ZIMBABWE: Leopard Charge My Nightmare In Zimbabwe

+1
 
Glad it all worked out in the end and glad you got your cat now. This is one you will remember for the rest of your life.
 
I have heard of a ph that attached a bayonet to follow up on wounded cats. Not sure if anyone does this today. If it was my livelihood, it is something I would seriously consider.
 
My head tracker in Namibia had a four time pitchfork attached to the truck. He said in case of tracking wounded leapard and Godfrey was his name. Luckily we never used it. But really great story Philip
 
Well there is more to the story it seems. After reading on AH the account of the Zim PH discussing all the different makes of rifles and what works and what has problems(Sorry I can't remember his name or title of the post). I now realize that I didn't short stroke the bolt under pressure! My Ruger, as was mentioned in the article, when the bolt is worked hard such as in a pressure situation does not always eject the spent shell casing completely. I've tested this myself and I was able to recreate the malfunction. I will be taking these Rugers to the gunsmith to see what can be done about it. I am still a die hard Ruger fan but I now know that their gun has a problem and it could have got me killed!
I wonder if anyone else has had the same experience or something similar with another make of rifle?
Regards,
Philip
 
Interesting. Maybe, when you are bored over the holidays, you can make a video of the malfunction.
 
Very interesting @Philip Glass , can you describe the "when the bolt is worked hard" that prompts a fail to eject? I've cycled many Ruger bolt actions aggressively and never had a fail to eject. Not saying it can't happen, so I am interested to learn more. Thanks!
 
Philip Glass said:
Well there is more to the story it seems. After reading on AH the account of the Zim PH discussing all the different makes of rifles and what works and what has problems(Sorry I can't remember his name or title of the post). I now realize that I didn't short stroke the bolt under pressure! My Ruger, as was mentioned in the article, when the bolt is worked hard such as in a pressure situation does not always eject the spent shell casing completely. I've tested this myself and I was able to recreate the malfunction. I will be taking these Rugers to the gunsmith to see what can be done about it. I am still a die hard Ruger fan but I now know that their gun has a problem and it could have got me killed!
I wonder if anyone else has had the same experience or something similar with another make of rifle?
Regards,
Philip
Click to expand...
:eek::eek:
 
Philip Glass said:
Well there is more to the story it seems. After reading on AH the account of the Zim PH discussing all the different makes of rifles and what works and what has problems(Sorry I can't remember his name or title of the post). I now realize that I didn't short stroke the bolt under pressure! My Ruger, as was mentioned in the article, when the bolt is worked hard such as in a pressure situation does not always eject the spent shell casing completely. I've tested this myself and I was able to recreate the malfunction. I will be taking these Rugers to the gunsmith to see what can be done about it. I am still a die hard Ruger fan but I now know that their gun has a problem and it could have got me killed!
I wonder if anyone else has had the same experience or something similar with another make of rifle?
Regards,
Philip
Click to expand...
I actually had a malfunction on my lion hunt with my Ruger African Hawkeye. After a few shots I was excited (to say the least) and when I ejected the spent shell I went to ram the bolt home to pick up a new one out of the mag. It jammed something fierce. Not sure exactly what caused it but the new shell only partially came out of the mag and buried into the action. I actually had to slam it on the ground while forcing down the bolt handle to clear the jam. It picked up the next round fine and I was back in business but I’m here to tell you, when A seriously pissed off lion is bearing down on you and your gun jams that is a britches messing experience.
 
I tested out my new 416 Ruger Hawkeye, old stock rifle as it was pre-muzzle break but has the 2 cross bolts vs one on the first version, as I’ve read they won’t eject when worked hard.

I ran it 10-12 times last night with 4 dummy rounds with 350gr Speer bullets loaded and worked the bolt slow and as hard as I could. I was throwing rounds all over my reloading room and it worked every time. My dog wasn’t pleased and I scared the heck out of my wife when she came to check up on me in the reloading room!

I need to see if there is a difference ejecting an empty hull, I did it once or twice last night but need to do it another 100 times. Will defiantly be on the look-out for this problem and will keep testing the rifle for reliability.

Please let us know what the gunsmith finds as we may all want to look into increasing the reliability.
 
Philip Glass said:
Well there is more to the story it seems. After reading on AH the account of the Zim PH discussing all the different makes of rifles and what works and what has problems(Sorry I can't remember his name or title of the post). I now realize that I didn't short stroke the bolt under pressure! My Ruger, as was mentioned in the article, when the bolt is worked hard such as in a pressure situation does not always eject the spent shell casing completely. I've tested this myself and I was able to recreate the malfunction. I will be taking these Rugers to the gunsmith to see what can be done about it. I am still a die hard Ruger fan but I now know that their gun has a problem and it could have got me killed!
I wonder if anyone else has had the same experience or something similar with another make of rifle?
Regards,
Philip
Click to expand...

Not the first time this has occurred with a Ruger.....

You may be referring to this post..

Don Heath

Then we come to one that surprises me. Ruger. The early Ruger M77's with the non rotating claw extractors but still a push feed mechanism, in .458 Win could be relied upon to jam if the bolt was worked quickly. In the 1980's the National Parks culling teams found this out the hard way and the new Rugers were quickly disposed of or issued to stations where a heavy rifle was seldom required. The new MkII Ruger with a proper controlled feed seemed to be a vast improvement and were reputed to work a whole lot better and of course come at a top dollar price. I learned differently. All but one out of seven I've seen or handled this year (6 in .416 Rigby and one .458 Win) would not eject if the bolt was opened vigorously. Slow down just a fraction and they throw the empty case half way into the next province. For a client coming out to Africa this may be acceptable. Any really fast fancy shooting is going to be the PH's.

For the Professional Hunter or Guide though, a rifle that is guaranteed not to eject when worked at speed is a death sentence waiting to happen. The fault lies with the sprung loaded ejector that springs into place as the bolt is withdrawn. Work the bolt at a moderate speed and the ejector is in place to cleanly throw the case clear. Work the bolt fast and the ejector is still on its way up when the case passes over it. A few will work provided the ejector is scrupulously clean and well oiled but many will not do even that (and how do you keep it clean AND oiled in the usual dusty conditions?). A much stronger spring and a little polishing of the raceway that it fits into may cure the problem, but they are not safe as they come from the factory. A local gun shop tells me that they have sent two new rifles back this year because of this problem, and our local top gunsmith tells me that while most can be made to work perfectly, some cannot. Ruger needs to wake up, their No.1, single shot rifle is a far safer and more dependable weapon than their bolt action.
 
IvW said:
Not the first time this has occurred with a Ruger.....

You may be referring to this post..

Don Heath

Then we come to one that surprises me. Ruger. The early Ruger M77's with the non rotating claw extractors but still a push feed mechanism, in .458 Win could be relied upon to jam if the bolt was worked quickly. In the 1980's the National Parks culling teams found this out the hard way and the new Rugers were quickly disposed of or issued to stations where a heavy rifle was seldom required. The new MkII Ruger with a proper controlled feed seemed to be a vast improvement and were reputed to work a whole lot better and of course come at a top dollar price. I learned differently. All but one out of seven I've seen or handled this year (6 in .416 Rigby and one .458 Win) would not eject if the bolt was opened vigorously. Slow down just a fraction and they throw the empty case half way into the next province. For a client coming out to Africa this may be acceptable. Any really fast fancy shooting is going to be the PH's.

For the Professional Hunter or Guide though, a rifle that is guaranteed not to eject when worked at speed is a death sentence waiting to happen. The fault lies with the sprung loaded ejector that springs into place as the bolt is withdrawn. Work the bolt at a moderate speed and the ejector is in place to cleanly throw the case clear. Work the bolt fast and the ejector is still on its way up when the case passes over it. A few will work provided the ejector is scrupulously clean and well oiled but many will not do even that (and how do you keep it clean AND oiled in the usual dusty conditions?). A much stronger spring and a little polishing of the raceway that it fits into may cure the problem, but they are not safe as they come from the factory. A local gun shop tells me that they have sent two new rifles back this year because of this problem, and our local top gunsmith tells me that while most can be made to work perfectly, some cannot. Ruger needs to wake up, their No.1, single shot rifle is a far safer and more dependable weapon than their bolt action.
Click to expand...

Do you know what year Heath wrote the above?
 
Actually that did happen with some early 77's in 458 and often with 500 gr projectiles.

They had the wrong followers in them.
 
IvW said:
Not the first time this has occurred with a Ruger.....

You may be referring to this post..

Don Heath

Then we come to one that surprises me. Ruger. The early Ruger M77's with the non rotating claw extractors but still a push feed mechanism, in .458 Win could be relied upon to jam if the bolt was worked quickly. In the 1980's the National Parks culling teams found this out the hard way and the new Rugers were quickly disposed of or issued to stations where a heavy rifle was seldom required. The new MkII Ruger with a proper controlled feed seemed to be a vast improvement and were reputed to work a whole lot better and of course come at a top dollar price. I learned differently. All but one out of seven I've seen or handled this year (6 in .416 Rigby and one .458 Win) would not eject if the bolt was opened vigorously. Slow down just a fraction and they throw the empty case half way into the next province. For a client coming out to Africa this may be acceptable. Any really fast fancy shooting is going to be the PH's.

For the Professional Hunter or Guide though, a rifle that is guaranteed not to eject when worked at speed is a death sentence waiting to happen. The fault lies with the sprung loaded ejector that springs into place as the bolt is withdrawn. Work the bolt at a moderate speed and the ejector is in place to cleanly throw the case clear. Work the bolt fast and the ejector is still on its way up when the case passes over it. A few will work provided the ejector is scrupulously clean and well oiled but many will not do even that (and how do you keep it clean AND oiled in the usual dusty conditions?). A much stronger spring and a little polishing of the raceway that it fits into may cure the problem, but they are not safe as they come from the factory. A local gun shop tells me that they have sent two new rifles back this year because of this problem, and our local top gunsmith tells me that while most can be made to work perfectly, some cannot. Ruger needs to wake up, their No.1, single shot rifle is a far safer and more dependable weapon than their bolt action.
Click to expand...
Thanks and yes this is the post! I just know I did not short stroke the bolt on my leopard hunt and I also know that with a leopard at full charge I did work the bolt vigorously!
Philip
 
375 Ruger Fan said:
Very interesting @Philip Glass , can you describe the "when the bolt is worked hard" that prompts a fail to eject? I've cycled many Ruger bolt actions aggressively and never had a fail to eject. Not saying it can't happen, so I am interested to learn more. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I think the best bet is for me to take it to Hill Country Arms and let them have a look and get their opinion. They did the accurizing work for me on the .375 and .416.
I've never even thought of this being a problem until the leopard hunt. I mean I ran the bolt quickly several times shooting at my range and no problems. But when I read Don Heath's article I realized something is going on. I'll let you know what I find out.
Philip
 
First, somehow I missed this thread when it was posted originally. Amazing, scary, and everything in between. Thank you for sharing it!

Second, I had a similar experience on my buffalo hunt in Tanzania with my Ruger 375 Alaskan. The empty brass just sat at an angle in front of the chamber, jamming the new round being sent in as I cycled the bolt. I was able to clear it by hand, but it certainly slowed me down, and cost a follow up shot. I know I worked the bolt hard, but I just assumed I screwed something up somehow. It was exactly the same as happened to you. Please let me know if you come across something that can repair this dangerous malfunction!
 
Philip Glass said:
Well there is more to the story it seems. After reading on AH the account of the Zim PH discussing all the different makes of rifles and what works and what has problems(Sorry I can't remember his name or title of the post). I now realize that I didn't short stroke the bolt under pressure! My Ruger, as was mentioned in the article, when the bolt is worked hard such as in a pressure situation does not always eject the spent shell casing completely. I've tested this myself and I was able to recreate the malfunction. I will be taking these Rugers to the gunsmith to see what can be done about it. I am still a die hard Ruger fan but I now know that their gun has a problem and it could have got me killed!
I wonder if anyone else has had the same experience or something similar with another make of rifle?
Regards,
Philip
Click to expand...

I'm surprised that one has chimed in with "that's what you get when you buy and use cheap rifles." At least now both you and the PH know it wasn't something you didn't do that let that leopard get so close. I'll bet you are sleeping a little easier armed with this knowledge. In order to make sure everyone is aware of this possibility, maybe you need to start another thread titled "RUGERS CAN FAIL WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN."
 
Philip Glass said:
Well there is more to the story it seems. After reading on AH the account of the Zim PH discussing all the different makes of rifles and what works and what has problems(Sorry I can't remember his name or title of the post). I now realize that I didn't short stroke the bolt under pressure! My Ruger, as was mentioned in the article, when the bolt is worked hard such as in a pressure situation does not always eject the spent shell casing completely. I've tested this myself and I was able to recreate the malfunction. I will be taking these Rugers to the gunsmith to see what can be done about it. I am still a die hard Ruger fan but I now know that their gun has a problem and it could have got me killed!
I wonder if anyone else has had the same experience or something similar with another make of rifle?
Regards,
Philip
Click to expand...

Phillip on my elephant hunt I thought the same thing, short stroke, using my 416 Ruger Guide Gun. I fired the first shot which dropped the bull. I quickly chambered another round and put a second shot into the chest of the beast as instructed by Pieter. I quickly ejected the spent round and chambered the third round. The second PH told me to reload the rifle. When I worked the bolt round three did not eject and was not aligned in the magazine top. It took me several seconds to get it back into proper position. I have always assumed that I short stroked the bolt.
 
I just read about this happening to Buzz Charlton in his book last night, Ruger .416 Rigby. He said the ejector is slow to rise up from its recess when the bolt is worked fast and doesn't eject the empty and it just lays there like a fat dog and big ol jam!
 
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