Browsing: Guns

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This story actually started way back in 1960 with an article by Dr. Wendell G. Swank from Michigan State College which was in the Sports Afield Gun Annual. He and a fellow doctor took their old pre-64 Winchester Model 70 .30-06 Springfield rifles with Sierra bullets to Uganda to harvest game for research.

The basic design for a Dangerous Game Rifle (DGR) was finalized by English gun makers such as Holland and Holland, Rigby, Jeffrey, et al. before the start of WWI. Drawing on the experiences of big game hunters in their African colonies and using the new smokeless propellant, Cordite, these custom gun smiths could now build relatively light weight rifles that surpassed the stopping power of the earlier 4 to 10 gauge black powder rifles.

The farmer went by the name “Boats.” I never learned his family name and his Christian name kept me baffled, but that wasn’t important.

I have a 416 Rigby built on a CZ 550 Safari rifle. I converted the bolt to a Winchester Model 70 style safety/bolt sleeve and spot polished the bolt and extractor. The magazine received a new floor plate assembly to hold another cartridge. The gun now will hold four in the magazine and one in the chamber.

What we have here in the .416 Remington is a relatively flat shooting cartridge, fully capable of making a distant shot on a kudu or gemsbok, yet perfectly able to confidently drop a buffalo or elephant when things get up close and personal.

You aim, press the trigger, and a weak puff informs you that only the percussion cap or a very small…