Convince Me I Am Wrong

[Kevin Peacocke]

What make of 450/400 may I ask? Given the opportunity I would jump at it, you said buffalo so why is everyone asking 'if you want to do an elephant instead'? There is never an end to that reasoning.

 

[Philip Glass]

Sure can be especially with a quality red dot sight.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

That's a myth. People talk about it all the time as a possibility, and that is all it is. With the volume of international travel, the odds of your particular luggage not making it are about the same as your plane going down more or less.

I take on an average of four (well used to, canceled two so far ,two more coming up) international trips a year. Have yet to get any luggage lost since I was 15 (when I started traveling alone internationally). Once in Turkey, a few years ago, my Tuffpak got put on a later domestic transfer flight and arrived a few hours later. Not a big deal. That was the only glitch.

Mostly I use wildcat cartridges, I don't sweat the rare possibility that my luggage with ammo won't make it. The firearms have a higher chance of getting stolen.

Now, I do take precautions and try not to do flight transfers in places I don't trust (for example no stopovers ever in Italy). My luggage is also sturdy so it is not going to get ripped up by the luggage systems.

While rare, plenty of people on AH have reported lost or delayed baggage. It is not a myth, it does happen. Two years ago, on a business trip to Luanda, Angola, SAA managed to lose my check bag for a week. Heck, on a non-stop flight from Calgary to Houston, my bag showed up a day late.

 

[Opposite Pole]

Although rare delays do happen. I’ve arrived in Sydney once while my luggage stayed in Amsterdam and got to me the following day. On another occasion my wife’s luggage arrived a day late to Warsaw on the way from Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, can’t remember which.

 

[Tanks]

While rare, plenty of people on AH have reported lost or delayed baggage.

Well, my experience is different and for something that happens rare I am wouldn't change my purchases.

Heck, on a non-stop flight from Calgary to Houston, my bag showed up a day late.

Bag delays can happen at times even though rare. My standard procedure is to overnight in J'Burg at Afton house upon arrival even when I could just catch a connecting flight. Reason is just in case the luggage got delayed. I'd rather put it into my procedures then change the type of gun/ammo I use. So far haven't needed it.

 

[Tanks]

What make of 450/400 may I ask? Given the opportunity I would jump at it, you said buffalo so why is everyone asking 'if you want to do an elephant instead'? There is never an end to that reasoning.

Buffalo is a gateway drug to elephant.

 

[Shootist43]

To paraphrase an ongoing television commercial "It is YOUR MONEY, hunt with what you want to."

 

[Art Lambart II]

That's a myth. People talk about it all the time as a possibility, and that is all it is. With the volume of international travel, the odds of your particular luggage not making it are about the same as your plane going down more or less.

I take on an average of four (well used to, canceled two so far ,two more coming up) international trips a year. Have yet to get any luggage lost since I was 15 (when I started traveling alone internationally). Once in Turkey, a few years ago, my Tuffpak got put on a later domestic transfer flight and arrived a few hours later. Not a big deal. That was the only glitch.

Mostly I use wildcat cartridges, I don't sweat the rare possibility that my luggage with ammo won't make it. The firearms have a higher chance of getting stolen.

Now, I do take precautions and try not to do flight transfers in places I don't trust (for example no stopovers ever in Italy). My luggage is also sturdy so it is not going to get ripped up by the luggage systems.

Tanks, you have just been lucky, I have traveled from the US to SA twice both on Delta 200 out of Atlanta and both times my guns did not arrive when I did. In 2016 my guns, my fathers guns and my brothers guns all arrived a day after we did, then in 2018 on a group hunt 3 of the 4 us us that flew out of ALT on the same flight where missing our guns, my father @Shootist43 and @CAustin received their guns one day late, my guns arrived in SA 4 days late and my PH and I had to drive back to Joburg to get them.

Late or lost luggage is a very real thing, I highly recommend that you make sure your Outfitter has a quality firearm and ammo on hand for you to use in case your rifles don't arrive when you do.

 

[Tanks]

Tanks, you have just been lucky, I have traveled from the US to SA twice both on Delta 200 out of Atlanta and both times my guns did not arrive when I did....

Hmmm, Delta has an app that tracks your luggage, you guys did not do that to make sure it got on the flight? Last time I took Delta, I actually was worried a bit, but the luggage finally got loaded about 10 minutes before we started to taxi.

 

[WAB]

Hmmm, Delta has an app that tracks your luggage, you guys did not do that to make sure it got on the flight? Last time I took Delta, I actually was worried a bit, but the luggage finally got loaded about 10 minutes before we started to taxi.

That app did not exist when my ammo case was delayed enroute to Zambia. I always use the app but it is not foolproof. I have had instances where the notification was not updated until well after takeoff. Bottom line, s$&@ happens, be prepared. I always travel with enough in carry-on to conduct my Safari with a borrowed firearm should it become necessary.

 

[degoins]

yes

 

[CAustin]

Hmmm, Delta has an app that tracks your luggage, you guys did not do that to make sure it got on the flight? Last time I took Delta, I actually was worried a bit, but the luggage finally got loaded about 10 minutes before we started to taxi.

We both had the App and watched it closely. We could see that some luggage was on but not the gun cases. I actually was sitting in seat 3A and heard the pilot speaking to ground crew as they were removing baggage. The pilot was adding fuel and they were cutting weight. He actually came into the Business class section and spoke with us about the coming flight. Weather over the Atlantic was not going to be good so our flight plan hugged South America through most of the night before venturing across the Ocean. This made the distance of the flight greater and about an hour longer than what I expected. Flight 200 usually arcs straight out and down vs hugging the coast of South America.
@Tanks I had previously experienced exactly what you have where my Guns were put on just before the baggage compartment doors were closed but it was not to be on the 2018 trip. Five previous trips and no problems.

 

[Art Lambart II]

Hmmm, Delta has an app that tracks your luggage, you guys did not do that to make sure it got on the flight? Last time I took Delta, I actually was worried a bit, but the luggage finally got loaded about 10 minutes before we started to taxi.

Charlie and I both have the app on our phones and tracked our luggage until the moment the plane backed away from the gate. We both told the flight crew and they said the app had not updated and that everything was loaded on the plane. Guess what, they lied.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

I am a gold member with SAA and my luggage always gets a priority sticker. It means absolutely nothing because it isn't SAA or any other airline that handles your baggage, it is the handling company, in this case ACSA. Useless bunch, they couldn't give a damn and until they are brought to book, by us ranting at the airline, or better still suing them, nothing will change.

 

[IvW]

Is a nicely balanced double rifle chambered in .450/400 Nitro Express just about the best medicine for Buffalo there is?

Yes it is and if it has a QD scope or a small Aimpoint even better....

 

[IvW]

I am a gold member with SAA and my luggage always gets a priority sticker. It means absolutely nothing because it isn't SAA or any other airline that handles your baggage, it is the handling company, in this case ACSA. Useless bunch, they couldn't give a damn and until they are brought to book, by us ranting at the airline, or better still suing them, nothing will change.

Well I don't think that card will work on our next airline SAA is history....

 

[IvW]

Travelling to hunt in African countries with incorrectly stamped brass etc. etc. is risky business, in some cases very risky...
I have entered a certain country with a rifle and ammo, solids and softs. I had to declare it on the sheet, they were all checked. I was told to keep the cases. When I came back out, they checked everything again as well as counted the ammo and the spent cases....I ques it has a lot to do who checks it and where you are from...

Many hunters have had rifles arrive day's late, ammo that never arrived and even luggage that never arrived....

Hunting with obscure or wild cat cartridges compounds the problem especially if the ammo goes Awol...

I ques some are luckier than others....

 

[RayAtkinson]

Ive shot enough buffalo with the 450-400-3" and the 470 and 500 for that matter, and I think the 450-400 is the best buffalo caliber out there, and who sez its not a stopper? Who of the nay sayers has failed to stop a charge with a 450-400..I have on two occasions and it performed splendidly and again in one instance of a beginning of a charge that didn't develop enough to count as it was killed trying to make up its mind...I have had this conversation with many phs over the years, some agree and some don't, not one could say they had seen it fail, just that it should according to them..That don't cut it..

 

[sestoppelman]

If most consider the .375 at least adequate for buffalo, and it is, then the .450/400 is certainly a good buffalo caliber, same as the .404 Jeffery, just a rimmed case, otherwise two peas in a pod. Best is highly subjective.

 

[rookhawk]

Is a nicely balanced double rifle chambered in .450/400 Nitro Express just about the best medicine for Buffalo there is?

it is not.

The 450/400 is the lightest weight rifle, with the smallest bullet, with the least recoil, that is deemed generally sufficient for Buffalo with softs and solids to result in a swift death on a buffalo.

If you want a buffalo gun that may be used once on larger game in a pinch, a 450/400 is your gun. Just as if you want a plains game and leopard rifle that will be used once or twice on buffalo in a pinch, a 375 is your gun.

It’s important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of a gun without creating a false sense of security.

***trivia to consider: all things being equal, a 450/400 3” is the most expensive used or vintage double rifle to buy at present amongst the common choices. (Supply & Demand). I shoot a .470 not because I want more power usually, but because I’m not going to pay 50% more for a 450/400 or lower the quality of gun I purchase to own one during the present euphoria.