George was a wonderful man and a dear friend. He lived a life that many only dream about. He was the real deal.
RIP my friend.

TT

IT WAS THE LATE 1980's............I was in my mid 30's, and my African hunting experience was still only a far off glimmer in my mind - knowing full well that I would NEVER be able to hunt in Africa. When one night the phone rang, and some folks (who were members of the same church we went to) called me and asked me to take some guy named George Hoffman to my 'hidey hole' up in the Carson National forest, because they knew him......and knew he really liked to hunt......and he was bringing a buddy of his back out to Northern New Mexico to hunt deer - and they wanted to try to get a 'big one'.
I agreed. George showed up at the appointed time in some kind of MARVELOUS RIG the likes of which I had never seen before. Now I know it was an honest to God African Cruiser.....How in the world he got that thing to the USA I will never know -- much less New Mexico! Anyway.....l-o-n-g story short. I took him through the worst weather, and worst roads you can imagine to the north end of the Carson.....up on Carracas Mesa. Showed him the secret spot, and said.....Have Fun, and Have at it. He seemed to know what he was doing. I was shocked. If I remember right....they killed a whopper!! Those buggers are almost unhuntable.....and all-together unkillable!!

Later, upon my first trip to Africa in 1997 I contacted George for advice - since I did find out he had "hunted Africa a little".

Always a gentleman....full of knowledge....and willing to share - AND ALLOWED ME TO GUIDE HIM!!

I HAD NO EARTHLY IDEA !!!!!!! Did not know who he was from Adam. Never heard of him before. I simply was as dumb as a lamb to slaughter.
Today......I could kick my butt!!! I have lost track of Mary, and the friends who introduced us.

I simply did not know. My life is diminished because of my ignorance at the time. Oh....the opportunity I had. I simply did not know.

Very nice Nikudu.

Thank you, Nickudu.

George Leo Hoffman was a Giant, a Pioneer.
He revived the nearly extinct .416-caliber rifle. With his .416 Hoffman wildcat success, in his hands in Africa, soon the major companies brought out their versions.
The .416 Remington was a knockoff, nearly identical to the .416 Hoffman, and the .416 Rigby sprang back to life.
Then others followed, like the .416 Dakota, .416 Weatherby, and now the .416 Ruger.
All largely thanks to George, showing what an excellent all around rifle for Africa, or anywhere, that the .416 Hoffman was.

Let us not forget that he perfected the loading of the 470 Nitro Express rifle also, before he found the more versatile .416 Hoffman bolt action.
The George Hoffman Memorial 470 NE Load: 500 grain bullets of your choice, with 108 grains of H4831, plus or minus a grain or two, depending on your rifle and bullets.
No filler.

George Hoffman's book has no filler either. It is dense with information, reality, honesty, and enthusiasm. It is a very satisfying read, and was my inspiration before I went to Botswana.

George Hoffman was a self made man, heroic in his accomplishments, from his own bootstraps. Any club in the Happy Hunting Ground that he belongs to, I'll be there, if they let me in.

I was honored to have met and visited with George at the DSC Convention several years ago. As said above he was a gracious man. A fine gentleman!

I had many wonderful telephone conversations with George over the years though I only got to meet him once. He sent my son an autographed copy of his book as a high school graduation present. He was a true gentleman.

A true gentleman and great hunter. His book is a pleasure to read and reread.

Mike

A short man with legs that went all the way to his butt and he could walk a 7 footer to the ground while looking for elephant.
He could drink an Orange Fanta before you could get the top off the second one.
I had the pleasure of having him as my PH for 21 days in TZ late summer of '92. We hunted two camps and took over 20 critters. George made me push the safari car so that he could let the clutch out and jump start it. The starter had gone on the fritz. No problem except there were two lions just a few yards away. He told me that if one wagged her tail any faster she would come and I would need to stop pushing grab my 416 and shoot her. I told him that he was the famous GH/PH and that he should be doing the pushing. I had an old '53 Mercury in college famous for the same problem. He just grinned and told me to shut up and push!
I guess that's why he got the big bucks right?
George would come hunt my Chimney Hill ranch (SW of San Angelo, TX) with me and my family each Thanksgiving up until he died.
Besides hunting and guns George loved to eat anything that did not eat him back.
He and I have been known to have lunch and then get in his Toyota pickup and while scouting for deer atop a hill in the Dead Horse pasture our eyes may have drooped a time or two for maybe 1/2 hour. To my knowledge we never missed seeing a deer or maybe they were good at tiptoeing around!
Both George and Mary were a pleasure to be around. Mary still lives in the house she and George built in Sonora, TX.
George and I had a chance to say our goodbyes just two days before he was gone looking for the big ivory.
RIP old friend.Your footprints are still on the ground at Chimney Hill.

George must have been one of those high testosterone kind of guys who channeled his drives into all goodness and light,
and socially acceptable things like professional hunting and being the perfect family man.
Of course there was also that firearms tinkering and wildcatting hobby of his, but everybody has to have a little craziness.

I sure hope George did not suffer at the end.
Age 68 was far too young for him to ship out.
Prostate cancer is a very controversial thing, as far as early detection and treatment.
It varies in its aggressiveness between individuals.
They say that almost all men will get it if they live long enough.
One in six men in the USA are getting the diagnosis, before they die, whether of the prostate cancer or something else.
And if you don't have it by age 75, you can pretty well say something else is going to get you.
Family history, age, and eating a lot of animal meat and fat are about the only solid risk factors.
Testosterone does not cause it, but it will likely make it show up sooner if you are going to get it.
I got the diagnosis at age 55. No symptoms. No family history. I ate a lot of meat, mostly wild game, and anything else that used to move.
Now I stick to wild game as much as possible.
My PSA was still in the normal range (3.85), but it had bumped up only 0.85 units from the previous year.
Biopsy time, low grade Gleason Score, nerve-sparing robotic prostatectomy time, pathology said they got it all.
Hopefully I am cured.
I am truly shooting blanks now, my only "problem," and I am truly thankful for it.
Invasion of the prostate snatchers worked for me.
The Prostate Cancer Club is one I belong to along with George. We'll all be convening in the Happy Hunting Ground Chapter some day, I hope.
Ron In Person

RIP,

Please enlighten us here, I think it is important for all of us. If we go for a test, what do they do en test for, what does the 'reading' tell us, what is normal or healty and what not.

Does all prostate 'problems' turm into cancer if not removed at some point?
When removed what are the effects on a man.
Why does a prostate enlarge - what is the cause.

All my questions may sound so dumb, but if we don't ask we will stay dumb.

Thanks
Warrior

When George died Harry (Mims) sent me George's stash of Speer tungsten solids. I loaded them for my .375 H&H. I killed a fine Tanzanian Cape Buffalo with them in the August after he passed away.

Pierr'e van Tonder and I gave a toast to George the evening after I shot the big black bugger. We drank down a stiff shot of booze (Scotch for me and Brandy for Pierr'e) then both shot a .375 round at the Southern Cross in his honor.

I knew George and still correspond with his wife. What a lady she is and what a man he was.

God rest George Hoffman's soul.

Remembering George Hoffman....he'd be a hard man to forget.

RIch Elliott

All I can add is THANK YOU Mrs.Hoffman I was allowed to purchase George's 300 Weatherby dies, on his passing. WHen I recieved them I found he had signed them inside the lid, Offered to return them and she told me to keep them, I have used them twice now and both times have taken very nice deer,Hope he smiled!!!

I enjoyed speaking with George Hoffman, he was a walking encyclopedia about hunting and Africa. He was also what I would call a "man's man" in more ways than one.

quote:

Originally posted by Warrior:
RIP,

Please enlighten us here, I think it is important for all of us. If we go for a test, what do they do en test for, what does the 'reading' tell us, what is normal or healty and what not.

Does all prostate 'problems' turm into cancer if not removed at some point?
When removed what are the effects on a man.
Why does a prostate enlarge - what is the cause.

All my questions may sound so dumb, but if we don't ask we will stay dumb.

Thanks
Warrior

Warrior,

I have been out reloading ammo, shooting at the range, and socializing with the family. I hope my son's latest girlfriend does not dump him!

Prostate cancer took a Saint like George Hoffman. It happens to men only, even "real men."
The pendulum swings too and fro on whether to even screen for it. I think that is merely a public health and cost-to-society vs. benefit-to-society argument,
confounded by pain and suffering and quality of life issues and value judgements.
I think screening is a good idea, obviously.
Advanced prostate cancer can metastasize to every bone in the body. A painful and bad way to go.
I assume the John Wayne character, J. B. Books, in "The Shootist," might have been dying of prostate cancer when he heroically cleaned up the town with his last saloon shootout.
Leading up to that he was swigging tincture of opium (laudnum) and riding around with that little red cushion he stole from a whorehouse,
between his butt and the saddle.
In real life it was another kind of cancer that finished off John Wayne soon after that last movie of his, a biographic statement of sorts.

Keeping it simple:
Native Americans and Black Men: Higher risk, start at age 40.
All men with no known extra risk, such as family history/ethnicity: Start at age 50.

This means a yearly digital prostate exam and a blood test for "total PSA" or Prostate Specific Antigen.
No pain, no gain. Life is not always pretty.

Normal PSA levels by age, average for all men, a current but rough concensus, may vary some from the published normal value on the lab slip:

age 40 to 49: 0 to 2.5
age 50 to 59: 0 to 3.5
age 60 to 69: 0 to 4.5
age 70 to 79: 0 to 6.5

PSA rises slowly with age.
PSA rise of 0.75 units in one year is the usual PSA Velocity speed limit that will get the speeding ticket from the Prostate Cops: Offer of Biopsy

Not all prostate problems are cancer.
God was a real comedian when he designed the prostate and its response to aging.
Same thing with getting hair where you don't want it and losing hair where you do want it, with aging.

Benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) happens as a man gets older. His prostate gets bigger. It may crowd the urinary bladder outlet and cause the "old man" bladder signs and symptoms.

Drugs or a "Roto-Rooter" reaming out of the prostate (TURP, etc.) performed through the male "pipe" can relieve this.

PSA goes up with age, BPH, prostate infection, any pounding of the prostate (bicycle seats have been blamed), and even sex.
The PSA may go up 0.5 units or more for 3 or more days after an ejaculation.

If one gets a high PSA, he needs to resolve any related non-cancer factors, abstain from sex for the 3 days before the next one is drawn, and finish the investigation.
Fortunately prostate cancer is sluggish usually, and that next PSA might reasonably be 3 months later.
Adequate time to get things right before the next PSA.

Decisions are tough.
Arnold Palmer, the Golf Great, got biopsied two years in a row before they decided he had prostate cancer, and he got rid of it, in his late 60's IIRC.
He is doing fine in his 80s now, IIRC.
At least that is the gist of another Prostate Cancer Club member.
Membership is getting to be a legion of celebrities, Military, Politics, Business, Hollywood, etc., worldwide, not just here in the USA.

Treatment of prostate cancer depends on the patient, his age, other health issues, and stage and aggressiveness of the cancer, patient, and doctor.

It may be as simple as drug/hormonal therapy, pills and or injections every 3 months, etc., or may involve radioactive "seed" implants, radiation beams, or surgical removal of the prostate.

Nerve sparing is important to preserve erection and urinary continence.
Rehab after surgery can be a good time to try Viagra as the stunned nerves are coming back to normalcy.

Though one may regain potency and urinary continence, and be as horny as ever, after surgery, the orgasm is "dry."
The prostate makes about 90% of seminal fluids (the combat gear for the paratroopers), and the sperm are just the troopers bailing out.

Prostatectomy removes the prostate and the seminal vesicals at the "jump zone."
Effect on future sperm production is like that of a vasectomy:
The vas deferens leading up from the testicle on each side is just "whacked off," cannot dump into the missing seminal vesicles. Gone.
The sperm are fragile little "jumpers" of low volume, they keep on getting made, a new generation every 90 days, but are just reabsorbed when they can't go anywhere to "jump."

God Bless George Hoffman.

Gentlemen,

I have an uncle dying right NOW from this. He's a career ARMY Physician and is less than 65 yrs in age. He's in hospice, there is no hope other than no pain.

PLEASE do what ever it takes to be safe and healthy. I can tell you my family's world will be a lesser place without this man.

quote:

Originally posted by Nickudu:
Remembering George Hoffman

I "met" George on the phone.

My wife, who is a DVM, called me to the phone one night, saying, there is a man on the phone who wants to talk to you about elephants.

It was George Hoffman.

We visited frequently after that but I never met him.

George was interested in my test of 458 caliber projectiles, so I can thank www.accuratereloading.com for our introduction.

George had conducted similar tests over the years, and had the advantage of having shot many buff and elephants. He kept notes on penetration and expansion. And we compared those to what I had found with my various test mediums.

He was not well when we "met." But he remained curious to the end.

George and I had a common aquaintence in Bill Steigers, who invented the first and still best bonded soft point, the Bitterroot, in early 1960's. The 416 Hoffman was actually based on Bill's blown out 375 Improved case, which I had been shooting since 1982.

Its a long story how he used the 375 Improved reamer and necked it up to 416 bore, but we had that in common. Interestingly enough, he started with a necked up 375 Weatherby. The final dimensions were altered to accept the 416 Remington case as well.

He sent me some of his expanded 416 Swifts to compare to my water buckets. And he measured many more of his at home. Confirming the bullets recovered from water buckets correlated to buffalo by 90-95% for expansion and weight retention.

He was a gentleman. And curious to the end.

Andy

RIP

Thanks for a great answer to my questions.

Warrior

I never had the privilege of meeting George but a good friend of mine that is an avid hunter, reloader, and rifle builder from Sinton was building a gas plant in Sonora some time back when he befriended George. They would sit in Georges machine shop and talk men talk. One story he used to tell me about George was how Remington took his hoffman cartridge and changed the shoulder angle slightly and called it "their 416 REM.". George told him all he received for that was a 416 Remington in the box. I would have liked to sit by the fire with George of an evening... Men like that are few and far between.