Minkman,

I have no experience in hunting dangerous game and what I have to say is nothing other than reports from armchair readings of old hunting tales as well as my chats with old timers at clubs in India...

The Holland and Holland Paradox and the Westley Explora have been used with ball to take all of India's big game including Gaur which are big like the Cape Buffalo but not as aggressive and elephant. These were barrels that were rifled partially and bore rifles with full rifled barrels were also made exclusively for slugs before the powerful Nitro Express cartridges took over.

At shorter ranges in the hands of a good shot, I would presume that they would work well even today, though I almost got flamed for saying this by a British member a long time ago on these very forums

Good hunting!

I am trying to contact Tony Makris (anyone know his address) to discuss this rifle with him. I have a Westley Richards Super Magnum Explora (made 1910) shooting the 750 grn . slug.
Mine is a drop lock and the only drop lock Super Magnum that I have heard of or run across. The others I have seen or read about are boxlocks or they are not the Super Magnum.
I would take on something big, bad and nasty with it but only at100 yards or under.

I looked Makris up a while back when I was working with someone with the same last name. You might be able to contact him here where he is listed as on staff -- they have a general email address and might forward your message. You could also try going through ESPN who produces the show.

I shot an eland bull in Botswana with a 20 ga paradox, 500gr flat point conical, 60 yards in the shoulder and it was sick right away, going down in 50 yards or so. The sound of the impact was something to hear...a really loud whack quite unlike a modern high velocity rifle.

An American hunter of my acquaintance has taken elephant with a 12 bore paradox shooting 750 grainers.

The advantage of the paradox is the size of the hole. Penetration is good provided you don't cast them soft, and of course you have to avoid hitting the major bones. Penetration plus hole diameter does the trick.

Some folks advocate casting relatively soft bullets (1:20 alloy) for the Paradox, to avoid overstressing the muzzle when the bullet is swaged through the rifled choke. My gun has less pronounced choke and also less aggressive rifling, plus thick walls so I can get away with hard bullets which I feel are better on large game. I cast 93:3:3.

Accuracy and trajectory limit range to under 100 yards. My gun will group 4" composite groups at 100 yards from the bench with open V sights. That's about as good as it gets with these guns. You have to clean the rifling every four to six shots though, to remove leading and sustain accuracy.

The Rottweil "Brenneke slugs do just as well, and you don't need a paradox or rifled bbl to shoot them. Accuracy might limit range to 50 or 75 though, depending on your gun. Don't use the American-style Foster slug, it's a flying teacup with no mass and too soft to boot.

I would think a modern fully-rifled barrel shooting slugs of comparable weight would perform as well if not better (not sure there are any factory rounds though, most of the stuff is loaded with either useless Foster slugs or sabot bullets that give up diameter for speed.)

Having said that, the Paradox was intended for plains game, cats (there's a thing) and birds, not elephant and buffalo.

I's sure like one of those. Did anyone make them in plain grade? Can you get one today for less than the cost of a small car? If you loaded the slug with paper-patched bullets would it eliminate the leading? Am I wasting my time with such questions when I could just as easily install a set of flip up express sights on any decent doublegun and just put Brenneke's in the left barrel?

Sarge,

The true Paradox is strictly a H&H affair, expect to pay accordingly.

However, others copied the idea and all grades were offered. Eg the Explora by WR and the Fauneta by ? don't recall.

Some of these rifles were plain, esp the early hammer variety. But they are sought after because so many were converted to open-choked scatterguns, so there are few bargains out there.

My 20 ga was actually a Blisset 25 bore hammer rifle, aka 577, (bore rifles are another fun thing to own) but some prior owner in England reamed it out to a 20 ga (.624) smoothbore, fortunately with chokes. Since it already had the leaf sights, heavy tubes, etc. I just had the chokes rifled by Ken Owen and viola, instant Paradox, didn't need to be reregulated fortunately, it was spot on.

So there's your answer. Buy a sturdy boxlock with F&F chokes and 26" bbls, rifle the last 4" with the correct twist, have some leaf sights dovetailed into the rib, spread the bbls a tad (shotguns cross at short range) and you have your Cheapo paradox. Ken Owen is the right man for the job.

The problem with Brenneke's is accuracy can be mediocre. You might be lucky though, and if you are, they are very effective indeed.

Alf,
It is as you say...the locks drop from the bottom of the action. I am sending you photo in PM as I don't know how to post pics here.
Double triggers and just beautiful!

H ..
Go here www.photobucket.com ( it's free ) and Upload Pics, then you can post them.
Any problem PM me, and I'll give you more Info.