Kawshik Rahman
AH elite
Considering how well received my previous account about hunting a Royal Bengal tiger was , and the request of a few members to give an account of a Gaur Shikar , it is my privilege to oblige. I prefer keeping these accounts to moderate length so as not to bore readers.
Here , l will relate the account of one of my more unforgettable Shikar experiences with Gaur. However , it remains unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. This is the story of the Gaur Shikar which went horribly wrong .
It was 1966 in Darjeeling , India . I had gone to the fire arms shop of Sundar Raj . He had acquired a few 12 bore cartridges from an American client who had discarded them after they were left over from a successful goose shooting event. Mr. Raj was selling them very cheaply at only 5 paise per cartridge . I wondered why he would sell them at such frugal prices , especially as Imported arms and ammunition was nearly impossible to get ahold of. Upon reaching shop , the answer was evident . The cartridges had a 76 millimeter length and no Indian shot-guns in Darjeeling at the time had Chambers safe enough to take anything larger than the 70 millimeter cartridge . There was a solution to this problem but not a very ideal one. There used to be a Tamil gun smith who's son worked at a chauffeur for my father's model T Ford family car. He had a devised a method to cut 70 millimeter cartridge hulls down to 65 millimeter some how and would often provide my father with cartridge cases to use in his I Hollis 12 bore side by side shot-guns which took the 65 millimeter cartridge. Therefore , l purchased all of the nine cartridge cases which Sundar Raj had for sale , hoping that the Tamil gun smith would be able to cut the hull of these cartridges down to 70 millimeter length ( whether this would go on to work is a story for another day ) .
It was then , that Mr. Raj told me that he had a new client for us who had come from the United States of America. An Italian American gentleman who was an author of an American gun magazine book . This gentleman wanted to shoot a variety of species , comprising of the following : A porcupine , a boar , a barking deer and a large Gaur. We had agreed to meet the client at the Darjeeling Circuit house .
The following day we met the gentleman whom we were supposed to guide. He was a large , powerful looking man .He seemed quite well read on fire arms and we were eager to see what fire arms he had brought for his intended quarry. India's old fire arms laws for travellers were identical to the current laws of Bangladesh . A foreign hunter was allowed to bring two fire arms into the country and 250 cartridges for each fire arm ( perhaps , in the future , l should do another article on what clients used to bring ? ) . However , this great man brought only one rifle with him. It was a big rifle of bolt configuration made by the firm , Birmingham Small Arms . It was of calibre magnum .458 Winchester , the first l had ever seen . Along with this , he brought several boxes of brand new ammunition from the American firm , Hornady. There were soft nose bullets and bullets with a metal envelope with a slightly flat nose weighing 500 grains . It looked very big and powerful . However , Karim looked at the cartridges and said " Shahib ( sir ) , may l ask a question ? " . The client responded in the affirmative. Karim asked " Shahib , the magnum .375 cartridge is loaded with a lighter bullet of 300 grains , but it has a larger cartridge size to keep a larger charge of powder . If these bullets in your gun weigh 200 grains more , then should the cartridge size not be larger to accommodate a corresponding charge of powder . Why is it smaller than the magnum .375 ? " . The client confidently assured us that the latest powders used in these cartridges did not need large cases.
The gentleman was clearly a professional with fire arms and we were both quickly convinced of his prowess with the magnum .458 Winchester . He was even kind enough to let me shoot it four times at glass gool ( a local alcohol drink ) bottles which were empty . It certainly seemed powerful enough.
We were thus ready for the week. Being two eager young men excited to see what this big rifle would do to game , we were naturally filled with thrill. If only that big rifle were as good as it were big.
The picture was of me , Karim , the employees at Sundar Raj's shop , Sundar Raj's son , Abhijit ( wearing the sun glasses ) and our Italian American Client who is not wearing a shirt and has a cigarette in his mouth . I am on the right side , holding my 12 bore Ishapore side by side shot-gun. Karim holds the client's magnum .458 Winchester calibre rifle right beneath me . Our chokra ( clerk boy ) , Vivek is standing to the left of our client , holding Karim's .22 Long Rifle BRNO auto loader . The man sitting on the far left is Rumesh , a shop employee who is holding an Ishapore .315 bore bolt operation rifle which he took from the shop to pose for the photograph. This would end up being our first and last pleasant moment for that entire week , as my next post will relate.
Here , l will relate the account of one of my more unforgettable Shikar experiences with Gaur. However , it remains unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. This is the story of the Gaur Shikar which went horribly wrong .
It was 1966 in Darjeeling , India . I had gone to the fire arms shop of Sundar Raj . He had acquired a few 12 bore cartridges from an American client who had discarded them after they were left over from a successful goose shooting event. Mr. Raj was selling them very cheaply at only 5 paise per cartridge . I wondered why he would sell them at such frugal prices , especially as Imported arms and ammunition was nearly impossible to get ahold of. Upon reaching shop , the answer was evident . The cartridges had a 76 millimeter length and no Indian shot-guns in Darjeeling at the time had Chambers safe enough to take anything larger than the 70 millimeter cartridge . There was a solution to this problem but not a very ideal one. There used to be a Tamil gun smith who's son worked at a chauffeur for my father's model T Ford family car. He had a devised a method to cut 70 millimeter cartridge hulls down to 65 millimeter some how and would often provide my father with cartridge cases to use in his I Hollis 12 bore side by side shot-guns which took the 65 millimeter cartridge. Therefore , l purchased all of the nine cartridge cases which Sundar Raj had for sale , hoping that the Tamil gun smith would be able to cut the hull of these cartridges down to 70 millimeter length ( whether this would go on to work is a story for another day ) .
It was then , that Mr. Raj told me that he had a new client for us who had come from the United States of America. An Italian American gentleman who was an author of an American gun magazine book . This gentleman wanted to shoot a variety of species , comprising of the following : A porcupine , a boar , a barking deer and a large Gaur. We had agreed to meet the client at the Darjeeling Circuit house .
The following day we met the gentleman whom we were supposed to guide. He was a large , powerful looking man .He seemed quite well read on fire arms and we were eager to see what fire arms he had brought for his intended quarry. India's old fire arms laws for travellers were identical to the current laws of Bangladesh . A foreign hunter was allowed to bring two fire arms into the country and 250 cartridges for each fire arm ( perhaps , in the future , l should do another article on what clients used to bring ? ) . However , this great man brought only one rifle with him. It was a big rifle of bolt configuration made by the firm , Birmingham Small Arms . It was of calibre magnum .458 Winchester , the first l had ever seen . Along with this , he brought several boxes of brand new ammunition from the American firm , Hornady. There were soft nose bullets and bullets with a metal envelope with a slightly flat nose weighing 500 grains . It looked very big and powerful . However , Karim looked at the cartridges and said " Shahib ( sir ) , may l ask a question ? " . The client responded in the affirmative. Karim asked " Shahib , the magnum .375 cartridge is loaded with a lighter bullet of 300 grains , but it has a larger cartridge size to keep a larger charge of powder . If these bullets in your gun weigh 200 grains more , then should the cartridge size not be larger to accommodate a corresponding charge of powder . Why is it smaller than the magnum .375 ? " . The client confidently assured us that the latest powders used in these cartridges did not need large cases.
The gentleman was clearly a professional with fire arms and we were both quickly convinced of his prowess with the magnum .458 Winchester . He was even kind enough to let me shoot it four times at glass gool ( a local alcohol drink ) bottles which were empty . It certainly seemed powerful enough.
We were thus ready for the week. Being two eager young men excited to see what this big rifle would do to game , we were naturally filled with thrill. If only that big rifle were as good as it were big.
The picture was of me , Karim , the employees at Sundar Raj's shop , Sundar Raj's son , Abhijit ( wearing the sun glasses ) and our Italian American Client who is not wearing a shirt and has a cigarette in his mouth . I am on the right side , holding my 12 bore Ishapore side by side shot-gun. Karim holds the client's magnum .458 Winchester calibre rifle right beneath me . Our chokra ( clerk boy ) , Vivek is standing to the left of our client , holding Karim's .22 Long Rifle BRNO auto loader . The man sitting on the far left is Rumesh , a shop employee who is holding an Ishapore .315 bore bolt operation rifle which he took from the shop to pose for the photograph. This would end up being our first and last pleasant moment for that entire week , as my next post will relate.
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