I shot Longbob's 458 Lott, so I think I'm allowed a couple posts a year in this forum, but if I wanted to be a Big Bore Bubba what are the requirements? Minimum caliber? Minimum muzzle energy? Minimum rifle weight? Do I have to have a stock made of imported wood with fancy engraving? Does the case length matter? LOL!

Seriously, I have a baby big bore now, and couldn't be happier (well, maybe when I get to the range with it).

I think the parameters are set forth in the discription of this thread.

Over .40 caliber I would think. The .375 is a medium bore really.

the forum calls .366 and up... since i have 375 and 416 and building a 500, i am good. I would say that it has to be at least .366 AND 3500ft/lbs to qualify... otherwise, a 45LC leveraction rifle counts.

in all honesty, if it's legal to shoot buff/hippo/elephant with, it's a big bore.

jeffe

"The Boss" says .366" and up, but I still believe a big bore is 40cal and up. Even H&H calls their 375 a "Medium Bore" so that's good enough for me.

I was stirring the pot so to speak, but I was halfway serious about it. I like the rule about being legal to shoot hippo. Unfortunately that probably leaves me out

I got my 45 win mag carbine. I am walking on clouds right now.

If I were writing the rules I'd go along with the .40+ m'self but since this is Saeed's forum and he said .366+ that's what we use. Besides, haven't we noticed how much talk there is about .375's here?

Scott,
Given the price of CZ's you may as well go out and get a .416 Rigby. Then when the economy turns around again, you can go to Africa and try it out.

[ 12-28-2002, 05:21: Message edited by: Oldsarge ]

If memory serves it seems I read somewhere that the British even referred to the 40's as a medium bore weapon. Gene..

This really bothers me as well, but I had to surrender to practicality: if people are to find what they are looking for, it is impossible to sort by foot-lbs. Ex: if you are looking to rechamber your .308 barrel to something with a little more whack, you can't sort by ft.-lbs. and find what you are looking for except by accident. So it has to be understood as a convention for the convenience of the forum.

A .338-.378 is an awesome round, fully deserving by ft.-lbs. to be head and shoulders above a slew of popgun-so-called-big-bore rounds. Not to mention that it will REACH OUT AND THUMP like almost nothing else. But it is a medium bore....

Additional weight is detrimental to the attribute of big-boreness. A six-pound .416 Wby. is more of a big-bore than a 13-lb. .505 Gibbs. A 50-lb. .50 BMG bench gun is actually not a big-bore because it is totally unsuited to dragging through brush after up-close-and-personal homicidal big game.

I know none of this makes any sense. Never mind that. The goal was a practical sorting system for information that would serve the forum members.

Speaking as a peeved and excluded .338-.378 medium-bore (not either!) owner, and as a .510-.505 Gibbs varmint rifle owner who guiltily gained entry under false pretenses...

SDS,
I'll stick by the "legal for dangerous game'... but, for what it's worth, a 13# gibbs, setup to HUNT, is perfectly legit... take the muzzle brake off?

I carry an 10.75 416.. and carry it all day long... I'll be carrying an 11 or 12# 500jeffe sooner or later.. and 13# of a gibbs? sounds like a man's gun.

btw, a 416 W, at 6# is masochistic, rather than macho, IMHO
jeffe

jeffe

OldSarge,

I mainly come here to look around at all the impressive stuff, and learn a hair about gunsmithing. I don't see myself making Africa, ever. But from a pure shooting standpoint, who couldn't love something that will take down a telephone pole?

Some day my collection will probably contain a bonafide big bore, but not soon. It will probably have a pink and yellow camo stock and a laser sight, but hey, I gotta be me

Scott,
Hell, man, Big Toys for Big Boys is the name of the game! I prefer droppin' final 'g's' and waxing nostalgiac over the great days of Empire and you dream of technicolor space aliens. So long as it puts a grim on your puss, go for it. Shoot, if I wasn't condemned to the Greater LA Basin I'd get into black powder cannon and Hotchkiss Gatling guns. I say one of those for sale in Old Western Scrounger and then saw a batch of Regimental Recreation types set one off at a Gun Sports Fair a while back. Talk about FUN? Wow!

I will go along with what ever is legal for the big five, is big bore for the purposes we post here. Personally I cinsider anything smaller than .400 cal, but still legal for the big five to be medium bore cahamberings.

Would I hunt Cape buffalo with a 9.3 (.366)hell yes if I didn't have anything larger, but I feel quite comfortable with a 375 H&H, in a bolt rifle, or a 375 flanged in a double. I wouldn't reccomend them for everyone, however!

One thing I don't consider well suited to hunting the big five is the very high velocity "CULT" rounds, seen in ammitures hands today. Because it kicks like a mule, or will leave a vapor trail doesn't, IMO, make it better than the old 2150 fps rounds that are proven by 100 years of takeing the big boys! There is a point where a bullet is traveling too slow to do a good job, and a point where anything faster is detramental to penetration. This little phenominon is why the cartridges listed as legal are the ones they are! They were listed by people who spent their lives, and made their liveing shooting the BIG FIVE!

As several persons have said, its all relative. When the 4 and 8 bores were all the elephant hunters rage, anything under 577 was probably considered medium or small bores.

Personally I think these sorts of discussions are akin to arguing dick size in a grammar school shower. ie use it not argue about who's is bigger.

OK: Group that says 375 H&H is a small bore: either take a shot, or, better yet, stand next to the buffalo, as it gets shot...

Dr S

This has been discussed at least once before here. You won't find consensus here, but you'll see some trends.

Most folks consider a 375 a medium bore, and I agree with that assessment, though there will be a small percentage that consider it a big bore.

The 40 caliber is the deviding line, I don't have a tally of whether most folks consider it a big bore or not, but certainly a large percentage of folks call it a big bore. Those that don't consider it a big bore call it a large or heavy medium bore, which it surely is. I waffle on whether it's a medium or big bore. If you're slinging a 400 gr pill 2200-2400 fps, then you certainly aren't a wanne be.

I don't think there is any argument that the 45 is a big bore. I hope the bitter threads that rage on the African forum don't migrate here, but I'll be so bold as to say you need to be pushing 500 gr's at least 2000 fps, and better yet 2200-2300 fps.

Then there are the bigger bores These push bullets larger then 45 caliber, heavier then 500 grs @ 2200 fps, or more, but if you have something that squirts a 900 gr slug @ 1850 fps, you are still in good company.

Anything in the .4s and higher.

Russ

I own a model 700 416 Rem, A 375 H&H, and a 338 ultra mag and can't think of any more guns I'd need to take to Africa.

I would use the definition that a big bore is a dangerous game stopper in Africa or elsewhere, so anything below .458 is a medium or small bore, including the 400's.

And energy has a play to part as well. Yes old ex-blackpowder rounds do have the right "calibre" but were super-seded quite correctly with "newer" rounds loaded with cordite and later smokeless propellants. But could anyone argue that a 8-bore or 4-bore is NOT a big bore?!

From a viewpoint of a "sporting" hunter I can see the definition of a big bore being applied to 400's and .375's, which is more commercially accpetable to the consumer.