Just caught the Benelli On Assignment show. It was Joe Coogan interviewing Harry Selby. What a treat! Very few of us will ever be able to meet Harry, and fewer still will be able to call him friend. We would all like to be among the latter.
The interview really reminded me how much one man can have an impact. There are certainly a lot of little boys and girls from five or six year olds to those past one hundred who lurk about this site, or daydream alone or with freinds about African adventures. Harry has had a hand in their dreams.
Thank heaven for Harry and men like him, and the dreams they gave us.
Bfly

I believe that Joe owns Harry's working rifle. Wasn't that written up in an article some time ago? What a piece of history that would be.

I have a friend who owns the Selous Fahrquason rifle and he's in negotiations for the Bell 7x57 rifle.

Yukon,

Where did your friend purchase the Selous rifle and from whom? I had it in my gun safe for nearly a year before shipping it out for auction. I didn't own it, but got to shoot it before it was sold.

Perry

Saw Harry yesterday and this morning a friend called to tell me they had a show about Ruark on. Excellent programming for a change! LDK

Are we talking about the same rifle...had the "selous stock plate" (don't know what that thing is called with all of the screws to strengthen the stock)...I think it's a .461 or something. I don't know the details but it's the famous one he carried and you see photos of.

Yukon,

The one I am referring to came from Zimbabwe and was sold earlier this year at auction. It was a 461 Gibbs with steel side plates. It was gifted by Selous to a distant relative of a friend of mine. He provided photo providence to H&H in New York when the gun was shipped to auction. I believe the sale price was in the 20 thousand range. I think I still have the serial number in my records.

Perry

I can't say for certain without calling my friend but it sounds like the same gun. 20k is cheap for something with providence like that.

Yukan Delta, what kind of money is your friend having to give for the 7x57, such a piece of history would have to cost alot I would think.I think Harry Selby is one of the most famous pro hunters alive today.

Negotiations are in process. I don't want to say anything that would interfere with it. I've got my fingers and toes crossed for him. I will say that money won't be a problem as this is one of the holiest of grails among collectors. There are people that don't want to see this gun get out into the public market (like an auction) as it could then disappear forever. It's one of those try to keep it in the family kind of things.

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
...had the "selous stock plate" (don't know what that thing is called with all of the screws to strengthen the stock)

I've always heard the steel sideplates used to reinforce the hand called "Selous sideplates".

There is no "the" Bell 7X57 rifle. Bell owned and used a number of them.
------------------------------------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

Understood. The point is that it is heavily documented, lots of photos, etc.

There is no rifle like a Gibbs-Farquharson.

It is the ne plus ultra of single shot rifles. To have one in .461 Gibbs, with Selous side plates, owned by F.C. Selous, would be to own the holy grail.

History means something, all the moreso when it is tangible. It is a heritage. I only hope that whoever buys this precious artifact appreciates that.

The Selous rifle is in good hands. He has some neat stuff like 1/2 dozen Howda pistols and quite a few notable Continental single and double rifles. One of these days I'll get some photos and post them here.

Does anyone remember the name of the camp that they went to on that show? I remember that they said Mr. Selby had hunted out of it for many years.

My father and grandfather hunted with Mr. Selby in 1965, in what is now Botswana, and I was wondering if that was perhaps the same camp.

Thanks,

Wrong. Not only was there a .461 Gibbs but there was a #1 and #2 version. Quoted from another site...

"The .461 Gibbs was a long range target round that came in two versions, No.1 and No.2, the latter cartridge having a longer neck. They were developed by George Gibbs of Bristol in the 1870's. George Gibbs was founded in 1842.

Bullet weights ran 360, 540 to 570 grains depending on the cartridge used; the 360 grain hollow nose being an " Express " load (another meaning for the term???)Paper patched lead bullets were used, and powder charges from 75 to 90 grains were normal. In the 1890's Copper plated pojectiles were introduced.

There is some conjecture about the bullet diameter, but Hoyem claims that .461 - .463" is correct. The rifles were Metford bored, and according to Ross Seyfried in his article in the Spring 2004 Issue of "Double Gun Journal", groove diameter was usually about .472", meaning that a degree of "upset" was required for the projectile to engage the rifling. This was the principle employed in the Metford bored muzzleloaders which allowed the patched projectile to be rammed down the bore. Lead hardness must be optimum for this to work, and Seyfried found that 1:20 to 1:40 tin:lead alloys worked.

George Gibbs was a noted long range shot, and set many records with his Farquharson actioned target rifles. He was reputed to have put 48 out of 50 shots into a 3 foot diameter bullseye at 1000 yards! And this was done with a rifle that had been fired over 20,000 times.

Frederick Coutenay Selous, the noted hunter/author used the cartridge to hunt African game up to Elephant, reporting tremendous penetration with the long 570 grain bullet even with the moderate 75 grain powder charge."

quote:

Originally posted by Brant:
Does anyone remember the name of the camp that they went to on that show? I remember that they said Mr. Selby had hunted out of it for many years.
Thanks,

The area there Harry was with the Benelli guys is just north of the Moremi game reserve on the banks of the Khwai river as he told me.

And, yes it is nice to be a friend of Harry Selby, He is the most pleasant man i ever meet! His way to learn my children 8 & 11 year old about Africa, game, fauna etc was just out of this world.
We visited him, Miki and Gail in Nov 2006 and will come back in 2008.



Harry Selby, 75 years experience of hunting Africa, Ken Stewart 65 years and me some 4-5 weeks...

can you please tell which channel this was on?

thanks

reddy375

It's the Benelli program on Versus channel.I just finished watching it , very interesting !!Included info on Ruark.Ruark's first safari was in 1951.I remember as a kid always reading Ruark's column in the paper in Brooklyn.

Iread an excellent interwieu of H.S.in HUNTERS cazadores sin fronteras made by ISABEL QUINTANILLA ,TONY SANCHEZ ARINOS WIFE very intersting i recommend the mmagazine and the article .Juan

I truly hope someone will follow these icons around with a recorder and get their stories for those who will never share a campfire with them.

I watched it as well. It was excellent. I don't know if Selby was all that fond of the Benelli semi-auto with a Burris electronic scope on it, but something had to pay for the production costs.

So nice to see something other than hockey, bike racing or bull riding on VS.

No, he wasn't!
Not like his "Skitini" at all.

For those of you who did not catch the show or who do not have access to it, I saw this URL on the 24 hour campfire site. It is a nice article on Harry done by Joe Coogan on Gail Selby's website. It was provided by B Faucett. My thanks to Bob for providing the URL, and to Gail for posting.
Nice pictures, nice info, and no commercials.
Bfly

Stupid computer operator error! Here is URL.


http://gabrimaun.tripod.com/HarrySelby.html

quote:

Originally posted by husky:

quote:

Originally posted by Brant:
Does anyone remember the name of the camp that they went to on that show? I remember that they said Mr. Selby had hunted out of it for many years.
Thanks,

The area there Harry was with the Benelli guys is just north of the Moremi game reserve on the banks of the Khwai river as he told me.

And, yes it is nice to be a friend of Harry Selby, He is the most pleasant man i ever meet! His way to learn my children 8 & 11 year old about Africa, game, fauna etc was just out of this world.
We visited him, Miki and Gail in Nov 2006 and will come back in 2008. ...

I didn't see the show but going by the description given here I believe the camp is Khwai River Lodge. I stayed there in 1998 on a photo safari. Khwai River Lodge was the first camp that Harry Selby established in Botswana if I remember correctly.

It's now operated by Orient Express Hotels.



Web site:
http://www.orient-express-safaris.co.za/web/ogam/ogam_c4a_introduction.jsp



-Bob F.

BFaucett,
I havent seen the show either, so i can't tell you if they stayed at that lodge.However, the area he is controlled by the local community and not by an operator.

I and my family are planning to go there in 2008 with rented 4x4 from Maun.

I saw the show too-it was awesome to put a connection to the Horn of the Hunter book. They were hunting in Jeff Rann's camp - don't know exactly which one though.