How important to you is it to use your own Rifle?

I have seen stories about terrible camp rifles that are frightening.....and stories about very good camp rifles....

I am a confessed gun nut and handloader to me it's important to use my own rifle and handloads.

One day when I hand 'em over to kids, grandkids or friends I will be able to tell them this rifle went to Zim or Argentina or South Africa with me. I will be able to sit in my dotage and fondle those firearms and remember the hunts I had with them.

Just like when I fondle one my Grandad left me and think on the time I spent with him.

How many of you feel the same way?

It's a non starter with me unless my firearms broke in the middle of a hunt.

Would depend on type of hunt - plains game: not a big issue in my book. Dangerous game: there's no way I would take a rifle I am not thoroughly familiar with. I've not had much trouble traveling with guns, so I wouldn't think of using someone else's in the first place.

Using my own rifle is of zero importance to me. I stopped taking rifles overseas years ago. Traveling is much simpler.

Bill Quimby

Its part of the deal. I accumulate the rifles to use them, not keep them locked up.

Hopefully I can go back to Africa and want to use a double rifle just like I did on the first two hunts. So taking my double rifle is very important.

If it was plains game hunt, I would likely be okay with a loaner as long as it was a decent rifle/cartridge/scope. But I'm not ever going to go on a plains game only hunt. Buffalo is always going to be a goal, and hopefully a bull elephant. If not, then another tuskless will have to do.

I'll a lefty. How many left-handed camp rifles do you think are out there?
Besides, my rifles are a part of the memory themselves.
If traveling with my rifles becomes too complicated, I'll use a right-handed camp rifle, until then, I'll use mine.

I have never hunted with a borrowed rifle. God willing, I never will. A large part of the hunting experience, for me, is using my own equipment and loads. I take my guns out of the safe and fondle them and remember the experience all over. I take great pleasure in owning custom and semi-custom rifles and to me, they are more than a tool. I realize that some people just see it as an inanimate object, but they have great sentimental value to me.

Used outfitter weapons x3. A shotgun in RSA for Duiker. A rifle in NZ on each island. Only one of the three worked without issue. Never again!

I cancelled a Mozambique DG hunt while in JNB, only 48 hours before scheduled departure, because the outfitter did not have our gun permits. After months of regular emails, this was the first we heard of any issue.

For me, no matter where the hunt or what I am hunting for, I will be using one of my own rifles. That is why I always take two rifles to camp with me. If one goes wobbly I have a backup that I am familiar with.

The only time you will see me useing someone else's rifle will be if my rifle donesn't show up in Africa when I get off thew plane!


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Part of the fun of any adventure is the planning and preparation. When I went to Namibia last year, I enjoyed picking the caliber, gun and scope, and then trying different ammunition. Then I enjoyed practicing with my new gun.
If that sounds enjoyable, take your own gun. If not, rent one.

quote:

Originally posted by bwana cecil:
I'll a lefty. How many left-handed camp rifles do you think are out there?
Besides, my rifles are a part of the memory themselves.
If traveling with my rifles becomes too complicated, I'll use a right-handed camp rifle, until then, I'll use mine.

My PH said, "No problem, we'll get you a loaner" when my rifle didn't show up at baggage claim in Bulawayo last year. You should have seen his face when I said, "I'm left handed".

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
How important to you is it to use your own Rifle?

Big time important.
I have had to borrow rifles two times due to rifles waylaid with bad results.

It's important to me as well to bring my rifle. A rifle that has had its checkering worn flat and bluing rubbed off from years of use (and many memories made) is just as much a trophy to me as the heads hanging on the wall.

It would defeat the purpose of taking MY .470 for a buffalo hunt. I will spend hours working up the perfect load, sighting it in and becoming intimately familiar with that one and only mine. (Did that sound,,,,awwww never mind) I would only use a loaner gun for a dg hunt if there was absolutely zero option. Or not hunt, I guess.

As a rifle nut, handloader I'd say it meant a LOT for me to use my own gun....

that said, in 2005 my gun was held up for seven days in Joberg. I killed my zebra with a borrowed 100 year old 6.5X57 and most everything else with a borrowed 375H&H, including a very difficult shot on a huge eland.

didn't make any difference at all....

I've moved past becoming attached to mass produced material possessions. I've gone to and am going to africa and other places to experience the place and the activities, not get hung up on my favorite socks, lucky hat, favorite gun or sun glasses. My rifles are all mass produced products and if they are lost or broken in two can be replaced in weeks or months.

I'd be upset to loose an original Picasso but if my Remington or Ruger rifles end up being used as pry bars by the airport crew I'll borrow a substiture and move on.

I want to use my own rifles and handloaded ammo. It is part of the hunt to me. I would feel cheated if I had to use some other rifle/ammo. But I would still hunt. I would not be as happy with life but I would still enjoy the hunt. At home I always take 2 rifles with me -----just in case.

I have used borrowed guns on 3 of my guided hunts.

Twice because of airport issues, and once because taking a rifle where I went was all but impossible.

You can expect camp rifle to be shitty 9 times out of 10. But they will work as advertised.

The problem I see is the ammo.

You are risking a lot of money on an expensive hunt, especially if you don't make a lot of money.

I'll probably use borrowed guns again, but I am against it.

As Bill Quimby said it makes the trip 1000% easier.

The plan will always be to hunt with my own rifles using by own ammunition. The thought of my rifles not making it to my destination puts a very sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I love to play around with loads and work with my rifle for a hunt. Somehow it makes the experience a bit fuller for me. It also whiles away the long months until you can hunt again... Being familiar with the piece is important for dangerous situations.

I insure them against loss.

But, if, god forbid, I arrive without a rifle or ammo, I will hunt anyhow. I am there to hunt, not worry about my rifles. I actually had to refinish one of them because I beat it up so badly that I was embarrassed by its appearance- but I did buy them to use them, and if I lose one in the process, I will miss it, but I brought them to hunt, not go hunting to buy a rifle.

Fussing over the rifle before the hunt is almost as much fun as the hunt.

It sure is cheaper and takes longer.

Extremely important to me to use my guns with my hand loads. I would say it's more important than the taxidermy to me to have the gun in my safe that I conducted the hunt with.

sbsolutely could care less. as long as it goes bang when i pull the trigger and hits within an inch or 2 of where i aimed, i am good to go.

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
How important to you is it to use your own Rifle?

I am a confessed gun nut and handloader to me it's important to use my own rifle and handloads.

How many of you feel the same way?

You've answered your own question. After three trips I would lean heavily toward leaving mine behind, bringing along the slip-ons, shell holders and other modifications to make the "loaner" fit me. That said, I do have .375 Weatherby and .416 Rigby rifles in case a buffalo becomes affordable "just because". (Really I am more of a kudu-kudu-bushbuck guy.)

For me it is a confidence issue. I have used borrowed rifles in the past and, while things worked out fine, I was not really comfortable with a "less familiar" weapon. I was therefore, not all that confident in my own shooting as a result which, as we know, generally hurts performance even though the rifle might be shooting just fine. I will use a borrowed rifle in a pinch but certainly prefer not to.

I'd be about as comfortable with a borrowed rifle as I'd be with borrowed boots.

I'd prefer to use my own rifles. If I couldnt because of permits or something I certainly wouldnt throw a hissy fit and not get on the airplane.

I once had to use a "loaner" rifle. A Wilkes .470 double. Oh, the horror! Lou Hallamore let me shoot a bait impala with his. Boy, was that fun... I also used it finishing off a buffalo, but it was pretty darn dead already. Still, a piece of history for a "loaner"!

I have some really fine rifles, at least in my humble opinion. I use the Delta baggage tracking app as much as I can to insure whatever I'm taking gets on the plane. I almost always have a "dead" day in JNB for my rifles to catch up with me (and another in Vic Falls or Harare or Dar es Salaam). I do my own permits (and never have had a bit of trouble, there).

All that said, if (either financially or emotionally) I can't afford to lose anything I take on a trip to Africa (with insurance on the heirloom stuff) or if not having a special rifle will ruin a trip, I guess I won't go... but I don't think that's happening anytime soon.

Important enough that I would never plan or book a hunt where I did not expect to use my own rifle.

+1

Maybe it is because of the business I am in, but while I love shooting my own rifles, I have become used to shooting a variety of stuff that is not mine. The hunt has always meant more to me than the rifle I'm hunting with. Understand both sides of the argument though. But I have seen clients rifles get lost or show up late and seen experienced guys flatly refuse to hunt, even though they can borrow fine rifles and hunt. Always thought that that was a bit silly.

I plan on leaving home with my rifle, but if it does not show up, I will adapt & use a sling shot if neccessary.(just a little exageration there)

My preference would always be to use my own rifle but last year my rifle case got lost for 8 of 10 hunting days in RSA and I borrowed the owner's rifle and several animals hit the salt and it ended up not being an issue. First preference is always to use my own but I won't not go because I need to use someone else.

quote:

For me, no matter where the hunt or what I am hunting for, I will be using one of my own rifles. That is why I always take two rifles to camp with me. If one goes wobbly I have a backup that I am familiar with.

Having stated the above, I forgot to add that if something/anything happened where me and my rifles got seperated during travels, I would not be happy but I would hunt with whatever I could get my hands on.

Just to throw a kink in the tracks here, but what happens if you only take one rifle/scope rig into camp and something breaks that cannot be fixed?

You going to quit hunting or will you use a loaner?

quote:

Having stated the above, I forgot to add that if something/anything happened where me and my rifles got seperated during travels, I would not be happy but I would hunt with whatever I could get my hands on.

I would too of course but it would "lessen" things a bit....

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Let me add that if hunting any dangerous game animal and that is always the case if I’m in Africa, I prefer my own rifle! If I have to use a loaner, that is fitted with a scope. Then I want to shoot it, and re-zero it. Very few scoped rifle zeroed by someone else will shoot properly for another shooter. If it has irons only then I just need to shoot it to see how it is sighted.

The fact that I don’t like to shoot other’s rifles, I bring two rifle on safari. A heavy and a light, and the light is legal for the largest thing I’ll be hunting incase my heavy goes wobbly. The loner is a last resort but I’m certainly not flying back home because of having to hunt with a junk loaner!

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Im goin to hunt and that means any weapon I can get my hands on. Would I prefer mine? Sure! But I am sure as hell not going to let it ruin a hunt. That said I have used some mighty fine loaner rifles. Never once a bad one. Of the worst, they may not be the prettiest but damn they could shoot.

Like JudgeG, I have some pretty nice rifles and enjoy working up loads for them, so if I were going by myself or with other hunters on a dangerous game safari I'd undoubtedly take my own guns.

However, I'm probably not going to take any of my own on a (tentative) trip to RSA in 2013. My wife will be visiting friends in Cape Town for a few days while I do a short hunt for just 3 or 4 plains game I need to fill in some blanks. Afterward we'll do the tourist thing for another 3 or 4 days before heading home.

I have mixed feelings about leaving my personal guns at home. I used a loner rifle on a hill stag hunt in Scotland about ten years ago, and the results were far from satisfactory. Was it me or the rifle? Hard to say. I came home with two hill stags but only after enduring a stern lecture from the hunting guide about poor shot placement and ruined meat, part of the fee to the landowner on that kind of hunt.

The PH/landowner in RSA has "loner" rifles and I'm sure they'll do just fine on warthog, blesbok and the like--but, the rifle's not free; he charges $30 a day, which seems a little over the top. Maybe not, since my trophy feees will not be much.

Anyway, given the hassle of securing firearms while being a tourist, I'm just about convinced going unheeled is the best decision.

I sure was looking forward to using my 7x57 with handloaded Barnes TTSX's on plains game .