Every kid wants an elephant rifle

[TaperPin]

I can remember being 14 and reading Ross Seyfried talking about African hunting, and later reading all of Capstick, which made Out of Africa much more interesting. It was disappointing how expensive safari rifles were, but I thought that would be so cool. Eventually I did own a 375 H&H in Alaska, but that wasn’t uncommon on Kodiak - a stainless bear rifle would look out of place in Africa. As we get older and can afford more things, we often don’t get the toys of youth - but we did today! I can‘t justify a rifle that just sits and never gets used much, but today a .458 Win Mag barrel came out of the woodwork and I’m adding it to the barrel collection of my switch barrel rifle. Nothing is goofier than having a rifle with such a big hole in the muzzle, but it sure is fun! Lol

 

[Soj51hopeful]

I own a .375 h&h. It’s a safe queen for sure. I only keep it because it was my grandfather’s. He took it to Alaska and Africa a few times.

 

[PlumberED]

One of my sons, who incidentally doesn’t hunt, wants a .458 Lott or .416 Rigby. I asked him what do you want such a large caliber for? He replied “I just like shooting the big calibers.”

 

[TaperPin]

I own a .375 h&h. It’s a safe queen for sure. I only keep it because it was my grandfather’s. He took it to Alaska and Africa a few times.

It’s nice when know the history of an inherited gun.

 

[TaperPin]

One of my sons, who incidentally doesn’t hunt, wants a .458 Lott or .416 Rigby. I asked him what do you want such a large caliber for? He replied “I just like shooting the big calibers.”

That big Lott or Rigby case are pretty impressive.

 

[Pharmseller]

I have a 7mm-08, similar to the 7x57, does that count?




P

 

[CHWine]

I have a Browning safari grade that was bought by my uncle in Napa, CA in 1963. Its chambered in .375 H&H and shoots incredibly well. I've shot blacktail, Mulie and elk with it. Also took it to Africa and shot eland, zebra, both wildebeest and others. Love it!

 

[tater]

Congrats on the 458!

I was really lucky as a youngster that a bunch of crusty old guys let me shoot their big bore rifles.

In hind sight i think it was a curiosity to see how much recoil a little fat 11 year old could handle but there is something that still makes me smile today when i hear the thump of a true big bore rifle.

I was able to shoot pretty much everything up to and including a 460 Weatherby.

My absolute favorite was a pre-64 Winchester in 375 H&H that one of my mentors let me shoot a lot in exchange for helping out around his fab shop.
With the cost of components today it would take someone with a kind heart and a fat wallet to just let a kid send those rounds downrange.

 

[TaperPin]

I have a Browning safari grade that was bought by my uncle in Napa, CA in 1963. Its chambered in .375 H&H and shoots incredibly well. I've shot blacktail, Mulie and elk with it. Also took it to Africa and shot eland, zebra, both wildebeest and others. Love it!

That’s a classic - it has a nice fairly trim barrel so it must be fairly easy to carry. I couldn’t decide on the Winchester or Remington so I bought them both and sold second place to a friend. The Winchester’s thicker barrel made it feel like a varmint rifle, while Remington uses their standard magnum contour, which makes it really light.

 

[TaperPin]

Congrats on the 458!

I was really lucky as a youngster that a bunch of crusty old guys let me shoot their big bore rifles.

In hind sight i think it was a curiosity to see how much recoil a little fat 11 year old could handle but there is something that still makes me smile today when i hear the thump of a true big bore rifle.

I was able to shoot pretty much everything up to and including a 460 Weatherby.

My absolute favorite was a pre-64 Winchester in 375 H&H that one of my mentors let me shoot a lot in exchange for helping out around his fab shop.
With the cost of components today it would take someone with a kind heart and a fat wallet to just let a kid send those rounds downrange.

You’re right about reloading costs - I’ve always wanted to try casting bullets, so this will be a good match for that and it will get used a lot more.

 

[ldmay375]

I can remember being 14 and reading Ross Seyfried talking about African hunting, and later reading all of Capstick, which made Out of Africa much more interesting. It was disappointing how expensive safari rifles were, but I thought that would be so cool. Eventually I did own a 375 H&H in Alaska, but that wasn’t uncommon on Kodiak - a stainless bear rifle would look out of place in Africa. As we get older and can afford more things, we often don’t get the toys of youth - but we did today! I can‘t justify a rifle that just sits and never gets used much, but today a .458 Win Mag barrel came out of the woodwork and I’m adding it to the barrel collection of my switch barrel rifle. Nothing is goofier than having a rifle with such a big hole in the muzzle, but it sure is fun! Lol

I believe the more one becomes familiar with the 458 Winchester, the less goofier it becomes.

If one likes or has an interest in bigger bores, the 458 Winchester can be pretty versatile with 400 grain and under bullets.

I am a fan of cartridges with 8mm through .458 bores.

 

[Wapiti1]

Nice. Can you give a little more info on your switch barrel rifle? Custom or one of the commercial variations?

My own stable of bigger bores, 9.3X64 Brenneke, .375 H&H Flanged (double rifle), .416 Rem, .458 Lott. Briefly owned a CZ 505 Gibbs. There is a significant step up in recoil from the .416 to .458 Lott to 505 Gibbs. The Gibbs weighed 12lbs with two mercury recoil reducers, but still rocked you. The .416 and .458 both weigh 9-10lbs depending on scope or no scope.

For some reason I've always liked the big bore rifles.

Jeremy

 

[TaperPin]

Nice. Can you give a little more info on your switch barrel rifle? Custom or one of the commercial variations?

My own stable of bigger bores, 9.3X64 Brenneke, .375 H&H Flanged (double rifle), .416 Rem, .458 Lott. Briefly owned a CZ 505 Gibbs. There is a significant step up in recoil from the .416 to .458 Lott to 505 Gibbs. The Gibbs weighed 12lbs with two mercury recoil reducers, but still rocked you. The .416 and .458 both weigh 9-10lbs depending on scope or no scope.

For some reason I've always liked the big bore rifles.

Jeremy

That Gibbs sounds like it was a real handful! Holy cow that’s a big case. I’ve only recently become interested in the 9.3 and eventually wouldn’t mind getting one flavor or another because of its international history.

My switch barrel gun is nothing fancy, essentially a long Remington 700 action and the barrel is clamped right in front of the stock forend and an action wrench fits into the lug raceways to loosen or tighten the action. With good machining its very common for switch barrel guns to only get torqued to 50 foot lbs or less. The scope and stock can stay on, although there are 4 different stocks depending on barrel diameter and use. The simplest swaps, like going from 270 to 30-06 only take about 10 minutes of fiddling around.

Right now there are 6 PPC, 6.5 Creedmoore, 6.5 PRC, 270, 30-06, 7 Rem mag, and the 458. Some are custom, some are reheadspaced factory, the PPC is a very thick retired benchrest barrel, and the 270 and 06 are quite thin.

Next year I’d like to add a .223 bolt and magazine for a 17 Remington barrel, a long range 300 PRC elk zapper, and a medium bore of some kind - 35 Whelen, 9.3 something, 375 H&H, or 338 something.

Honestly the hardest part of the whole setup is modifying multiple internal magazines to feed all the different lengths and widths properly in the long action - it would be much easier with detachable magazines, because they are all center feed.

 

[Wapiti1]

That Gibbs sounds like it was a real handful! Holy cow that’s a big case. I’ve only recently become interested in the 9.3 and eventually wouldn’t mind getting one flavor or another because of its international history.

My switch barrel gun is nothing fancy, essentially a long Remington 700 action and the barrel is clamped right in front of the stock forend and an action wrench fits into the lug raceways to loosen or tighten the action. With good machining its very common for switch barrel guns to only get torqued to 50 foot lbs or less. The scope and stock can stay on, although there are 4 different stocks depending on barrel diameter and use. The simplest swaps, like going from 270 to 30-06 only take about 10 minutes of fiddling around.

Right now there are 6 PPC, 6.5 Creedmoore, 6.5 PRC, 270, 30-06, 7 Rem mag, and the 458. Some are custom, some are reheadspaced factory, the PPC is a very thick retired benchrest barrel, and the 270 and 06 are quite thin.

Next year I’d like to add a .223 bolt and magazine for a 17 Remington barrel, a long range 300 PRC elk zapper, and a medium bore of some kind - 35 Whelen, 9.3 something, 375 H&H, or 338 something.

Honestly the hardest part of the whole setup is modifying multiple internal magazines to feed all the different lengths and widths properly in the long action - it would be much easier with detachable magazines, because they are all center feed.

The Gibbs was a beast. Fun, but really more of a novelty than anything else. Even reloading it, it cost 5 bucks a shot when you factored in brass and dies.

I really like the 9.3 bore. The 9.3X62 is the easy one to go with. Readily available brass, bullets, and dies. The Brenneke I have is great, but brass is a pain to find.

Neat rifle. I wasn't sure if you had a switchlug style from WTO, or more of a traditional takedown. Enjoy the .458. And definitely get into bullet casting, or at least work up some lead loads. Some sedate 1800fps 400gr lead loads are great in the deer woods and at the range.

Jeremy

 

[CMP70306]

I have one that I picked up 10 years ago with the intention of one day hunting Cape buffalo, I have no idea if that will happen but I have the rifle just in case. Or if something gets out of the zoo.

Mine was the Cabela’s 50th Anniversary Winchester Model 70, made in South Carolina it is the closest thing to a Pre-64 African under $5k. Did a bunch of load work ups with the 300gr monos doing 2700 fps, definitely an entertaining rifle but I haven’t shot it in a few years.

 

[ldmay375]

I have one that I picked up 10 years ago with the intention of one day hunting Cape buffalo, I have no idea if that will happen but I have the rifle just in case. Or if something gets out of the zoo.

Mine was the Cabela’s 50th Anniversary Winchester Model 70, made in South Carolina it is the closest thing to a Pre-64 African under $5k. Did a bunch of load work ups with the 300gr monos doing 2700 fps, definitely an entertaining rifle but I haven’t shot it in a few years.

The 250 through the 400'ish grain monolithic bullets can certainly add to the 458 Winchester and Lott types use. Some of these perform to levels considerably above what their weight class would indicate.

I like my .458's, but for several years the 416 Remington and Ruger have been my favorite above 40's. I have a slightly modified older 416 Ruger Alaskan that is one of my top favorite rifles. It is definitely my favorite moose rifle. Heck, I would gladly use it on much smaller game.

 

[Mr Drysdale]

Recently purchased new rifles for three grandsons. I chose the Tikka T3x stainless and let them pick the cartridge. From youngest to oldest (14-17) they picked .223, 308, and 300WM. They have all three been shooting different calibers since they were five or six years old and are very efficient shooters.

 

[Dennis]

As a kid I always dreamed of Africa and big bore rifles. Now a 458 Winchester Magnum is my favorite hands down after a close encounter with a wounded Cape buffalo in thick cover with a medium bore. l

 

[TaperPin]

Or if something gets out of the zoo.

I just remembered a story that must have happened in the late 1980s or 1990s. A private game ranch in northern Colorado had a Cape buffalo escape and made it into southern Wyoming, where it was shot by a game warden. So you never know what’s out there right around the corner!

 

[ldmay375]

As a kid I always dreamed of Africa and big bore rifles. Now a 458 Winchester Magnum is my favorite hands down after a close encounter with a wounded Cape buffalo in thick cover with a medium bore. View attachment 614530 l

A close encounter with the potential of life changing / life ending results can certainly have its influence. One has the tendency to reevaluate what his/her personal "enough gun" and/or "enough bullet" really is.