Hi from Jim, the guy who dreams of going to Africa....

[CAustin]

Hi everyone,

I'd mistakenly put this in the wrong place. Jerome, thankfully, told me the right link

My name is Jim Golden, and it has been my dream for my 53 years to go to Africa. I'm an aerospace engineer, a pilot, and a half decent machinist and rifle fan boy. I built a .375 Weatherby on a Winchester 1917 Enfield Action with a 30" Douglas barrel (I am from WV and Douglas is OUR company) and it chrono's a 300 gr at 2889 ft/s. About 5580 ft-lbs. I want to take a dagga boy with it. And a brown bear. I'm looking at bigger rifles as well....although I think my .375 would probably drop about anything. It's got an A-Square stock with a 16 ounce mercury recoil reducer....it's surprisingly well mannered...although I only shoot it from the standing position. I'm thinking about building another one, also on a P17 action, but in .460 Weatherby or .500 A-Square. Also looking at the .458 Lott. Anyway, have been lurking on here for awhile and finally decided to respond to a post, but I'm now lost since I spent a half hour setting up an account Happy to join you all

A-Square had excellent ideas and products, but seemed to be always in and out of business. So, I built my own Hannibal but with a longer barrel. It's a beast. But, I can shoot it very accurately and have a few hundred rounds through it. Anything a 5550 ft-lb .375 will rock with a .300gr A-Frame, I'm ready for. Maybe that's all I need. But I know a lot of you guys like bigger calibers.

On edit after I found out I'd posted it wrong....I'm still dubious of the controlled round feed vs. push feed argument. But, I do see where under stress a fellow could short stroke a cartridge and cause a jam with a push feed. But, Roy Weatherby never seemed to have this problem.... Well, my current big gun (to me) was built on a Winchester 1917 action and is forged beauty. IF I could find another like it, that is what I'd build my .460 on. I have an MPI stocks replica of the Coil Check stock and it really does work. Col. Alphin knows his stuff. I really like the Enfield action. But the Mauser is excellent as well. Anyway, the next argument is .500 Nitro double vs. .460 Weatherby Enfield But for now, I'd like to use my super .375 on a Dagga Boy and am looking at going to South Africa. I am open to any and all suggestions.

Glad to meet you all.

-Jim

Thanks for sharing. Dreams can and do come true!

 

[Tgood1]

Welcome from a fellow west Virginian (summersville). I am a huge fan of Douglas barrels as well and I considered the late Stan as a mentor and friend. You'll love this site

 

[Jim Golden]

Welcome aboard Jim!




Your .375 will be all you will need for anything in South Africa.

Take solids & expanding that shoot to the same POI, if possible.



I'd take one other rifle as a backup.

A scoped .300 magnum or .30/06 (or similar) for PG.


Maybe the .458 just for the buffalo or just in case you have a need and don't want to borrow or rent a rifle.


Sometimes solids are handy, just to minimize trophy destruction on small animals.

I'd wondered about smaller stuff and if I should bring a smaller rifle as well. I've got a few I could bring. The .375 Roy is the biggest gun I currently have. My dad has a .458 Winchester M70 I could probably borrow. But if I bring him with me, he'll probably use it I've got a .30-06 that I really like, and a .270 Weatherby Accumark that has been an absolute white tail deer slayer that would rock and roll on plains game. But my latest, and has become one of my favorites, is a Model 70 with a curly maple stock in .264 Winchester Mag. An ancient cartridge that has about fallen off the face of the earth....but what it did to the white tail buck I took with it.... I think it's a forgotten masterpiece. Creedmore plus 400 ft/s. Just don't shoot it too fast or you'll melt the barrel

 

[Jim Golden]

Welcome from a fellow west Virginian (summersville). I am a huge fan of Douglas barrels as well and I considered the late Stan as a mentor and friend. You'll love this site

Nice lake down your way! I'm in Berkeley Springs....in the eastern panhandle.

 

[Safari Dave]

On my first PG hunt, my best friend took a .270 Weatherby.

It performed flawlessly.

 

[Hogpatrol]

If you bring another rifle, the choice of cartridge and bullet will be dependent on the actual ranges you'll shoot. I would check with your outfitter for advice and help with picking the right round.

 

[ActionBob]

I'd wondered about smaller stuff and if I should bring a smaller rifle as well. I've got a few I could bring. The .375 Roy is the biggest gun I currently have. My dad has a .458 Winchester M70 I could probably borrow. But if I bring him with me, he'll probably use it I've got a .30-06 that I really like, and a .270 Weatherby Accumark that has been an absolute white tail deer slayer that would rock and roll on plains game. But my latest, and has become one of my favorites, is a Model 70 with a curly maple stock in .264 Winchester Mag. An ancient cartridge that has about fallen off the face of the earth....but what it did to the white tail buck I took with it.... I think it's a forgotten masterpiece. Creedmore plus 400 ft/s. Just don't shoot it too fast or you'll melt the barrel

Any of those will do just great. But I'd take tbe 30-06. Very universal and moving a little slower it won't blow big holes in critters but it will penetrate. And if your ammo didn't show up, you buy 06 ammo about anywhere. Take your father and the his 458 win mag also

 

[sierraone]

Any of those will do just great. But I'd take tbe 30-06. Very universal and moving a little slower it won't blow big holes in critters but it will penetrate. And if your ammo didn't show up, you buy 06 ammo about anywhere. Take your father and the his 458 win mag also

Agree that a 30-06 is like a 375 HH, just smaller....any time any where.

 

[Mekaniks]

 

[Jim Golden]

Hello Jim Golden,

Khomas Highland Hunting Safaris of Namibia, welcomes you to the greatest forum on earth.

Forget the .460 Cartridge.
Ultra velocity large bore cartridges are the solution to an imaginary / non-existent problem.

Go with the .458 Lott.
And at that, there is no need to load it beyond a 500 grain bullet at about 2100 to 2200 fps.
By reputation, this is plenty, even for elephant.
Build it to weigh no less than about 10 pounds and no more than about 11 pounds empty.
Cut the barrel to about 23 or 24 inches.

Then standing from sticks, practice, practice, practice and then practice some more.

Best Regards,
Velo Dog.

PS:
If your heart is set on being kicked heavily, then consider building your large bore in either .500 Jeffery or .505 Gibbs.
Either will fetch you quite a bit more money than anything in the Weatherby line, when you one day decide to sell it.

Thank you for the advice, Velo Dog. The .458 Lott does make a lot of sense. Like my .375 that I can shoot H&H's out of if the ammo gets lost, you can do .458 Winchesters in the Lott. I guess with one of those, I could just buy a Model 70 (I really like Winchesters) and not have to go through all the trouble of rebuilding a P17 action. I'd probably still restock it with the Hannibal clone. It's really amazing how much that stock cuts the felt recoil. If you get a chance to look at the A-Square loading manual, he discusses how he came up with the design and how it works. It really does. I don't like muzzle brakes and won't use one.

Take care,
Jim

 

[enysse]

Welcome to AH, Jim!

 

[Jim Golden]

Welcome to AH from another aerospace engineer.

I've been reading your writeup on your Kalahari trip. Looks awesome!

They say this new SLS system is "da bomb" but I still like the Saturn V. Some of my prof's worked on it back in the day. Cool stuff. Now I do civil.....

 

[Jim Golden]

30 inch barrel....2889fps....300gr bullet....Dagga boy....African bush....eish....

Ha ha! I had to look up "eish"....wasn't sure what it meant. South African for "Excited". I need to brush up on my Afrikaans. My Calc 1 prof was from South Africa and spoke Afrikaans. Willem Schroeder. He flew Cessna's and DC-3's over there. I wish I had a job that cool...

 

[Velo Dog]

Thank you for the advice, Velo Dog. The .458 Lott does make a lot of sense. Like my .375 that I can shoot H&H's out of if the ammo gets lost, you can do .458 Winchesters in the Lott. I guess with one of those, I could just buy a Model 70 (I really like Winchesters) and not have to go through all the trouble of rebuilding a P17 action. I'd probably still restock it with the Hannibal clone. It's really amazing how much that stock cuts the felt recoil. If you get a chance to look at the A-Square loading manual, he discusses how he came up with the design and how it works. It really does. I don't like muzzle brakes and won't use one.

Take care,
Jim

Hi again Jim,

You’re very welcome, no worries.
I talk too much and that includes all too often, peppering everyone with my opinion, whether they requested it or not. LoL

Anyway, I definitely agree with you that muzzle brakes are not a good idea.
Some folks seem enamored with them.
I am not one of those.

I also agree with you that, .458 Winchester ammunition should be usable in the Lott chamber.
Some .458 Lott caliber repeaters will feed the shorter Winchester round and some will not.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, when I say that proper Gunsmithing usually will fix such feeding problems.
Yourself being a rifle builder strongly suggests that you know a great deal more about that topic than I do.

As for A-Square products, thank you for the suggestion.
However back in the day, I bought an early issue of their loading manual, because one of my friends told me it would be a good one to have.
That said, I did not find any of Mr. Alphin’s rifle stock designs to be my cup of tea exactly.
Seeing one of his rifles in the used rack of a local gun shop here only further cemented my preference toward other brands / other designs.
I prefer rifle stocks and women to be very strong but not very thick.

Anyway, I’m not saying A-Square concepts and products are bad or that there is anything wrong with them.
Just saying that they do not appeal to me.

As for the Model 70 Winchester, once again I am in agreement with you.
I like some of the recent ones, with the “Mauser-Like” large claw extractor and I have owned quite a few of the dreaded “Pre-64” ones as well.
A hunter could do a lot worse than one of those.

I look forward to reading about your planned buffalo hunt.

Cheers,
Paul.

 

[riflepermits.com]

Welcome to AH! Glad you found us and joined our community.

 

[LIFE-FORM TAXIDERMY]

Welcome to AH. Nice to have you as part of our community. Enjoy the forum, it's very addicting!

 

[Philip Glass]

Welcome to AH!

 

[Leica Sport Optics]

Welcome to AH and the posting side! Great to have you here.

 

[Just Gina]

to AH!

 

[mark-hunter]

On edit after I found out I'd posted it wrong....I'm still dubious of the controlled round feed vs. push feed argument. But, I do see where under stress a fellow could short stroke a cartridge and cause a jam with a push feed. But, Roy Weatherby never seemed to have this problem.... Well, my current big gun (to me) was built on a Winchester 1917 action and is forged beauty. IF I could find another like it, that is what I'd build my .460 on. I have an MPI stocks replica of the Coil Check stock and it really does work. Col. Alphin knows his stuff. I really like the Enfield action. But the Mauser is excellent as well. Anyway, the next argument is .500 Nitro double vs. .460 Weatherby Enfield But for now, I'd like to use my super .375 on a Dagga Boy and am looking at going to South Africa. I am open to any and all suggestions.

Welcome to the forum!

I have "all" types of rifle actions, push feed and two types of controlled feed. (sako 85, and zkk). FYI: Sako 85 as per factory web site is claimed to be CRF. ZKK is classic m98 CRF system.

I am not biased against any type push feed or crf.

Next, when testing the theory of reliability of push feed against controlled feeds, at home by playing with dummy rounds, I managed to jam every rifle I had, PF or CRF, by simple short stroke of bolt.

When cycling the bolt properly, with rifle in upside down position, none jammed. So, unrealiability of push feeds in awkward position, remains unproven myth, in my expeirence.
(push feed used - tikka t3)
So, none of those action is idiot full proof, and each of them can be jammed. And in the same time they are equally reliable.
All that is required is that user is trained with his own rifle, and understands mechanics behind it.

But, I took CRF as my rifle of choice for Africa. (mauser 98 type, checz ZKK 602, 375 h&h).

Till I went to Africa with it I couldn't recall any fail to fire that happened to me, with new ammo in any type of rifle. (nor jamming)
I just wanted classic rifle, for sentimental reasons. and CRF is classic bolt action.


And, in Africa, CRF rifle ZKK, in combination with 300 grain norma swift a frame (premium ammo) - failed to fire. (once). In the worst moment! How can that be?

I took the failed cartridge back home. Tried it at range, and it fired, normally. And hit the target where zeroed.
I disassembled the bolt, checked the firing pin later, no dirt inside, all ok.
During safari, apart from that one failed round, rifle performed properly adn to my satisfaction.

So, it happened. Once. on CRF!!!!

No rifle is 100% reliable. My conclusion.

Here is my safari report, with this FTF described.

NAMIBIA: From The Smallest To The Greatest

NAMIBIA: FROM THE SMALLEST TO THE GREATEST NAMIBIA: Von den Kleinsten bis zu den Größten There was no time to set up the sticks! I was shooting from the hand. The distance was about 40 meters and my hands were hard to steady. I wanted the stick or any kind of rest badly, but that was not an...

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