Ideal Jungle Rifle

[geoff rath]

I would like an open sighted Mauser 9.3 62 with a 22” barrel. Open sight due to fogging. (I don’t care how expensive the glass is it will fog when humid enough.) and handling. A can rifle just handles better without a scope. If it needs to be bigger a win M70 458 win mag.
If there was nothing big and mean a Ruger scout rifle would do nicely as long as you used the peep and took off the ugly rail.

AND the compensator!!!

 

[freefall]

For anything short of pachyderms (Elephant, rhino, hippo) I have a hard time improving on my Marlin .45-70. It serves well in our boreal rain forest.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

AND the compensator!!!

Yes I forgot. Need a thread protector

 

[uplander01]

I have the rifle Ed brown built for himself as a prototype model 704 in 458 Lott. Black McMillan stock and cerakote finish, 24” barrel necg masterpiece sights. It’s a dandy. Holds 4 down, accurate as hell, jewel trigger set at 3lbs. The 704 was a controlled round feed action on spiral fluted bolt. I think a custom rifle builder on the east coast, of US, maybe legendary arms works, bought the design when Ed decided not to be in the rifle business anymore. It would be hard to imagine a better all weather hammer for anywhere on earth

 

[BeeMaa]

I have the rifle Ed brown built for himself as a prototype model 704 in 458 Lott. Black McMillan stock and cerakote finish, 24” barrel necg masterpiece sights. It’s a dandy. Holds 4 down, accurate as hell, jewel trigger set at 3lbs. The 704 was a controlled round feed action on spiral fluted bolt. I think a custom rifle builder on the east coast, of US, maybe legendary arms works, bought the design when Ed decided not to be in the rifle business anymore. It would be hard to imagine a better all weather hammer for anywhere on earth

Bansner & Company now has the rights to the LAW 704 action. I saw them at SCI in Nashville and met the same guy from a show years ago in Harrisburg, PA sometime around 2015 when they were Legendary Arms Works (LAW). Great rifles with a modern twist on the CRF action.

 

[Bert the Turtle]

Tonight I’ve read a few “best rifle for” and “best optic for” posts. I’ve come to the conclusion that unless the question is budget-constrained or something unusual like wanting a lever gun or whatever, the answers irrespective of the particular use case are:

R8 in the appropriate caliber and barrel length and
Z6i or Z8i with the appropriate reticle, magnification range, and objective size.

There may be other correct answers, but the above are never the wrong answer.

 

[Dewald]

One thing I firmly believe is that a well balanced rifle with a 24” barrel that points exceptionally well is not a hindrance in thick bush or coastal forest.

If I had to choose between what I currently own, it would either be my 9,3x62 Type A Oberndorf Mauser, or if elephant and perhaps hippo in thick reeds were present my .416 Ruger Alaskan.

Regarding the Ruger Alaskans, I have a lot of time for them, but like almost any factory rifle they need some work before being ready for action. I do the following to mine before they are hunting ready:

1. Hard Pachmayr Old English recoil pad to replace the soft rubbish hogue pad that snags on your shirt if you bring the rifle up quickly.
2. Filler foam in the hollow stock to prevent it making a clunking noise.
3. Clean the bead-blasted finish of the stainless barrel and action with 0000 steel wool so it doest show every thorn scratch.
4. Cycle the bolt a thousand times with burnishing compound in to get the action smooth as butter.
5. Adjust the lawyer trigger of over 10 lbs to two pounds.
6. Add a 1-6 scope with Alaska Arms QD mounts.
7. Make sure your 400gr softs and solids regulate at the same point of impact both with the scope and open sights.

 

[John Telford]

How about a Browning BAR in .416 Taylor?
With a muzzle break/ silencer.
Limited to 3 shots..

 

[Hunt anything]

How about a Browning BAR in .416 Taylor?
With a muzzle break/ silencer.
Limited to 3 shots..

Great choice other than it would be impossible to get a semi-auto into any country in Western Africa.

 

[Hunt anything]

One thing I firmly believe is that a well balanced rifle with a 24” barrel that points exceptionally well is not a hindrance in thick bush or coastal forest.

If I had to choose between what I currently own, it would either be my 9,3x62 Type A Oberndorf Mauser, or if elephant and perhaps hippo in thick reeds were present my .416 Ruger Alaskan.
View attachment 560579


Regarding the Ruger Alaskans, I have a lot of time for them, but like almost any factory rifle they need some work before being ready for action. I do the following to mine before they are hunting ready:

1. Hard Pachmayr Old English recoil pad to replace the soft rubbish hogue pad that snags on your shirt if you bring the rifle up quickly.
2. Filler foam in the hollow stock to prevent it making a clunking noise.
3. Clean the bead-blasted finish of the stainless barrel and action with 0000 steel wool so it doest show every thorn scratch.
4. Cycle the bolt a thousand times with burnishing compound in to get the action smooth as butter.
5. Adjust the lawyer trigger of over 10 lbs to two pounds.
6. Add a 1-6 scope with Alaska Arms QD mounts.
7. Make sure your 400gr softs and solids regulate at the same point of impact both with the scope and open sights.
View attachment 560580

The trigger on my Alaskan is no where near 10lbs, never put a scale on it but would guesstimate it at around 3# with no creep and very crisp.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Ruger M77 And coincidentally it’s for sale in the classifieds

 

[Dewald]

The trigger on my Alaskan is no where near 10lbs, never put a scale on it but would guesstimate it at around 3# with no creep and very crisp.

You are lucky. I could cock mine and tie my dogs leash to it and take him for a run without it going off….

The trigger surfaces were very rough and purely smoothing them with 1000 grit paper on a piece of glass, and then a Lansky white honing stone made them crisp at 2,1 lbs

 

[geoff rath]

How about a Browning BAR in .416 Taylor?
With a muzzle break/ silencer.
Limited to 3 shots..

Or a similar BLR?

 

[Shumba]

I own a Savage 375 ruger 110 Bear hunter 23" and a 300wm, I can kill anything a 1k or below with the 300 ask me how I know! Also I bought another one 2 years later and it shoot just as accurate. Savage 110 brush in 375 ruger has a 20" barrel.

 

[BeeMaa]

I own a Savage 375 ruger 110 Bear hunter 23" and a 300wm, I can kill anything a 1k or below with the 300 ask me how I know! Also I bought another one 2 years later and it shoot just as accurate. Savage 110 brush in 375 ruger has a 20" barrel.

Sure you can.

Let me know when you find a PH who will to let you take that shot and you are also ready to pony up the trophy fee regardless of where the bullet lands.

 

[Esoteric Junkie]

458 B&M Super Short or 458 B&M with a 16.5" barrel, Under 6 pounds heady to hunt.........

EJ

 

[Flewis]

I believe Jack Lott experience this first hand. Probably with a good bit of "well aged" ammo...resulting in the creation on the 458LOTT.

Well let's not go crazy there chap. No need for all that.

Again, not what happened or even close.

 

[IvW]

Perhaps a Blaser BD14 could be ideal....

9.3x74R/22 Hornet/12ga.....22 inch barrels

 

[Velo Dog]

I'd lose the ivory for sight though as it will go yellow. Maybe some Pig bone might be better.

I agree with you Sideshow that, a fading to yellow front sight would not be as desirable to my aging eyes as a bright white one is.
I heard somewhere that warthog ivory remains forever white, never yellows.
With only being 70 years young now, I don’t have enough years to verify that yet.

That said, seems to me that porcelain makes for a more durable white front sight bead than ivory does.
On the .450 No2 NE, shown here in my avatar and in my forum “media”, I had a Gunsmith make for me a thick front blade, drilled and installed with a large white porcelain bead.
This over-size bead was set in the drill hole by means of some type of industrial adhesive.
But even with that, the white portion of any sight is only as durable as whatever post or blade it is set into.

It is I unknown how many more years I will be able to use iron sights.
For now, I only have a very few rifles in favorite calibers,
All have iron sights of one type or another on them.
Even my scoped ones (which admittedly these days, is more often than not) have also on them iron sights, of my preferred make (either a dreaded “peep” sight aka “ghost ring” or, wide shallow “V” rear blade and either a thick blade alone or, with large white bead front sight).

My practice has been to rely on iron sights, either in the event of a broken scope or, in more common circumstances, to just use the iron sights to begin with.
Also, rifles without sights, in my rifle grump opinion, look like some half baked Gunsmith project, not yet ready for the bush.

All the above is just in case you know anyone who might give a rat’s ass about what an old has been geezer has enjoyed perfect success with, both in N. America and Africa as well.

Stay On That Front Sight,
Velo Duck.

 

[Velo Dog]

Fellow Hunters,

The only tropical jungle I’ve hunted in was on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, USA, for Polynesian boar.
But, it was not trekking on foot or carefully stalking toward the quarry.
Myself and the PH simply sat on a hill, overlooking a domestic cow trail, waiting for wild pigs to come out of the jungle and hold still long enough for me to get an accurate shot in.
The rifle, belonging to the PH was. Ruger “American” model, with a huge and variable powered scope in high rings.
It was in caliber 6.5 Creedmoor and super accurate with 140 grain Hornady plastic tipped, lead core spitzers.
It shot clean through the two boars that I took with it.
But, it would not have been a good close range stalking rifle at all, in my opinion.

I’ve been in tropical jungles / rain forests, in various parts of the world several times, including but not limited to the headwaters of the Amazon River.
These jungle treks were mostly for fishing and general sight seeing.
So truthfully, I have no experience whatsoever with stalking big game on foot, in tropical jungle, unfortunately.
Therefore my opinion is probably not especially valid.
But it is fun to dream grand dreams.

Having said that, here in Coastal Alaska where I live, we have plenty of dense boreal rain forest which more often than not, has very cold and seemingly always raining or sometimes heavy fog and / or falling snow conditions.
Sometimes it even has serious snowfall that’s blowing sideways, like billions of very cold and very wet cotton balls, pelting the hunter and the firearm alike, anytime we cross an open meadow or try to hike along the beach.

Anyway, along our coastal rivers and creeks here, in addition to very thick forest and equally thick undergrowth, sometimes the grass is taller than us humans usually are.
And, the described conditions in general are often just as thick as anywhere that I have ever visited, warm climate or cold.
I have hunted in these coastal Alaska, thick foliage, tall grass, cold and wet conditions many times.

In same, I have hunted mostly black tailed deer.
And for this, I used various rifles of my own over the years but, the one I came to prefer was a bolt action .375 H&H, 22 inch barrel, with vintage Redfield receiver sight, very large aka: “ghost ring” aperture and simple blade front sight, with German silver piece dove tailed into it.
My #1 choice of caliber for this is not with deer in mind specifically but due to the occasional encounters with large, potentially dangerous bears, at very close range, while hunting said deer.

I’m not fond of stainless steel rifles and plastic stocks, as they are an eye sore, in my opinion.
However today, for coastal Alaska and coastal Canada, where it is rainy and snowy plus, salt water spray can be common on windy days, I think a stainless Model 70 Winchester, in either .375 H&H or .338 Winchester, with a 22 or 23 inch barrel and a dreaded plastic stock would be just about perfect.
At my age now, I think I would want a low powered scope, in low rings, with lever latches, for quick removal as needed and iron sights in case my scope became inoperable for any reason.

In the Limpopo District of South Africa, I have hunted in thick riverine forest, with various rifles.
It was / is not really a jungle but somewhat thick bush nonetheless.
Anyway, from my point of view the best one for me there was a Merkel double rifle (side by side), in caliber .375 H&H, claw mounted with a little 2.5x Leupold scope and iron sights as well.
It was regulated with 300 grain Hornady round nose soft points at 2400 fps.
I only took non-dangerous animals with it but it worked perfectly and IMO was not too much gun for the larger antelopes especially.

Hunting big game, up to and including buffalo (but not including elephant), in true tropical jungle conditions, for me will not likely ever happen.
But if I could afford it, I surely would try it.
And for that, I would want a Heym SxS double rifle, in .450-400 NE 3”, aka: “.400 Jeffery NE Flanged, with 25 or 26 inch ejector barrels.

Another rifle that I think I’d be happy to use for this would be a ‘98 Mauser or reasonable descendant of same, such as the Brno 602 or CZ 550, with 22 or 23 inch barrel.
For sighting, I’d want a low power scope in low, quick detach rings, plus express sights.
And for caliber, I’d like it to be in .404 Jeffery or, 416 Rigby.
If only hunting animals up to and including bongo and eland, I’d prefer it to be in caliber .375 H&H.

That said, if I was hunting elephant in tropical jungle conditions, I think I’d like to use an ejector double, in .450 NE or, .470 NE or .500 NE, and express sights only, to include a large white bead front sight,
If using a repeater for jungle elephant, I’d like it to be again a ‘98 Mauser or one of the reasonable descendants as described above but, express sights only and in caliber .500 Jeffery or, 505 Gibbs.

Anyway cheers,
Velo Dog.