Preparing to order or buy a Double Rifle: help me choose the caliber

[zephyr]

 

[towserthemouser]

I will be 79 next month and still enjoy the big bores. I was also extremely myopic until I had Excimer surgery years ago. Since then I have experienced tears in both retinas. The left eye when hit by a softball and the right eye after getting too close to the scope on a 300 Win Mag. Since the tears I still shoot my 416 Rigby, 450 NE, and 470 NE with no issues other than at my age I do not agree with open sights. I have RMRs on my double rifles.

With respect to calibers, with the modern bullets (Woodleigh Hydros) I would believe the 450/400 to adequate for Elephant and as the client you have the PH for backup. I also second the choice of a Heym 89B. I love mine in 450NE and I have been able to handload reduced loads that regulate.

Hope you can get to Dallas to shoot the Heyms and I am sure you will enjoy your time with Chris.

79 and going strong...... I wanna be like you! Thank you for the kind advice.

 

[Mountaineer]

I love the 458 caliber. The bullet selection is nothing short of amazing. From to 225 to 600 grains. From varmint soft to solid. With today’s powder you can load or have a custom shop like Hendershot’s find you a regulated load heavy or light.

 

[Tanks]

I would go with the .500 NE, don't be afraid of the recoil as it is negligible with the right technique and training. Most of the people that are afraid of the recoil are those who have not fired a big bore rifle more than a very few times, if at all.

Having been charged by an elephant and been the one that brought it down, I was glad I had a .500 caliber rifle with me at the time.

 

[Fixfire]

What manufacturers other than Rigby offer the 416 #2?

 

[Saul]

450 NE. You can never go wrong with a classic.

 

[Wiley64]

I think the 450/400 is a no brainer here, as the Heym guy put it at dsc last year “us mortals need something we can shoot well, not necessarily a stopping rifle”

Good luck!

 

[steve white]

Wisest words I have heard in a long time were from the Kenetrek boot dealer at DSC on which pair to buy....he said, "which one do you think you will actually use the most? The Safari boot for warmer weather or the mountain extreme for the cold?"
Get the gun you will actually use the most, for the most applications, not just a "stopper." You are fairly unlikely to be the stopper in a real death struggle, though we cannot rule out the possibility. You will be the shooter on all your future hunts. Which caliber would you most often reach for even if you had all the above calibers/guns at your disposal? Get that one.

 

[SWS1]

I was in the same position as you last year. Luckily live in NZ and intend to hunt a lot of water buff and banteng over the years (as well as Africa).
I ordered up a 470nitro.
About 20months out from delivery…

 

[Aussie_Hunter]

I just ordered my new and only double nearly a couple of months ago now. I considered the 450, 470 and 500/416 chamberings. The 458 calibres are my favourite due to the availability of projectiles and the SD the 480 grain and above projectiles offer but decided to pass on the 450 seeing I already have a 458 Lott in a bolt gun. I've really been interested in the 500/416 cartridge for a long time, the idea of the 416 Rigby ballistics being replicated in a double rifle is a great concept IMHO. However I passed on the 500/416 as well mostly because of brass availability and because I think the 470 could probably be considered a slightly better stopping rifle (my words) than the 500/416 though it's probably really splitting hairs as both produce similar energy at the muzzle but the 470 having the advantage of greater frontal area.

So I landed on the 470, readily available reloading components (at least where I live that is the case), good stopping power, I feel the 470 provides a good balance of power at the muzzle vs felt recoil, probably the most common factory ammo anywhere in the world (if I ever needed it), the rifle doesn't need to be overly heavy to tame the recoil of the 470 cartridge even though heavy rifles don't really bother me it is still an advantage and most of all it offers all the right attributes for me personally as a hunter. I do hunt DG on my own at times so it gives me that stopping power if needed, the DG I hunt 99% of the time is buffalo and scrub bulls and I feel the 470 is almost the perfect double cartridge for these animals and it still gives me everything I need if I was to end up on an elephant hunt one day.

 

[Daniel Cary]

I just find it hard to fathom a 2 to 5 year wait to have one built anymore .. give or take.

I can't tell the difference between 470 & 500
or 458 Lott & 500 Jeffery .. sometimes.

The .500 Nitro Express 3”

By Philip Massaro To me, dangerous game represents some of the most exciting hunting on the planet. It requires long travels, usually to a very remote part of our world, where the faces, customs and languages are all foreign to me. And, most of the time, it requires a firearm that is different...

www.africahunting.com

@towserthemouser

 

[mneilh]

Heym 89B in .450NE

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Has anyone received their Rigby Shikari yet? Interested to know their impressions.

 

[BeeMaa]

Of the ones you listed the 450/400NE 3" would be my first choice with the 470NE a close second for the same reasons so many others have stated.

However I would like to offer up one that isn't listed...the 416/500NE. This cartridge is of much more recent design, I believe 1996. It was made to handle modern powders and bullets. There are several bullet offerings when it comes to the .416 caliber for reloading. It has a tapered design to feed easily in a double rifle.

Lastly are the ballistics. Compared to the 450/400NE, it's not even close. The 416/500 produces 5000 lb-ft of energy at 2400 fps making it perfect for elephant or buffalo. Heym and Krieghoff both offer this cartridge in their doubles.

 

[Aussie_Hunter]

Of the ones you listed the 450/400NE 3" would be my first choice with the 470NE a close second for the same reasons so many others have stated.

However I would like to offer up one that isn't listed...the 416/500NE. This cartridge is of much more recent design, I believe 1996. It was made to handle modern powders and bullets. There are several bullet offerings when it comes to the .416 caliber for reloading. It has a tapered design to feed easily in a double rifle.

Lastly are the ballistics. Compared to the 450/400NE, it's not even close. The 416/500 produces 5000 lb-ft of energy at 2400 fps making it perfect for elephant or buffalo. Heym and Krieghoff both offer this cartridge in their doubles.

VC offers it as well

 

[uplander01]

450/400 3”. I’d take a pretty hard look at chapuis.

 

[towserthemouser]

I would go with the .500 NE, don't be afraid of the recoil as it is negligible with the right technique and training. Most of the people that are afraid of the recoil are those who have not fired a big bore rifle more than a very few times, if at all.

View attachment 620787

Having been charged by an elephant and been the one that brought it down, I was glad I had a .500 caliber rifle with me at the time.

Thanks for the encouragement! By the way, love the hat, love the double rifle, and what a great trophy.

 

[Rare Breed]

450/400 3”. I’d take a pretty hard look at chapuis.

I had a beautiful one in 450-400. Runs $13-$14k new. Best place to buy new with them in stock is Champlains in Enid OK. They will fit to your LOP if desired

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I am very much a novice in the world of double rifles. I've owned two, both in .470NE. So I voted for this caliber simply because the reloading components have been available. I've managed to secure enough Swift A-Frames, North Fork bonded cores and solids to last me for a long time. And of course the brass and primers (which I've had for quite awhile) to build plenty of rounds.

It is without question a step up in recoil from the 450-400 which is a breeze to shoot in comparison But I added a mercury recoil reducer to the Chapuis I now have and that makes a big difference. Still plenty of recoil, but it's far less sharper in comparison to my previous rifle that was of similar weight.

 

[AZDAVE]

I have owned 470,450,450/400. Based on the criteria you sat down My choice would be the 450/400 it is a great round for buffalo and plains game. It will work on elephant since you are planning 1 elephant I would lean more towards a buffalo specific round.

The Rigby is a very nice double, I handled one at SCI this year and thankfully I have several safaris planned that kept it on the rack and me not ordering one. If I was looking at a first and only double I would look at Hyem, Chapuis, and Verrny Carron. Hold and see which fits your eye and just feels like a nice upland bird shotgun.

Having shot all of the different calibers my choice is now the krieghoff 500/416 and my small double is a Chapuis 9.3x74.