Any idea of the percentage of professional hunters hunting with double barrel rifles exclusively? Names please. I suppose most ph use a repeating rifle, many due to the fact that doubles are quite pricey.

None of my African PHs have carried a double rifle while I hunted with them.

A friend of mine went on another elephant hunt this year using his double rifle, and his PH, Buzz Carlton, also carried a double rifle.

I have not used a single barrel since the early 2000s. They are a passing fad and will be going out of style shortly anyway.
Whoops, I just now saw this thread was for PHs; of which I am not. Sorry.

Most can't afford them or the ammo .. unless they are celebrity PHs.

I have run into one, in Zim, with a 450-400. "Gomez" Adams

Another one I know aspires to own a left handed double but until then, it's the stock Win 70 458.

R

I only recall hunting with one PH who has carried a double. Just finished a hunt with Alan Vincent and, while he owns a Heym in 500 NE, he was carrying his main rifle, which is an enfield action in .450 Ackley. His gun carries 4 cartridges.

Other PH’s I’ve hunted with and their guns:

Roy Vincent; .460 Weatherby
Cecil Riggs, .458 Win Mag
Koos Moulder, .375 H&H
Richard Bell-Cross, .458 Win Mag
Mike Heath, .375 H&H IIRC
Tom Dames, .470 NE & .375 Weatherby
Alan Vincent, .450 Ackley

I don't know if this PH hunt with there Doubles Exclusivly www.heymusa.com/professional-hunters/

I know a few, all are DG PHs mostly elephant hunting guides, a couple more that were gifted with a double by their hunters..There out there, but has to be in the single digit percentage numbers..

The reality is carrying a heavy double day in and day out that you will likely never need to use is a burden. A good bolt rifle weighs less, costs less, and holds more ctgs that don't cost as much as good cigars. PH rifles get scratched up pretty fast so the standard Win 70 or 375 Mauser is the most practical choice.

Back in the heyday of English doubles, there weren't that many options for DG. The 458 had not been invented. The 404 was around but that was a tad light for a stopper. In the metrics, the 9.3x62 worked but again that's on the light side. So the elephant hunters had to step up to a NE in a double. Except for Bell, but even he had a big double that he used in tight and fast situations.

There is the World Famous, One And Only, MARK OF A FART! Mark Sullivan!

He is the only one I am aware of that actually uses a double exclusively to dispatch buffalo purposely wounded by clueless idiots masquerading as hunters!

According to him, he is only employed by silly nincompoops who cannot hit a barn door from the inside.

By the way, we have a perfect example of this on the African Hunting Forum!

I know, I know, very hard to believe, but posted by the client himself.

Makes fascinating reading!

Lou Hallamore hunts with an old .470, he let me finish a buffalo with it on my first Buffalo hunt in 2007.
Mark Haldane carried one as well, a Heym, I believe.

Alan Shearing hunts with a Krieghoff 470.

I know quite a few who have them, and use them; but exclusively? None to my personal knowledge.

Everyone of the PHs that work at CMS uses a double as their main rifle from Sabati to Krieghoff to Heym. Then again, they specialize in DG hunts.

This last season Alan got charged by two cow elephants, the second one dropped just a few yards from him, I think he would have been in trouble with a bolt rifle.

Hunted with Ryan Shalom in Tanzania he carried a kreighoff 470 with humping bunny’s engraving

I believe that Ivan Carter uses a 600 NE.

Also Mark Sullivan uses or has used the following as a PH: 600 NE, 577 NE, 500 NE, 470 NE and of course the 450 NE used by ladies.

One of the best PH's I ever had, Frédéric Herbain, used a Blaser 93 straight-pull bolt rifle in .416 Rem. Mag. and a Heym 88B double rifle in .500 N.E., the latter exclusively when after elephant.

It was a coin toss as to which was faster for a second shot.

The PH I hunt with for elephant and buff in the Caprivi uses a .577 and his other PH uses a .470, and nothing else.

None of the PH's I hunted with in RSA used doubles.

Three of the five PH's I've hunted with in Zim used doubles. They are Buzz Charlton, Rich Tabor, and Alan Shearing. I've hunted DG with both bolt guns and doubles. I prefer doubles, by far!!

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:
None of the PH's I hunted with in RSA used doubles.

Three of the five PH's I've hunted with in Zim used doubles. They are Buzz Charlton, Rich Tabor, and Alan Shearing. I've hunted DG with both bolt guns and doubles. I prefer doubles, by far!!

You don’t need a double to stop a kudu charge…….

I've had only one ph carry a double and it was an old 450-400 3 1/4" but he did have a couple others including a 600 n.e. that he left at home. He was in his mid sixties at the time and had collected a number of fine guns through out his hunting career. If you are not in a DG area then nothing more than a 375 bolt-action would be called for.

I do not hunt exclusively with a double but I have a 4570 that I carry when I go in on a wounded bear. It works great in tight bush holes that we have to crawl through. By far my gun of choice on a wounded or charging bear that has hounds behind it. There are some that prefer a lever action but I have seen shooters not pull the lever tight to the stock which is a type of safety. This causes them to hesitate on the shot. Keep in mind that the shots that I am taking are less than 20 yards. I can post some videos.

I've got to assume that the question meant to refer to professional hunters guiding for dangerous game. A PH who is guiding for plains game rarely carries any rifle at all, much less a double.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
A PH who is guiding for plains game rarely carries any rifle at all, much less a double.

Depends on where he's hunting!

In general, a PH doesn't hunt, he provides guiding and backup to his client hunter. When a PH uses his rifle, it's to prevent a wounded animal from escaping, or more importantly, to protect his client. Such shots are close range and require some horsepower. A double makes more sense for a PH than for his client hunter.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
Most can't afford them or the ammo .. unless they are celebrity PHs.

I have run into one, in Zim, with a 450-400. "Gomez" Adams

Another one I know aspires to own a left handed double but until then, it's the stock Win 70 458.

R

Gomez got that very worn double from the parks stockade...... I don’t think it has any bluing left on it lol

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
Most can't afford them or the ammo .. unless they are celebrity PHs.

I have run into one, in Zim, with a 450-400. "Gomez" Adams

Another one I know aspires to own a left handed double but until then, it's the stock Win 70 458.

R

Gomez got that very worn double from the parks stockade...... I don’t think it has any bluing left on it lol

Well known PH John Sharp hunts with his Rigby BLE 470NE, elephant, Buff and Lion.
When we were in the blind for leopard, he relied only on my short barreled 12ga Remington 870 between us... and accompanied him to my trophy after my shot...with my 300WM,bolt gun...
Interestingly on 17 other safaris, I have not seen a double with my PHs....even Rhino, Hippo and Croc...

I have gone back to carrying my .404 J as it is much less cumbersome and has been my rifle of choice for many years. To put down an animal you have to hit it in the right place and accuracy is all-important.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
A double makes more sense for a PH than for his client hunter.

Heresy!! Blasphemy!!

Haldane and some of his PHs used doubles at Zambezi Delta

quote:

Heresy!! Blasphemy!!

I've done 9 hunts to Africa and 6 carried a double and 3 had a bolt.

I will put it this way.

It is true that a PH does not “hunt” in the same way his client does.

A PH only “hunts” under exigent circumstances, after his client has wounded an animal that must be followed up and put down, with as little drama as possible.

If dangerous game is involved, every PH I have ever questioned on the subject has expressed a strong preference for the double rifle, whether he owned one or not.

Every PH I have hunted with in East Africa and Zim carried a double, as I recall all 500 nitro express.

While most PHs may have a DR they do not necessarily use it exclusively for hunting but mainly when guiding clients on their quest for DG.

I might add that quite a few of them also have backup rifles of varying calibers.