What is the life of a rifle barrel?

Regards black powder, I had a Joseph Harcombe BP rifle. Dated 1865, it had an ogive 5 groove rifling and measured .567 cal. I made a mould and cast hollow base bullets. I had an old dustbin lid hanging on a wire about 150 yards away which often was swinging in the breeze and quite hard to hit. Stupidly I sold it and regretted doing so later. Also had a BP Beretta shotgun, modern which shattered every clay you shot at, great on Pheasants and Pigeons. again thought an auto Beretta was more use. Regretted that too. Partially because of the Police and the stupid BP regs. and storage.

Regarding barrels, the best cal. at this time is the .338 as it fulfills all needs of velocity and bullet weight and long range accuracy. Many different methods of making barrels from cut barrels to hammered but some of the best are swaged with literally any rifling form you want.

Again, one of the most accurate rifles I had was a Canadian No 4 with only 2 grooves cut in the barrel. I was in Hong Kong and won nearly everything going and got into the Governors 20 for a final shoot out. I walked away with 800 HK Dollars as i also won prizes for being under 21. Most of the ammunition we used was at least some 20 years old and was fine. Firing at falling plates I could down 10 in 18 secs.

Sounds like my guesstimate was about right Mike.

The 22 rimfire target rifles were only cleaned now and again. Basically not very often. A specific person who belonged to the club used to decide when and did it.

Talking rifles my admiration goes to the people most have seen shooting in Zulu. I was talking to some one at the club about the rifles used and he promptly fetched one and asked if I'd like to try it. Next week though so he could load some rounds. Having tried it I can well understand why they always seemed to be shot standing and not prone though that could be done with some care. He generally only part loaded them but did a dozen full for me, with a smile in his face. The kick is horrendous. The only rifle i have shot that was worse used to be used by a few for elephant hunting etc. The charge and slug was reckoned to be as much as the human frame could realistically stand. The zulu style riffles were nearly a bad. I like martini action for single shot but it's thin on the ground.

Old muskets are interesting too. I tried one once and got cheer plus a round of applause when I leaned into it to control the kick. It hurt. They are way more powerful than I suspect most people think.

I also tried to use a winchester john wayne style. They wont load quick enough. A certain copy will though.

John

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AJ could well be .458 Win Mag meant for dangerous game often used in Africa.

Done a .338 Lap Mag 14 years ago with Krieger 27 1/2" throated for 300gr, that kicked until the back venting silencer went on bringing it down to more a .243.

I do some work for an ex BR world champ AJ, well his two companies ones a European distributor for Deon. Knock some rests up!

I think you#'ll find it's tampion, Jason

Neil

Errrr.. Tompion.....

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In the 1970's my father had a .243 and a .270 made by the London gunsmiths Rigby **LINK** He still has them and uses them on a regular basis. Beautiful pieces of engineering they are and lovely to shoot.

In the early 80's they made a .375 Holland & Holland magnum for him. While it was of course a beautiful tool it was 'orrible' to shoot. .............. Bloody hurt.! Not so bad from the standing or kneeling position but shooting it prone was most unpleasant. - He did not keep it long.!

Nick

OED uses both spellings

Wasn't he a clock maker?

The .375 H & H was/is the lower limit for shooting the big five. True, it had a heavy recoil and I have seen an FMJ bullet go through an Elephants head. A lot of big game shooters use 450 No 1's and 450 No 2's. These are side by side guns ( I was alongside a game warden when he fired one and the barrel split) Other guns used are the .458 Win. Mag. .470 : 45/70: and Paradox guns ( shotgun, very heavy with the last 6" of barrel rifled)

Smaller game is shot with 8 x 57 JRS and 8 x 60S. 7 mm is popular too. .22 LR is not allowed on game, only for birds like Guinea fowl etc. Also 20 gauge and 12 gauge shotguns for birds only. American and European hunters come into Kenya with all sorts of guns, some very expensive, considering that a full safari with a White Hunter guide and crew could cost £20000. One white hunter who I knew well, accepted some reloaded leftover 270 rounds when hi customer left. The he went after a Leopard on Mt. Kenya, sighted on it and fired, whereupon his rifle exploded driving the telescope into his left eye. Never fire rounds that you do not reload yourself!

Cape Buffalo are one of the most dangerous animals as more people are killed by Buffalo than any other when hunting. ( I have also seen bullets bounce off their tough horns, knocking the animal sideways and starting to get up when the killing bullet was fired)

I spent 3 years in Kenya and tried everything, climbing mountains and hunting for food and fishing, caught a Nile Perch of 167 Lb. which was my weight as well. Even the wife caught a 100 lb Perch. For £50 you could fly up to lake Turkana and fish all weekend and fly back Sunday evening. Quite difficult to own guns in Kenya unless you had a game licence, I could book a shooting area about the size of Yorkshire for £3.00 and only I was allowed to shoot designated game there. Mainly I would shoot Guinea fowl, yellow necks and Francolin.

Clive, the trout fishing was superb, browns, rainbows.

What about one of these for your next "bench rest" rifle?!

**LINK**