At a recent hunting show outside of Paris I spoke with French PH Franck Maes. He was wearing his latest design, a combination knife/cartridge belt for double rifles. I decided I had to have one for my 404 Jeffery (even though it's obviously not a double gun).








There are several things I like about this belt: it is beautifully hand-made, it's placed in front rather than on the hip, the cant of the belt means the cartridge bases don't dig into your stomach when sitting, and I like the knife shape.

I find the hip mounted belts to be sometimes uncomfortable, especially when getting in or out of vehicles, and if you carry your rifle with the sling it will tend to rub up on the cartridges scratching the stock. This solves the problem of having both a knife sheath and a cartridge belt on the hip. Sitting, standing, running, you literally don't even feel it's there.

Franck only guides for friends these days and has devoted himself mostly to his artistic tendencies, which is too bad. He was/is one of the very best French PHs who has had a very interesting life.

http://www.africahunting.com/h...expected-talent.html

http://www.franckmaes.fr/SITE_...MWITU/Bienvenue.html

He works with other artisans: a knifemaker, a sheath and holster maker (who happens to also be a very pretty lady) and a cabinet maker. They collaborate to make products which incorporate their skills. I had to provide a couple of 404 cartridges to Maryline Lecourtier since she didn't have any.

http://www.artcuir.com/

Very slimming, too! ( Nice.)

Be carefull that in the excitement of the hunt you don't try to jamb the knife into the chamber !
Nice job , interesting design.

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Be carefull that in the excitement of the hunt you don't try to jamb the knife into the chamber !
Nice job , interesting design.

Or skin the buffalo with a cartridge!

Nice design, combines performance for both applications.

It's the ultimate Bubba Buckle!

. Nicely done. I like the convenience factor in that.

I like it!!

Or jam the knife in the other "chamber" close by the sheath! LOL! COOL!

Nice...i like it...

Now where do you purchase one?

State side?

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana338:
Nice...i like it...

Now where do you purchase one?

State side?

As far as I know they are only made on special order, one at a time. You would probably have to correspond with Franck on that, web site given in original post. His e-mail is wilddog@orange.fr They charge more than most lawyers.

quote:

Originally posted by ForrestB:

I would not hunt that Squirrel even if Buzz was backing me up.

That knife is too close to Mr. Johnson to suit me!

Actually, I would never use one like this on an African safari.

We tend to run on rough ground quite a lot, in addition to run up and down steel hills.

I would hate to fall while wearing that.

In fact, I have tried all sorts of ammo belts. Some are very well made, but I fou7nd them not very practical in one way or another.

Finally I have settled on Uncle Mike's ammo carriers.

They last a couple of hunts, and have to be changed. But, I have no problem with that, as they are not very expensive.

And the only reason they get worn out is because they are made for 30-06 size cases, while I use a wildcat based on the 404.

I wear two, one on either side of my belt buckle.

Can you post a photo of the back?

Perry

keep your rifle handy - it could be disastrous to be taking a wiz when something attacks & you have to defend yourself

Methinks the blade doth repose in too close a proximity to the family jewels!

Send it to me and I will field test for you.

I will return it I promise.

That isn't a big enough knife to scare you big game hunting guys is it?