Visiting Sportsmen & Their Firearms In Old India

. The other gentleman owned a double barrel rifle in magnum .458 Winchester made by the excellent British firm , Holland and Holland. My young friend , Hoss Delgado refuses to believe that a double barrel rifle exists in this calibre. As knowledgeable as he is on fire arms , l know for a fact that the gun was a magnum .458 Winchester . My client was blessed by Divine Providence in his skills with that double barrel rifle , as three Gaurs ( all upwards of 2000 pounds ) and one Royal Bengal tiger can attest to. .


Thank you for the further education into a time long past.!

You may want to show your friend this double .458wm.

https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...ck-sxs-rifle-458-win-mag.cfm?gun_id=101298904

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Thank you for sharing! I have enjoyed reading your posts about the past and your experiences!
 
I missed this article when you first wrote it. Wonderful history!
I had an old uncle who owned a Winchester 97 which he passed on to his son, them him to his son. Still works well today.
When my dad was 14, he inherited a Winchester model 12 from his uncle. Dad passed it on to me and I eventually passed it on to my sister’s only son. He still loves taking it to shoot clays with his buddy.
Thanks again for an interesting article of history!
 
My William Evans is remarkably accurate. It will place four shots LxR/LxR into 3.5 inches at 100 meters - probably better if my old eyes were better. Amazing guns.

Your eyes are obviously still doing well sir! I’m very envious not only of your shooting skills, but of the paradox SxS!
 
I missed this article when you first wrote it. Wonderful history!
I had an old uncle who owned a Winchester 97 which he passed on to his son, them him to his son. Still works well today.
When my dad was 14, he inherited a Winchester model 12 from his uncle. Dad passed it on to me and I eventually passed it on to my sister’s only son. He still loves taking it to shoot clays with his buddy.
Thanks again for an interesting article of history!
Ridge Walker
Thank you so much for your kind comment . It is a shame that Winchester has discontinued some of their finest products , such as the model 21 side by side shot-gun and their silver tip cartridges. But they made very good decision by bringing back model 70 rifles with mauser type extracting claw device
 
Some of the double rifles made in the late sixties through the eighties in .458Win. were converted to .450NE when cartridges again became available….same (perhaps better..) performance and less chamber pressure..
 
Some of the double rifles made in the late sixties through the eighties in .458Win. were converted to .450NE when cartridges again became available….same (perhaps better..) performance and less chamber pressure..
Pondoro
Thank you so much for educating me about the double barrel rifles . I am afraid l have only seen double rifles in the following calibres : .375 bore , .458 bore and .600 bore , during my career as a professional Shikari
 
I can also confirm that there were double rifles caliber 458 Win Mag. I held one in my hand in the eighties. As @Pondoro writes , it was effectively recommended to convert this DR to caliber 450NE in the nineties. How many rifle were converted after , I don't know.

We have to remind the younger hunters that in the seventies and eighties only the cartridges 375 H&H Magnum and 458 Winchester Magnum were available for big game hunting. These two cartridges have been used so well in the bolt action rifles as well as in the DR. The many old cartridges are only available again since the nineties.
 
I can also confirm that there were double rifles caliber 458 Win Mag. I held one in my hand in the eighties. As @Pondoro writes , it was effectively recommended to convert this DR to caliber 450NE in the nineties. How many rifle were converted after , I don't know.

We have to remind the younger hunters that in the seventies and eighties only the cartridges 375 H&H Magnum and 458 Winchester Magnum were available for big game hunting. These two cartridges have been used so well in the bolt action rifles as well as in the DR. The many old cartridges are only available again since the nineties.
Kurpfalzjager
That is very true . During my career as a professional Shikari in Darjeeling, India from 1962 to 1970 , the only calibres available for shooting Gaur were 9.3 millimeter mauser , magnum .375 Holland and Holland and magnum .458 Winchester and these were what clients would bring
 
Kawshik...you mentioned you saw a double rifle in .600NE in India...can you remember wich brand it was..?

A friend has a Holland&Holland Royal in .600NE, built for The Mahajara of Rewa in 1921...
 
Kawshik...you mentioned you saw a double rifle in .600NE in India...can you remember wich brand it was..?

A friend has a Holland&Holland Royal in .600NE, built for The Mahajara of Rewa in 1921...
Pondoro
It was built by Holland and Holland for His Royal Excellence , the Maharaja of Sirguja. His Royal Excellence would use it to shoot Gaur bison.
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This is a photograph of the gun which l took in 1956 when l went to visit an auction house with baba ( Father ) in Sirguja . It weighed 17 pounds and was sold with three Cartridges made by the firm , ICI Kynoch , loaded with 900 grain blunt nose bullets ( metal envelope variety ) . An American gentleman purchased it for 80,000 Rupees.
 
Lovely rifle....firing a full power .600 is quite an experience...but not so bad as the recoil is heavy but slow due to relatively low bullet velocity..
 

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Pondoro
Much to my regret , l never saw a client bring a .600 bore double barrel rifle to India , during my career as a professional Shikari . I wish l could have actually seen one being fired. I would think that a rifle of this size would be useful to a White Hunter to stop charging elephants wounded improperly by their clients , in Africa. However , it is unwise for me to make assumptions as l have never killed an elephant , nor guided a Shikar for an elephant , unfortunately ( though , l have always wanted to shoot one ). Even when hunting was legal in India , until 1972 , shooting elephants had sadly been banned since 1873. The only dangerous animals which l have shot or guided Shikars for , are :
Royal Bengal tiger , leopard , Gaur bison , Asian Sloth Bear , bush boars and crocodiles.
 
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Kawshik...one of my dreams is to shoot elephant with a .600...
 
There are a very few .600´s in use by PH´s in Africa, Ivan Carter use a Heym and Mark Sullivan has used both .577 (by Heym) and .600 (by Marcel Thys..a beligian who made quite a few top grade double rifles..).
There are also more moderately priced .600´s made by Verney-Carron...a french make..
 

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