Kavall

I was curious as to what the largest caliber rifle is? I seem to think I recall a .700 NE. Is there such a beast? Anything bigger?

fortyfiveshooter

Go to this site and check out some of these big bore guns being shot.
some real funny stuff

http://www.accuratereloading.com/videos.html

Jim Watson

One of the fine old British makers has built a very few modern 10-bore rifles. That's about .775". I read an old article by Jac Weller about his original 8-bore Nitro. Steel barrels, nitro proofs, about .835" cal. He said apparently it was made in a narrow window of time when the makers had learned pretty well how to handle smokeless powder but did not really appreciate how powerful it could be. They shortly learned, and a .450 Nitro is adequate for nearly anything. Of course the .577 and .600 deleted the "nearly."

The .700 Nitro is a modern showpiece brought out fairly recently because somebody wanted the biggest. I guess they heard the quotation by the PWH: "Why do you carry that .600?" "Because they don't make a .700." Well, they do now. A 1000 grain bullet at about 1900 fps, as I recall. I have not read any account of one being used to actually hunt with. Like I said, a showpiece. Upwards of $100,000.

buzz_knox

20mm sniper rifle out of Eastern Europe.

There are probably some 20mm anti-tank rifles still floating around too.

Mute

I would guess the 20mm anti-tank rifles like the Lahti's and the Boys guns.

buzz_knox

I thought the Boys was a .55 caliber.

apollyon

what about this new 950 JDJ ?
trying to find info on it... any ideas ?

canuck

I read in a magazine article a few years ago about a 4 bore rifle. I seem to remember that the bullet was something like 1400-1500 grs. The author stated that the recoil was more like a big push than a sharp snap.

georgek

Yeah, like being hit by a car at low speed :smile:

fastvfr

Canuck,

Isn't that a 4-gauge shotgun loaded with a round or Minie ball?

I don't think we in the States can have a smaller-than-10-gauge shotgun...possibly 8 ga....perhaps that's just for hunting purposes, but I believe that it is an Offensive Weapon, like a sawed-off rifle w/12" barrel.

Spoilsports.

David Cosby

Any time you boys start to thinking you're a bad ass, you might consider the case of Lord Ripon (pretty much acknowledged as the finest game shot in Britain in his day) who once took a pair of rhino with a "right and a left" shooting a four bore.

That's a 1750 gr. projectile, if cast from pure lead. I don't know what caliber it translates into, but the British proof diameter of a 12 bore is .729". You do the math.

dclark

Samuel Baker use to hunt with a 4-bore rifle in Africa. There was an article on those things in Rifle magazine by Seyfried about a year ago.

dclark

Gordon Hulme

I fired a 90mm recoiless from the shoulder in nam with some sort of canister round, but maybe you guys think that is a shotgun so I also busted an old bunker wall with an H.E. solid out of same. Now this is a rifle even though it is magnaported on the wrong end and as I remember these were made out of an alloy so were much lighter than earlier 57mm and 75mm of WWII and Korea fame. I always wanted to own an 87mm Carl Gustav as I heard these were real sweet shooting -the 90mm certainly wasn't!

fastvfr

I seem to remember a Ross Seyfried article with him firing a .800 Nyati or some such.

Did NOT look like fun. Conversely, I would prefer clapping with my shoulderblades to starting my very own collection of hoofprints and gore-marks...

That's why I stay Out of Africa.

Regards,

FastVFR

David Cosby

If none of the above mentioned mega-bores fails to stop the charging critter which is hell bent on your personal destruction, you could always follow the advice given by the old PH to the client on his first safari.

"What do I do if I empty my rifle and he keeps coming?"

"You might try throwing a handfull of dung in his face. That will sometimes turn them."

"Where the hell am I supposed to find a hand full of shit in the middle of a charge?"

"Just reach around, old boy. It'll be there!" :lol:

rick458

I was watching a show on the CH-130 herculese the other day and during
Khe San I saw a man on the line fire what looked to be a 106 Recoiless
but it may have been the 90 talked about earlier
I would think that anything above that size you would need to drop the power down to Spud Gun level unless you count Dragons and the like
the old boys shooting Howdah pistols must have been pretty stout as well
as the 4 bore shooters

Larry Ashcraft

"Cartridges of the World" by Frank Barnes lists the .577 Nyati as the most powerful shoulder fired weapon, 750 grain bullet with 10,800 ft lbs. of energy. 180 ft. lbs of recoil energy, like catching a 10 lb. rifle on your shoulder after it was dropped from a 32 foot cliff.

rick458

When I took My Cape Buffalo in Zimbabwe it was the single most exileration moment of my life because I knew he could do unto me as I was doing unto him it was like buck fever times 10
the trip torpedoed my finances for years but I am glad I got to experience that at least once

Jim Higginbotham

The largest I have heard of is Sir Samuel Bakers "Baby" which was a 2-bore rifle. I think it was a handmade weapon.

Second largest and the largest I have personally seen is a 4-bore. "John Ross" (an alias used by the guy who wrote Unintended Consequences) actually does hunt with a 4-bore and quite a few people have personal copies of a home video he shot in Africa where he collected a couple of elephants and several cape buffalo. He custom made his projectiles which were 2100 grains that traveld around 1800 to 1900 fps - quite a gun!

"Use enough gun"
Jim H.

RonS

I was going to bring up the M-79 40mm grenade launcher, just to be funny, but that wouldn't even take third place in this group.

wlambert

I am showing my age here, but back in the 60's or 70's there used to be an advertisement for a scope, rings, and mount in the American Rifleman. They were mounted on a four bore double rifle. If my memory serves me correctly, four bore is the diameter of a ¼ pound round ball of lead.

The point of the advertisement was that the mounts were good enough to keep the scope on the rifle. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

wlambert

Reed

What I "try" to remember about bore size is that with the exception of the 410 which actually is 0.410 inches, the "guage" refers to the number of lead spheres of that diameter that are needed to weigh a pound. Thus, 10 lead balls of 10-bore = 12 lead balls of 12-bore = 20 lead balls of 20-bore, etc.

This would seem to equate to what you said as four 1/4 pound lead balls would weigh a pound.

That's all deep memory on my part so feel free to correct.

The 577 Tyrannasaur is the rifle at accuratereloading that seems to be the most video-taped specimen. He (Saeed) has numerous examples of folks pulling the trigger only to have the rifle fly out of their hands. In one example I think they break the glass on his shooting enclosure. Good stuff.

Reed

Peter Loron

http://www.african-hunter.com/4-bore_part_i.htm

.500JRH Maximum

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/gro ... /848109883






Picture is worth a thousand words...
:lol:
Max

Mark Eskra

I saw a Ivory Harvestor 2-bore at a gunshow once...fired a 1800gr. shell Supposedly only 6 of the pieces were made in the early 1900's. Left hand rifled, pretty much useless unless you had spare fingers.

Bobby Ironsights

Hi all.

[size=7]JUMBO....SIMBA....>>>>>>NYATI!!![/size]

I like the interesting responses.

I've done a little informal research on this topic myself.

While I don't disagree that the largest bore shoulder fired weapon is obviously some sort of rocket propelled/recoilless anti-tank gun.

There is no way any average man is going to be shooting the Boys rifle off the shoulder standing up.

And the Four Bore is JUST LOVELY. But of course it's black powder, so rather sluggish velocity and is also a one off kinda thing. If you read that article carefully, you'll notice it took that guy TEN YEARS!!!


As for some 100 thousand dollar Holland and Holland double nitro express art peice.....well.....ok .......yah.. I guess......looks great in a magazine.

The .577 tyranno was a great idea....but never really caught on.


I would like to submit that the .585 Nyati fits the bill of the most powerfull shoulder fired rifle commonly used.

Legendary game guide Ross Seyfried developed this cartridge one late night in a grass hut in Tanzania (if I remember correctly)

Many sources show it is THE most common dangerous game rifle used by professional african guides.

Probably because it can be made from two commonly available magnum bolt actions on your kitchen table for less than a thousand dollars. And alot of loading data is available so you can load from a reasonable 4000 ft/lbs to a ferocious 10400 ft/lbs depending on what kind of game you're hunting.

I think it caught on because of the incredible stature and respect and credibility that the designer, and professional big game guide, Ross Seyfried and his sons had, and still has in Africa.

If anyone wants it, P.M. me with your email and I'll send you a scanned copy of the 1980's article where Ross shows how to make these guns from commonly available bolt actions at a reasonable price et.etc...

Because personally, I don't have as much respect for a gun that I could never own and whose cartridges cost more than 100 dollars each (nitro express), as I do for one I could buy myself for christmas.