Well done RIP! A better bullet / cartridge has yet to be made!

Thanks RIP for the write up...I love that Bison hunt, its my USA Cape Buffalo hunt, when I can't stand being away from Africa, then I go shoot a bison at Comstock..Only problem is it takes so damn long to eat a bison, that my storm and striffe keeps reminding me "where you gonna put it"...The scout jamboree ate real good this year and that helped a lot...

The bison robes are a thing of beauty and I have a taxidermist that is a marvel and never cuts a hole in them when using the fleshing machine and when he sends it back to you the leather side is like soft velvet and the color of butter and the hair is shampooed and blow dried..A thing to behold...for what its worth..

I have some opennings for these bison if anyone is interrested and the cost is very reasonable and the hunt is fair chase and more fun than you can stand...Give me a holler....

Splendidly done, old man, splendidly! 've got a box of those North Fork's m'self t'try out when I get 'round to it. Good job, those bullets, what? Might I ask for either a PM or an email 'bout the particulars of the hunt? We've got bison on the schedule in the next few years, don'tcherknow.

Wow, you really are shooting a light weight 404 prone!

Thats a job well done.

Thats a large entry wound for a buffalo, I can tell you, and a quick kill.

You will really enjoy the buffalo meat.

Can you show us a picture of the North Fork from the top so I can see the diameter?

Andy

Hi Andy,
Front and base of subject bullet:



The front measured 0.855" X 0.688" at the widest and narrowest. The dense cancelous bone at the glenohumeral shoulder joint is about as tough as bone gets. If this bullet had finished up under the hide, it would have been smooth and perfectly rounded, instead of beat up as it is. Couldn't ask for better performance than the North Fork soft, eh?

The bullet started off as 1.425" long (SD=0.303) and ended up 0.867" long.

And for posterity, the disposable rifle that did it, though I had the backup scope mounted that day, a Leupold 2.5-8X:

Oldsarge,

For $2750 (4 nights and 3 full days in the luxurious, fully staffed, 8500 sq.ft. lodge) you get your pick of the meat bulls. Size of body, horns, coats may vary, but the 3 year-olds are prime picking now, and the coats get better on into January. Herd bull bison weighing a ton or elk approaching 380 typical scores are $3750 for the package, IIRC. There were about 200 bull elk and about a dozen bison on the Meridian section at the time, I was told.



Pheasant add on is $350/day or $175/half-day. They have a European Driven Pheasant hunt for $950/day. On a half-day jaunt I shot a brace of hen and cock pheasant and blasted a porcupine that was tangling with one of the dogs. Odd bag, eh?



There are miles and miles of wild hemp/marijuana that the pheasant love there. They eat the seeds. I did not get high from eating the pheasant. Delicious.



High stepping through marijuana, wheat and sorghum fields did get me aware of how fat and old I am. A diet and exercise program is in order for future pheasant hunting.



A bison can be added onto an elk hunt for $1500.



Great scenery and you get to keep the whole bison.

E-mail me at kyakerab@hotmail.com if I can be of any further assisstance, Old Bean, and I am sure that Ray can fix you up. You might also take a gander at: www.nebraskawildliferanch.com

Ray,
Thank YOU, for the booking service. I'll be back.

fredj338,
Well done by Comstock Lodge, and I was a happy camper. You show good taste in cartridges and rifles. I think I need another .404 Jeffery in walnut and blue and with all the bells and whistles to wax nostalgic over. How about a full length picture of your rifle here to counteract the progressivity of my African Sheep Rifle. I think Saeed can appreciate its functionality, but many cannot get past their repulsion from fiberglass and stainless.

Great Read RIP......Nice Report on the Norfolks. I also think that to hunt Bison with one of the sharps replica rifles would also be pretty cool.

Ok, fo rthe guys who are a bit more traditional:



Now if we could just get Mike to make some 340gr to flatten that trajectory a bit for plainsgame??

Thank you, PC, my fellow rifle loony.



Yep, a Sharps of 45- or 50-whatever caliber would be a lot of fun with iron sights and shooting sticks, dressed like "Quigley Down Under" of course. Couldn't be anymore effective than a .423cal/380gr North Fork at 2500 fps, however.



Lolling about the fireplace at the lodge after a gourmet meal and choice of spirits and brews, I mentioned hunting wild boar in Tennessee with a spear. The guide said there was a dude who asked to hunt the Comstock Lodge buffalo with a spear, from horseback, "like the Injuns did." They turned him down on that request, and told him no, he would not be allowed to stampede a herd of meat bulls over a cliff either.

Ah, Sir Fred, that's what I was talking about! Thanks for beautifying this thread a bit.



One can only hope for something like a 320 grain spitzer boattail in .423 caliber to push along at 2700 fps for plains game ... but to sleep and perchance to dream?

RIP... what was the aprox penetration? How is that sheep rifle prone?

smallfry,

I didn't have a graduated dipstick to probe the bullet wound with, but I would guess about 2.5 feet on the diagonal from on-side rib to off-side shoulder jt., where it stopped in fragmented big bone. A good herd-shooting bullet. For complete penetration, use the FN solids, or see the "Thong Thread."



The .404 Jeffery prone is what it is all about, no worries. Ray can shoot a .404 Jeffery whilst standing balanced on his head, and he only spins around one revolution and ends up with sights lined up on the game for a quick followup every time, without fail.

Rip,
I resemble that remark!!

My last Comstock Bison hunt was with a 450-400 double rifle and a 400 gr. Woodleigh..It took 3 days to get on mine, but I got him after a 200 yard crawl on hands and knees and a good heart shot, with a recovered Woodleigh on the off side skin...I also shot a 390 bull on that hunt with a 300 gr. Woodleigh in my 338 Win...A bunch of birds and stood a pheasant charge, my first and I shot him 6 inches off my barrel coming directly towards me...Some clown presented me with a drawing of myself impaled by a pheasant to a telephone pole!

It gladens my heart to hear those nostalgic tones emitting from deep within your being about the purity of wood and rust blued steel, a 404 with all the bells and whistles, thus I know that Saeed has not contaminated all those whom I hold dear in my heart for their class and ability to see the things that I hold true in the traditions of hunters and huntresses througout the years!!