Quote:
Originally Posted by craigster59
The H&H was a work of art. I forget how much it cost per round, for some reason close to $50 sticks in my head.
“Zone Grainger”? Hmmm, if they named it that it might have done better at the box office.  |
Yeah, depending on how long ago this was, that $50 per round price tag is a little light.
I've had the opportunity to "test" a "Royal Grade" Holland and Holland double in .577 Nitro Express. As is too often the case with rifles of this value (about that of a '67 911 S), the guy who owned it had gotten too old and frail to actually use it by the time he could afford to buy his "dream rifle" and his "dream hunt" on which to use it.
The British bespoke rifle manufacturers adhere to a formula that prescribes the optimum weight for these rifles, by caliber. A .577 is going to go around 14-16 pounds, a .600 even heavier. This is an effort to at least somewhat "tame" the recoil (in my limited experience, it doesn't work...). Recoil from a .577 or .600 is going to run about 125 foot pounds. By way of comparison, a standard weight .30-'06 will get you about 15-18 foot pounds, a 3" magnum 12 gauge goose load about 30 or so.
So, a guy pushing his upper 70's, maybe 150 pounds soaking wet. He's going to carry a 16 pound rifle in 110 degree heat all day, and then fire it competently on game. Uh... how 'bout "no"? I think he actually realized that, but he did want to see it shot. So I was dumb enough to volunteer. I put eight rounds through it, two "pairs", offhand at 50 yards. As one would expect, it was, of course, perfectly regulated. I, on the other hand, wound up somewhat "disregulated" for some time thereafter...
This was probably fifteen years ago. It was factory Kynoch ammunition, which they had just started making again under special order from Holland and Holland. I remember him noting "well, that was $720 worth of ammo..."
Beautiful gun, though. I wonder if it ever actually killed anything. Most don't, but that's a whole 'nother story.