quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
The 50 Alaskan is long gone. I had offers to buy it after my elephant hunt in '07. If I go back to Africa, it will be with a bolt or double rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
Good question. It was a fun experiment coming out of what was a daily carry bear rifle for me in Alaska. I never built the gun for Africa but rather adapted it later when the PH really wanted me to use it. I brought a 458 Lott with me for backup and never used it. I let the head tracker carry that.

The issue with the lever gun was that we kept finding weaknesses in it and improving it...until we got to the magazine springs. The recoil in the gun was heavy enough to blow the magazine end cap off and it basically battered the magazine springs until they didn't hold the cartridge follower with any tension. At the end of all the testing and at the end of the hunt, the gun turned into a single shot.

I had experimented enough and enjoyed it enough to move on at that point. That was almost 10 years ago and springs have improved I'm sure. I remember Ashley Emerson, who has a LOT of big bore experience, saying that we had exceeded the design limitations. We were in no-man's land. It turned out ok in the end but I'm glad I didn't need to do more shooting that day.

To our knowledge, that was the first lever gun shot elephant in recent history. We learned a lot in the process. It can be done and done well but next time I go with another gun.

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
Sorry to take this thread so off topic but the original poster seems cool with it. Wasn't my idea!

Here's a link to my hunt report here on AR.
http://forums.accuratereloadin...=395101986#395101986

I don't want to give load data for safety reasons but you can see the bullet was a 460 grain lathe turned brass solid that was running at 1900 fps out of my 20" barrel.

That load was heavy and slowly took the gun apart. We sheared screws from the mag tube, the cap on the mag tube came off, destroyed springs, etc. However, the loads were safe just max. I had complete exits on the follow-up body shots on that ele. I brained her on the first shot and that's the only bullet we recovered. I have it in my safe.

The TKO goes way up on the 50 AK over the 45-70 but besides that I agree on the 45-70 comments. I could have killed that elephant with the 45-70 loaded right too with less fuss and expense...but I love .50 calibers. It was emotional not logical.

quote:

That load was heavy and slowly took the gun apart. We sheared screws from the mag tube, the cap on the mag tube came off, destroyed springs, etc. However, the loads were safe just max

quote:

That load was heavy and slowly took the gun apart. We sheared screws from the mag tube, the cap on the mag tube came off, destroyed springs, etc. However, the loads were safe just max

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Originally posted by Peter:

quote:

That load was heavy and slowly took the gun apart. We sheared screws from the mag tube, the cap on the mag tube came off, destroyed springs, etc. However, the loads were safe just max

Moderator, perhaps we can make this quote permanent on the top of this forum??!!
Just a thought!
Peter

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
Sorry to take this thread so off topic but the original poster seems cool with it. Wasn't my idea!

Here's a link to my hunt report here on AR.
http://forums.accuratereloadin...=395101986#395101986

I don't want to give load data for safety reasons but you can see the bullet was a 460 grain lathe turned brass solid that was running at 1900 fps out of my 20" barrel.

That load was heavy and slowly took the gun apart. We sheared screws from the mag tube, the cap on the mag tube came off, destroyed springs, etc. However, the loads were safe just max. I had complete exits on the follow-up body shots on that ele. I brained her on the first shot and that's the only bullet we recovered. I have it in my safe.

The TKO goes way up on the 50 AK over the 45-70 but besides that I agree on the 45-70 comments. I could have killed that elephant with the 45-70 loaded right too with less fuss and expense...but I love .50 calibers. It was emotional not logical.

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That's a take-down Marlin, correct?

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

That load was heavy and slowly took the gun apart. We sheared screws from the mag tube, the cap on the mag tube came off, destroyed springs, etc. However, the loads were safe just max

Loads that cause physical damage to a firearm IMHO are not safe in that firearm.