Double Rifle for Your First Safari?

[Dogone]

Now everyone can get along.

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Has anyone here shot one? I saw one made in .223 the guy used for coyotes.

 

[Sideshow]

Danger comes with dangerous game. If a big name guy like Selby gets snuffed and it makes the news, the gunmaker's image won't get tarnished. That's just part of the game. It's like a Daytona driver getting killed in an accident. Does anyone ever blame the automobile manufacturer? And yes, today's gunmakers do give rifles to celebrities, particularly writers. I used to know one of those guys personally.

So, one of the ultra wealthy vanity trippers who has to have everything manages to buy a hunt with Ruark's famous Harry Selby. If the client can afford $940 lunches, he can certainly afford to leave a double rifle with his PH. Just like the gun companies, what client wouldn't die to be able to brag to his other ultra rich vanity tripping buddies at the $940 sushi bar, "Did you know THE Harry Selby now hunts with MY gun!" NOTHING in this world would mean more to that client.

Lol you really dont like the wealthy eh.....

 

[Daniel Cary]

Really Good read.

No matter how controlled/measured I could attest with either .. I still wouldn't know "circumstantially"

 

[Spey]

I completely understand that I am in the minority on that and probably a little bit of a weirdo

No, I get it. I don't think I am weird but who knows? I don't think either of us are weird, maybe more of a romantic type especially if you have read as many of the classics on African hunting as I have over a life-time - and if I take my Heym 88 in 470 NE and don't get a buff I at least hope I have memories to last the rest of my life, especially if for some reason I can not go back and try again.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

A gun is fun, two guns are double the fun, and two guns in one is the most fun. A first safari is fun, a first safari with two guns i one is the most fun. QED.

 

[Scott CWO]

I had a lot of people tell me that I shouldn't take a double rifle on my first safari. "Save it for your fourth or fifth safari," they said. Fourth and fifth safaris simply may not be a reality for some of us. Trips to Africa for most of us are based around the romance of hunting Africa, and for some, a big part of that romance is hunting Africa with a double. I mean lets face it, there is nothing that compares to the feeling of breaking open a double and dunking two of those big rounds into the chamber and snapping her shut before you stroll off into the bush. When I originally booked with Phillip Smythe before his incident, he said something that really stuck with me while we were discussing what rifle I should bring. "What do you see yourself shooting your buffalo with? That is what you should bring." While there is some sound reasoning behind not bringing a double on your first trip, I decided I would take a double, and what I learned is there are two very important questions you need to ask yourself before you take a double to Africa on your first or tenth trip.

One of those questions is, how important is actually killing your target animals on this trip? Would you be willing to walk away from this trip with nothing but the experience of hunting these animals and possibly not getting a shot? There is a real possibility that you might not find yourself in position to take a shot with a double, where you may have easily been able to take that animal with a scoped rifle. The second question, in my opinion, is how much time are you willing and or able to commit to training with a double rifle. Double rifles are fickle mistresses; they are difficult to shoot well, and they take a ton of practice to get truly proficient with. I purchased mine about a year before my hunt, and I shot roughly 250 rounds through it prior to the hunt. I still don't shoot it as well as I feel that I should be able to. As a client on a safari you have a serious responsibility resting squarely on your shoulders. If you make a bad shot and wound an animal, that PH and his trackers are obligated to go in and clean up the mess you have made. You have now put lives in danger, and if that situation has arisen due to your negligence in training then you are gonna have to live with that if you get somebody hurt. Bad shots happen, that is just part of hunting, but if you are going to voluntarily handicap yourself by taking a double, then you owe it to the PH and the entire crew to do your due diligence and practice with that rifle and attain the highest level of proficiency that you can.

I absolutely loved hunting with a double. If I had it to do over, I would definitely take the double on my first trip again, and I would say that most of my future hunts will be with my double. Adding the challenge of having to close the distance on some of the smaller plains game to get within double gun range brought a whole new level of fun to the hunt. I say if you want to hunt with a double on your first safari then go for it! Understand the risks you are taking, commit to the training necessary, then go to Africa and live your dream.

Very impressive! Congrats on the safari with a DR. I don’t even own one! I’ve bid on a couple but wasn’t successful and I’ve given up on the idea.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Very impressive! Congrats on the safari with a DR. I don’t even own one! I’ve bid on a couple but wasn’t successful and I’ve given up on the idea.

No Scott, don't give up. They come around, it will happen, and it is very much worth the effort.

 

[IdaRam]

BTW, here is an elephant charge, notice Buzz is recycling his action (no idea why he did not have his .500 NE that day) while the client is already shooting his second barrel.

If I’m not mistaken Buzz used a Ruger RSM in .416 Rigby for years before getting a double. I also believe I recall that he had a failure to eject with the Rigby due to the spring loaded ejector not snapping up into position to eject the spent case. I think this was due to a twig or something lodged in the mechanism.
This is from memory and I could be mistaken, but I think this is the correct jist of things.

 

[zephyr]

Getting back to the original question.....
Why not, just be proficient with it..

 

[Philip Glass]

I had a lot of people tell me that I shouldn't take a double rifle on my first safari. "Save it for your fourth or fifth safari," they said. Fourth and fifth safaris simply may not be a reality for some of us. Trips to Africa for most of us are based around the romance of hunting Africa, and for some, a big part of that romance is hunting Africa with a double. I mean lets face it, there is nothing that compares to the feeling of breaking open a double and dunking two of those big rounds into the chamber and snapping her shut before you stroll off into the bush. When I originally booked with Phillip Smythe before his incident, he said something that really stuck with me while we were discussing what rifle I should bring. "What do you see yourself shooting your buffalo with? That is what you should bring." While there is some sound reasoning behind not bringing a double on your first trip, I decided I would take a double, and what I learned is there are two very important questions you need to ask yourself before you take a double to Africa on your first or tenth trip.

One of those questions is, how important is actually killing your target animals on this trip? Would you be willing to walk away from this trip with nothing but the experience of hunting these animals and possibly not getting a shot? There is a real possibility that you might not find yourself in position to take a shot with a double, where you may have easily been able to take that animal with a scoped rifle. The second question, in my opinion, is how much time are you willing and or able to commit to training with a double rifle. Double rifles are fickle mistresses; they are difficult to shoot well, and they take a ton of practice to get truly proficient with. I purchased mine about a year before my hunt, and I shot roughly 250 rounds through it prior to the hunt. I still don't shoot it as well as I feel that I should be able to. As a client on a safari you have a serious responsibility resting squarely on your shoulders. If you make a bad shot and wound an animal, that PH and his trackers are obligated to go in and clean up the mess you have made. You have now put lives in danger, and if that situation has arisen due to your negligence in training then you are gonna have to live with that if you get somebody hurt. Bad shots happen, that is just part of hunting, but if you are going to voluntarily handicap yourself by taking a double, then you owe it to the PH and the entire crew to do your due diligence and practice with that rifle and attain the highest level of proficiency that you can.

I absolutely loved hunting with a double. If I had it to do over, I would definitely take the double on my first trip again, and I would say that most of my future hunts will be with my double. Adding the challenge of having to close the distance on some of the smaller plains game to get within double gun range brought a whole new level of fun to the hunt. I say if you want to hunt with a double on your first safari then go for it! Understand the risks you are taking, commit to the training necessary, then go to Africa and live your dream.

Very nice thoughts on a first safari. I had my first safari in 1997 when I was only 25 years old. At that time I didn't really know what a double was! I certainly didn't see myself owning one. Oh how times have changed.

 

[AZDAVE]

For me a hunting rifle needs to have what I call a soul. Semi's are functional tools be soulless, even the new sniper barrett semi's (Designed to shoot a long way out, the snipers are using it at 25-50 meters) So that the semi crowd doesn't get on the well you don't shot them so how would you know. I did a career in the military and shot well over a 100 thousand rounds of semi, burst , and full rock and roll in everything from the M2 down to the M16. For me hunting is a very special connection to nature that should be savored and approached with the dignity and honor that the animals deserve.

For me my choice will always be a Double then a single shot then a bolt gun.

 

[Backyardsniper]

For me a hunting rifle needs to have what I call a soul. Semi's are functional tools be soulless, even the new sniper barrett semi's (Designed to shoot a long way out, the snipers are using it at 25-50 meters) So that the semi crowd doesn't get on the well you don't shot them so how would you know. I did a career in the military and shot well over a 100 thousand rounds of semi, burst , and full rock and roll in everything from the M2 down to the M16. For me hunting is a very special connection to nature that should be savored and approached with the dignity and honor that the animals deserve.

For me my choice will always be a Double then a single shot then a bolt gun.

I feel very similar. I am making plans, if I can get it to shoot right, to bring my dads first deer rifle on my next hunt try and shoot a bushbuck. It's an old Remington 700 in 25/06. It's not the "best tool" for the job, but I'm going to take it because of what it is. Therefore the trophy will have nothing to do with the size of the bushbuck's horns, but just the fact of what I hunted it with. My dad bought the rifle in 1977 I believe it was then later had to sell it because we needed money and then about 10 years ago tracked it down through the guy he sold it to all those years ago and talked the guy into selling it back to him. I thought the old rifle deserved a trip to Africa.

 

[Sideshow]

Still looking on Holts.
Just missed on Holland an Holland 375 bolt.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I feel very similar. I am making plans, if I can get it to shoot right, to bring my dads first deer rifle on my next hunt try and shoot a bushbuck. It's an old Remington 700 in 25/06. It's not the "best tool" for the job, but I'm going to take it because of what it is. Therefore the trophy will have nothing to do with the size of the bushbuck's horns, but just the fact of what I hunted it with. My dad bought the rifle in 1977 I believe it was then later had to sell it because we needed money and then about 10 years ago tracked it down through the guy he sold it to all those years ago and talked the guy into selling it back to him. I thought the old rifle deserved a trip to Africa.

I take my dad along to Africa even though he passed back in '99. He bought a pair of WWII surplus Springfield rifles from an ad in American Rifleman the year before Kennedy was killed. He and a coworker dressed them up in the fab shop at Hungry Horse Dam. This one was finished in 1962. I started hunting with it two years later and it's still my primary big game rifle. It's undergone several changes including different stock (horse wreck broke the first one in '81), different safety, different scope and bases, Timney trigger, iron sights, rebarreled (also military 30-06 but no corrosion and 4-land instead of two), and reblued. But it's still the gun Dad made for me. So very glad you were able to find your dad's rifle. Enjoy it in Africa.

 

[Rare Breed]

I feel very similar. I am making plans, if I can get it to shoot right, to bring my dads first deer rifle on my next hunt try and shoot a bushbuck. It's an old Remington 700 in 25/06. It's not the "best tool" for the job, but I'm going to take it because of what it is. Therefore the trophy will have nothing to do with the size of the bushbuck's horns, but just the fact of what I hunted it with. My dad bought the rifle in 1977 I believe it was then later had to sell it because we needed money and then about 10 years ago tracked it down through the guy he sold it to all those years ago and talked the guy into selling it back to him. I thought the old rifle deserved a trip to Africa.

I know the feeling I have one of the 1975 Ruger M77s in 30-06 that was my dads. It has a special place in my safe and my heart. When I was still hunting deer I took it out every year to take a meat doe which always made me think of my dad

 

[Sideshow]

So sitting here in Mallorca enjoying the heat. 35degrees.
While hydrating was looking into affordable double rifles.
Heym, Chapuis, Merkel also Browning. But there’s looks only to be U/O.
Anyone else got more to add that are in the affordable bracket?

 

[Backyardsniper]

So sitting here in Mallorca enjoying the heat. 35degrees.
While hydrating was looking into affordable double rifles.
Heym, Chapuis, Merkel also Browning. But there’s looks only to be U/O.
Anyone else got more to add that are in the affordable bracket?

If it were me I would look at the used Kreighoff market. Some people like them and some don't because of the cocking lever. I like mine a lot, that being said they seem to take a little bit of a hit price wise on the used market due to this. So sometimes you can really get a good deal on a used K gun. They are solid and very accurate amd not too picky on ammo from what I've seen with mine.

 

[Sideshow]

Yeah that cooking thing seems to be a bit of a love hate relationship

 

[Backyardsniper]

Yeah that cooking thing seems to be a bit of a love hate relationship

Yeah people are definitely for or against it. It made me feel a lot better while we were hunting. You are ducking and dodging around branches and thorns and there is you and a PH and a tracker and maybe a game scout too. It is almost impossible that you don't occasionally flag somebody, no matter how hard you try not to. Plus limbs and branches brushing your rifle if you are in the thick stuff, not to mention the chance of tripping. It made me feel a lot better knowing the pins were not cocked on that thing while we were walking. I don't think it would slow you down any on the draw if you got in a tight spot. That is just my opinion. York even said he had doubts about it until he had handled one, but he said he would be fine with carrying one.

 

[Flewis]

To me it’s a great safety point. Walking single file on a track with several excited people, watch the videos and see how many times the barrel crosses people in front. On PH I know won’t let the hunter carry with a loaded chamber.