Jan 1, 2019 | News, On Shooting
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F150-151||target:%20_blank|”][vc_column_text]WARHORSES
Johan van Wyk
The term “warhorse” is synonymous with a hard-working beast of burden that goes about its chores with a minimum of fuss and care but still gets the essential job done. In the old days, when armies were dependant on beasts of burden, horses were indeed an essential part of the logistical chain, and even though things have changed, and diesel and electricity has replaced hay and coal as the primary propellants of the major logistical systems worldwide, we still have a few warhorses left today in the world of cartridges.
The 1890’s saw the birth and coming of age of so-called “smokeless” propellant. The new propellant offered opportunities that the earlier black powder simply could not match. It was only natural that the militaries of the world, who were then – just as now – engaged in feverish development of small arms, would take note of and embrace smokeless propellant and the many advantages it offered. The British were at the forefront of military developments during this era, and spearheaded the introduction of smokeless propellant in 1892 for their military round of the time – the .303 (which was originally introduced as a black powder round in 1888). The .303 is still very much with us today as a sporting round and there are still many thousands of old Lee-Enfield .303’s doing their thing all the way from Africa to Canada and Australia. If ever there was a true warhorse of a cartridge, it must be the .303 British.
Not to be outdone, the Germans officially adopted the 8x57J cartridge in 1888. Initially it fired a 226-grain .318” bullet at a rather sedate 2 100 fps, but this was changed in 1905 to a .323” 154-grain bullet travelling at 2 880 fps – a powerful and flat-shooting number for its day that saw the Germans through both World Wars, and was also adopted by Poland and Czechoslovakia, among others. The 8×57 was, and is, a very fine sporting cartridge as well, especially with heavier bullets in the 200- to 220-grain category at short to medium ranges. It earned an excellent reputation in Africa on all sorts of game and is reasonably popular to this day on the Dark Continent, even though it has been eclipsed to some extent by many more modern contenders. It is a cartridge I have always wanted to own, and one day a nice old Mauser rifle is sure to come my way.
The 8×57’s older brother, the 7×57, was originally developed as a military cartridge for Spain and saw use in this guise in the Spanish-American War of 1895. Just a few short years later the cartridge was in the thick of the action again, but this time in Africa in the hands of the hardy Boers who were defending their two republics, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, against invading British forces. The 7×57 is a very popular cartridge in South Africa to this day, and enjoys legendary status there, and rightly so. With lighter bullets it is a low-recoiling and flat-shooting rifle that is just about ideal for many plains-game species, and with heavy 175-grain bullets it is sure death on the bigger soft-skinned antelope such as kudu and wildebeest. The good sectional density, especially of the heavier 7mm bullets, ensures good penetration, as Karamojo Bell amply proved on hundreds of elephant, although I’ll be the first to admit that elephants were probably not quite what the cartridge’s designers had in mind for it in 1893!
Internationally, the 7×57 seems to ebb and flow in the popularity stakes. Every now and then a manufacturer chambers a few rifles for the cartridge and the flame burns brighter, only to simmer down to a flicker again in a year’s time. One thing is certain, though. The 7×57 deserves a place next to the fire, and it is just too good to die. I did a lot of my early hunting with a nice little 7×57 and I often wonder why I bother with all the other stuff instead of just getting a 7×57 again.
Possibly the most popular cartridge of all time, the .30-06 Springfield, firmly traces its heritage back to military roots as well. It was originally a US military development that eventually ended up seeing the US through two World Wars, Korea, and a number of other less conspicuous trouble spots before it was replaced in the 1950s. By the time its replacement arrived on the scene, however, the good old ’06 was so firmly entrenched as a sporting cartridge that nothing was going to knock it off this particular perch, and this is pretty much the situation still today.
While some view the .30-06 as a mixed blessing, the fact is that there is very little that cannot be hunted with the cartridge. It is an all-rounder par excellence, with the ability to fire a wide range of bullets from 110- to 250 grains, and the plethora of .308” bullets available make it a reloader’s dream. Factory rifles and ammunition are available from almost every source imaginable, and this more than anything else makes the ’06 a fine choice for the travelling hunter who may find himself stranded somewhere where nobody has ever heard of a .300 WSM. I have probably hunted more animals, both large and small, with a .30-06 on two continents and in a number of African countries, and I can attest to the fact that it is an excellent cartridge for just about anything short of dangerous game when loaded with appropriate ammunition. Love it or hate it, but the .30-06 is one warhorse that is here to stay.
Notwithstanding newer military cartridges such as the .308 Winchester and .223 Remington, both fine cartridges in their own right, the older ex-military warhorses still hold a lot of appeal. With a newer generation of ammunition and rifles to fire that ammunition (even the .303 was recently given a new lease of life in the form of a limited run of the Ruger No 1 single-shot falling-block rifle) they are as good – and even better – as they ever were, and they are always worth a second look for the hunter on the lookout for a cartridge with a bit of history and a proven track record behind it. Give an old warhorse a second chance![/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F150-151||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”19676,19677,19678″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Jul 21, 2018 | News, On Shooting
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]HOMAGE TO THE ANCESTORS
Johan van Wyk
I don’t think too many people will disagree if I make the statement that cartridges such as the .30-06 and .375 H&H Magnum came to be accepted over the years as industry standards. They are popular to the point where ammunition, reloading components and factory rifles are commonplace just about everywhere where hunting is conducted and rifles and ammunition are sold, and hence they are the yardsticks (rightly or wrongly) by which many other cartridges are judged.
Well, in days gone by, a number of different “yardstick” cartridges were out there as well, and even though they are now to a large extent forgotten or only encountered in gun rooms full of interesting old rifles or on the workbenches of slightly eccentric handloaders, they were the standards by which many others were judged in the days when a manservant and a pith helmet was considered essential hunting equipment.
The .450 (3¼”) Black Powder Express was in all probability the most popular black powder sporting cartridge of all time. Just about every British gunmaker worth their salt chambered rifles for one or other version of the .450 BPE, and ammunition was loaded in Britain, Germany, France and Austria. A state police department in Australia even adopted the Alex Henry falling-block single-shot rifle in .450 BPE as a service rifle at some point, and both single-shot and double rifles were available. Original ballistics were somewhat all over the place – mainly due to different manufacturers preferring different loads – but generally ranged from 270-grain bullets at 2 000 fps to 365-grain bullets at 1 750 fps. Even though the idea of shooting a 300-grain-plus bullet from a modern rifles sounds like serious stuff today, the .450 was actually considered to be somewhat of an all-round rifle for its day and judged to be fine for antelope and the bigger cats, but somewhat marginal for the really big, thick-skinned critters, even though John Taylor reported killing elephant with the cartridge.
The bullets of the day were lead projectiles in a variety of shapes and designs, including hollow-points for rapid expansion and round-nose hardened lead bullets for deeper penetration on big animals. Paper-patching was also in widespread use and was a necessity in many instances to ensure a proper grip on the bullet by the shallower types of rifling designs in use back then, such as Metford and Henry. As the .450 BPE’s recoil was quite moderate due to the low chamber pressure developed by the ammunition of the day, the rifles themselves were quite light (down to 8½ pounds or so in some instances) and handy. All these factors combined to make the .450 BPE a roaring success. Looking back, I reckon it is fair to make the comment that the .450 BPE was the .30-06 of its day. It was effective on a wide range of game, had modest recoil and almost everybody had one.
Moving on, the next cartridge worth taking a look at is the .577 (3”) BPE. This is a cartridge steeped in history and tradition that immediately conjures up images of Samuel Baker and Arthur Neumann, and it certainly paid its dues in Africa in earlier times. As was the case with the .450 BPE, the .577 BPE was chambered by a great many makers and was popular enough that ammunition was available well into the 1920s. It is worth noting that the 3-inch Nitro version of the .577 had been available for decades by this time, and had become a favorite of some in the hard-core elephant hunting fraternity such as James Sutherland, but the black powder .577 was still hanging in there as well.
The .577 BPE’s ballistics were impressive, even for its time. Bullets ranging from 560 to 610 grains were available (with later Nitro-for-black loads maximum bullet weight being increased to a hefty 650 grains) at muzzle velocities ranging from 1 740 fps to 1 650 fps. These were powerful enough to get the attention of just about anything, and in addition to thin-skinned game, the .577 BPE was used with success on the largest animals. Thus, the .577 BPE can rightly be compared to the .375 H&H: popular, available and powerful enough for just about anything, although not quite possessing the outright punch of the larger 8- and 4-bore rifles of the time.
A few years ago I took part in a big-bore shooting competition where many of the contestants used classic old double rifles in various calibers and configurations. For the black powder category my host offered me a lovely old Holland & Holland hammer double rifle in .577 BPE. We stepped up to the line on a damp and rainy morning and when the range officer gave the command to shoot, I hefted the old rifle, levelled the express sights at the target and pressed the triggers, one after the other. The result was a hefty but not uncomfortable PUSH on each occasion, a great cloud of smoke that took some time to dissipate, and two very, very impressive holes in the target. It was a very satisfying step back in time!
As mentioned above, Nitro-for-black loadings for many of the popular black powder express cartridges were available for many years after the advent of the Nitro era. This ensured a new lease on life for many an old rifle, and they remained in use for decades after the .450 (3¼”) BPE became the .450 (3¼”) Nitro-Express, the cartridge that blazed a trail followed by many others. The .577 BPE was likewise turned into the .577 (3”) Nitro-Express, arguably the quintessential elephant cartridge of all times.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”16457,16458,16459″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Jun 13, 2018 | News, On Shooting
THE DAMASCUS MISCONCEPTION
Johan van Wyk
Perhaps the greatest misconception in the world of shotgunning, and especially where vintage guns are concerned, is the strength (or apparent lack thereof) of Damascus-barrelled guns. For the uninitiated, Damascus (or twist-steel, as it is sometimes called) barrels were created by wrapping and hammering sheets of iron around a mandrel. After the mandrel was withdrawn, a barrel emerged which was then used on a double gun or rifle, as the case may be. Various different patterns of Damascus steel were created and a bit of research will uncover the existence of such exotics such as “three-iron stub”, “scelp”, “silver-steel”, and various others. For the moment we will stick with the collective term of “Damascus” to simplify matters.
Damascus was born in the black powder era. It was used on both guns and rifles just about from the beginning of modern gunmaking as we know it until the early 1890’s when it was largely supplanted by Sir Joseph Whitworth’s fluid steel, which was both easier to manufacture as well as cheaper.
The main talking point regarding Damascus barrels for the past few decades have been the question of how strong they are and whether they are up to the pressures generated by modern smokeless ammunition. Some authors (including a few well-known ones) have been so vitriolic in their rhetoric against Damascus barrels that one can almost pick up a faint burning smell just by turning the pages of their books. Almost to a man, these gentlemen claim adamantly that the quickest way for any shooter to blow not only his family heirloom but his own health to kingdom come is to use modern smokeless ammunition in an old Damascus-barrelled gun, irrespective of age, condition, or any other consideration worthy of any thought. My favourite quote in this regard is the American author who solemnly wrote that “Age robs Damascus steel barrels of what little structural integrity they may have had in the first place”. In light of the fact that this same worthy gentleman also claimed that the old Scottish firm of John Dickson & Son made their famous round-action guns in both sidelock and boxlock form, it is probably safe to say that he never handled or shot with a Damascus-barrelled gun before committing pen to paper, nor did he ever lay eyes on a Dickson round-action gun. Yet, wonder of wonders, he found a willing publisher and a throng of eager supporters. Ain’t life grand?
On the other side of the coin are those who neither care nor know any better and simply stuff whatever ammunition is at hand into their old shotguns (probably handed down from generations ago) without losing any sleep over the matter. After all, if it goes bang it worked, didn’t it?
My own opinion lies somewhere in-between the two extremes described above. I have owned, and still own, Damascus-barrelled shotguns and I use them regularly afield. I treasure them for the fine workmanship and superb handling qualities that they exhibit but I also respect the limits of their design, especially with modern ammunition. I am also most definitely of the opinion that the mere fact that a gun is fitted with Damascus tubes should not necessarily demote it to the status of wall-hanger or condemn it to the furnace, as has tragically happened in many instances in the past.
When confronted with a Damascus-barrelled gun, the first order of business is an appointment with a barrel wall thickness gauge as well as a bore gauge. Insufficient barrel wall thickness or any pitting of any kind immediately causes me to lose interest in the gun in question, as does poor overall condition such as barrels shot off the face or any other potentially fatal defect. The second consideration is proof marks, and here I’m specifically referring to vintage British guns. Proof marks are a very good indication of the potential life that a particular gun may have lead as well as whether it was subjected to serious alteration at some point such as lapped bores or lengthened chambers. Again, if the proof marks tell a sordid tale, rather steer clear of the gun in question.
What to do if everything does check out, though? Well, if the price is right and the gun fits, there is really nothing more to add except that you may have an opportunity to enjoy a gun hailing from the finest era of gunmaking that will last for a great many seasons more if properly looked after. Vintage Damascus-barrelled guns in good question regularly fly through modern nitro-proof with lengthened 70mm (2¾”) chambers and reproofing, is practical, is certainly an option as well and is a source of comfort for many first-time buyers as well. Ammunition-wise I stick to nitro loads of modest pressure in my old guns. This is as much out of respect for the guns themselves but also because I have found that they kill as well as anything for the shooting I do. Dead is dead, and no guinea fowl has ever noticed the difference between 1⅛ ounces of chilled lead shot and 1¼ ounces of copper-plated, buffered teeth rattlers in my opinion, although my shoulder most definitely notices the difference!
A quick glance at the catalogues of many of the better-known dealers in quality second-hand guns will show that whereas a Damascus-barrelled gun could hardly be given away a decade or so ago, quite the opposite is today the case. Prices of nicely preserved and well-restored vintage guns have steadily climbed over the last few years as more and more knowledgeable shooters have come to realise that the old guns still have plenty of life left in them and can provide endless hours of elegance and enjoyment in the field, even in the modern era. Of course, if you just happen to be the owner of a nice old Damascus-barrelled gun in good condition, the mere thought of shooting with leaves you in a cold sweat, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I’ll be sure to find a good home for it.
Feb 17, 2018 | News, On Shooting
“THE DEADLIEST THING IN CAPTIVITY!”
Johan van Wyk
The key to success is a bit of basic knowledge of ballistics and, of course, practice, practice, practice!
I have a good friend who is a mechanical engineer by trade, but happens to be a gun dealer by vocation, specialising in rare and collectable firearms. Much of his time is spent reloading for obscure, old black powder cartridges, or regulating double rifles. Often, after one of his marathon sessions at the shooting bench or in the reloading room, I would hear my cell phone ping, and be confronted with an image of a target with two neat bullet holes through it as proof positive of another successful project. Without fail, the caption added by my satisfied friend would be: “The deadliest thing in captivity!”
Well, as nice as the old double rifles are, the real deadliest thing in captivity is actually the man (or woman, to be fair) that is really familiar with his or her rifle and can use it the way it was intended. Just about every professional hunter out there has a few horror stories to tell of clients who arrive for a hunt in Africa, but who are unable to hit the proverbial barn door from the inside. Poor marksmanship is one thing, but I must admit that I’ve seen some people that are beyond hope insofar as shooting is concerned. I pity the PH that has to guide such a hunter on a hunt for even the most benign creature!
In my humble opinion, many hunters underestimate the value of regular practice, and even competitive shooting, as far as skill with a hunting rifle is concerned. As a rule, most of us don’t shoot at animals at extended ranges (meaning past the 300-metre mark in my own case) but with a bit of practice it is usually not too difficult to get consistent results at longer ranges. I’m fortunate in that I belong to a shooting club where we take part in shooting competitions from as little as 25 metres up to 200 metres and more on a monthly basis, using life-sized animal targets with the vital areas indicated as scoring areas. I readily admit to being an average rifleman at the best of times, but the monthly practice sessions certainly do make a difference by the time hunting season rolls along.
In a similar vein, a bit of thought regarding equipment is in order as well. Far too often I have had to help out fellow shooters who arrived at the shooting range with a jumble of ammunition in different brands and bullet weights for their rifles. There is simply no way to shoot straight with such a mess of ammunition. At other times, I have seen guys struggling to sight in rifles with guard screws that hadn’t been tightened for years, and on one memorable occasion a guy was surprised to find himself holding his riflescope in his hands when trying to make adjustments after he’d fired a few shots, so loose were the rings!
The hunter who understands and has confidence in his equipment, and can shoot really well, is “the deadliest thing in captivity”, while the guy who pitches up totally unprepared with untried or poorly maintained equipment is exactly the opposite. I reckon we owe it to the game animals as well as our hunting companions and guides to do a bit of preparation and practice for the sake of success.
Some hunters handle their firearms with such precision and confidence, though, that it is a joy to behold. I recently accompanied two Australian friends on a hunt in South Africa, and it was clear that not only were both very capable marksmen, but very confident and familiar with their rifles as well. The first quarry to go down was a nice nyala bull. The first shot with a .30-06 from about a hundred and thirty metres across a gully was textbook perfect, and the bull went down in his tracks. It was a good start, but the next day two old giraffe bulls were even better examples of field marksmanship. They were hunted with an open-sighted .500 NE double, and even though the shooting distances were typically modest to accommodate the double, shot placement on both of the big animals was once again impeccable: the bullet holes in both (an initial shot with a follow-up shot, the good old left-and-right from the double rifle) could be covered by the palm of one’s hand – right through the heart on both of the big animals. On the last day a wildebeest bull made the mistake of pausing for a few seconds at long range when he shouldn’t have. It was a tricky shot with the bull standing at a strange angle, but again, the .30-06 spoke but once, and the result was a quick, clean kill.
It is a real pleasure to hunt with such people. They not only had a thorough knowledge of their rifle’s ballistics, but of basic animal anatomy as well. More importantly, they were both extremely confident shots who spent many hours back home on the shooting range honing their skills with a rifle.
And believe me, it showed in the field!
Dec 12, 2017 | News, On Shooting
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A CARTRIDGE TO DREAM ABOUT
By Johan van Wyk
I suppose every schoolboy that was raised on a mixture of the gospel according to Messrs Taylor and Ruark, together with a dog-eared copy of Cartridges of the World, and a fair dose of gunpowder and hunting opportunities thrown in for good measure – has a favorite cartridge – that special one that is idolised from an early age and the one that must be owned at all costs one day. For me, that special cartridge was (and is) the .416 Rigby, and I’m happy to report that it took just over thirty years for me to own a rifle in .416 Rigby since I first became aware of the cartridge’s existence.
My introduction to the almost mythical .416 Rigby came many moons ago when I was still in primary school. My old man had done a lot of big-game hunting in what was then Rhodesia, and I would listen to his hunting stories with a growing determination that someday I, too, would walk on the big tracks through the mopane forests. My dad’s big-game gun was a .375 and he used it very successfully on all manner of the big stuff, but every now and then he would turn to me and say: “Now, the .416 Rigby! There’s a grand rifle!” To the best of my knowledge my dad never used a .416 in anger on anything, but it certainly left an unforgettable impression on me, and I would often stare at the fired .416 case on my dad’s bookshelf, promising myself that one day I would have one as well.
To put things in perspective, the .416 Rigby dates back to 1912 and, as the name implies, was introduced by the venerated firm of John Rigby & Co in rifles made on the famed M98 Magnum Mauser action. Rigby clearly had great things in mind for their .416, and for starters they saw to it that the cartridge was loaded with what was, for the time, premium quality bullets. The rifles were extremely well made and soon gained a reputation in Africa and India for all the right reasons as well. Standard ballistics was a 410-grain bullet (available in either full-metal jacketed solid, soft-point expanding or hollow-point configuration) at 2 371 fps for just a touch over 5 000 ft/lbs of muzzle energy.
By the early 1980s, I was seriously pestering my old man to acquire a .416 Rigby of sorts. Not that we had a need for one, mind you, but someday we surely would badly need one! At the time, finding a suitable action to build a .416 Rigby on was a challenge, to say the least. Both the Magnum Mauser and the French-made Brevex had been out of production for decades, and examples of both were not only almost impossible to get hold of, but ridiculously expensive as well.
As my old man would not even hear about using a perfectly serviceable Brno ZKK 602 action (which was freely available) – we found an unused example in a Northern Transvaal gunshop for the princely sum of R 495 in 1988 – this left me in somewhat of a quandary and I made a habit of scanning the classifieds and keeping my ear on the ground. Rather annoyingly though, the only .416 that cropped up was a beautiful pre-war example by Rigby. It was a lovely old rifle, but my dad’s eyes started to water when he heard the price and I was back to square one in my quest for a .416.
Well, time went by, I finished school and eventually entered university. Along the way, priorities changed, and for a few years at least the search for a .416 Rigby was well and truly on the back burner. When Ruger introduced a version of their M77 rifle in .416 Rigby, I was astounded and soon thereafter rifles chambered for the .416 Rigby became almost commonplace in South Africa, as did .416 Rigby ammunition and reloading components.
When my time came to walk on the big tracks through the mopane forest for the first time, I carried a much-prized .375 and, with my dad’s advice regarding how to shoot a buffalo still uppermost in my mind, had a great time and a successful hunt. Over the years I’ve crossed paths with a great many .416 Rigby rifles, both custom-made ones as well as the odd original vintage rifle and, even if I have to say so myself, I’ve become a bit of a Rigby aficionado, being very susceptible to spending the odd afternoon taking apart an old rifle and marveling at its nooks and crannies. Being on friendly terms with a dealer or two who specialise in old rifles doesn’t help one bit, of course, as my long-suffering wife is wont to remind me every so often.
Not too long ago I spent a pleasant few days in the bush with the owner of a large European firearms manufacturer. To say that we got along well is a bit of an understatement and, to make a long story short, I became the owner of a beautiful Heym Martini Express in .416 Rigby shortly after returning home. Finally, more than thirty years since my path crossed with the .416 Rigby, I owned one. At last!
It is a finely-made, reliable and good-looking rifle, and I look forward to spending many years in its company. What makes it doubly special is that I will be carrying the Heym on the big tracks through the mopane forest in a couple of months’ time.
See? Boyhood dreams sometimes really turn into reality.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
