So you think you need to own a Stopping Rifle...

[375Fox]

Agreed, when I do a range session with my 500 Jeffery its quite often 20 rounds or so and it doesn't bother me at all.

I couldn’t imagine 20 rounds at a range session with a 500 Jeffery. I limit myself to 3 with my 450 Rigby and a lot of dry fire practice on empties. The recoil is just too severe to enjoy.

 

[Northern Shooter]

I’ve sent 100 factory loads of my 458WM down range in a single session.

All are manageable but the Hornady loads were the least fun.

 

[SStomcat]

Agreed, when I do a range session with my 500 Jeffery its quite often 20 rounds or so and it doesn't bother me at all.

Do you shoot freehand or from the bench ?

 

[Brian]

.577 NE Peregrine BushMaster VRG3 bullet, cape buffalo terminal velocity 1,800 fps.

 

[Brian]

I couldn’t imagine 20 rounds at a range session with a 500 Jeffery. I limit myself to 3 with my 450 Rigby and a lot of dry fire practice on empties. The recoil is just too severe to enjoy.

I once did 28 rounds off the bench in one session with my .577NE. Too much!

 

[Rare Breed]

If you failed the brain couldn’t you just give a shot to the heart/lungs as they take off? Fairly large area? (No elephant experience here).

This guy went heart/lung to head shot, I thought it interesting. Although first shot is through the trunk (??)

A heart lung shot will surprise you how far they can run especially if they are near another country or outfitters area meaning they can run to where you cannot go

 

[375Fox]

I once did 28 rounds off the bench in one session with my .577NE. Too much!

I wouldn’t do that with any hunting cartridge. I generally try to limit myself to 5 rounds and max 10 for a particular circumstance and with the 450 max of 3. I go for the shoot more often and shoot less approach. I should also add though I don’t enjoy shooting at all. I only practice shooting so I know I’m proficient for upcoming hunts.

 

[WAB]

If you failed the brain couldn’t you just give a shot to the heart/lungs as they take off? Fairly large area? (No elephant experience here).

This guy went heart/lung to head shot, I thought it interesting. Although first shot is through the trunk (??)

If you’re hunting scrub, you’re likely shooting through a hole. A second shot is unlikely.

 

[Aussie_Hunter]

Do you shoot freehand or from the bench ?

Mostly offhand

 

[grand veneur]

A heart lung shot will surprise you how far they can run especially if they are near another country or outfitters area meaning they can run to where you cannot go

That depends very much on the cartridge used. I shot two elephants with heart shot with my rifle 500 Schüler. Certainly not comparable to a perfect brain shot, but after a few footsteps they went down.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Were you shooting at the time of initial detachment? If so, what chambering?

No, not first detachment. That one was spontaneous. Second detachment occurred three months later after a morning goose hunting with 3" twelve gauge. I seem to recall only one bird and it went in the freezer feathers and guts till I could get back in town after surgery. The third lower quadrant detachment was another three months and spontaneous.

Most spontaneous detachments are due to thickening of vitreous fluid inside the eyeball caused by aging. As we age the fluid also shrinks and when thickened it may grab the retina and tear a tiny hole. Then the fluid gets in and pushes the retina away from the eyeball. Recoil or other shock can accelerate or initiate the process.

 

[Brian]

I wouldn’t do that with any hunting cartridge. I generally try to limit myself to 5 rounds and max 10 for a particular circumstance and with the 450 max of 3. I go for the shoot more often and shoot less approach. I should also add though I don’t enjoy shooting at all. I only practice shooting so I know I’m proficient for upcoming hunts.

375 Fox. Yes that was foolish of me. I would not do it now. I was developing a load and I got carried away. Brian

 

[Killo]

I wouldn’t do that with any hunting cartridge. I generally try to limit myself to 5 rounds and max 10 for a particular circumstance and with the 450 max of 3. I go for the shoot more often and shoot less approach. I should also add though I don’t enjoy shooting at all. I only practice shooting so I know I’m proficient for upcoming hunts.

Exactly!!

 

[Markis]

I have owned several of what could be called Stopping Cartridges.

450 Ackley, 505 Gibbs and 500 AHR. Anyone of these 3 would launch a 500 grain bullet starting at 2200 FPS to a 570 grain bullet to 2400 FPS. They definately were not made for target shooting. Get them sighted in with the load they liked and let that be it.

 

[Tam Dl]

I still can't fathom how learning to shoot fast and accurate, in different positions, learning to reload from your belt, sorting out all the kinks in a rifle, learning how to clear jams, all from different forms or readiness (empty magazine, full magazine, bolt open, safety on etc etc), developing muscle memory, learning to manage recoil from your big bore etc can be bad for you....?

Same thing with Cowboy Action Shooting, which it being Canada, I did not do (you can, just a lot more red tape than I prefer). But it is a discipline that shows you how to run certain rifles, and how to get efficiency up. You can apply that thinking to any shooting activity, if you can get enough critical mass to have even local competitions. I did do 3D shoots in Canada, largest competitive field I ever saw. Just has to be practice that is in some respect practical, even a few dozen shooters is the refiner's fire.

 

[Tam Dl]

Yep. And Elmer Keith once shot a running mule deer at 600 yards with his 44 magnum revolver. I seriously doubt he or anyone else could repeat that feat. Weird stuff can happen when throwing lead up in the sky.

I don't have an opinion on that feat, but another instance that I return to the early days of silhouette pistol for. Not there or anything, I just remember reports that one of the earlier matches was won by a guy with a 1911/45 ACP and hard ball. Targets that have to be hit out to 200 yds. Maybe he was a national match hone trigger puller...

I had a brief flurry of interest in golf, until Air Canada lost my legs, so to speak. It is wild how accurate a golfer can be when you look at the tools, and the rainbow ballistics. And the pressure.

Here is another one. It used to be fun to say that the JFK deal involved shooting that no expert marksman had ever been able to replicate. Then Second Chance rigged the height, target speed, and the rifle as a side shoot at one of the bowling pin matches. So the shooters were experienced, but pistol guys for the purpose of the shoot. Lots of people made the shot, and it was about as difficult as one would expect for a slow moving object moving directly down range, at about 80 yards. Also the rifle is one that has since been described as the best of it's kind for the actual short range encounters that occurred during WWII. Ideal for 150 yds and in. (I think that is what Gun J. called it, though there are a lot of models and I may have put the stock in my mouth).

I am not making a case for any interpretation of Dallas, because those investigations deal with the fact a bullet did hit somewhere, not how probable it would be to repeat the feat, as OH wisely points out.

 

[Tam Dl]

I mentioned that thing about the archery test, maybe a cheap (completely unsubtle version of the PSE test), would be to slow mo video a supplicant shooting an air rifle, a 30-06, and a "got me whatever I'm takin' to Africa rifle". Ultra slow motion, then compare that to a wholly competent shooter with those tools. I bet at the moment of maximum chaos, one would be able to tell the real deal from the pretenders.

Same thing happens in fingers archery. One feels great, but most of the shooters easily betray their performative nature, versus the natural shooters whose hands betray no anticipation, and recoil in a slot. (this is not the PSE test).

 

[Tam Dl]

Don't pressure yourself into buying and using a massive heavy recoiling calibre if you are not comfortable with it, but also don't just limit yourself to a smaller calibre based on you relying on someone else to stop a charge for you.

Whatever rifle and calibre you choose to use, make sure you can shoot it well. Being able to shoot your rifle well (as long as it is an adequate calibre with correct bullet choice) is more important than anything else no matter what you are hunting.

In the grizz camp reports, the issue was that not only does the client screw up the unpressured shot with a heavier gun, and few even had 375s, the issue was that the guides did worse cleaning up the mess. Conceptually the client who saved the day, had to because he had already dropped the guide into a near impossible situation. In that article in Rifle, '90s, maybe, read it last summer. They tracked every shot, and the worst situation was a client with a 458 where it took 26 shots, to solve a problem that might never have developed if the first shot had hit home from a 338.

There is no home advantage in Africa, on a first trip. I do almost all my hunting and shooting alone in Canada. I could have the best range skills, and get all fussed up because I don't know how to deal with the situation I find myself in because I have a bunch of people around me. Everyone has their own story.

 

[Tam Dl]

On one occasion he called the 270 “ A damned fine coyote rifle.”

He probably owned a Model T, and crank phone at one time. Bullets were probably fairly primitive in his day. He probably had more opportunities for a mixed bags, and less concern about nearby dwellings and people.

He was a tough guy, as far as his early life, and experiences like being badly burned. He could shoot big bores well. What is the downside?

He was a pace setter in cartridge development, so it is interesting to imagine what he would have made of being a hunter if he were born in 1959, rather than 1899.