I've watched a few hunting videos lately, such as "Death by doublerifle", some "Capstick" films, a few Mark Sullivan films and various others. Beside the episodes where the animal is pumped up with adrenelin (especially in the later MS films...) many of the shots have been on grazing buff etc that were calm and not aware of being hunted. What I have found interesting is that many of the hunters have used large caliburs such as the 600NE, 577NE, 500NE, 500 Jeffrey etc. I was kind of expecting to see a visable differance in shot reaction compaired to those shot with a 450/400NE, 416 or 375. But it kind of hasn't been quite so as far as I could see. OK, some of the smaller bore shots have put the animal right down because of a hit to the spine, but when looking at hit in what appears to be in the heart/lung region, most of the animals I've seen in these movies have usually gone just as far, and stood just as long, with both "big bigbores" and "smaller bigbores".

I'm kind of thinking that logically this shouldn't be so, because a bigger bullet makes a bigger hole etc. And I know that the many moose I have shot with a 375H&H have gone down much quicker with it, then with a 30-06, 308 or 6.5x55.

So then I'm thinking that these guys running around with some very big (and cool, I might add!) guns might be shooting poorly because they're flinching. So the benefit of using a big double is kind of, well, not there!

I sort of presume that the posters on this board might not have this problem, being more interested in hunting/shooting/guns then many others, and thus probably practicing more. But do you guys agree that there are a lot of double users out there that should maybe stick to something more managable that they actually practice with?

It looks to me like there are quite a lot of double users who have such a gun more for the status, than the actual interest in them. A good shot with a 416 or 375 has to be better than a mediocre shot with a "super bigbore"!

Erik

(The above is of course a ploy to get you guys to question your own abilities, and thus sell your double cheap, crashing the double market, so I can get one for a reasonable price! )

here we go again ...
Yep,
You're observations match mine. Anything more than a 300 grain .375 caliber bullet at 2500 fps is really not necessary for the hunter who puts them where they are supposed to go.

The bigger whump is for psychological benefit of clients, and must be carried by the successful PH, for "backup."

I have shot buffalo of the cape, water, and bison persuasion with softs and solids in the varieties of .375/300gr, .416/350gr, .416/380gr, .423/380gr, and .458/500gr ... and there really has been no discernible difference in how fast they died with heart-lung-great vessel hits.

Of course I will be criticized for not trying the over .500" bullets, but I guess that I shall do just that, just for kicks. .510/570gr batter up.

1. If the client cannot shoot his big bore accurately and without flinching, he should not shoot a big bore.



2. I think that a heart/lung shot buff or elephant passes away more quickly with a bigger hole than with a smaller hole. That is why a lot of people prefer an expanding bullet instead of a solid bullet for broadside shots on buffalo, because softs tend to make bigger holes than solids. But a scientific study to prove this would be costly...



3. The Sullivan videos might be a bit deceiving because those animals are often poorly hit a few times to drag things out and get a charge for the camera.

RIP,

I haven't noticed much difference between the 300 Win mag and the 416 Rigby. Then there are several who claim there is no difference between the 270 and the 300!

I know this though, there is a BIG difference in wound channel diameter once you start going over .458". It begins with the 458 and goes up dramatically with caliber above that. Logic would seem to dictate that a bigger wound channel should produce, statistically speaking anyway, a quicker bleed out and death. Of course we have been over this ground before, and everyone knows I just make things up or steal pictures from the internet! Such a loser, I know!!

With regard to hunting videos I seldom see animals behave the same way in the fields I hunt in. Then again that is another thread isn't it. Of course seldom see so many nice trophy class animals in one spot either, as I do on hunting videos. I wonder why that is?

ASS_CLOWN