Quick question to all the Double Rifle fanatics’ I am hunting forest Elephant in Cameroon in May and wanted to hunt with my 470NE Side Lock,

I have heard some negative comments around hunting in high humidity and wet conditions with a side lock versus a Box lock?

Any help or comment will be appreciated?

Jk

I don't own a double but my experience from rainforest ( Cameroon&guinee) is that it will really wear out your gun.
I took an old mauser. Not the place for a nice gun.

Dennis

I have hunted CAR with my double but that was savannah and dry, I would hate to ruin a fine rifle,

so now I need to think of plan B

thx

quote:

Originally posted by Caracal:
I don't own a double but my experience from rainforest ( Cameroon&guinee) is that it will really wear out your gun.
I took an old mauser. Not the place for a nice gun.

Dennis

On one hunt ? - Hell it aint made of rice paper!

quote:

Originally posted by jkhunter:
I have hunted CAR with my double but that was savannah and dry, I would hate to ruin a fine rifle,

so now I need to think of plan B

thx

Take it mate. You can afford it. Besides it might save your life.

jkhunter

My heart say take it my brains say no dont who you hunting with?

If you ever drive trhu lydenburg stop for a beer.

Luan

You bought for close hunt. This is it for sure. Take oil wipes and take care to keep it dry, but that will be tough.

quote:

Originally posted by jkhunter:
Quick question to all the Double Rifle fanatics’ I am hunting forest Elephant in Cameroon in May and wanted to hunt with my 470NE Side Lock,

I have heard some negative comments around hunting in high humidity and wet conditions with a side lock versus a Box lock?

Any help or comment will be appreciated?

Jk

If you have Jim Carmichel's "The Book of the Rifle" there is a very useful section on how to protect a wood stock with wax. Which by the way can protect the metal as well. I would vote for taking the double, just do the necessary protection.

Unless the rifle is some sort of "heirloom" or just extremely valuable,I would take the double. Just protect the finish as best you can and enjoy your hunt. Option 2 = Stainless Ruger Guide gun in 416 for $900! Either way, I hope you have a great adventure.

You can always have the wood refinished. If I wanted to hunt with my double, that is exactly what I would do and then have the wood redone. Make sure and take gun oil and a rag.

Take it!

George Caswell of Champlin told me to liberally apply Vaseline to any place where two pieces of metal come together. He did this on an Ethiopian elephant hunt and his double survived nicely. Of course he has JJ waiting in the wings!

If you have never operated in triple canopy tropical rain forest, you have no idea what you are talking about. Everything rusts or mildews, and it happens fast. Nothing ever drys out while operating in that environment. You and your gear will be constantly wet. And it's not fun, but you can survive. Stainless steel and synthetic stocks help, but even SS will rust.

BTW, if you go, wear athletic compression shorts for underwear. You'll be glad you did.

Unless it's heirloom expensive, I'd take it, do my best to keep it waxed and vaselined, then plan on refinishing metal and wood later on.

That's if you think it will really add to your memories of the hunt.

I understand it's likely the hardest hunt on your equipment, bar none. I also understand the forest ele's can be very, very close before you can shoot. And they don't always travel alone!

I heard that coating in Lanolin grease works to protect the metal and sealup the frame .
I personally carry a zip-lock bag full of patches damp with "BALISTOL" to wipe down both metal and wood finishes.

Thanks all for your input, I spoke to a PH who is hunting in Cameroon at this stage last night and he has put me off taking any Valuable rifle on the hunt,

Lion hunter had it spot on regarding the hunting conditions, it will be 12 days of being drenched from head to toe in the most humid conditions every,

From a technical aspect, apparently when the wood swells on a side lock the springs behind the locks become useless and the gun becomes a walking stick that is un usable,

His recommendation was either a cheaper Box lock Double or a hard hitting - bolt action in the 375 to 500 category.

So it looks like it will be my 500 Jeff that will make the trip to Cameroon in May.

Don't take anything of value to rainforests. Bring lots of socks and dry bags.
Your stuff will be wet 24/7

Be stuffed if i would take any nice double into real jungle environment. Maybe not even a nice timber bolt rifle.

Spent too much time in the jungle to take anything of real value there, especially anything that can retain moisture, swell etc.

Ozhunter was right about Meindl boots there too, i have had three pairs have the soles crumble-fall to bits, some hardly used.

Good luck and good hunting.

Chris.

Unless of course it was a definite dry season I guess, maybe,

I think it's doable
Just have to clean it every day
Nice thing about double is that you can take front piece of wood off
Just need extra oil
Ultimately , what's the point of having double?
Display in your trophy room or you buy it to use it. To me they are all tool so use it for what it was intended to be used for

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
I think it's doable
Just have to clean it every day
Nice thing about double is that you can take front piece of wood off
Just need extra oil
Ultimately , what's the point of having double?
Display in your trophy room or you buy it to use it. To me they are all tool so use it for what it was intended to be used for

Agreed !

If you can afford a refined and expensive DR you will certainly have the means to do the occasional maintenance when required.

By the way, lithium or white grease works wonders and doesn't wash off in a hurry either; don't be surprised if it lasts the duration of the hunt.

I have hunted with my doubles in some pretty bad weather in Alaska, Idaho and the worst was on a bear hunt in Montana.

I had my 450/400 on a bear hunt where it rained several days straight HARD. The wife and I hunted in it several hours each day. My double was constantly soaked.

On the way home I stopped off a Champlins in Enid OK and had JJ Perodeau remove the buttstock and check out the innards of the rifle.

It looked like it had never been even damp...

Since then I have not worried one bit about using a double in bad weather.

My doubles are box locks.

I am glad I am not presented with this problem as I have a far more precious commodity than any double rifle to me. That's ME. I would never be presented with this problem as I am never (or was never) ever going tobe presented with those circumstances. I learned many many years ago for every rainy day of hunting you can find 5 in bright sunlight somewhere. I probably dislike collard greens more than getting wet while supposedly performing a pleasurable sport but not by much and you can't believe how much I dislike collard greens,probably on par with my dislike of chitlins and raw oysters. There is not a single trophy on earth I would be interested in under these conditions. Everyone to what they consider pleasure. Not for me.

I have not hunted in Africa but I have in India and lived in Assam where temperatures of 38 Celsius & 2 inches rain are normal.

Apart from looking after your rifle, make sure you look after your skin. Fungal infection is a real issue. I always carry potassium permanganate for washing my feet, groin etc. Sweaty sox & shoes are a real candidate for fungal growth.

Do not use the silica gel pouches in your camera bag, gun bag etc. This actually attracts water into the bag & can cause mildew etc.

If its a Heym or Merkel etc. take it. if its that lovely Rigby don't even think about it!!!

Morning Faisal

no would never take that Double into the forrest, a side lock could cause to much hassel under those conditions,

I have found a nice 470 Army and Navy Box lock non ejector that i am looking at,

If i can pick it up at the right price then i will be sorted with a double for the hunt,

Searcy make a stainless laminate

I saw a Searcy 470 stainless/synthetic at Cabellas a few years ago. It would be ideal for a wet hunt.

Stainless/synthetic double. Somehow, someway it doesn't sound right, but to each of his own.

I've never hunted elephant, but I have hunted in what could be considered a rain forest - the Coast Range in Oregon, between Portland and Seaside, for Roosevelt elk. It rained every day on my 5-day hunt, and it rained approximately 50% of the time each day, on and off, from sun up till sun down. I hunted with a wood stock bolt rifle, and it rusted. I wished that I owned a stainless rifle on that hunt. By the third day, I was putting on wet clothes every morning because ALL of my clothes were wet by that time, with no place to dry them. It was pretty miserable. After that experience, there's no way I would take a fine double rifle into a potentially wet environment. I think that a stainless/synthetic or laminate double rifle, as mentioned above, would be the perfect "tool" for this hunt though.

quote:

Stainless/synthetic double

Now that's incredibly practical, and incredibly ugly. A bolt action I could buy, but a double....?

I'd be curious to know if you could nitride the metal on a double (during construction) then solder it together after. I don't know that the dimensional shifts involved (.0005") would complicate things.

Take it. Wax it down with paste floor wax and insure it. Take good cleaning kit with you. Buy a Rain Buddy sleeve for it. Sure it may not look the same after the hunt but it will have charactor. You might own a car that costs much more than your double and still drive it down the highway with a bunch of idiots that might run into you. Use your gun.

I strain to see where’s the trouble.
To begin with, look at any hunting video, you can tell the client from the PH, because the client has a fancier gun that the PH’s. For the PH, the gun is foremost a tool.
I have a little dealt with the rain forest in river galleries in CAR but it’s inappropriate as I hunted mainly out of reverine forest galleries and had to deal with dust. Accordingly my gun wasn’t at all greased.
There 2 different conditions :
Hot and dry climate with plenty of dust, especially when using a truck. Your gun should be degreased for not catching dust that with grease will turn into sandy goo and the rifle will jam. I liberally pour ethyl ether on and in the rifle.
Wet conditions: the wood should be saturated with flaxseed oil and the rifle and its innards should be soaked with grease, barrel bore apart that should be dry. That’s what I do when hunting in the Alps or during winter beat hunts.
Jkhunter, you’ll hunt in Cameroon but from a camp, a permanent or flying camp. I don’t doubt that the PH is offering decent accommodation or he will run out of business. Should You , you and your rifle be soaked, in the evening in the camp, you’ll be provided with a dry housing and your rifle will be drying during the night, may be using a fire or a brasero (embers). You need it but the PH even more.
Should you turn mad with the beating your rifle is getting, you can store it and use a camp rifle.

Then, back home, any gunsmith can restore your rifle, just remain careful with the rifling that has to be protected from rusting. Some (French troopers) are taping a condom on to the barrel to keep it dry, and protected against dust and mason wasps.
I have a 470NE Chapuis I purchased from a retired PH. It has hunted in Tanzania, CAR and Cameroon. It requests a tad of blueing, otherwise is perfectly functioning. Same for my former 460 Weath now used by a PH in Cameroon who ditched his Heym double.

If Your double is from a reputed maker, rifling apart no risk. A sidelock is supposed to outperform a cheaper sidelock and has the advantage of enabling an easy cleaning and greasing. When I say a reputed maker I exclude the newcomers on the double market.

good luck

quote:

Originally posted by srose:
You might own a car that costs much more than your double and still drive it down the highway with a bunch of idiots that might run into you.
Use your gun.