My picks on my favorite big bore change from time-to-time but I would have to say that right now, one of my very favorites is my Browning BLR in 450 Marlin for two reasons.

First, I love lever guns and I especially like the BLR. With its' 20 inch barrel, it is very light and fast handling and can handle much higher pressures than the Marlin.

Second, being 45 caliber, there are a wide range of absolutely superb bullets for it from CEB, Woodleigh, North Fork, and Barnes. I have yet to shoot anything with my BLR but with these bullets, I am very confident that it will quickly dispatch anything in North America and most anything short of an elephant in Africa.

How about you? What's your favorite big bore?

The one I am currently hunting with

Depends what I am hunting.

465H&H

For all around use I would pick my 416 Rigby.

.

Whatever I am shooting at the moment. I don't keep anything that is not worthy of being called a "favorite".

500NE!

This is like asking which tooth you want to pull out with pliers and no anesthesia.
Honestly Non Cons and Raptors have changed the way I view big bores on down.

I like these big bores and these are the guns I like them in.

The 375H&H in my Jeffrey bolt action
The 404J in my take down Thomas Bland
The 505 Gibbs in by G Gibbs.
The 500 Nitro in my Westley Richards DR

Custom Winchester Model 70 Super Grade in .404 Jeffery. Also, my old Sako Mauser in .375 H&H.

458 Lott, the most versatile

More of a medium, than a "big bore" but I'm partial to my .416 Rem. It will do it all in a pinch.

Plain old Purdey .450 Nitro 3-1/4" DR. The cartridge was good enough for anything, anywhere 100 years ago, and still is.

The one I have the most money in...

505 Gibbs

I've always loved the design, look and feel of the BLRs, especially the early steel receiver models in 358 Win. Though my favorite big bore is my CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery.

Dave:
.600 nitro to hunt. (Spent several hours on the Chulitna River today with my Wilkes. Fresh tracks and plies of shit but no bear).
4-bore to shoot at the range. (Both with Blue Dot and FFg with 1400-grain balls or 1950-grain conicals).
I guess I repeat myself on these forums as I'm a bit narrow minded.
Cheers, all.
Cal
PS. My bore rifle book is at the printers and in two months (I hope) it should be in hand. 416 pages, dust jacket, glossy, color, 100+ bore rifles photographed, 45 pages of history, vintage ammo and reloading tools and moulds, 4-bore to 28-bore, modern bore rifles, ballistics, hunt stories, reloading, and a list of where to get absolutely everything in bore rifles. Follow my website for updates. <calpappas.com>

Winchester Model 70 CRF Super Express (1994) in 416 Remington Magnum. Very accurate and very powerful . . . what's not to like?

When it comes to hunting anthing, Another vote for the 416 rem, not much heavier than a 06, hits hard enough for anything that walks,shoots flat enough it can stretch out to 400 yards with pratice, 300 no problem at all.


For deer in the southern woods my 9.3x74 double (when it comes to deer it is a big bore, my 260 would be a better choice).


I am takeing the 416 and 9.3 to Ak for a blackbear hunt next month. I know I don't need either for black bear, but since I hope to do some stalking where there or browns and grizz and a close incounter may happen , I will be prepared!



For giggles and grins my 505.


JD

My favorite even though it isn't considered an actual "Big Bore" by some, is my .375 H&H Interarms Mark X.

I have owned 3 45-70's, just never could stay hooked up with those. Fun guns in many ways, just not what I was really interested in.

I have a .38-55 Model 94 Winchester, another gun that really isn't a "Big Bore" in the truer sense of the term, but I really like it.

I have also owned two .458's a Ruger Model 77 that I did not really ever like and a CZ 550 that I liked and sometimes wish I hadn't sold.

All in all were I limited to just one rifle for all my hunting it would be a .375.

I guess I am turning into a wuss, but my latest .375 H&H is turning out to be my favorite bolt gun, it is just so pleasant to shoot...no dramas! My Rodda double in 450/400J is my favorite big bore non bolt, same reasons! The 500AR, various 458's and 416's are getting left in the safe more often. I may have to turn in my man card!

416 RUGER

Dave, all of my big bores are hunting rifles, basically tools. I use them to hunt big, dangerous animals. For the biggest and most dangerous animals, my favorite tool is what I consider to be the biggest, yet still practical, tool for the job: The .500 A-Square. Five hundred seventy grains of fifty caliber bullet, 2,500 fps of muzzle velocity and four tons of muzzle energy. Yet still quite manageable. Tops in my book.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dave Bush:

First, I love lever guns and I especially like the BLR. With its' 20 inch barrel, it is very light and fast handling and can handle much higher pressures than the Marlin.

How about you? What's your favorite big bore?[/QUOTE)

True, it can handle higher pressures than the Marlin. I don't know about "much higher" as I've wrung out several of the Marlins in .45-70 and know pretty much what they can do.

As I see it, the BLR is still constrained by Magazine length and therefore COL. That means that a faster powder than "normal" must be used to generate that higher pressure, which will not necessarily give higher velocities. And if you are using the typical monometal, or solid shank bullets with a lead front core, you still have a major problem to get enough of the "best" powder into the case.

I mostly used 400s to 465s in the Marlin, and for those a medium range ball powder was best, like H335. 1900 fps was no problem with the 465gr hardcast, and 2000 + with c&c 400s and 405s.

My favorite Big Bore is a Ruger No.1 in .45-70 IMP (long-throated). .458 Win Mag ballistics are easy with anything to 500s. I've owned it for nearly 15 years and there's really nothing I wouldn't hunt with it. Right now it's loaded with 350gr Hor. FPs at 2270 fps (medium load) for black bear. That load shoots sub-MOA.

My most recent "medium big-bore" is a TIKKA T3 Lite in 9.3 X 62. It too is loaded for bear and shoots 286 NPs at 2546 fps into sub-MOA. I've owned three .375 H&Hs, but the ballistics were no better and they weighed 2 lbs more and were up to 3.5" longer.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

Like asking which of my kids I love most.
Impossible.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Like asking which of my kids I love most.
Impossible.

I wanted to post my favorite--but like RIP says, IMPOSSIBLE!

I love them all and have a purpose for all of them--and all have the right bullet too!

Michael

1) .375 H&H magnum for everything up to buffalo and out to 300+ yards. My all-purpose rifle.

2).500 Nitro Express for strictly dangerous game even though I own a .470 NE.

Thanks,

jfm

My Verney-Carron double in 600 Nitro Express with nickel-plated BELL brass and 900grain CEB #13 solids poking out the end.

Close second: Weatherby Custom Safari .416 Weatherby Magnum stuffed with 400 grain Swift A-Frames (post-mortem SAF in my avatar).

No fair, DocM, you have about 10 rifles which would be anyone else's 1 of a lifetime. No wonder you can't pick a fave.

quote:

Originally posted by whelenite:
No fair, DocM, you have about 10 rifles which would be anyone else's 1 of a lifetime. No wonder you can't pick a fave.

My Favorite would change every time I put another one in my hands!

The other day I was just checking to see if I had busted a Nikon scope or not (I had not done so). I have a little tiny 416 B&M, 18 inch barrel, hillbilly camo Ultimate stock, weighs in at a whopping heavy 6.5 lbs. Rather capable, for a 416 anyway. Can shoot 400s at over 2300, but it really shines with the 300-350s from 2400 with 350s to 2500 with 300s. I am not a really big 416 fan of anything, but I can see some real uses for this rifle, Alaska for example, and other things as well. So I took it out, only had 5 rounds of 300 Raptors loaded to test the scope. Bore sighted only, and from 50 yards the first shot was 1 inch high, dead center. The next 4 shots went into 1 hole, 2 inches hi dead center! I did not adjust or do anything, I suppose the scope settled in the mounts on that first shot. I did go down 8 clicks, but have not shot again. At that moment, even a 416 made my "Favorite List". Needless to say, that 2X8 Nikon found a permanent home.

Favorite? The B&M I have my hands on at any given moment--that's the best I can do!

Michael

I understand Michael's reticence on the 416's. He thinks of short range and "stopper", which leaves the 416 on the light side.

However, when one thinks about an all-around calibre the 416 really shines. It is and it does what people claim for the 375 little sisters. But the 416's do it better, especially if given enough capacity and powder to flatten the trajectory, like with Rigby cases.

So I have to say that there is something satisfying about the 416Rigby. Comfortable and authoritative for one-rifle hunting from 40 to 400 yards.

quote:

Originally posted by 416Tanzan:

However, when one thinks about an all-around calibre the 416 really shines. It is and it does what people claim for the 375 little sisters. But the 416's do it better, especially if given enough capacity and powder to flatten the trajectory, like with Rigby cases.

So I have to say that there is something satisfying about the 416Rigby. Comfortable and authoritative for one-rifle hunting from 40 to 400 yards.

Very well said!

My 1895 Winchester lever in 405 Win is my favorite big bore to shoot. It has a nice lyman peep and has relatively low recoil compared to the others.

2 Bore ML

todd

My current favorite big bore is a BLR in .450 Marlin, using.300WSM caliber magazines. This allows, with throating the chamber, an overall length of up to 2.95". Pressures have been kept to just under 59,000 and all is safe. May try higher at a later date.

My second favorite is a .395 Max (no typo) built on a left-hand Ruger M77.

Yeah, I'm kinda strange, but what do you expect from a psychologist?

Quote
"I understand Michael's reticence on the 416's. He thinks of short range and "stopper", which leaves the 416 on the light side.

However, when one thinks about an all-around calibre the 416 really shines. It is and it does what people claim for the 375 little sisters. But the 416's do it better, especially if given enough capacity and powder to flatten the trajectory, like with Rigby cases.

So I have to say that there is something satisfying about the 416Rigby. Comfortable and authoritative for one-rifle hunting from 40 to 400 yards."

416 Tanzan, I've never had any problems killing anything with the .375 H&H with 270 or 300 grain bullets and that goes for big or small game at far and near ranges. I still do not understand how a large bore rifle can be "better" at long range accurate shot placement (for someone like me)than something with a little less recoil. If you are insensitive to recoil, go for a .458 Lott with 350 to 400 grain bullets. More velocity and bigger hole than the .416. Better long range capability. Then go for 500 - 550 grain bullets for stopping anything. Again, if recoil does not bother you, the .458 Lott is a much better all-arounder than any .416.

Thanks,

jfm

I'll get to see on Aug 5 whether or not I can even shoot after shoulder surgery. It may be a bb gun or a .22 short
But before that, it was a toss up between the .375 H&H and the .416 Rem

quote:

Originally posted by jfm:

quote:

"I understand Michael's reticence on the 416's. He thinks of short range and "stopper", which leaves the 416 on the light side.

However, when one thinks about an all-around calibre the 416 really shines. It is and it does what people claim for the 375 little sisters. But the 416's do it better, especially if given enough capacity and powder to flatten the trajectory, like with Rigby cases.

So I have to say that there is something satisfying about the 416Rigby. Comfortable and authoritative for one-rifle hunting from 40 to 400 yards."

416 Tanzan, I've never had any problems killing anything with the .375 H&H with 270 or 300 grain bullets and that goes for big or small game at far and near ranges. I still do not understand how a large bore rifle can be "better" at long range accurate shot placement (for someone like me)than something with a little less recoil. If you are insensitive to recoil, go for a .458 Lott with 350 to 400 grain bullets. More velocity and bigger hole than the .416. Better long range capability. Then go for 500 - 550 grain bullets for stopping anything. Again, if recoil does not bother you, the .458 Lott is a much better all-arounder than any .416.

Thanks,

jfm

Hi, JFM,
It's all a cline. As one goes bigger one needs more capacity and longer magazines in order to have high BC bullets. At some point the pleasure of shooting starts to get challenging. Why not the Lott? Because I would go with the 450 Rigby and its signfificantly larger powder volume. For cost reasons I have never gone that route. Rifles and brass are both triple the price of our 416's. Not having had a 450 Rigby I don't know if I would enjoy it as an all-around single hunting rifle, or not.

For 50 calibre I decided last year to forgo chasing 400 yard flat-capability and settle for 7000 ft lb. in a relatively light rifle. The 500 AccR fits that goal admirably. The 500Mbogo has more capability than the AccR, but more than I am planning to use. So the AccR becomes our buffalo gun, and is still capable of a 300-yard eland.

quote:

Originally posted by 416Tanzan:
I understand Michael's reticence on the 416's. He thinks of short range and "stopper", which leaves the 416 on the light side.

However, when one thinks about an all-around calibre the 416 really shines. It is and it does what people claim for the 375 little sisters. But the 416's do it better, especially if given enough capacity and powder to flatten the trajectory, like with Rigby cases.

So I have to say that there is something satisfying about the 416Rigby. Comfortable and authoritative for one-rifle hunting from 40 to 400 yards.

Tanz

Excellent. I concur with you on several counts here. Yes, I hope most all understand where I come from, Short Range, stopping, and CQB, that is my game, always has been. Past 25 yards is getting to be long range for me! Maybe if I could shoot better? HEH HEH......

416--One HELL OF A SIGHT better than any small bore 30 something or other. Nothing under .400 class should even be mentioned in big bore. 375 is a very nice "Girlie" caliber.

I can't deny and won't deny, 416 is extremely versatile, I have used it myself to over 300 yards with success. Back in the days I could see that far, and that was on plains game of course. I have shot leopard with 416 with success, and one buffalo with a 416 B&M with success. And a 416 shoots so easy I can't even begin to fathom why anyone that is shy of recoil and would opt for a girlie caliber instead! That 6.5 lb 416 B&M of mine just don't have recoil at all, I think my 9 year old daughter can handle it with ease. My boys don't even pay it no attention, they are so used to shooting the 50s and 458s.

Michael

416Tanzan, I am out of your league when it comes to accurate shot placement with large bore, hesvy recoiling rifles. I just cannot concentrate enough on shot placement when I'm expecting to be jolted by something as big as a 450 Rigby, 500 AccR or 500Mbogo. If you can shoot those puppies accurately out past 300 yards, more power to you. (No pun intended) I believe I can shoot accurately to 30 yards max with my .470 NE. This is due to recoil and the double barrel thing which I have not mastered yet. Anyway, have fun with those big bores and hopefully your shoulders hold up to 'em for years to come.

Thanks,

jfm

Michael, I see you're doing your best to hide the identity of your true love...the venerable 375 H&H ! :-)