| Jeff Higgins |
07-05-2007 05:45 PM |
Stijn, the big difference in the ".50 caliber sniper rifle" and a stopping rifle like this is portability and weight. Most .50 BMG chambered rifles weigh in the neighborhood of 40 pounds or more and wear three foot or longer barrels. A proper "stopping rifle" is 1/4th that weight and might wear a 24" barrel or barrels. One can hunt with the latter; the former is employed from a fixed position, typically at long range.
There is a great deal of missperception surrounding dangerous game rifles, i.e. "elephant guns", and their calibers. There is a lot of romance surrounding these guns that is, unfortunately, just so much b.s. They are a lot of fun, and no one can deny their place in history, but there just really isn't a "need" for them anymore. If there ever really was.
The really heavy caliber rifles were a professional's tool back in their day. They were known as "stopping rifles". Their function was as their name implies; to not just kill, but stop in its tracks, a large, charging, dangerous beast. Not necessarily an elephant; could be a buffalo, rhino, lion, whatever. The idea - most famously recorded as John Taylors "knock out formula" - was that a large bullet, travelling at moderate velocity, would momentarily knock out said charging beast even if you missed its brain. That would, hopefully, give you time to more carefully place your next (and last before reloading; "proper" sporting rifles of the day were almost exclusively doubles in that part of the world, at least amongst "gentlemen") shot more precisely.
These rifles were then, and are now, the sole province of the very wealthy. Most cost the majority of a working man's yearly wage, if not more, both in their heyday and still today. The images of so many dapper, pith helmet and khaki clad, handlebar mustached white Africans sallying forth, elegant double rifle in hand, is more romance than fact. Most carried 7x57 or 8x57 Mausers, 9.3x62's, 6.5 Swedes and Mannlicher-Shoenaurs, and the like. The resident farmers killed everything with these cheap bolt guns; then and today. Bell, the most prolific elephant hunter of all time, used the 7x57 Mauser to kill thousands of them. He was a hunter who had no need of a "stopping rifle", because he made the first shot count.
We are seeing a resurgence in these stopping rifles. Not because anyone needs them, but because they are cool. Bragging rights at the gun club; that kind of "guy thing". More people are going on safari than ever before, and they want some of the romance a really big gun adds to that. Most should just bring a good .375 H&H and be done with it, but that is not nearly as much fun.
Recoil of one of these rifles is truly something to behold. I played with a Ruger Number One that SSK had rebarreled and chamberd to the traditional .577 Nitro Express. It weighed about 12 pounds; very much on the light side for this caliber. It launched a 750 grain Woodleigh solid or softpoint at just a hair over 2,000 fps. Believe me, you really only want to do that once or twice, and you have had all the "fun" you need in a day. I went back to my .458 Winchester Mag, also on a Number One action, as a far more realistic, easy to shoot rifle.
And no, Stijn, these animals are no longer endangered. The African countries now recognize the safari trade as a viable source of foreign money. Many see American and European hunters as their greatest source of revenue. Hunting dollars have allowed these animals to recover in truly impressive numbers. We have turned the corner, finally, to where legitimate hunting fees make more money for these countries than their mostly corrupt governments could through poaching. So they protect the animals, so the wealthy have animals to hunt. It's a win-win situation for the hunters, the local economies, the people that get the meat, and the long-term health of the game animals and their habitat. The big money safari business has saved the day over there.
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