Have been reading this great book and the thought crossed my mined of which Rifle I would have used if I were in his shoes.
I came up with a short and light 375H&H Flanged Magnum Double with a 4# scope on Claw mounts.

What would you have used in a one or two Rifle kit?

A 9.3x74R double would be very similiar, just wouldn't be English caliber. My 9.3 Chapuis is much lighter than my 375 H&H Merkel. Have never held one in the 375 flanged. I remember one Corbett story where he is coming around a boulder on the trail, and the tiger is looking at him from just a few feet away on the other side, and he one-hands his rifle (275 Rigby?)and kills the tiger. He was glad for a very lightweight rifle at that moment!

I just re-read that same book after finding a very old copy in a used book store!
I don't find much wrong with the guns he used, but I'd have surely carried a few more rounds than he did! Going out after DG with four or five rounds total seems too much a gamble to me.

That's a good test for you DG hunters - hold two eggs in one hand and shoot the DG with rifle in the other hand ! I wonder if there is a source of all the photos he took .One photo I saw had, as I remember ,eight tigers !!

mete. that's right. He had the eggs of a nightjar or something in one hand when he shot the tiger with the other. I believe he wrote he took those eggs back and put them in the nest?

ya wow that guy was brave. always used to hunt by moon light. would have used a .308

He often used a 275, 450/400 and a 450NE.
If you "google earth" 29' 19'59.34"N
80' 05'59.79"E you will find the Village of Champawat where Corbett shot the man eater of Champawat.

I have read his work and it was an exciting life. As for ammunition, I would have used what was readily available in India at the time.

I think that this is almost my favourite book, coincidentally I was reading it in the bath this morning.

Contrary to what FC Selous Stu says, he didn't always hunt by moonlight and preferred to deal with maneaters in the daylight, however when circumstances suggested he was happy enough to sit up over a kill all night and not always in a "safe" machan.

He attributed having those nightjar eggs in his hand as saving his life which is why he put them back. He shot that tiger having taken several minutes to very slowly move his rifle slowly into a position with one hand to shoot the tiger which was crouching ready to spring just 8 feet away.

He said that this only worked because the tiger was a maneater as a non maneater would have bolted immediately and wiped him out on the way.

He was a fantastic woodsman, an incredibly brave man and saved many lives through hunting and shooting a number of maneating tigers and leopards at huge personal risk. A number of times he had a sixth sense about a rock or thicket that he may have passed without concern many times before and later examination showed the pug marks of a tiger waiting for him.

In the story of the Thak maneater he was sitting out on the last day that he had to go at this animal, and incidentally his last day ever of hunting maneaters, and his only option was to call in the tigress who was in a very bad temper and calling for a mate. The light was fading and at one point the tigress was so close he could feel her breath on his face as she called. To deliberately put himself in that position was the act of a very brave man indeed although to him it was very much a qualified risk as he had carefully assessed how the tigress might approach him and exactly where she would offer a shot.

His choice of weapon was often dictated by how long he would have to hold the rifle ready to shoot and without moving whilst waiting for the cat to appear and ranged from a light .275 to a very heavy 400/450 double. There was very little discussion about ammunition in his writings.

After a life of shooting maneaters (and other tigers) he became an ardent conservationist and the Corbett National Park is named after him.

for those who have not been lucky enough to read his work try this. He also writes in a very readable style and in good English.

http://openlibrary.org/details...tersofkumao029903mbp

For the story of the nightjar eggs read pages 89 to 94 and for the final moments of the Thak maneater read pages 208 to 214. Having read these sections I'm sure that you will read more.

For a photo of the spot where Corbett shot the Champawat man eater, see the book "Shikari Sahib" by Peter Byrne (also published by Safari Press under a slightly different title, I think). He went to each of the sites where Corbett shot a maneater, tells the story and shows a photo or 2. My visualizations of the locales of Corbett's adventures were much improved by seeing photos of the sites.

It's been a long time since I've read the book, but I remember it was a good one. I remember one of his machans he referred to as a "precarious perch". If I was sitting in a tree waiting for a maneater to come in I'd want something I know would keep me in the tree! Anyone when or how he died? I thought I read something about him having some pretty serious ear problems with someone shot a rifle very close to his head while they were hunting on elephant back? Does that sound right?

I was lucky enough to receive this book as a Christmas present from my mother-in-law. I was stunned to say the least. I read the book very quickly and am probably going to read it again. I can't imagine going hunting for dangerous game with just a few rounds of ammo. Also, he described one of his machans as having only three strands of rope. It's hard for me to imagine walking through the Indian jungle at night being stalked by a maneater.
My grandfather lived in India during that time period, and my bedtime stories as a kid were full of elephants, man-eating tigers, leprosy victims etc.
Grandad was a railroad engineer and said that there were huts on the side of the tracks for the crews to rest while they were side-tracked. One night he walked up to the hut and found the remains (very little) of a native worker that had been killed by a tiger.

By the way, Grandad hunted as much as he could in India during the early 40's. I'm sure he would have loved to have a fancy rifle, but he made do with an Enfield .303.

The Jim Corbett Album web-site:
http://images.google.com/imgre...nUS307US307%26sa%3DG

12 bore Westley Richards 'Paradox' double rifle and a Metford 303