Silvertips (2,840 fps), Speer 225-grain boat-tails (2,577 fps) and Speer 250-grain Grand Slams (2,559 fps) all dropped between 4 and 5 inches below aim at 300 yards. Bullets from all three of those loads landed in a 4-inch vertical circle. Any of these three loads can be shot without having to adjust the scope. At 400 yards the 210- and 225-grain bullets should hit an elk through the lungs with a hold on top of the shoulder. The 250 and 275 grainers would require about 8 more inches of elevation. That distance, though, is at the outer reach of the 250- and 275-grain bullets’ range, because their velocities fall to about 1,900 fps, which is too slow for positive expansion. Still, that’s pretty good utility from the same sight setting. The .338 Winchester Magnum’s strength is a 250grain bullet, which sets it a step above .300 magnums. The .338 easily shoots that bullet weight 2,700 fps with a case full of IMR-4350 powder. The Nosler Reloading Guide 7 lists a velocity of 2,780 fps with that bullet weight and H-4831 powder. The first year hunting with the Ruger, I shot handloads with Sierra 250-grain GameKings and killed a mule deer buck and a bull elk with one bullet apiece, broadside through the lungs. The Sierras killed a few more deer and elk, and all the bullets sailed out the far side. Just to experiment, I switched to Hornady 225-grain InterLocks. There was no difference in the performance between it compared to the Sierra on deer, elk and black bears. It was a bit odd, but mule deer and whitetails seemed to run 30 yards and then fall over, while elk pretty much pitched over on their noses. It was a pleasant surprise to find the bullets had created no blood-shot meat in the shoulders. www.riflemagazine.com

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Left, the bullet itself has a lot to do with whether a cartridge is considered a big bore; this 275-grain bullet definitely puts the .338 in the category. Above, .338 bullets (left to right): Nosler 200-grain Ballistic Tip, Nosler 210 Partition, Barnes 210 Triple-Shock, Speer 225 spitzer boat-tail, Hornady 225 SST, Nosler 225 AccuBond, Barnes 225 Triple-Shock, Swift 225 A-Frame, Hornady 225 InterLock, Swift 250 A-Frame, Nosler 250 Partition and Swift 275-grain A-Frame.

From a practical standpoint, elk hunting is about the only sound reason to carry a .338 Winchester Magnum in the western states. For all the work and expense an elk hunter incurs, he may only get one chance. His bull may be on the far side of a park or jumping from its bed in a deadfall thicket, and for those times a bullet arriving with a surplus of power is a good investment. I’ve read an advantage of the raw power of a bullet fired from the .338 Winchester Magnum compensates for a poorly placed shot. I found that was complete fabrication one spring after sneaking up on a black bear feeding about 60 or 70 yards steeply below on a hillside. The bear dropped when my .338 bullet hit it then disappeared beneath the brow of the hill. I thought it was dead and started down the hill, but the bear reappeared, walking seemingly unscathed up the hill toward me. Another bullet in the right spot killed it. My first bullet had struck the rather small bear with approximately 3,400 ft-lbs of energy, but it had hit the bear high and back

.338 Winchester Magnum

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of the lungs. Now when someone says his big-bore magnum makes up for less than precise bullet placement, I courteously agree the few hundreds of an inch of additional width of his bullet over a smaller diameter bullet makes all the difference in the world. The .338 Winchester Magnum muscle really comes into its own hunting moose and grizzly bears in Alaska and western Canada. After years of dreaming, I finally cleaned out the bank account and booked a grizzly and moose hunt in northern British Columbia. I fretted about what gear to pack, but the decision of what rifle to carry in the saddle scabbard was simple, my .338.

a river. It staggered into the water and died. Smith carries a .338 Winchester Magnum to back up his grizzly bear hunters. “If you muff the shot,” he says, “the .338 will hit them hard up close to my belt buckle. If the bear’s out there a ways and you still haven’t redeemed yourself after another shot or two, the .338 will still get the job done.” A 250-grain bullet from a .338 Winchester Magnum (left) comes up short in muzzle energy compared to bullets from a .416 Rigby (center) and .458 Winchester (right). At a distance, however, the energy of the .338’s bullet more than catches up to the two big-bore cartridges.

A few days into the hunt, guide Dennis Smith and I spotted a huge grizzly at timberline across a mountain valley. After a wild horseback ride across boulder-choked rivers and through the forest, we left the horses and made the final approach on foot. The .338 Winchester Magnum in my hands felt very reassuring when the grizzly swaggered out of the huckleberry brush above us. I shot the bear tight behind the shoulder with a Speer 250-grain Grand Slam. The bear snapped at the sting of the bullet then ran into a line of dark alders as the sun set. The rifle felt like a toy in my hands following the blood trail into the alders. We nearly stepped on the dead bear before we saw it. A few days later, I shot a bull moose on the bank of Rifle Special Edition

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This group with Swift A-Frame bullets shows the .338 Winchester Magnum is an accurate cartridge.

All manner of premium bullets have been developed in the years since that hunt and have been a bane and boon for the .338 Winchester Magnum. On the one hand, bullets such as the Barnes TripleShock and Swift A-Frame hold on to most of their weight when they hit game, so many hunters have passed over the .338 in favor smaller caliber cartridges, especially .300 magnums. Then again, those bullets have also increased the .338’s effectiveness. A .338 Winchester Magnum shooter has the option of shooting a heavy bullet, like a Nosler 250-grain Partition or Swift 275-grain A-Frame, for the hardest and deepest strike. Or he can shoot a lighter bullet, like a Nosler 225-grain AccuBond or Barnes 210-grain Tipped TripleShock, at a higher velocity for a flatter trajectory at long range. I used to save the leg bones of elk I had butchered, prop them up and shoot them at various distances with a variety of bullets. A Speer 250-grain Grand Slam from a .338 Winchester Magnum killed this grizzly.

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.302

.338

.375

.338 Winchester Magnum

Nosler 210-grain Partitions, with an impact velocity of 2,700 fps, at about 100 yards, shot from my .338 Winchester Magnum completely crushed the head of humerus bones and buried 12 inches into the dirt behind the bones. The front half of the bullets had sheared off at the Partitions’ dividing walls, and their expanded diameters were .65 and .53 inch. The bullets’ shanks, however, had remained intact and the recovered bullets weighed 163 and 125 grains. In contrast, the discontinued Speer 275-grain semispitzer bullets tore apart when they hit the bones at a slow 2,300 fps. Their cores were gone and the jackets were ripped down the sides and recovered just inside the dirt.

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So it’s more than weight alone that is required to keep a bullet intact when it meets more resistance than a thin rib. I’ve recovered only three .338 bullets from game. Two were Hornady 225-grain InterLocks out of a big black bear. The bear and I stared at each other from about 200 yards. About the time I decided to shoot, the bear turned around to leave. The first InterLock plowed through the length of the bear, breaking its left humerus and right femur. The bear fell down, but to my surprise, stood up and started limping away. The second bullet did the same thing to the right humerus and left femur and killed the bear. Both bullets showed as lumps under the hide. They had expanded back to their cannelures. A Swift 250-grain A-Frame was the third bullet. I’d followed four sets of elk tracks for most of two hours when they branched off one by one to bed for the day in a north-facing slope of blowndown timber. I kept to the highest trail and slowed to an agonizingly measured pace, stopping every few yards for a full minute to look and listen. I slipped around the branches of a short spruce, and the bull lay asleep in its bed at 15 yards. The Swift bullet hit the bull in the front of its sternum. It slumped over and kicked its back legs as it died. I found the bullet lodged in the elk’s pelvis. It weighed 236 grains and had mushroomed picture perfect. Everything had turned into a soup between the entrance wound and where the bullet had come to rest. With that sort of performance, the .338 Winchester Magnum shows bore size alone is not the sole measure of a big-bore cartridge. This is further proven by the terminal performance its bullets deliver when they reach their destination. The .338 Winchester Magnum’s flexibility for shooting big game up close and at a distance demonstrates it is a big bore and a lot R more.

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Rifle Special Edition

SP Big EC B IAL o ED re ITI ON

Terry Wieland

T

he most famous shot fired in the history of the American West was Billy Dixon’s, in 1874, at the Second Battle of Adobe Walls, when he knocked a Comanche off his horse at something approaching a mile. For 140 years, the exact distance has been argued over, and no one is absolutely sure what rifle and cartridge he was using, except that it was a “Big Fifty.” And regardless of where you stand on exactly how it was done, there is no doubt about two things: Dixon did it, and it was one heck of a shot. In America, the story of Dixon’s feat added to the already mythical aura that surrounded cartridges of .5-inch diameter. They were called “five hundreds” in England, “fifties” over here, and men who used them had one thing in common: They were guys who knew something about rifles and how to handle them. Considering the common use of imperial measurement, rifle bores of .5 inch make eminent sense. During the era of black powder cartridge rifles, there were almost as many .50s as .44s and .45s. There were long ones and short ones, and they fired a wide variety of projectiles, ranging in weight from 300 to 700 grains. The .50-70 musket was the first American army cartridge rifle, chambered in the trapdoor Springfield, in official use from 1866 to 1873. It existed in both rifle and carbine form, with the carbine cartridge being slightly shorter. The .50-70 was an interim cartridge, however. It was quickly replaced by the .45-70 Gov-

The

Big 50

“ 36

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”

Rifle Special Edition

This Holland & Holland .500 Express 31⁄4 Inch hammer double rifle was made in 1895.

numerous or popular as the various .44s and .45s, but they certainly earned respect. In terms of bison, there is not really much a .50 can do that a .45 cannot, given the way the bison were hunted, because the cartridges were loaded with heavy bullets to comparable velocities. This is not true when we start talking about elephants, lions, Cape buffalo and, in India, tigers. As the British colonized Africa and hunted in India, they developed the world’s finest big-game, black-powder cartridges, and the best of the bunch was the .500 Express 3¼ Inch. This was a straight, rimmed case, 3.25 inches long, the longest of a family of straight .500s, with cases ranging from 2.5 inches up to 3.25. In America, Sharps, Winchester and Maynard did much the same thing. Here, cartridges were not desig-

The .500s moved in fits and starts.

Left to right, a .375 H&H looks dainty by comparison to the .500 Jeffery, .505 Gibbs, .500 A-Square and .495 A-Square. The .500 Jeffery was made short and compact in order to fit a standard Mauser K98 action.

ernment, which went on to a long (and continuing) life, while the .50-70 all but disappeared. England followed a similar path, except that its interim cartridge was the .577 Snider, replaced in 1871 by the .577/.450 Martini-Henry. The historical paths of the various calibers then diverged. In England, the .577 was developed into a series of big-game cartridges, both black powder and, later, smokeless. The .500 followed along in much the same way. In America, the .50 was developed into a number of big buffalo cartridges. They were never as 2014

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37

Big 50

“ The

”

Left, a Schüler .500 Jeffery; the Jeffery was designed by Schüler to pack .500 NE power into a cartridge that could be shoehorned into a standard Mauser 98 action. Above, this .505 Gibbs is built on a Granite Mountain action; there are more .505 Gibbs rifles in use today than ever before in its history.

nated by caliber and cartridge length, but by caliber and powder charge. So the American version of the .500 Express 3¼ Inch was the .50-140. These seem to have been de-

with a hollow point for rapid expansion. A 700 grain would penetrate like there was no tomorrow. In England, bullets were rarely that light – or that heavy. The normal range was 350 to 500 grains, at

load for soft-skinned dangerous game, such as lions and tigers, but not adequate for elephant, Cape buffalo or gaur. Jim Corbett, the famous hunter of man-eating tigers, began his ca-

Left, Holland & Holland won all “Field” rifle trials in 1883 and made a specialty of the .500 Express until it was displaced by nitro-express cartridges after 1898. Right are the specifications for the .500 Express 31⁄4 Inch as loaded by Eley Brothers in England.

veloped independently, and concurrently, on both sides of the Atlantic. The Americans had more different lengths than the British, and Winchester began working on a .50 for a repeating rifle as early as 1876. In England, the .500 began, and remained, a cartridge for double rifles and single shots, and the cases were much longer.

the usual black-powder velocities of 1,500 to 1,700 fps.

In any of them, a 300-grain bullet could be propelled at velocities up to about 1,750 fps, while a 700 grain (the heaviest recorded in the long Winchester round) started at 1,350 fps. As one might imagine, these projectiles were intended for entirely different purposes. A 300-grain .50 is an “express” bullet, at high velocity and usually

Smokeless powder spelled the death of huge black-powder “gauge” rifles, like this Army & Navy 8-bore (top). The .500 Nitro Express (bottom) by Charles Boswell belonged to Kenya professional John Hunter.

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In terms of Africa and India, this made the .500 an “in-between” cartridge. The .500 Express 3¼ Inch with its 480-grain bullet at 1,700 fps was considered an excellent

reer with a .500 black-powder rifle, but switched to a .450/.400 Nitro Express when smokeless powder took over. In America, the .50 more or less died with the black-powder era; in England, it continued on as a nitro-

Rifle Special Edition

action. It fired a 300-grain bullet at 1,560 fps. The Colt Lightning slideaction rifle was also available in this chambering. This was a hefty self-defense round and certainly deadly on game at short range, but it was not a long-range hunting cartridge by any means. When Winchester introduced its long (and very strong) 1886 leveraction rifle, it developed a number of .50-caliber cartridges for it. All

used the same 2.4-inch straight, rimmed case, and the original factory loading (300-grain bullet, 1,605 fps) was not much of an improvement on the .50-95, ballistically at least. Both rifle and cartridge proved to have a long and varied life. The Model ’86 continued in production until 1935; the .50caliber cartridge was converted to smokeless powder, and ammunition was listed until 1935. Obviously, the Big Fifty retained some

Early .500 black-powder rifles used a variety of cast bullets, including hollowpoints for rapid expansion.

express cartridge but led an odd life. As a black-powder round, the .500 was not big enough; as a nitroexpress round, it was too big. The .500, it seemed, just couldn’t win – commercially, at least. On game, it rarely lost. In America, even in the blackpowder era, the .50s can be divided into two groups: those intended for single-shot rifles and long ranges, and those for repeaters – leverguns and slide actions. The benchmark “big fifty” in the U.S. was the Sharps, using a 2.5inch case, and variously designated .50-90 to .50-110, depending on the bullet and powder charge. It was listed in the first Sharps catalog (1872) and played a major role in the destruction of the buffalo. Very likely, this was the “big fifty” of Billy Dixon fame. Legendary though they were, Sharps dropped its .50s, except on special order, when it adopted its range of .45s around 1878. Winchester was the major American company that not only developed a number of .50s, but also stuck with them into the smokeless-powder era. The first was the .50-95, a short, rimmed, bottlenecked cartridge introduced in 1879 for the Winchester ’76 lever 2014

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39

The “

Big 50

”

adherents in the U.S. long after the .30-30 Winchester and .30-06 had revolutionized rifle shooting. For the next 50 years, not much happened with .50-caliber rifles except for a niche interest in long-

range sniper rifles chambered for the .50 BMG. At 25 to 30 pounds, these rifles definitely fell into the category of “special interest” and demand a section all to themselves. More mainstream was the interest related to cowboy action shooting, beginning in the 1990s, using either original arms from the Old West era or replicas thereof. In England after 1898, the .500 languished compared to cartridges

like the .470, but they did exist. Some gunmaker – no one knows who – converted the .500 3-inch case to smokeless powder, loaded it with a 570-grain jacketed bullet and created the .500 Nitro Express. It also existed in 3¼-inch form, but these were outnumbered by the shorter case by about 10 to one. John Hunter, the famous Kenya professional, carried a .500 and wrote about it in his books, but no one else really championed it. It fell into that “in-between” category. It is really too big for anything except Cape buffalo, rhino and elephant, and those who wanted something bigger than the .470 for that purpose usually chose a .577. The reasons for this are logistical rather than ballistic. Professionals of that era had gun bearers, and if a man used two rifles, he carried his light one himself and kept the heavier one close at hand, carried by his gun bearer. This was not laziness: At 14 pounds plus, you don’t go prowling through the brush for hours on end carrying such a rifle and then expect to be able to handle it quickly in an emergency. The big rifles were saved for special circumstances, such as going after a wounded animal. The .500 NE rifles usually weighed 12 pounds-plus when they only needed to weigh about 10, so they were too heavy for everyday use. Yet, if you wanted a really hardhitting backup, they could not compare to a .577. This applied to double rifles and single shots.

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Two gunmakers attempted to adapt .500 NE power to a bolt action. Both came along in the 1920s in England but by vastly different routes. George Gibbs of Bristol, one of England’s foremost rifle specialists, developed the .505 Gibbs to fit into the magnum Mauser action, which Rigby had helped pioneer, with Mauser, for its massive .416 Rigby cartridge in 1911. The Gibbs round resembles a .416 Rigby scaled up, much as a heavyweight boxer is a scaled up middleweight. It fired a 525-grain Rifle Special Edition

(.505 diameter) bullet at 2,300 fps. For the record, almost all other .500s, on both sides of the Atlantic, use a bullet of .509 to .512 diameter, depending on whether it is jacketed or cast.

now a standard chambering in such rifles as the Krieghoff Classic and the Merkels. English gunmakers are probably producing more .500s now than ever before, in relative terms.

The other cartridge was the .500 Jeffery. In reality, it was developed in Germany by riflemaker August Schüler. After 1918, the Treaty of Versailles restricted the manufacturing of certain rifle actions in Germany. There were, however, millions of military Mauser 98s, and Schüler set out to create a genuine elephant cartridge that could be shoehorned into the standard 98.

This is due partly to simple boredom – how much can you do with a .470? – and partly to the .500’s undeniable ballistic excellence. And, given the number of .510inch jacketed bullets available and

the many different moulds for cast bullets, the owner of a .500 can have a lot of fun loading and shooting anything he buys. The same is true in the U.S., where once again there are singleshot rifles in large calibers, as well as a number of imported replicas, used for everything from cowboy action to black-powder cartridge silhouette and long-range target R shooting.

The result was a squat, compact round with a rebated rim (to fit the 98 bolt face), near-parallel walls, a sharp shoulder and very short neck. The company fitted the rifle with an extended magazine that held two or three rounds, plus one in the chamber. At 8 to 9 pounds, the recoil was unbelievable, but it was an affordable elephant rifle for the average colonial farmer. In London, W.J. Jeffery adopted the cartridge as its own, called it the .500 Jeffery, and began offering it in more conventional elephant rifles. It fired a 535-grain bullet at 2,400 fps, giving a muzzle energy of 6,800 foot-pounds and was the most powerful magazinerifle cartridge until the advent of the .460 Weatherby Magnum in 1958. For years, ammunition was only made in Germany, but it seems to have been acceptable. Taylor spoke highly of it and, especially, of a rifle owned by his friend, the Rhodesian hunter Fletcher Jamieson. Although the .500 Jeffery and .505 Gibbs are legendary, the legend outweighs the numbers. Very few were made – perhaps 100 or less of each. Since their comeback, more have been built in the last 10 years than in the previous 80. Since 1995, with the exploding interest in double rifles, both old and new, the .500 NE 3 Inch has gained a new lease on life and is 2014

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SP Big EC B IAL o ED re ITI ON

Big Bores and

Brown Bears Perspective from an Alaska Master Guide Phil Shoemaker

U

ntil the development of smokeless powder, the only means by which a hunter using black powder and soft, lead projectiles could be guaranteed adequate performance on the largest and most dangerous game was to increase the bore size, powder charge and weight of the projectile. Effective largebore rifles of the era, especially those in Africa, were unbelievably massive by today’s standards; 12bore rifles were considered small, and serious hunters toted 8-, 4- and even 2-bore rifles. 42

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Heavy doubles, like this Zoli .450/.400, retain a small but faithful following in Alaska.

The concurrent development of smokeless powder and jacketed bullets in the late nineteenth century, however, changed the paradigm. Hunters discovered that long, jacketed, smallbore projectiles could be driven fast enough to reliably penetrate deep enough to reach the vitals on even the largest game. At the time the term “bore” referred to the number of round, lead balls of a certain diameter that could be proDuring the black-powder era, the only way to assure adequate performance on the largest dangerous game was to increase bore size, powder charge and bullet weight.

and flatter trajectories, game could be reliably taken at longer ranges. Over a century later, what are now referred to as smallbore rifles dominate the market. With modern powders and stout, bonded-core and homogenous projectiles, bore size is increasingly becoming less and less important. A great many rural Alaskan hunters now think nothing of using their .223 Remingtons on deer, caribou and even moose. What we now consider the mid-bores, like the .243 Winchester, .2506 Remington, 6.5x55 and .270 Winchester, can safely be pressed into service when hunting virtually any game in the state. One trapper I know, who lives in the foothills of the Brooks Range, has used a .22-250 Remington for the past 25 years on everything from wolves and caribou to moose and grizzly bears. The most popular round in the state, both past and present, has been the .30-06. It was a ubiquitous favorite of generations of territorial hunters, guides and trappers. Territorial wardens and government hunters like Hosea Sarber and Jay Williams used theirs to sort out numerous problem brown and grizzly bears during the early portion of the century, and the legendary Kodiak brown bear guides Bill Pinnel and Morris Talifson recommend their bear hunters bring a .30-06 with 220-grain bullets. In 1952 Roy Lindsley used one when he killed the world’s record brown bear on Kodiak Island. Background photo by Kenny Bahr.

duced by a pound of lead, but as actual “bore” rifles began to fade, the term was used simply as a means of arbitrarily grouping calibers. Notable hunters of the era, like W.D.M. Bell, F.C. Selous, Charles Sheldon, Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Andrew Stone, were quick to adopt the new technology and demonstrably proved the deadly effectiveness of smaller calibers. Adventurers and wilderness hunters were highly appreciative of the fact that rifles could be built slimmer and lighter, and with less recoil

The close of World War II brought an influx of hunters to the Alaskan territory who, after the sacrifices and deprivations of war, were desirous of new and modern goods. Although introduced at the beginning of the war, the Winchester Model 70 was the most modern rifle available and quickly earned a reputation as “the rifleman’s rifle.” Offered in a number of useful calibers, it was the large and seductively powerful .375 H&H that made it especially attractive to Alaskans. After years of tracking massive brown bears into thick cover with smaller bores, Kodiak guides like Pinnel and Talifson were quick to adopt the .375 H&H Model 70, and it was not long until it became the standard by which all other bear rifles were judged – at least all bolt-action rifles.

Until well after the advent of smokeless powder and the introduction of bolt-action rifles, large-bore Winchester rifles, like this 1886 (top) and 1873 (bottom), were the most popular rifles in Alaska.

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Big Bores and Brown Bears Over on the nearby Kenai Peninsula, Harold Johnson, a gun builder from Cooper Landing, was also looking for a little more bear stopping power than he was currently getting in his old Winchester Model 86 .45-70. After corresponding with gun writer Elmer Keith, he decided to neck up and expand the .348 Winchester case to .45 caliber. Bill Fuller, a machinist friend, ground him a reamer, and barrel maker John Buhmiller sent him a barrel. Harold christened his round the .450 Alaskan and settled on a load of 51.5 grains of IMR-4198 behind a .032-inch copper jacketed, 400grain Barnes bullet. Although never built in any large numbers, the .450 Alaskan earned a solid reputation

All these cartridges offer similar penetration and the ability to kill, but the immediate impact of the larger bores gives a more decisive edge (left to right): .30-06, Nosler 220-grain Partition; .416 Remington Magnum, Hornady 400-grain InterBond; .458 Winchester, Hornady 500-grain InterBond; .505 Gibbs, Barnes 570-grain TSX; and .600 Overkill, 900-grain Woodleigh.

as a first-rate bear stopper and developed a small but vocal cult following. Reloading data, obtained from the first edition of Wolfe Publishing’s Big Bore Rifles and Cartridges shows that while it is possible to reach 2,100 fps with 400-grain bullets, 2,000 fps is a more realistic endeavor. Like most avid rifle loonies, Harold continued experimenting with large bores, and when a client showed

THE FINAL 10 PERCENT alk with serious hunters of dangerous game, and you soon learn that reliability in a rifle is a value esteemed more than bore size or power. It is also the first reason Anglophiles, and especially those with pricy double rifles, offer for the alleged superiority of older English rifles.

as well, but a careful examination will revel crisp, sharp edges and casting marks that do not work together as smoothly and effortlessly as if they had received a final polish and finish. Spending more to purchase a custom rifle will most likely result in a barrel and action with a

In order to be 100 percent reliable, each part of the rifle must work in effortless conjunction with all the others, and that requires some degree of hand-fitting and polishing. It did so 100 years ago and, even with modern steels and an entire alphabet of uber-precise CAD, CAM, CNC and EDM technology, it still does today.

California gunmaker Lon Paul is putting the final 10 percent effort into filing and fitting parts on a custom rifle.

T

Pick up a modern rifle from Ruger, Remington, Kimber or Winchester, and you will find a cleaner, more consistently built rifle than even a decade ago. They are probably more accurate 44

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up one day with a surplus .50 BMG barrel, his wheels immediately began turning. He cut and turned it down to fit one of his original .50110 Model 86 Winchesters. At that time Alaska was flooded with military surplus items, and Harold had no trouble obtaining 750-grain, boat-tail, .50-caliber machine gun bullets that he chopped off behind the ogive. When reversed, they resulted in a tough, deep-penetrating better pedigree that are protected by the latest and greatest rust preventative nano-coating, but unless it is reflected in the invoice, the final fitting most likely entailed little more than loading and sighting in. It is the final fitting, smoothing and polishing, or “the last 10 percent,” as gun builder Jerry Fisher calls it, that turns an otherwise nice looking rifle into a wellbalanced, slick-operating, 100 percent reliable rifle. It is how the best of the turn-of-the-century English gunmakers like Rigby, Holland & Holland, Westley Richards and Purdey earned their reputations. It is also why current names like Fisher, Echols, Miller, Martini and Paul demand a premium. Besides being superb craftsmen, they are also serious hunters who fully understand the numerous nuances required to produce a reliable, big-bore rifle that you can bet your life on. R Rifle Special Edition

Left is the famous Kodiak guide Bill Pinnel’s surplus M-88 commission 8mm rifle that he used on Kodiak bears until replacing the M-88 with a Winchester Model 70 .375 H&H. Below, Phil’s favorite brown bear rifle for the past three decades is a .458 Winchester Magnum.

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Model 70. Although history has proven it a sound concept, the .375 H&H had more than a decade’s head start, and initial sales of the .338 were slow. Demand for the new magnum round remained steady however, and as reports from the

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field trickled in, the .338 Winchester eventually earned its place as the singularly most popular round among guides and those who routinely roamed brown bear country. Today, with widespread Internet access and mega sporting goods stores like Cabela’s, Bass Pro and Sportsman’s Warehouse, Alaskans have the same access to firearms as anywhere else in the lower 48 states. It is not uncommon to find a teacher in Sitka shooting a .338 Lapua Magnum, a guide in Wasilla with a .460 Weatherby Magnum or a trapper in Two Rivers with a .358 Norma Magnum. Although the .30-06 manages to maintain a tenuous grasp as the most popular cartridge in the state, the .223 Remington and the various .300s are close behind in terms of sales. Although the .338 has surpassed the .375 H&H in overall popularity, the .375 Ruger appears to be rapidly supplanting both as the guide’s choice. Its combination of value, portability and reliability, coupled with flat trajectory and raw power is difficult to beat. There are still a few of us graybeards left in the state, however, who are unwilling to sacrifice the marginal advantage offered by our .416s and .458s. When dealing with dangerous game as large, impressively quick and intelligent as brown bears, any advantage can mean the difference between hiring a taxidermist or a surgeon. As anyone who has experience in mortal combat or even a dust-up on the school yard can tell you, stunning or dropping your adversary a fraction of a second quicker or keeping them down a second longer can be a tremendous advantage. It is the best I can offer to describe the elusive big-bore “knockdown power” that hunters, soldiers and ballisticians have striven so long to quantify, and the reason for the continual fascination of powerful, R large-bore rifles.

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Rifle Special Edition

SP Big EC B IAL o ED re ITI ON

Mike Venturino Photos by Yvonne Venturino

B

ack in the heyday of blackpowder cartridges – say, from 1865 to 1895 – in order to make rifles hit harder, there were two options: make the calibers bigger or make the cartridges longer. The best option was to make calibers bigger. Making cartridges longer and pouring more powder into cases netted small rewards. Increasing chamber length to accommodate a case with 30 grains more powder only netted the shooter about 100 to 125 fps more velocity. If a 70-grain charge in a .45 would push a 500-grain bullet through a one-ton bison bull, the extra 100 fps would only make the bullet’s divot in the ground on the bull’s offside slightly deeper.

bore.” As judged by my current shooting interests, a .38-55 is at most a mid-bore, as are all .40caliber, black-powder cartridges, with the possible exception of the .40-2 5⁄8 Inch Sharps Bottleneck (aka, .40-90 Sharps). For the purposes of this article, black-powder cartridges over .40 caliber are big bores, shooting with sufficient power to take game as large as bison or propel a bullet accurately to 1,000 yards in target shooting. There is also the consideration of duplicate cartridges, i.e., those actually being the same dimensionally but bearing different names. For example, what is generically called the .45-90 could be found by two names in the late 1800s. It started out as the .45-2 4⁄10 Sharps and was never loaded with bullets weighing less than 500 grains. Winchester adapted that same length case to its Model 1885 Single Shot and Model 1886 lever action using 300-grain bullets. Then its name was .45-90 WCF (Winchester Center Fire).

Black-Powder

Big Bores Another possible problem with adding more black powder was that it increased the amount of fouling left after each shot; all that additional powder fouling was confined to the same interior bore area. Blackpowder fouling was most definitely a problem in cartridge rifles of the late 1800s. The first factor to consider is: What constitutes a big bore? The answer to that is subjective and relative. A .22 rimfire shooter might consider a .30-06 a big bore. In years gone by, I thought of a .38-55 WCF as a “big 48

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Some cartridges developed by lesser known companies will also be ignored. For instance, Ballard had its own proprietary cartridges, as did Bullard, Maynard and others. Cartridges such as Winchester’s .44 WCF (.44-40) will not be covered herein, because bullet diameter is large enough but its powder charge makes it nowhere near a true big bore.

The Evolution of Big, American Cartridges

Left, black-powder, big-bore rifles are (left to right): a modern Winchester Model 1886 .45-70, original Winchester 1886 .45-90 and an original Marlin Model 1881 .45-70. Above, the primary manner in which early black-powder cartridges were made more powerful was to increase their length. From left to right: .45 basic case, .45-31⁄4 Inch (.45-120), .45-2 7⁄8 Inch (.45-110), .45-2 6⁄10 Inch (.45-100), .45-2 4⁄10 Inch (.45-90) and a .40-82 (also 2 4⁄10-inch case).

Some readers might be thinking that doesn’t leave them much to consider. Well, yes, it does. Between Sharps Rifle Company, Winchester Repeating Arms, Remington Arms Company and Marlin to a lesser extent, there were plenty of big-bore, black-powder rounds developed and sold in significant numbers. As with so many American cartridges that gain significant popularity, the genre of black-powder big bores began with one introduced circa 1866 by the U.S. government, the .50 Government (.50-70). Chambered in Springfield Models 1866, 1868 and 1870 for the U.S. Army, it was quickly adopted by Remington for its post-Civil War rolling-block design. The Sharps outfit followed in 1867 and 1868 by converting paper cartridge Models 1859 and 1863 rifles and carbines to it. The .50 Gov’t was also one of that company’s chamberings for its first sporting rifle, the Model 1869. Government .50-caliber loads used 70 grains of black powder in 1¾-inch straight cases with 450-grain grease groove, conical-shaped bullets. Velocity was rated at 1,250 fps from 32 5⁄8-inch trapdoor Springfield barrels. www.riflemagazine.com

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Black-Powder

Big Bores It was one of the most fired cartridges by both sides during the Plains Indian Wars of the 1860s/ 1870s. What most likely was the second big-bore, black-powder cartridge sold in numbers in the U.S. might strike readers as odd. It was the .43 Spanish developed by Remington primarily for military organizations of Spanish-speaking nations but also cataloged domestically. Loads differed by nations, but Remington’s factory load used .439-inch, 370-grain bullets over 77 grains of powder. Cartridge cases were 21⁄4 inches long and bottlenecked in configuration. Remington’s 1877 catalog listed military-style .43 Spanish rolling-block rifles at $16.50 and a 1,000-round case of factory ammunition at $38.00. Even more odd, almost as soon as the .43 Spanish was developed, Remington came out with another cartridge. Today we call it the .4477. It used the same case dimensions as the .43 Spanish, except it was loaded with bullets no larger than .446 inch. Powder charge and bullet weight remained the same as the Spanish round in Remington’s factory ammunition. When the Sharps Company chose it for its Model 1869 and began offering factory loads, bullets were still 370 grains, but the powder charge was 70 grains. Eventually the powder charge in Sharps cartridges went to 75 grains and bullets to 405

The rifle and carbine .50 Government (.50-70) was America’s first successful big-bore, black-powder cartridge. At left is a U.S. Model 1868 trapdoor Springfield; right is a U.S. Model 1867 Sharps Conversion.

grains. Until the advent of the .45 Government in Sharps single-shot rifles, the .44-77 was a top seller

Winchester’s first successful big-bore, black-powder rifle was the Model 1886. Examples are (left to right): .45-70, .45-90, .45-70 (modern Winchester reproduction) and .50-110.

for Sharps, followed by the .50 Government. The great bison slaughter began in 1871 and caused the Sharps Rifle Company to develop several other big-bore rounds and introduce a new single shot. It actually was

Winchester’s first attempt at a big-bore levergun was the Model 1876 for the .45-60, .45-75 and .50-95 cartridges.

These two rifles for the .44-2 1⁄4 Inch (.44-77) include a Sharps Model 1874 (top) and a Remington No. 1 rolling block Sporting Rifle (bottom).

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merely a remodeled version of the ’69. Usually the new rounds were merely lengthened versions of the .44 and .50 calibers mentioned above. For example, the .44-2 5⁄8 Sharps featured the same case head and bullet diameter as the .44-77, but the powder charge was Rifle Special Edition

upped to 90 grains and bullet weight increased to 450 and 500 grains in Sharps factory ammunition. The same method was used in .50-caliber rifles. The government-designed, 13⁄4-inch case was lengthened to 21⁄2 inches and filled with 100 grains of powder under 425-grain, grease-groove bullets or 473-grain, paper-patched types. Both the .44-90 and .50-90 rounds, as we know them today, were introduced in the early 1870s, but sources vary as to exact year. (The Sharps Company never loaded the .50-21⁄2 inch with less than 100 grains of powder. That .50-90 name we use today came in the 1890s, when Winchester loaded it with only 90 grains.)

the new cartridge to their sporting rifle options. Remington was happy to follow the government’s lead and varied little from the original loads’ components and ballistics. Sharps preferred to offer the new round with a 420-grain paper patch bullet and 75-grain powder charge. Sharps Rifle Company then set about to “improve” on the government’s basic development, using case lengths of 2 4⁄10, 2 6⁄10 and even 2 7⁄8 inches. Interestingly, the first

two “improved” cartridges were billed for target shooting, but the longest one, along with the original 2 1⁄10 -inch versions, were sold in sporting rifles. Bullet weights for the “improved” rounds were (usually) 500 grains up to 550 grains. Their common names today, in the same order, are: .45-90, .45-100 and .45-110. Some readers might be wondering why Remington did not see fit in the 1870s to adapt its rolling

Until the advent of .45-caliber cartridges, pioneered as usual by the U.S. government, the big-bore, black-powder cartridge situation remained static. Some evidence of this has appeared in the findings of archeologists digging at the Adobe Walls site in the Texas Panhandle. There in June 1874, a fight occurred between about 28 buffalo hunters and several hundred Comanche, Kiowa and Southern Cheyenne warriors. From behind the settlement’s walls, the buffalo hunters beat off the Indians, suffering only three deaths, all during the initial charge. Exact Indian deaths are not known, except that the bodies of 13 warriors could not be retrieved by them. Several more were. The archeologists recovered numerous fired cartridges and even loaded rounds from the building sites. Except for pistol cartridge cases, all were .44-77, .44-90, .5070 and .50-90. After years of experimentation, the U.S. Army’s Ordnance Board settled on a .45-caliber cartridge with a case length of 2 1⁄10 inches and a grease-groove bullet of 405 grains, .457 inch in diameter. Powder charge was 70 grains. During the next 20 years, a carbine load with only 55 grains of powder was adopted, and in the 1880s, a rifle load came with a 500-grain bullet over the 70-grain charge. Both Remington and Sharps quickly added 2014

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Black-Powder

Big Bores This Remington No. 1 military rifle is chambered as .43 Spanish, one of the early big-bore, black-powder cartridges offered by Remington.

block to Sharps’ longer cartridges. The answer is in the basic design of the rolling block. Longer cartridges would not clear the lowered hammer and breechblock, although Remington eventually did make target rifles for its own version of .44 using a short 2 7⁄16-inch case length. Because the Sharps Model 1874 (introduced in 1871) was a falling-block design, any length of cartridge could slip right into its chambers. During the 1870s, Oliver Winchester must have felt sorely put upon. His newfangled repeating rifles were popular except to those hunters going after truly big game, such as

Winchester’s Model 1876 (bottom) was more or less a remodeled, larger version of the Model 1873 (top).

elk, moose, grizzly bear and, of course, bison. So by 1876 the Winchester Repeating Arms Company tried to upsize the Model 1876 so it could compete with Sharps and Remington single-shot rifles. Only two of its four cartridges barely make my self-imposed criteria for black-powder, big-bore status. They are the .45-75 WCF and .50-95 WCF. The Model 1876 was limited to cartridge length, so these rounds only have case lengths of 1.89 and 1.94 inches in the same order. Their factory load bullet weights were also light for their diameters at 350 and 300 grains, respectively. The Model 1876 Winchester sold in fewer numbers than any other Winchester levergun.

After the failure of the 1876’s cartridges to gain a solid following, Winchester stayed out of the bigbore rifle market until John M. Browning joined its engineering staff. When his Model 1885 single shot appeared, the company billed it as an improvement on the basic Sharps style of action, i.e., a falling block. Thusly it could accept any cartridge length, and among the 80-plus Winchester single-shot chamberings were two immense ones. The company lengthened the basic .45 and .50 Sharps rounds detailed above to 3½ inches. Today such rounds are called .45-120 Sharps and .50-140 Sharps. Neither were ever Sharps cartridges. They were also failures in Winchester’s single shot merely be-

Black-Powder Big-Bore Load Data cartridge (inches)

bullet/mould (grains/inch)

.43 Spanish (21⁄4) .44-77 (21⁄4) .45 Gov’t (21⁄10) .45-70 (21⁄10)

397 RCBS 43-370-FN, .440 405 T. Ballard Custom, .446 520 Lyman 457125, .458 410 RCBS 45-405-FN, .458 503 Pioneer Custom Paper Patch, .451 .45-90 WCF (24⁄10) 324 RCBS 45-300-FN, .458 .45-90 Sharps (24⁄10) 530 Lyman 457132, .458 .45-100 Sharps (26⁄10) 533 Redding 745, .458 .45-110 Sharps (27⁄8) 544 Brooks Custom, .458 .50 Gov’t (13⁄4) 450 Lyman 515141, .512 .50-90 Sharps (21⁄2) 450 Lyman 515141, .512 .50-110 WCF (24⁄10) 314 NEI 372, .509

powder

GOEX FFg Swiss 1½ Fg Swiss 1½ Fg GOEX FFg Swiss 1½ Fg GOEX FFg Swiss 1½ Fg Swiss 1½ Fg GOEX FFg Swiss 1½ Fg Swiss 1½ Fg GOEX FFg

charge (grains)

velocity (fps)

75.0 77.0 60.0 60.0 60.0 82.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 70.0 100.0 105.0

1,391 1,336 1,168 1,180 1,131 1,516 1,170 1,284 1,373 1,274 1,461 1,726

rifle

Remington No. 1 Sharps M1874 U.S. M1873 Marlin M1881 Sharps M1874 Winchester M1886 Sharps M1874 Sharps M1874 Sharps M1874 Remington No. 1 Sharps M1874 Winchester M1886

barrel length (inches)

group (inches)

321⁄2 30 325⁄8 28 28 26 30 32 34 28 30 26

2.625 4.250 2.875 2.625 .750 4.250 1.500 2.250 3.375 2.000 3.750 5.750

Notes: All bullets except .44-77 were cast of one-to-20 (tin-to-lead) alloy. Bullets for the .44-77 were cast of one-to-40 (tin-to-lead) alloy. All loads used Federal 215 Large Rifle Magnum primers. All bullets lubricated with SPG, except the paper-patched load that had SPG as a .25-inch lube wad between powder and bullet. Cases used: BELL Basic for .43 Spanish and .44-77; Winchester for .45 Gov’t; Starline for .45-70 Paper Patch, .45-90 Sharps and Winchester, .45-100, .50 Gov’t and .50-90; Norma for .45-110; Bertram for .50-110. Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.

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Rifle Special Edition

Black-Powder

Big Bores

Above, Winchester’s first attempt at a true big-bore, black-powder cartridge was the .45-75 WCF (right). Prior to it, Winchester only offered the .44 Henry Rimfire (left) and the .44 WCF/.44-40 (center). Right, these handloads represent the three best-selling cartridges for the Sharps Model 1874 (left to right): .44-2 1⁄4 Inch (.44-77), .45 Government (.45-70) and .50 Government (.50-70).

cause they were too much of a good thing. Recoil was horrendous, and as said, their only advantage was to make a larger hole in the ground after their bullets passed through a game animal.

With the Model 1886 levergun, Winchester finally did enter the big-bore, black-powder cartridge market – barely. Marlin actually beat them to the punch with the Model 1881 and .45-70 Marlin cartridge. Special factory ammunition using flatnose bullets was developed for it due to magazine explosions with the governmentstyle roundnose bullets. Winchester first offered .45-70 and .45-90 chambers in that model but varied them greatly in one respect. The .45-70 had a rifling twist rate of one turn in 20 inches that would stabilize longer bullets up to 500 grains. The .45-90 ’86s were meant for light, 300-grain bullets and used one-in-32-inch twist rates. With a velocity of at least 1,500 fps, the .45-90 was suitable for elk and moose, but perhaps such a light bullet would not give suitable penetration on bison. Winchester’s last attempt for a truly big-bore, black-powder cartridge was its .50 that came in both the levergun and single shot. The .50-110 Express used a 300-grain bullet over 110 grains of black powder. As best as my research has been able to determine, rifling twist rate was one turn in 60 inches. The second version used the same 2.40-inch case but with 100 grains of black powder and 450-grain bullets. Again, as best I

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Rifle Special Edition

can determine, its rifling twist rate was one turn in 54 inches. Both cartridges could safely be fired in rifles meant for either, but best performance would come when cartridges were mated with proper rifling twist rates. Neither of Winchester’s .50-caliber rounds sold that well in leverguns. Model 1886s chambered for .50-110 were made to the tune of about 6,000, but only about 10 percent were made for the cartridge using 450-grain bullets.

2014

Left, handloads provided this group using 500-grain paper patch bullets in an original Model 1874 .45-70. Center, despite a less-than-perfect bore, a Remington No. 1 rolling block Sporting Rifle is capable of this sort of accuracy with blackpowder handloads. Right, Mike has experienced less precision with big-bore, blackpowder loads in repeating rifles than in single shots. Usually the first three cut a triangle, but the next two rounds made a five-shot group much larger due to black-powder fouling buildup.

For nearly 30 years, a great portion of my writing career centered on reloading and shooting the rifles and cartridges mentioned in this article. That included casting bullets as close to factory original as possible and propelling them in original rifles by means of straight black-powder charges. Here and there some big-game

hunting was also done with them. My book Shooting Lever Guns of the Old West is sold by Wolfe Publishing Co., and Shooting Buffalo Rifles of the Old West should be in Wolfe’s 2015 catalog. For load data to detail the black-powder cartridges described in this magazine, I have leaned on the work done R for both of those books.

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SP Big EC B IAL o ED re ITI ON

Jack Ballard

“B

igger is better,” or so the saying goes in American culture; but at certain points in history, and in relation to particular products and pastimes, “bigger is better” is as appropriately interpreted in terms of power rather than mass.

Straight-Walled Cartridges with Muscle to Spare Take the American automobile in the 1960s, when gasoline gushed into the tank of a Lincoln Continental at the rate of 30¢ a gallon; bigger, as in “interior seating for a family of nine,” ruled the day. The 1969 model nudged the curb at over 5,000 pounds with a length of 18.67 feet and a width of 6.65 feet. Alongside aspirations for behemoth luxury also existed the unquenchable thirst for raw power thrust from a cast-iron V-8 coupled to a limited-slip differential and 15-inch biasply tires, most compellingly represented by the Chrysler 426 Hemi conservatively estimated at 425 horsepower. Nowadays, 4 cylinders hum out as much horsepower as bygone V-8s. In some respects, the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century is an era in firearm and cartridge development that parallels the advancement of the automobile in the 1960s. Cartridges grew physically bigger and ever more powerful, a phenomenon thrust into overdrive with the development of smokeless powder. One American, an individual very much in the public eye, reflected the sentiments of the era’s aspiring gun buyers. He also commanded the resources to realize them. President Theodore Roosevelt triggered his way through a veritable arsenal of rifles in his lifetime. “As much a progressive where rifles were concerned as he was politically,” writes Dan Aadland, who has penned a book and numerous articles on the hunting exploits of the late president. It thus comes as no surprise then, to the student of history, to discover that T.R. became infatuated with the .405 Winchester, a 56

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Big Med Rifle Special Edition

These big-bore levergun loads are (left to right): .444 Marlin (Hornady 265 grain), .450 Marlin (Hornady 350 grain) and .45-70 (Remington 405 grain).

straight-walled cartridge designed for, not converted to, the use of smokeless powder. The .405 was wedded to Winchester’s Model 1895, a lever action with a box magazine. Roosevelt loved lever rifles. Of poor eyesight by his own admission, the lever-action repeaters allowed him several quick shots, an attribute some commentators suspect made amends for a first shot triggered shy of the mark.

icine for Elk 2014

After fulfilling his term as president, Roosevelt and son Kermit set sail for Africa in 1909 on an extended safari. Rifles for the trip included three 1895s chambered for the .405 Winchester. In a later magazine article, Roosevelt concluded, “The Winchester .405 is, at least for me personally, the medicine gun for lions.” T.R. also dispatched Cape buffalo, rhino and even elephant with the .405. The cartridge was eventually nicknamed “Big Medicine,” though Roosevelt himself never referred to it as such. The idea of “Big Medicine” for African game seems mirrored in the sentiment of hunters who tout big-bore cartridges for North Amerwww.riflemagazine.com

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Big Medicine for Elk

ican game, but at this point terminology eludes simplicity like a garter snake dipped in olive oil in the hands of a crock-hunter wannabe preschooler. Big bore implies some minimum cartridge diameter, but let’s take it a step farther. In my swatch of the American outback (Montana), no one will dispute the rotund dimensions of the .375 H&H Magnum or the .375 Dakota. But most shooters think of those as magnums whether they’re technically designated as such or not. The .416 Rigby? Maybe not a magnum but certainly not a big bore, though it, too, has a bull neck. Searching for commonality among the cartridges Rocky Mountain hunters might routinely tout as big bores from the bully-pulpit leads me to the following conclusions. First, a big-bore cartridge has a straight case. As soon as it’s necked, even a wee bit, it doesn’t

seem quite so, well, big. Drop the neck on a cartridge, and it’s one step closer to qualifying as a big bore. This, of course, in the minds of those wielding sharp pencils and who are sticklers for consistency, implies a .22 Long Rifle is a big bore. Not in a culture where the average medium-sized soft drink at fast-food restaurants measures a full 30 ounces. (Compare that to a 1950’s soft drink ad for RC Cola touting “2 full glasses in each 12 oz. king-sized can!”) So let’s speedily dispense of the diameter in question. To classify as a selfrespecting big bore, a cartridge needs a diameter of at least .375, better yet, .40. Nearly finished, let’s add one more qualifier to the definition. There is a certain amount of implied clout when you start refer-

ring to rifle cartridges in terms like Big Medicine and big bore. Modest cartridges like the .38-55 WCF that meet the other criteria need not apply. In the hunting circles of the northern Rocky Mountains, there’s another class of cartridges that

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pass the big-bore test but to which the elk-stalkers aren’t referring when they speak of big-bore hunting rifles. Those are the straightwalled, .40+ calibers commonly associated with African hunting and dangerous game, shells stuffed into English side-by-sides and the like, never darkening the bores of the oh, so American lever actions. It’s not that a Wyoming wapiti

For years, Jack has favored big levergun cartridges, along with open sights, when elk hunting.

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This close-up compares bullet diameter of the .243 Winchester on left (Remington 100 grain) to the .444 Marlin on right (Hornady 265 grain).

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hunter disregards the mass or potency of a 465-grain monolithic solid slung from a .458 Lott. He just doesn’t relate to it, much less the .500 Nitro Express, which has a much longer history as an African cartridge, its black-powder version spawned into the latter decades of the nineteenth century. Sadly, Roosevelt’s beloved .405 Winchester is essentially unknown to rank-and-file hunters, not only in the West but also the country as a whole, a big bore languishing on the verge of extinction as a commercial cartridge. While Roosevelt’s endorsement of the round as a lion-stopper hastened its popularity in some circles, it may also Rifle Special Edition

Above, one of a dozen bulls Jack took with a .444 Marlin. Right, the same rifle and cartridge are not too big for whitetails.

have cemented its association with African game versus American. The most devastating blow to its continued existence came in 1931,

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when Winchester ceased production of the Model 1895, the rifle most widely chambered for the .405. In 2001 Winchester tooled a

limited run of commemorative 1895s in the .405 Winchester, and Hornady provided a 300-grain factory load a year later. Winchester’s

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Big Medicine for Elk website now lists the “new” 1895s as “historic products” with the last produced in 2011, a development not likely to revive “Big Medicine.” What cartridges do western hunters view as big bores? Three straight-walled, .40+ caliber cartridges easily come to mind, the .45-70, .444 Marlin and .450 Marlin. These three American big bores are chambered for a variety of production rifles (mostly lever actions) by a number of manufacturers, among whom are Browning, Marlin and Winchester. Factory ammunition is available from various ammunition giants and boutique cartridge makers like Buffalo Bore of St. Ignatius, Montana (www.buffalobore.com). In short, if you’re a production rifle and factory ammunition kind of guy, there’s a big bore suitable for the elk hunt. How do they stack up as elk cartridges? To make such an evaluation, let’s first clear up a common misconception about elk hunting, at least in the northern Rocky Mountains. Elk are infrequently killed at ranges beyond 250 yards. In my 35 years as an elk hunter, I’ve downed more than a few of the big brown creatures. On only three occasions have shots ranged beyond 150 yards. I walloped a spike at around 400 yards with a .444 Marlin, a 5-point at roughly 350 yards, utilizing a .338 Federal, and a small 6-point at 240 paces with a .243 Winchester. Pay little heed to clamor of the 450-yard elk takers. If the rifle and the shooter are sufficient to punch a 600-pound critter in the vitals at 200 or 250 yards, the pair can make elk medicine. Big-bore cartridges shine at such ranges. Pretty much any of the more potent factory loads for the .444 Marlin, .45-70 or .450 Marlin are packing 1,500 foot-pounds or more energy at 200 yards, plenty to supplant an elk. However, two Rifle Special Edition

other factors are more important when stacking the relatively slow moving bullets from a big bore against zippier, more popular elk rounds, such as the .270 Winchester. The bullet weight from the big bore is nearly double, or more than double, that of the other cartridge. This yields more momentum, a measure of power that places equal emphasis on weight and velocity (mass x velocity) versus energy as a gauge of power that strongly favors velocity (1⁄2 mass x velocity squared).

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Physics aside, there are few hunters who fail to appreciate a bullet’s ability to both penetrate and expand, the first factor important to metal reaching the vitals of an animal, the second required to create a lethal wound channel. It can be fruitfully argued that the farther a bullet expands, the greater its potential for fragmentation, a characteristic roundly criticized in hunting bullets. A decently expanded bullet from a .270 is about the same diameter as a big-bore bullet leaving the muzzle. The engineering challenges of making a bullet that both penetrates and expands sufficiently to dispatch weighty animals like elk fade as bore diameter increases. If a .45-caliber bullet slung from a big bore penetrates to the vitals of a broadside bull at 250 yards (which it will), expansion is a nonissue. Over the past several decades, I’ve read numerous articles on the .444 Marlin, the cartridge that has accounted for more harvested elk at my family camp in the past decade than any other. The author is typically a whitetail hunter who almost invariably publishes some irritating disclaimer about the cartridge in relation to elk, along the lines of “the .444 is a fine short- to medium-range cartridge for deer that may also work for elk.” I’ll stand that one on its head. The .444 Marlin is an excellent elk round that also works for deer, as is its big-bore kin. When it comes to elk cartridges, bigger may not be betR ter, but it’s at least as good. 2014

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SP Big EC B IAL o ED re ITI ON

Terry Wieland

W

inston Churchill was in his early 30s when, as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, he journeyed to British East Africa. Landing at Mombasa, he boarded the train for Uganda. Along the way, Churchill and his party paused often to see the country and do some big-game hunting. Churchill was an army officer, veteran of several colonial wars, a good shot and a cool man under fire. During Kitchener’s campaign to retake the Sudan in 1898, he was cut off from his troop and killed four attacking tribesmen with his broomhandle Mauser. Hunting in Uganda, he was armed with a .450 rifle when he was charged by a rhinoceros, and dropped the animal almost at his feet. It is intriguing to imagine what the history of the twentieth century might have been, had the rhino won the contest. On that day, Churchill may have been shooting a Rigby .450 Nitro Express or a Holland & Holland .500/.450. He was a client of both companies. It makes little difference,

Big Enough and Small Enough Above, this custom .450 Ackley is built on an FN Supreme action by Siegfried Trillus. Right, a .450 Ackley.

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Rifle Special Edition

Why the .450 Is the Best All-Around Big Bore

In 1854, machine-tool expert Sir Joseph Whitworth was asked by the British government to find a better rifle to replace its .577 muskets. After extensive research, Whitworth determined that .450 inch was the optimum caliber for combining power, range and accuracy. He improved the existing Enfield musket in various ways and adapted it to his new .451-inch bullet design. This was the beginning of the .450’s dominance. After 1860, as cartridge rifles replaced muzzleloaders, .45 became the most popular caliber for rifles of all kinds, including the military, hunting and target-shooting. There were so many .45 black-powder variations, it is impossible to count them all. Every riflemaker, it seemed, had his own design. They were long and short, bottleneck and straight; bullets included solid lead, hollowbase and hollowpoint. They were both paper patched and lubricated lead, ranged in weight from 250 to 500 grains and were fired at velocities from 1,200 to 1,800 fps.

since they are ballistically identical, firing a 480-grain bullet at 2,150 fps. This performance, established by Rigby when it introduced the .450 Nitro Express in 1898, became and remains the benchmark for killing power in any dangerous-game rifle. The .450 is one of the oldest, and certainly the most popular and widespread, of all the big-bore calibers. Its bullet diameter, for most uses, is .458 inch, and many newer cartridges, including the .458 Winchester Magnum and .458 Lott, use that designation. By any name, however, they are all part of the family of “Big .450s.” The .450 spans both smokeless and black-powder cartridges and goes all the way back to muzzleloaders. We first encounter it in military and target rifles, the most famous being the Whitworth variation on the British Enfield (caliber .450) used by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. The Whitworth fires a hexagonal bullet that fits the unique Whitworth rifling and gives both accuracy and killing power to 1,000 yards and beyond. 2014

With black powder, the .450 was unchallenged as the best all-around caliber. Its heavy bullet carried easily out to 1,000 yards and resisted wind drift. As a target rifle, it could be extremely accurate. For hunting, its heavy bullets had sufficient killing power for all except dangerous game. The .450 was regarded in England as a stalking rifle for red stag; in America, it was the quintessential buffalo gun, with enough power for the big bears. When England adopted a single-shot military rifle in 1871, it was the .577/.450 Martini-Henry; in America, two years later, it was the .45-70 chambered in the trapdoor Springfield. Ammunition for the .45-70 has been in continuous production ever since 1873, in spite of perennial proclamations of obsolescence. Even today, the .45-70 has adherents for both target shooting and hunting. With smokeless powder, it is even better than it was with black, exhibiting another trait of the .450s: Most of the favorite black-powder calibers, including the .40, .44 and .50, lost ground with the move to smokeless. With the .45-70, smokewww.riflemagazine.com

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Big Enough and Small Enough less only improved it, and it was even used in the first “auto feed” weapons, being adapted to the Gatling gun in 1881. Not surprisingly, with the arrival of smallbore smokeless cartridges, the .45-70 went through a period of decline, but it hung on and then fought back. Today, it is more popular than at any time since 1900. In England, the .450 Express 3 1⁄4 Inch was the best of the myriad black-powder .450s. By coincidence, it is almost identical in case size and configuration to the American .45-120. Both are rimmed, straight cases and more than 3.0 inches long. The .45-120 came along too late to take part in the slaughter of the buffalo; the .450s involved in that were the .45-70, .45-90, .45-100 and .45-110. Still, the .45120 has become symbolic of the age, and there are probably more .45-120s in use today than there were in the 1880s.

Modern .450s (left to right): .458 Winchester Magnum, .458 Lott, .450 Ackley, .460 Short A-Square, .450 Dakota and .460 Weatherby Magnum.

If one were forced to pick the one .450 that is the very best with black powder, it would be the .450 Express 3 1⁄4 Inch. It holds 120 grains of powder and can achieve 1,700 fps with a 300-grain bullet. Original loads approached 1,800 fps. Devotees of the .45-70 may quarrel with that assessment, and for some uses, they might be right. It is not surprising, however, that Rigby of London chose that case when deciding it was time to put a large helping of smokeless powder behind a jacketed bullet and create the first “nitro express.” This landmark cartridge was not the result of a sudden brain wave on the part of Rigby’s designers, nor did it work on the first try. Rigby’s records tell the story of its development through the listing of barrels and actions that were built, tested and discarded before the combination of thickness, The .450 Nitro Express 31⁄4 Inch has been in continuous production since its introduction in 1898. Its ballistics – a 480-grain bullet at 2,150 fps – defines not only the ballistics of the .450 family but of dangerous-game rifles generally.

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weight and length that worked was found. Firearm scholars point to the introduction of the .450 Nitro Express as one of the turning points in firearms history, and some wonder why it took so long coming. After all, the French adopted a military smokeless-powder cartridge, the 8mm Lebel, in 1886, and other countries quickly followed suit. Why the delay? Compared with a hard-hitting cartridge for dangerous game, those developments were relatively straightforward. Rigby’s difficulty was not merely creating an action strong enough to handle the higher pressures of smokeless; it also needed a rifle that could withstand the recoil. The development involved the use of new steels for barrels and actions – in fact, a redesign from the ground up of every aspect of double-rifle making. Although the resulting double rifles look much like their previous black-powder counterparts, there are many differences, most of which (like the quality of the steel) are invisible to the eye. Rifle Special Edition

The .450 Express 3 1⁄4 Inch fits between the .40s, exemplified by the .40-70 Straight Sharps (left), and the .500 Express 3 1⁄4 Inch (right). The .45s were just right for the widest variety of uses.

used mainly by die-hards and settlers who could not afford the price of a nitro express from Rigby, Holland & Holland or W.J. Jeffery. The .450 NE proved to be exactly right: powerful enough for anything, yet small enough that it could be chambered in a rifle that was comfortable both to carry and to shoot.

The .450 Nitro Express was an almost instant success. Although big, black-powder dangerous-game rifles continued to be made into the 1920s, chambered for huge cartridges like the .577 Express or as 10- and 8-bore rifles, they were

2014

British gunmakers have always preferred to have proprietary cartridges for their own rifles. Under this system, a company like Holland & Holland contracted with an ammunition maker like Kynoch that would make ammunition and sell it only to H&H. Holland would, in turn, sell it to its clients, and it was the only source of ammunition. This has pros and cons; most Americans look only at the disadvantages, but there were positive aspects too. For one thing, in an

age of more generous tolerances, it guaranteed H&H quality in H&H ammunition and kept the company’s clients alive. There were some proprietary .450s, including Holland’s .500/.450 (the .500 3 1⁄4 Inch necked down) but most makers used either the .450 NE or the huge .450 No. 2, designed and released “to the trade” by Eley Brothers around 1902. In 1905, however, it all ground to a halt when the British government forbade India and the Sudan to import .450-caliber ammunition. The fear was that, in the Sudan, the bullets might be used in the large numbers of Martini-Henry rifles that had been captured by the Mahdi’s forces before Kitchener’s reconquest. India, however, was the greater concern. It was the jewel in the crown, of vastly more importance than all of Africa put together, and there were always revolts, rebellions and unrest on its borders with Afghan-

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Since India was a much larger market for the English gunmakers, they all but abandoned the .450 at that point and designed comparable cartridges that would be legal in India. It says much about the .450 that the cartridges developed to replace it, including the .470 Nitro Express and Holland’s .500/.465, sought to duplicate its ballistics as far as possible, rather than going radically up or down in diameter. Both .400s and .500s already existed, but neither exhibited the sterling all-around qualities of the .450. In America, from 1900 until 1956, the factory .45s consisted of the .45-70 and little else. Then Winchester shocked the world with its .458 Winchester Magnum – a straight, belted cartridge chambered in the Model 70 bolt action, intended for use against elephant, Cape buffalo and other large and dangerous critters.

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In a stroke, the .458 Winchester Magnum displaced virtually all the .450 wildcats, most of which were based on the .375 H&H case necked up, trimmed and blown out. These had sprung up through the 1930s and 1940s and included some fairly well known numbers, including the .450 Watts (used by Jack O’Connor on several safaris) and the .450 Ackley. Winchester’s .458 advertised the ballistics of the .450 NE without actually delivering them, but even so, it became a standard on African safaris with both clients and professional hunters. Aside from offering an economical alternative to the increasingly expensive English doubles and bolt actions, the .458 Winchester Magnum brought big bores to the attention of the American public. Many shooters bought them knowing they would never be taken to Africa, but just owning one gave a man a sense of connection with safaris and dangerous game. The .458’s shortcomings in actual use – its heavily compacted powRifle Special Edition

der gave ignition problems – provoked Jack Lott into developing his .458 Lott. Lott’s cartridge was simply a .458 Winchester Magnum lengthened by 0.3 inch, allowing more powder without compression. It has since become a standard chambering, with lots of factory ammunition available. The Lott delivers the goods (i.e., .450 NE ballistics) without excessive pressures. For the average man going on safari, the Lott is, from every angle, the best choice for a big rifle. With .450s once again getting some attention, a few riflemakers used the caliber as the basis for new cartridges intended specifically for Alaska’s big bears. These included the very short, belted .450 Marlin and the wildcat, rimmed .450 Alaskan, both designed for use in lever-action rifles. The .450 also made a comeback in target shooting. Led by the .4570, it is a popular caliber for both long-range black-powder target and silhouette shooting. Some rifles are also made in .45-90 for cowboy action.

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When Don Allen designed a family of cartridges for his Dakota rifles in the 1990s, the .450 was the largest. Essentially a .416 Rigby necked up to .450, its case is similar to both the .450 Rigby, introduced around 1995, and the belted .460 Weatherby Magnum of 1958. Although these bulky cartridges require a magnum action, they are remarkably versatile. They can be handloaded to deliver ballistics significantly sharper than the .458 Lott, while keeping pressures down and recoil tolerable. A 500-grain bullet at 2,400 fps is practically effortless, and with their large case capacity, bullets as heavy as 600 grains can be loaded to useful velocities without either powder compression or excessive pressures. Sir Joseph Whitworth’s analysis of calibers occurred 160 years ago, yet his conclusion that .450 inch was the best overall has never been contradicted, even with the advent of smokeless powder, jacketed bullets and modern rifles. R 2014

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SP Big EC B IAL o ED re ITI ON

Ganyana

P

rior to the advent of big-bore, smokeless-powder cartridges, the standard African dangerous game gun was a 4- or 6gauge smoothbore. The Boer hunters favored very long barrels so they could rest the butt of the gun on the ground and reload while still mounted. The British tended to hunt more on foot, so 23- to 28-inch guns were produced by the London and Birmingham manufacturers; but not all men found their performance satisfactory. Explorer F.C. Selous wrote that the recoil from the three 4-bores he used was so severe that it affected his shooting for the rest of his life, and an accidental double charge one day after a cap misfired resulted in a broken collar bone. Sir Samuel Baker, though, had “Baby” built for him, a 2-bore that fired 8-ounce exploding shells or 10-ounce conical bullets or charges of buckshot. There is a drawing in Sir Samuel’s book on his South African adventure of him firing “Baby” from horseback, and the horse’s rear legs are buckling! Still, Sir Samuel lived a far more adventurous life than most of the great explorers of the day – a couple of trips to Africa and India, brown bear in eastern Russia, buying a bride at slave auction in what was then Turkish-ruled Bulgaria. (He didn’t intend to marry her, but he then had to fight to get her out of the country – 10 ounces of buckshot was quite persuasive.) The third option was that taken by the eccentric Scottish landowner Sir William Gordon-Cummings. Apart from always wearing a kilt, he killed most of his lion, leopard and buffalo with his sword, a great 6-foot long, two-handed Claymore of the old style. He collected more trophies of different African species than most and had more clashes with hostile tribesmen than most. So, away from elephant and rhino, the best “stopping power” prior to 1890 came from a sword! The advent of cartridge-firing, black-powder guns did little to alter matters, except that barrels generally got shorter. I have owned a 6-bore double by W.W. Greener and used an underlever, single-shot 4-bore, both with 20-inch barrels. I have also guided three clients using black-powder guns on elephant. One used an authentic replica of Selous’ main 4-bore gun. We found it could kill a big bull elephant with a side shot to either heart or brain but could not drive even a hardened ball into an elephant’s brain from the 68

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Stop Thick cover is the traditional place where you want stopping power. Ganyana prefers the speed of an accurate shot, so he often uses an optical sight.

front. One of the others was hunting tuskless and quickly discovered that elephants charge the smoke. He got one – and enough excitement for a couple of years. Prior to the arrival of the .450 Nitro Express (NE), I don’t believe anything could “stop” a charging elephant or rhino. Faced with this fact, many hunters, including the likes of Selous, became smallbore fans, small being anything under .500 in black-powder days. His Gibbs No. 1 threw a hardened, 570-grain bullet at about 1,300 fps, and the Gibbs rifles are the ones he constantly praised. No, they would not kill an elephant from front-on, but they would from the side, the same as a 4-bore, so why put up with the added reRifle Special Edition

Opinions have shifted in the last 120 years.

ping Power coil? In truth, elephant and rhino were getting increasingly scarce in many areas. By 1900 the estimated population of elephants in modern-day Zimbabwe was down to around 2,000. There are now over 120,000. The rinderpest epidemic of 1895/96 killed off 90+ percent of the buffalo north of the Limpopo, so for most folk, a rifle needed to kill a stock-raiding lion and cleanly kill plains game up to the size of eland (1,800 pounds). Bear this in mind when reading old accounts: A stopping rifle was there to stop lion, nothing bigger. Lion were a real problem! They were very common, but the rinderpest epidemic had killed over 80 percent of their normal prey, so suddenly people, along with their horses and donkeys, were added to the menu. (Only ungulates were affected by the epi2014

demic.) In British East Africa (now Kenya), you had the infamous man-eating lions of Tsavo. In Rhodesia, lion ate over 120 men working on the road north from Fort Salisbury (Harare) to Lusaka and the Otto Biet Bridge at Chirundu. The two men who sorted out the lion problem in the Zambezi Valley were the Seventh Day Adventist doctor at Ricomachi mission, who used a Farquharson single shot (almost certainly black powder) and mainly himself as bait, and a great-uncle of mine who preferred daylight tracking of man-eaters and used a Colt Lightning! The doctor shot at night, seldom at a range of more than 10 paces, while Angus Ross relied on starting shooting at longer range and multiple hits to break a charge. Neither method is for the faint-hearted! Farther north, elephant populations were still www.riflemagazine.com

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Left, buffalo taken in open country need accurate shot placement, not “stopping power.” Above, male lion are deceptively big.

healthy, and from 1890 all major British gunmakers offered some sort of rifle suitable for hunting them. The .450 NE and .450/.400 could kill elephant, rhino or hippo from any angle and are the first cartridges that can be considered as possessing any real stopping power. After the .450 NE was banned from use in British territories by politicians who were worried rebels in Sudan and Afghanistan would use the components to reload ammunition for their Martini-Henrys, each British company introduced its own version of a “legal” .450 NE. (In truth, the smokeless powder would probably have blown more than a few rifles, and the hard, nickel-jacketed bullets would have worn out barrels in short order.)

phased out and replaced with .458 Winchesters, but every station had a “jesse gun,” a short (18 to 20 inches) Army and Navy .500 NE for use when things were definitely not going right. As always, there was the smallbore crowd who believed in shot placement over raw rifle power to deal with dangerous game. My father was the last man to hold a professional ivory hunters license in Rhodesia and used an 8x57mm given to him by the ultimate smallbore fan, Walter “Karamojo” Bell, as a 21st birthday present in 1939. As a teenager, my primary source

of income was from the bounties paid for stock-raiding leopard and occasionally lion. I speak !xo, the bushman language, and along Zimbabwe’s western border could always scrape up a teenage bushman to do the tracking for me. I had a 7x57mm (a 14th birthday present) and a little Honda 7cc monkey bike for transport. Leopard were easy; the 7mm bowled them over quite satisfactorily. I borrowed a .404 for my first (unsuccessful) lion hunt and later got my first lion with the 7mm. We had a war on at the time; I’ll take 3-to-1 odds against a gang

Elephant hunting in thick brush is close-range work. A bull is large and very intimidating to the novice.

Initially the .470 Nitro Express emerged the winner, but it was definitely a middle-of-the-road option. The .500 NE and the .577 NE had a definite following, particularly among those who hunted in thick jungle. (Only about 23 original .600 NE rifles were ever made.) The jesse in Zimbabwe’s Zambezi Valley is a good example of thick cover. When I joined the parks department, the .404s were being

Stopping Power 70

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Rifle Special Edition

Above is Ganyana’s first elephant – “stopped” with a 7x57mm. Right, when following a wounded buffalo in these conditions, no rifle ever seems big enough.

of AK-47 wielding guerrillas over being undergunned and taking on a mature, man-eating lion any day. By the time I was 16, I had saved enough bounty money to buy my first car, having split the bounty 50-50 with the bushmen teens who acted as my trackers. When I turned 18, the war was still on, and we were in the grips of the

2014

worst rabies outbreak recorded, which later proved to have been a test of an airborne form of rabies in biological warfare. Due to my childhood interest in bats, I had been recruited by the veterinary department the year before to collect blood samples from bats. The South African Military

Intelligence had wanted the samples, but we never worked that out until revealed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996. We had thousands of rabid jackals, kudu (still don’t understand that one), hyena and lion and a government policy of eradicating buffalo outside the national parks as a disease control meas-

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Stopping Power ure. This later proved to be a false threat but only after having exterminated 80,000 buffalo in western Zimbabwe. My first experience with a mankilling elephant that had killed seven tribesmen (mainly due to having an old, rusted five-gallon drum stuck around his front right foot) left me a smallbore fan. The issue Winchester .458 Winchester Magnum failed to kill (due to faulty ammunition, as I learned afterward), and I brought the animal down with a shot from my 7mm Mauser. On the buffalo culls, there were those who liked big-bore rifles and those who relied on multiple hits from a 7.62 NATO (aka, .308 Winchester) battle rifle. There were also those who liked a .458 Winchester and up. I chose the middle way, going with the 9.3x62. With stripper clips it provided adequate firepower for our rather too-frequent encounters with antigovernment guerrilla forces, while providing enough stopping power to deal with buffalo driven by a helicopter into a waiting line of shooters. My father, a silent man on a good day (As a teenager we could go a month without speaking to each other.), expressed his support for my choice of the 9.3, saying he had never seen a better rifle for crocodile (see the book Crocodile Trader), elephant, buffalo or lion ( See Urungwe by Trevor Heath). Considering our stony relationship, that was some praise, and I became a smallbore man, using the 9.3 or issue battle rifle in 7.62 NATO to deal with all problems – gangs of guerrillas or rabid lion. Years later, as senior ecologist in the national parks department, a phone call alerted me that an old miner-cum-rancher named Trevor Heath had shot 17 bull elephant in 72

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his orchard without the parks department’s permission and had beaten the local provincial warden who had tried to arrest him. A quick check proved that in our area no parks permission was required and that the provincial warden’s attempted arrest could be fairly presented as assault. It had taken Dad 18 rounds from his 8mm Mauser to drop 17 bull elephants that night. Define stopping power! Over my career in national parks and subsequently as a professional hunter, I have learned a few things. Bell’s statement about shock from any hand-held rifle still applies in many cases. “I have never been able to appreciate ‘shock’ as applied to killing big game. It seems to me that a man cannot hope to kill an elephant weighing six tones by ‘shock’ unless you use a field gun. And yet nearly all writers advocate you use a large bore, as they ‘shock’ the animal so much more than the small bores. They undoubtedly ‘shock’ the firer more, but I fail to see the difference they are going to make to the recipient of the bullet.” Admittedly, earlier he recommends using the rifle you have the most faith in. For each species of dangerous game, stopping power has different requirements. If you want to stop a charging elephant, you are talking about penetration and shot placement. Hit the brain and the charge stops. Miss the brain and the charge will very likely continue, although not always; a bull can often be turned by a bullet through the ear or high in the head and a cow stunned if you are using something big enough. Generally speaking, however, a .30-06 with the right bullets will stop an elephant as reliably as a .577. Lion and leopard are very sensitive to high-velocity, fairly frangible bullets. Any reasonably placed bullet from a reasonable caliber going above 2,200 fps works very satisfactorily. The two greatest lion hunters of all time both preferred velocity over caliber. “Yank” Allen Rifle Special Edition

shot over 500 adult lion with a .303 British using 174-grain softpoints, while George Rushby preferred his personal 9.3x74 double over the departmental issue .404 (old loading: 400-grain bullets at 2,150 fps). I certainly have been very satisfied with the performance of my 9.3x62 on lion. You want a high-velocity, fragmenting bullet for hippo. The brain is quite small but much easier for a novice to locate and not that deep in the skull. You want bits of bone and lead flying everywhere around that skull to make sure the brain is hit. My 9.3 was used on the two hippo culls, all on land at night. With solids and heart shots it was okay, but all too often the animals reached the river, whereas those using .416 Rigbys and .404s (400-grain bullets at 2,325 fps) or .458s put the animals down pretty promptly. I switched to softpoints and brain shots.

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Buffalo is the one species where you can use a rifle that possesses real stopping power. Hit them with a .500 Jeffery or .505 Gibbs, and they will stop, even if the shot isn’t instantly fatal. It is quite impressive to see the way they rear up on taking a hit with a good softpoint from one of these two rounds. However, I have never seen a .470 Nitro Express or .458 Lott be any more effective than my 9.3. Generally clients are advised to bring a .375 H&H, as they are most likely to shoot this better than something bigger, and then the PH doesn’t have to shoot their game for them. Without a doubt, a wellplaced first shot negates the need for stopping power. For the PH, though, the choice isn’t always as obvious. A few of us have always used a relative smallbore – a 9.3 or .375 – but most have gone to the .458 Lott. I can see no advantage in this, but as I get older (and slower) and the ammunition supply has greatly improved, I am having a good look at a Blaser R8 R in .500 Jeffery. 2014

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Phil Shoemaker

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century ago Great Britain was a wealthy, affluent, if somewhat decadent nation with a vibrant gun-building industry striving to adapt a current military rifle for sporting purposes. Hunters had the means to travel widely in the pursuit of all manner of exotic game, and newly designed cartridges and rifles appeared on a regular basis. By the tail end of the nineteenth century, there had been a profusion of large, rimmed cartridges intended for use in exquisitely refined double and single-shot rifles, but most were designed for the carriage trade and priced out of reach of the majority of colonists, military officers and civil servants living overseas.

Jeffery, on the other hand, had an immensely popular large-bore cartridge for single-shot and double rifles in its rimmed .450/.400 3 Inch Cordite Express. In 1905 the .404 Jeffery was introduced, a slightly modified rimless version for use in bolt actions. Why Jeffery named it the .404 when the actual bullet diameter was .423 remains a mystery, but it may have simply been a poetic attempt to link it with the immensely popular .303. Rather than ordering specifically built Mauser actions from a competitor, Jeffery managed to shoehorn the case into readily available, standard-length M-98 actions. Christened the Model 1905, it was a trim, reasonably priced, imminently portable and powerful rifle. The .404 Jeffery was an immediate success, and because Jeffery chose not to retain proprietary rights to the cartridge, other makers were free to chamber rifles for it. In 1911, as soon as Rigby lost ex-

A Century of Similarities Recognizing an opportunity, the London-based firms of William Jeffery, Wesley Richards, John Rigby and Holland & Holland began designing powerful, largebore cartridges to fit bolt-action rifles. Rigby quickly cornered exclusive import rights for the new Germanbuilt Model 1898 Mauser action and within a couple of years had ordered specially built M-98 actions to fit its rimmed .400/.350 cartridge. Rifles for it, and the evolutionary rimless .350 Rigby that followed, were reasonably well received but lacked the bore size demanded by most hunters traveling to Asia and Africa. 74

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clusive importation rights for Mauser actions, Jeffery began ordering rifles on properly dimensioned, magnum actions. For the next half-century, until the advent of the .458 Winchester Magnum, the .404 Jeffery remained the most popular big bore for those pursuing dangerous game around the globe. My Model 1905 .404 Jeffery, completed in January 1907, was purchased and used for an Alaskan brown bear hunt, a task for which it is still imminently suitable. In 1909 Wesley Richards entered the big-bore, boltRifle Special Edition

Above, a century separates these rifles, but the performance is virtually identical. The Ruger .416 African (bottom) is as lightweight, lithe and lethal as Jeffery’s original .404 (top). Right, classic big-bore cartridges are (left to right): .416 Rigby, .416 Ruger, .425 Westley Richards, .404 Jeffery, .375 H&H and .350 Rigby.

action arena and introduced the .425 Westley Richards (WR). It looks suspiciously like a shortened version of the .404 Jeffery, only with a rebated rim, which negated the necessity of modifying the standard Mauser bolt face and allowed it to be used with stripper clips. The .425 WR was the first large-bore magnum specifically designed to fit a standard length M-98 action. Had it not been offered in descending grades of rifles, the .425 WR might have continued on to become the most popular round, but a number of feeding failures in the lesser “colonial” grade rifles fairly well ruined the reputation of the cartridge.

Two years later, in 1911, the firm of John Rigby introduced a pompously oversized .416 that required an oversized, specifically built, number 20 magnum Mauser action. Despite earning a solid reputation for reliability, due in no small part to Rigby’s superb, steel-jacketed solid ammunition, the rifles were considerably larger and heavier than those of its competitors. The .416 Rigby was never as popular as either the .404 Jeffery or the .425 Westley Richards, and during the following 28 years, Rigby only produced a meager 176 rifles. After the war, with Mauser defunct, Rigby managed to cobble together a few rifles on stan-

A Historical View of the .416 Ruger 2014

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A Century of Similarities

dard length surplus M-98 actions, but the practice removed all safety margins – and the company quickly abandoned the idea. The following year, in 1912, Holland & Holland introduced a round on the cusp between the flatshooting medium bores and the heavy large bores. Although not quite a “proper” stopping round, the .375 H&H managed to do most Both the .404 Jeffery (left) and .416 Ruger (right) are a pleasure to carry, but the slightly beefier, American-style forend on the Ruger makes it easier to control.

things quite convincingly and went on to become one of the most revered of all big game cartridges. The early 1900s were indeed heady times for riflemen and big-game hunters. Today, a little over a century later, we see strikingly similar conditions in the U.S. We too are a wealthy, affluent nation where hunters of even modest means can afford to travel to distant lands. Our numerous firearms builders are all introducing variations on a theme of the current AR-15 military rifle, with newly designed cartridges from the .204 Ruger to the .500 Beowulf being adapted on a seemingly monthly basis. The state-of-the-art military rifle of the last century, the bolt action, is now the most dominant sporting rifle in the world, and a plethora of new rounds are developed for it every year. As one who makes his living hunting Alaska’s oversized brown bears, one of the modern cartridges that most appeals to me is the .416 Ruger. The safety on the Ruger is small and difficult to operate, especially with cold or wet hands. Phil adds a gob of liquid steel to its top and sides.

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As a big-game hunter, Bill Ruger was a fan of the .404 and .416 calibers, and during the early 1970s, his company experimented with and built a number of .404s and .416 Taylors. In 1989 Ruger introduced a M77 MKII magnum rifle in the .416 Rigby and rekindled interest in the moribund cartridge. Ruger has since sold many times more rifles in that caliber than Rigby ever dreamed of. Ruger’s current creation, the .416 Ruger, is based on the same standard-length, beltless case as its increasingly popular .375 Ruger. The round, in fact, looks like something Rigby might have developed had it not chosen to deal with the constraints of cordite powder. It is offered in a full-length, blue steel and wood stock “African” rifle version, as well as a carbine length, stainless steel “Guide” version. It is what my late friend and legendary Alaskan bear guide Andy The .404 Jeffery (left) sports an optimistic parade of sight blades for distances out to 500 yards, while the Ruger sight has one simple, rugged blade useful to a more realistic 100 yards.

Rifle Special Edition

The Hawkeye African Rifle is available in .300 Winchester Magnum, .338 Winchester Magnum, .375 Ruger and .416 Ruger.

Runyon and I envisioned as the ideal rifle for an Alaskan bear guide. Andy was an unabashed fan of .40 calibers and was constantly playing with one wildcat version or another. After a close call with a wounded bruin on Kodiak when he was using a .375 H&H, he adopted a wildcat .429 Harvey Magnum. After it was stolen, he purchased a .404 Barnes-Johnson from Fred Barnes. It used .411inch diameter bullets in a neckeddown .458 Winchester Magnum case. He used that rifle for 30 years until it was destroyed in a house fire. By then the .416 Remington was available, and he was

2014

quick to adopt it but, being an inveterate gun crank, he was playing with another wildcat, the .400 Schüler, just before he died. Andy liked his rifles short and light and would very much have appreciated the .416 Ruger. Using wildcat cartridges added additional complexities in remote hunting camps, and I decided the most expedient and affordable method to obtain a proper stopping rifle was to order a .458 Winchester Mk X Mauser barreled action and construct my own. Had the .416 Ruger been available at the time, I would not have bothered. Putting the issues of stainless steel and synthetic stocks aside, I

find a lot to like in the .416 Ruger African. It is as lightweight, lithe and lethal as Jeffery’s original .404. With three rounds in the magazine, a 24-inch barrel and a 14-inch length of pull, the Jeffery weighs 8 pounds, 8 ounces. The Ruger, with three rounds down, a 23-inch barrel (24 inches with the sissy slots attached) and a 13.5-inch length of pull weighs 8 pounds. With a Leupold 2.5x compact scope in Arctic Arms detachable rings, it weighs 8 pounds, 10 ounces. It is a comfortable compromise between power and portability. There is nothing unusual in the performance of the .416 Ruger, as it simply matches the advertised, and well-proven, ballistics of the .404 Jeffery (400 grains at 2,200

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A Century of Similarities

Above, Phil’s Model 1905 .404 Jeffery, built in January 1907, was purchased and used for an Alaskan brown bear hunt, a task for which it is still imminently suitable. Right, a reprint of the 1905 Jeffery catalog shows the new .404 Jeffery.

fps), the .425 Wesley Richards (410 grains at 2,325 fps) and the .416 Rigby (410 grains at 2,350 fps). Hornady 400-grain DGX ammunition from the 23-inch barreled African model averaged a solid 2,360 fps in my rifle. A century of experience has proven that combination will safely sort out most problems any hunter is likely to encounter. Due to a number of factors, including reliability, availability, durability and price, Ruger M77 rifles have become the default rifle for a generation of Alaskan hunters and guides. I have even seen a fair number of them being used in Africa as well. As with any new factory rifle, however, if you in-

tend to hunt dangerous game with it, you need to make sure it works as intended 100 percent of the time. Although new rifles are more consistent and accurate than those of the past, they are still built to a price point and show none of the expensive, time-consuming detail work that was common on English rifles of a century ago. The feed rails, bottom of the bolt face and extractor edges on new rifles are as sharp as most hunters’ knives. To ensure a smooth, reliable, problem-free rifle, take your rifle to a knowledgeable gunsmith or, if you are handy with tools, address the issues on your own. Assuming the dimensions are correct, you don’t want to grind any-

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Phil is a fan of Ruger’s earlier “canoe paddle” stocks, and both the stainless Alaskan and blued steel African shoot well in them.

thing down but only smooth them with a hand-held piece of fine emery cloth. Another area that requires the same attention, and one Ruger really should address, is the mouth of the chamber. It also is sharp and will cause rapidly fed cartridges, especially with the new flatnosed, steel-jacketed bullets now in vogue, to hang up. You can address that with something like the rounded end of a dowel or broomstick and emery paper, or a cone-shaped grinding stone from a Dremel tool. All that is needed is to lightly chamfer the mouth of the chamber. Those simple chores dramatically improve the feeding issues of new Rugers. Another pet peeve of mine regarding M77s is that the safety is small and difficult to operate with cold, wet or large hands. A simple fix on all rifles in my camp has Rifle Special Edition

Even with blued steel and a wooden stock, Phil finds Ruger’s African series rifles suitable for Alaskan conditions.

been to drill tiny holes in the safety to help anchor liquid-steel epoxy and then build up a small gob of the stuff on the top and side of the safety. An additional 1⁄4 inch of height and width makes the safety quicker and easier to use, without getting in the way of the bolt operation. A good craftsman could easily solder or screw a 1⁄4inch piece of steel to the top and side of the safety. Even Winchester had to twice modify its safety during the tenure of the vaunted pre-64 Model 70. I appreciate the look, slim feel and handling of the wood African stock. It is perfect for a hunter who carries a rifle all day. Although mine has held up well, I question the long-term durability of a wet wood stock on heavy recoiling calibers without some additional bedding. If the muzzle brake is left attached, the recoil is mitigated, but like most guides and PHs, I absolutely abhor sissy-slots. The blast from a braked rifle affects everyone around the shooter. Sore or lightly bruised shoulders quickly heal but hearing damage lasts for2014

ever. Fortunately, Ruger includes a simple thread protector and a weighted, “unbraked” adapter.

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Although the point of impact varies slightly between the adapters with my rifle, three-shot groups at 100 yards were all under an inch with all three adapters. If the recoil is too much to handle, or if you need a longer length of pull, a better solution is to order a prefit, one-inch thick recoil pad from Brownells.

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There are also numerous aftermarket stock options available for the M77, although I am still a fan of Bill Ruger’s original “canoe paddle” stock. What they lack in aesthetics, they make up by being lightweight, slim and tougher than a woodpecker’s lips. I have never had one fail, even with the recoil of the .416. The rifle retains its lively handling characteristics, and the only drawback is that with the original hard, ribbed buttpad, the little .416 is lethal on both ends. It is a simple chore to fix a proper recoil pad. Designwise the .416 Ruger may be the very best of all the .40 calibers. I doubt there will ever be enough Alaskan bear hunters to significantly affect Ruger’s stock index, but if the various international arms trade issues can be sorted out and ammunition supplies reliably be delivered to the African continent, the .416 Ruger African should become every bit as effective and popular as any of its distinguished predecessors. R

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SP Big EC B IAL o ED re ITI ON

Terry Wieland

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n 1912, Birmingham gunmaker Westley Richards celebrated its 100th anniversary with a special, hard-bound catalog that not only listed all its current offerings but also included history, testimonials and detailed ballistic data. Westley Richards was noted for a number of landmark firearms developments, most notably the Anson & Deeley boxlock action, as well as a number of cartridges. In terms of pages in the 1912 catalog, however, the most attention was directed at a product introduced just three years earlier, in 1909. It was the .425 Westley Richards cartridge and the rifle system that accompanied it.

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.425

Westley Richards

“Rifle System” The Westley Richards bolt-action .425, as illustrated in the company’s 1912 catalog.

Left, Westley Richards used the Farquharson action but patented its own optional takedown pattern. Above, this rectangle shows six shots, three from each barrel, from a .425 double rifle at 100 yards. The rectangle measures 2 1⁄16 inches by 1 5⁄16 inches.

The “system” was exactly that: It was not merely one rifle, or several models, but a group of designs and options that together offered the hunter of dangerous game any combination he might desire. First, the .425 Westley Richards cartridge was what the British referred to as a “large medium-bore.” Consid-

Richards. All but Gibbs introduced new “large mediumbores” between 1909 and 1912. In 1909, Westley Richards introduced its .425 and Jeffery the .404; two years later, Rigby came out with the .416, and a year after that, Holland & Holland introduced the .375 H&H. All four cartridges went on to have illustrious careers, and to some extent, all are still available today. When Westley Richards designed its .425, however,

A Century Ahead and Better Than Most ering their largest rifle cartridge was the .600 Nitro Express, to say nothing of 8-, 4- and 2-bore elephant guns, their ideas of large and medium were different than ours. For elephant hunters, large bores began at .450.

it had much more in mind than merely a new cartridge. It was to be the basis for an entire system of rifles that would give any hunter of any large game, anywhere in the world, exactly what he wanted.

Since the introduction of the Mauser 98 a decade earlier, English gunmakers had all put considerable effort into developing cartridges that would be suitable for the largest and most dangerous game yet fit into a magazine rifle. Although John Rigby, Mauser’s London associate, had persuaded Oberndorf to produce a magnum-length action as early as 1900, some riflemakers (including W.J. Jeffery and Holland & Holland) preferred to work with the more common standard-length action. In the case of Westley Richards, there was another reason for eschewing the magnum in favor of the military model, which we shall get to in a moment.

The cartridge itself had a long bottleneck to hold bullets firmly, a distinct taper to ensure ease of feeding, and – most notably – a rebated rim. It was the first major cartridge to use this design, in which the rim is smaller in diameter than the base of the cartridge. It was designed this way to fit the standard military Mauser 98 bolt face.

Although most English gunmakers offered rifles, only a handful were known as rifle specialists: H&H, Rigby, George Gibbs and Jeffery, as well as Westley 2014

Military Mauser 98s were designed for fast loading using stripper clips that fit into a slot in the rear of the action and allowed five rounds to be “stripped” into the magazine with a sweep of the thumb. There was a thumb notch on the left side of the action wall to accommodate this. By making the .425 with a rebated rim that would fit into a stripper clip, Westley Richards was able to utilize the existing features of the cheap and readily available military Mauser action 81

Left, all .425 bullets weighed 410 grains, but Westley Richards offered at least five different designs. These are three of the originals. Below, company director Leslie Taylor was a serious bullet designer and firmly believed in testing his design thoroughly and telling the world the results.

.425

Westley Richards to create a magazine rifle for dangerous game that was faster to load than any other. As well, Westley Richards designed a special five-round hinged box magazine. With one round in the chamber, this gave a .425 user six rounds, more than any comparable rifle available at the time. With its quick-release mechanism, the magazine allowed the hunter to switch ammunition in a heartbeat. Although the company sold its ammunition already fitted in clips, the user could switch carBritish large medium-bores (left to right): .425 Westley Richards (1909), .404 Jeffery (1909), .416 Rigby (1911) and .375 H&H Magnum (1912).

tridges around according to bullet type, to load them in any order preferred. This all added up to an unprecedented level of speed, versatility and power. The Westley Richards bolt-action rifle was a masterpiece of the English gun trade. Fitted with a fiveleaf express rear sight regulated to 500 yards, the .425 could reach beyond any reasonable hunting range. It was available in a takedown model for compact storage. There were, however, a couple of flies in this delicious ointment. One was its barrel length. For reasons that have never really been explained, Westley Richards fitted its magazine rifles with a 28-inch barrel. Perhaps this was to ensure consistency in ballistic performance, since its doubles and single shots had the same length barrels, but with the added length of the Mauser action it created a rifle that was awkward to handle, especially in thick brush. Forty years later, assessing the worth of the .425 Westley Richards cartridge, professional hunter John “Pondoro” Taylor praised the round but condemned the rifle on two counts. First was its barrel length,

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Rifle Special Edition

which he considered awkward to the point of being dangerous when hunting at close quarters or in thick brush. He also found that the spring in the five-round magazine was not strong enough to lift the last cartridge into position consistently and suggested anyone buying a Westley Richards order the rifle with a shorter barrel and a three-round magazine, which would be more than adequate. How much the long barrel eroded sales is impossible to say, but it is notable that the .425 lagged far behind its three rivals. The cartridge was not adopted by other makers to nearly the same degree as the other three. This is probably because of difficulty in making it feed and function properly with its rebated rim. Professional hunter Terry Irwin, in his memoirs, mentions feeding problems with bolt actions other than those from Westley Richards. As the cartridge is pushed forward to chamber, the nose tilts up and

2014

Three bullet types in the .425 Westley Richards, all 410 grains (left to right): Solid, LT Pointed Capped and Copper Capped expanding. In 1948 John Taylor called the latter two the “best expanding bullets extant.”

the base drops. This makes it all too easy for the bolt face to ride over the rim, creating a serious jam, especially when the bolt is worked forcefully in the heat of the moment. Westley Richards may have mastered the feeding question, but others had not. For most, it was far simpler to chamber a rifle in

The .425 Westley Richards’s rebated rim is shown close up.

.404 Jeffery, which quickly became a standard of the trade with ammunition available from Kynoch. The other two rifles in the Westley Richards “system” were its famous “detachable-lock” (what we call a drop lock) double and its Farquharson-action falling block single shot. The double was available as a standard or a drop lock, with either a single trigger or double triggers. Westley Richards was noted for outfitting its double rifles

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.425 Westley Richards with single triggers, something most other riflemakers avoided, but its worked well. Elephant hunter James Sutherland had two Westley Richards .577 Nitro Express rifles with single triggers, one of which was later used by professional hunter Tony Henley, hunting buffalo and elephant on control. The rifles performed flawlessly. The single shot was available as either a solid-frame or takedown, using Westley Richards’s patented takedown design. Altogether, no matter taste or preference in rifles, Westley Richards could outfit a hunter with a .425 (or multiple .425s) to suit. Ammunition for the .425 was no less varied in bullet designs if not weights. In managing director Leslie Taylor, Westley Richards had one of the foremost ballisticians and bullet designers of the period. In the early years of the nitro-express era, riflemakers and ammunition companies struggled to design bullets that would withstand the higher velocities, hold together on impact, expand where desired and penetrate. Taylor patented several different designs, including one called the “LT.” This was a spitzer design with a separate bronze tip that was driven back into the bullet on impact and initiated expansion. This approach was later adopted by Remington in the U.S. with its Bronze Point bullet, by Dominion in Canada with the Sabre Tip, by Nosler (Ballistic Tip) and, more recently, just about anyone who makes premium hunting bullets. Taylor and Westley Richards were the first and made it famous. They also had a bullet called the Copper Capped that looked very much like a standard solid, except that instead of a tough copper or steel jacket, a thin, hollow copper cap protected the lead nose. It not only kept it from deforming due to rough handling or pounding by recoil in a magazine box, but it

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With its rebated rim fitting into Mauser stripper clips, and the clips into the slot on the military Mauser action, the Westley Richards bolt rifle could be loaded in an instant. Longer clips were required to hold five cartridges, but military clips hold four rounds comfortably.

also helped it flatten uniformly on impact. The .425 was loaded with a variation on these two called the LT Pointed Capped, another expanding design. Finally, of course, there were conventional solids. John Taylor was positively effusive in his praise of the expanding bullets, calling them the “best expanding bullets extant.” He added that the Uganda game department had adopted the .425 for its elephant-control officers, and it worked superbly. All these bullets weighed 410 grains, with a muzzle velocity of 2,350 fps – virtually identical to the ballistic performance of the later .416 Rigby. Because ammunition was offered in only one bullet weight, sight regulation was greatly simplified. With muzzle energy of 5,010 foot-pounds (ft-lbs), the cartridge outstripped the .404 Jeffery by a good margin (400 grain, 2,150 fps, 4,020 ft-lbs) and was adequate for elephant under all but the direst circumstances. Bullet diameter of the .425 was actually .435 (The British designate cartridges by bore, not groove, diameter.) and is the only cartridge ever to use that size bullet. Measuring five actual bullets of five different types, diameters range from .428 all the way up to .435, with no two alike. Some have criticized them for not using a standard .416, but in Rifle Special Edition

1909, the .416 didn’t exist. If anyone should have standardized, it was Rigby. The .404 Jeffery, which appeared the same year as the .425, uses a .422 bullet. Perhaps Westley Richards chose .435 because it was as close as it could get to .450, which, though highly effective, was prohibited in India and the Sudan as of 1907. Because Westley Richards manufactured its own bullets, the company wasn’t worried about bullet availability. Such is not the case today. Only Woodleigh makes .435 bullets (a soft and solid, both 410 grains). For practice ammunition, cast bullets for the .43 Spanish are readily available and can easily be sized down from .439 to .436. Don Heath, former head of the Zimbabwe game department, says they used to make bullets for their .425 rifles by turning solids on a lathe from brass bar stock, and they performed on elephant very well. A simpler approach is to buy .458 solids of naval bronze and turn them down on a lathe. Brass is more difficult to find, but since Kynamco loads .425 Westley Richards ammunition, cases must be available somewhere. If it proves unobtainable, it can be remanufactured from .404 Jeffery brass. This consists of turning down the rim, forcing the case into a sizing die, trimming to length and blowing out. Or, it can be made (with more difficulty) from rimmed .450/ .400 brass. Both .404 and .450/.400 brass is readily available, at least by comparison with factory .425.

magazine rifle in the world. Second, there is the pleasure of using the very first “rifle system,” handmade to the impeccable standards of England’s Edwardian gunmakers. And, you can ask yourself, after 105 years and who knows how many new cartridges, have we reR ally come so very far?

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Having heaped praise upon the .425, truth be told, for a big-game hunter with little interest in rifles and cartridges, there is nothing to be gained in buying a .425 Westley Richards. For the rifle enthusiast, cartridge experimenter and ballistic masochist, however, there is every good reason to seize a boltaction, single-shot or double rifle should one come along. First, there is the undoubted thrill of shooting a rifle that was, for a short time, the most powerful 2014

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THE .45-70 MOSTLY LONG GUNS

O

riginally introduced in the U.S. Model 1873 Springfield “trapdoor” rifle and known as the .45-70 Government, an outstanding big-bore rifle cartridge was born. It remains popular and unusually useful more than 140 years later. Period loads contained .458-inch lead bullets (making it closer to a .46 caliber) that weighed 405 grains and were propelled with 70 grains of black powder. As was tradition at that time, it was soon referenced as the “.45-70” indicating caliber and powder charge. After extensive long-range testing, around 1881 a 500-grain load was also adopted by the military, and loads were referenced as .45-70-405 and .45-70500 to better identify both.

by Brian Pearce • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • As is often the case with government-adopted (or developed) cartridges, the .45-70 was destined to become popular among civilians. At first it was adapted to period single-shot rifles, such as the popular Sharps Model 1874, Remington rolling block, etc., where it was used for big-game hunting and target work. Marlin was first to offer a repeating lever-action .45-70 in its innovative Model 1881. This was a major blow to Winchester, as it had received requests for a repeating .45-70 rifle but had been unsuccessful in designing one. Powerful .45-caliber cartridges had been developed, including the .4575 WCF (1876) and .45-60 WCF (1879) in the Model 1876 rifle, but that rifle could not house the longer .45-70. Thankfully Winchester “discovered” frontier gun-designing genius John Browning and nurtured a long-term relationship that benefited both. After selling patents and manufacturing rights for what would become the Winchester Model 1885 single shot, Browning next designed what would become the Winchester Model 1886 leveraction rifle. With a comparatively compact and strong action, it proved durable, while Winchester’s barrel quality delivered outstanding accuracy. The new rifle seemed to have been designed to meet the specific needs of frontiersmen, lawmen, big-game hunters and horsemen of that era. While it was first chambered for the .45-70 WCF, it would eventually be offered for 10 cartridges. It took a few years for Marlin to respond with the Model 1895, an outstanding rifle that competed favorably with Winchester’s 1886. Times were beginning to change rapidly, however, as were cartridges. The smokeless-powder era was

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Today the .45-70 remains popular in leverguns, where it is used for recreational target shooting but also serves for hunting. here, along with comparatively high velocity cartridges – such as the .30 U.S., aka .30-40 Krag (1892) Table I

.45-70 Factory Load Performance advertised actual velocity velocity (fps) (fps)

load (grains)

300 Federal JHP 300 Winchester JHP 350 Buffalo Bore 405 Buffalo Bore JFN 405 Cor-Bon FP 405 Remington SP 430 Buffalo Bore cast GC 540 Garrett Hammerhead

1,850 1,880 2,100 2,000 1,650 1,330 1,925 1,550

1,821 1,841 2,070 1,966 1,740 1,300 1,931 1,445

Notes: A Marlin Model 1895 with a 22-inch barrel was used to test-fire all loads.

Rifle Special Edition

and .30 WCF, aka .30-30 Winchester (1895) – while a host of modern smallbore numbers were just around the corner. They kicked less, shot flatter, were available in more compact, lightweight rifles and carbines, and ammunition cost less. They also generally killed deer and similar game reliably. American bison were mostly gone, elk and moose populations were low, and the grizzly bear only remained in remote areas of the lower 48 states. Soon demand for big-bore, black-powder era guns and ammunition waned, while many experienced, gray-haired hunters knew the value of the cartridges on heavy game and “stuck with their guns.”

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The stock market crashed in 1929, followed by the Great Depression, and virtually all gun sales slowed to a crawl. Both Winchester and Marlin had to eliminate models, downsize and streamline manufacturing to survive, which marked the end of big-bore leverguns, or so it was thought. Post-World War II hunters and shooters recognized the value of large-caliber, heavy bullets on big game, such as Alaskan brown bear, black bear and moose; and elk were beginning to make a comeback. Winchester and Marlin rifles were once again in demand. Winchester’s Model 86 tooling was disposed of (or reworked to build other guns) prior to World War II, but Marlin was producing the Model 336 (a descendent of the Models 1893, 93 and 36) and used that receiver to create the modern .444 Marlin in 1964. Sales were good, but it only seemed to stimulate demand for the bigger .45-70. Marlin responded with its modern Model 1895 .45-70 (also based on the 336 receiver) in 1972, which enjoyed strong sales and has remained popular. Additional 1895 variants have been offered, including the popular Guide Gun with an 181⁄2-inch barrel, the Cowboy with 26-inch octagonal barrel, the stainless steel SBL and many special editions. In 1986 Browning recognized demand for a copy (manufactured in 2014

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ton and Winchester all advertise a 300-grain JHP bullet at between 1,810 and 1,880 fps or a 405-grain JSP at 1,330 fps. These loads are effective for hunting deer, black bear, elk and moose.

The .45-70 (left) started life as a U.S. military black-powder cartridge in the Model 1873 U.S. “trapdoor” Springfield rifle, with this load being the 1881-era, 500-grain version. Most modern ammunition (right) is loaded to a shorter overall length to accommodate all repeating rifles. Miroku, Japan) of the Model 1886 Rifle (1992 for Carbine version) in .45-70, while today Browning Arms Co. imports limited variations under the Winchester brand, but with a rebounding hammer that has been somewhat problematic with misfires. Modern .45-70 leverguns from Marlin and Browning are top-notch hunting rifles that are capable of taking any game animal on earth with correct loads. While sources for original (1873era) .45-70 ballistics don’t always agree, the 405-grain lead bullet loads were around 1,350 fps, while the 500-grain load reached around 1,250 fps, both in 32-inch barrels, which developed maximum pressures of 28,000 CUP (CUP = psi in the .45-70). Due to the many black-powder era guns in circulation, SAAMI specifications still list this pressure figure as maximum with today’s smokeless ammunition, which is suitable for all guns (such as the 1873 Springfield) that are in safe mechanical condition. Major U.S. ammunition companies, however, generally hold pressure limits to around 18,000 to 22,000 CUP maximum. Federal, Reming88

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When the .45-70 is chambered in modern Marlin and Winchester pattern leverguns, much greater power is readily available from this cartridge. Chamber pressures can be safely increased to 43,500 psi in modern Marlin or Browning leverguns (and several other rifle action types), which can push a 350-grain bullet over 2,100 fps, a 405-grain jacketed or 430-grain cast bullet over 2,000 fps from a 22-inch barrel or a 550-grain bullet at 1,550 fps. Such loads are readily available from several ammunition companies (each specifying what guns its loads are safe in), such as Buffalo Bore Ammunition, PMC, Garrett Cartridges of Texas, Cor-Bon, Grizzly Cartridge and others. Handloaders can also duplicate any of the above factory loads (see the accompanying table). The above loads move the .45-70 into a significantly higher category of power and usefulness on large game. With correct bullets, it has earned an outstanding reputation on the world’s toughest and largest game, including hippo, Cape buffalo and elephant, and has become especially popular in Alaska for

In spite of modern .45-caliber cartridge developments, the .45-70 remains by far the most popular. Examples include left to right: .45-70, .450 Marlin and .457 Wild West Magnum. Rifle Special Edition

Table II

.45-70 Handloads

For modern firearms designed to handle pressures approaching 43,500 CUP. bullet (grains)

350 Hornady FP 400 Belt Mountain Punch Solid 400 Speer Flat SP 405 Remington SP 415 RCBS 45-405-FN cast 430 OR Trail True Shot FP 500 Kodiak Solid

powder

H-322 A-2015BR IMR-4198 H-322 H-4895 A-2015BR H-322

charge (grains)

velocity (fps)

58.5 52.5 44.0 53.0 55.0 55.0 46.0

2,129 1,966 1,888 1,949 1,952 2,029 1,548

Notes: A 22-inch barreled Marlin Model 1895 was used to test-fire all loads. Starline cases and Winchester Large Rifle primers were used throughout. Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.

without a single misfire or malfunction.

The .45-70 (left) was first introduced in 1873. Winchester offered the .45-60 (center) and .45-75 (right) in its repeating Model 1876, but it wasn’t until 1881 that Marlin offered the first repeating leveraction rifle chambered for the .45-70. Winchester soon followed with the Browning-designed 1886, a combination that spelled trouble for the two Winchester .45-caliber cartridges. moose and brown bears. It offers remarkable penetration with correct bullets, and its large caliber delivers that heavy blow that has kept big-bore rifles in high demand. Having used .45-70 leverguns for almost 40 years, they have pulled me out of a few tight places, have accounted for many bear, elk, deer and a number of African game, including Cape buffalo. A good rifle that is well-tuned and timed is a marvel and can deliver incredibly fast follow-up shots (at least if the shooter is capable). I have Marlin and Winchester leverguns that have digested thousands of rounds 2014

I am particularly fond of the original Marlin Model 1895 (1972 vintage) with a 22-inch barrel and straight lever and the Winchester Model 1886 Extra Light Rifle with a 22-inch barrel and two-thirds length magazine tube. At around 71⁄2 pounds and with an overall length of about 401/2 inches, these rifles are light enough to carry all day and are at home in a saddle scabbard. They also offer beautiful balance, point naturally and are easy to shoot offhand while delivering significant horsepower. When equipped with a quality aperture rear sight and corresponding front, along with good ammunition, they often produce MOA accuracy. In spite of modern .45-caliber, lever-action cartridge developments intended to improve upon the aging .45-70, such as the .450 Marlin and .457 Wild West Magnum, the .45-70 remains by far the most popular, and frankly, is difficult to improve upon. When stoked with solids, it offers bone-breaking, deep penetration required for heavy, dangerous game and with controlled-expanding bullets can deliver tremendous shock to thinskinned game. There is a wide variety of factory loads readily available for any practical purpose. While the .45-70 is available in many rifle actions and types, it is the easy carrying, natural pointing, flat-sided, lever-action carbines and short rifles that are most inR teresting. www.riflemagazine.com

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Spotting Scope

From the BLACK POWDER ERA through WWII

(Continued from page 8)

.35 and .405 WCFs are quite capable of taking anything in North America.

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While big-bore, lever-action repeaters aren’t commonly associated with Africa, a considerable number of Winchester Model 1886 rifles ended up in southern Africa and India prior to the advent of the Model 98 Mauser. Those that were chambered for the .40 to .45 calibers went to the Dark Continent and were largely used by ranchers and farmers to provide meat for the table, but they served equally well against cattle-killing cats. The .50-110-300 Express rifles were favored in India as tiger Howdah rifles and were, for the most part, of a common type preferred by British sportsmen at the time, including half-round, half-octagonal barrels and “button” (short) magazines. The most recent addition to the lever-action, big-bore lineup is the .475 Turnbull that has been proven against the world’s largest and potentially most dangerous game in North America and Africa. The .475 is based on the little-known experimental .46 WCF that Winchester fashioned from the .50 EX case, circa 1910, and pushed a 380to 400-grain bullet upward of 2,400 fps from a Winchester Model 86 carbine with a 22-inch barrel. An apparent attempt to get around the ban on .45-caliber rifles in some British protectorates in the early 1900s, the .46 WCF never progressed beyond a few experimental case designs when it was dropped in 1910. No wonder, since the .46 WCF proof load generated upward of 62,000 CUP! Back in 2010 when I took a Winchester Model 1886 .50 Black Powder Express to Zimbabwe to hunt with Professional Hunter Martin Pieters, it was apparent that none of the customs officials or authorities in South Africa or Zimbabwe had ever seen such a rifle. Martin was vaguely aware of its connection to colonial Africa but ques-

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tioned whether it was capable of taking Cape buffalo. We resolved that question, which led Martin to ask if it might be suitable for elephant. Three years later the rifle was outfitted with a new .475 Turnbull takedown barrel, and the elephant question was answered, twice, with a bull hippo tossed in for good measure. So for now at least, after a lapse of some 140 years or so, the big-bore lever action has returned to the Dark Continent. The most influential factor associated with modern lever actions on this continent and elsewhere is the vast improvement in bullet design. Early on, most lever-action cartridges featured lead bullets seated over black powder. The onset of smokeless powders and higher velocities brought on the need for tougher bullets that could withstand the correspondingly higher impact velocities, especially when used against heavier game. Nowadays, we can almost take it for granted that the newer premium bullets – bonded, lead-core designs and solid copper, bronze or gilding metal – will punch through the meanest, nastiest and/or largest R game on the planet. 2014

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Walnut Hill (Continued from page 94)

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way, with adherents of both cartridges pummeling each other, verbally and otherwise. However, one ballistic truth stands out and cannot be changed: the bigger the bore, the heavier the bullet it will handle comfortably, and the greater the ease of making it move at usable velocities. Another basic truth is that, for every bore size and case capacity, there is one “best” bullet weight. For the .416, it is 400 grains, for

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the .458 it is 500, and for the .500, it is 600. These weights can vary by 10 percent in either direction without altering things much. One instance where going to a lighter bullet does gain you something is the .458 Winchester Magnum, simply because the case lacks the capacity to accommodate a 500-grain bullet with enough powder to reach the desired velocity. By reducing the bullet weight, powder space is gained while pushing velocity back up where it belongs – 2,100 to 2,200 fps. If you must use a .458 Winchester, this is the way to go. A better idea is to get a .458 Lott and stick with the 500-grain hammer that gives the .458 its big advantage over smaller calibers. Historically, many popular cartridges were factory loaded in two or three bullet weights. The .375 H&H used to be available with 235-grain bullets, as well as the familiar 270 and 300. The .35 Remington (not a big bore, but a good example) was loaded with a 150grain spitzer as well as the standard 200-grain roundnose. Although these light bullets had attractive paper ballistics, both were dismissed as substandard for biggame hunting, and for the same reason: Lighter bullets and higher velocities, but expansion and penetration that were inconsistent. In the black-powder era, the range of bullet weights for any particular cartridge was much wider than it is today. The .450 Express 31⁄4 Inch was loaded with anything from a 270-grain bullet to a 480. The former was probably too light and the latter too heavy, with the optimum around 350. With smokeless powder, the big bores that survived were usually pared down to one optimum bullet weight, and this bullet either made its reputation or it didn’t. One reason we hear little about Continental big-bore cartridges, even from the era before 1914, when Germany possessed African colonies and ivory hunters were hard at it, is because German largebore magazine cartridges, such

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Rifle Special Edition

The Speer 150-grain .308 bullet (left) may leave the muzzle at 3,200 fps, 400 fps faster than the Speer 200-grain at 2,800 (right). By 300 yards, their velocities are almost equal, and the heavier bullet gets to 1,000 yards sooner than the lighter one. This slows the bullet down, which in turn slows expansion; heavier weight means better velocity retention and greater penetration because of greater momentum. However, the reverse process is also true, when moving to a lighter bullet.

as the 10.75x68mm Mauser or 11.2x72mm Schüler, were loaded with bullets that were too light (347 and 401 grains, respectively) or too thinly jacketed. They expanded too much, too soon, and failed to penetrate. On elephant, Cape buffalo, rhinos or lions, this could be fatal – and often was. Poor bullet performance was John Taylor’s major reason for dismissing continental magazine rifles as unsuitable for dangerous game. Because of the relationships among velocity, bullet weight, bullet expansion and penetration, users of big-bore rifles can often solve several problems simply with a small increase in bullet weight.

2014

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As handloaders, we all have a tendency to try to turn something into something else, and we’re always asking the question “What if . . .?” Whenever I’ve loaded a .416, .458 or .500 with a much lighter bullet, however, all I seem to prove is that those guys with their heavy bullets long ago knew what they were doing. By now I should have learned, but then, that R would take the fun out of it.

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Some big English cartridges were loaded with bullets that were not heavy enough, in my opinion, including the .505 Gibbs (525 grains) and .500 Jeffery (535 grains). These beasts were so big, though, that it made hardly any difference. In the case of the Jeffery, given its original purpose and compact profile (intended to fit into a standard Mauser 98 action), 535 grains was the best anyone was going to get. In the case of the Gibbs, going to a 600-grain bullet, as Norma has with its African PH line, we now have an elephant cartridge extraordinaire. If the great elephant herds were still around, and ivory hunting was legal, this would be the answer. In reality, though, Norma simply returned the .505

to the traditional optimum bullet weight for a .500, which in the case of the .500 Nitro Express is 570 grains.

BIG BORES AND BIG BULLETS WALNUT HILL

by Terry Wieland • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

T

here is really only one reason to choose a .458 over a .416, or a .500 over a .470: bullet weight. The bigger the bore, the bigger the bullet it will handle comfortably, and with these rifles, in almost every application, the heavier the bullet, the better.

The .416 Rigby cartridge (left) is a Norma load with a 450-grain bullet beside a Nosler 400-grain solid. The Federal .458 Lott cartridge (right) is loaded with a 500-grain Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer shown beside the late, lamented Speer African Grand Slam tungsten-core solid.

This is not to say there are not uses for lighter bullets at higher velocities, because, of course, there are. But if all you shoot from a big bore is a light bullet, then you gain ballistic advantage by going to a smaller caliber. In the big bores, light bullets are for fun, practice or putting small game in the pot. Although we tend to forget it, velocity is a temperamental companion. The relationship between light bullets, high velocities and the rate at which velocity is shed is complex, but the basic principles are easy to understand. A light bullet is easier to start at a higher velocity, but it also sheds velocity more quickly, so the ballistic advantage of high velocity exists inside a relatively small envelope. Compare a .300 magnum, where a 150-grain bullet (BC: .380) leaves the muzzle at 3,200 fps, and a 200grain bullet (BC: .560) of identical

spitzer boat-tail configuration departs at 2,800. By 300 yards, the 150 is down to 2,454 fps while the 200-grainer still has 2,323. It’s catching up, and at 500 yards, the heavier bullet is traveling faster (2,031 versus 2,018). From there, it gains steadily and actually gets to 1,000 yards in a shorter time (1.51 second versus 1.57). The advantages of high velocity exist only inside that initial 300-yard space. Big bores have traditionally been

used for two purposes: hunting dangerous game at under 100 yards and target shooting at extreme ranges (500 to 1,200 yards). These may seem like contradictory applications, but both depend on the ballistic qualities of a bullet that is heavy for its diameter. A heavy bullet retains velocity better, and once it’s on its way, it’s harder to stop. That momentum gives maximum penetration on Cape buffalo; it also imparts resistance to wind drift and higher retained velocity for knocking over a steel ram at 500 yards or printing a group at 1,000. If the relative performance of 400-grain bullets in the .416 Rigby and the .458 Lott are compared, the difference is readily apparent. A .416 can launch a 400-grain bullet at 2,400 fps, and that’s about it. Although a much smaller case, the .458 Lott can start a 400-grain at the same velocity without breathing hard – no powder compression, no excessive pressures, no sticky bolts. The reason is that the base of the .458 bullet has 21 percent greater area and bearing surface for the expanding gases to work on. On the other hand, because of its greater sectional density, once a 400-grain .416 is on its way, it won’t slow down as quickly as a .458, and when it hits something, it will penetrate better. This can be argued every which (Continued on page 92)

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