As most of you know, Don_G and I will be going to the Selous shortly (40 days and counting!) to hunt cape buffalo and maybe some PG. In the spirit of sharing, I thought I'd post up my two-gun ordinance for the trip.

Here's a pic...



The top rifle is my DG backup and incidental PG (zebra!) rifle. It is a 416 Taylor that many have seen here before. Those that paid attention to earlier pics may note that it is now sporting NECG sights and a barrel band sling swivel. It has a 23" 1-12" twist Douglas barrel, and a Richard's Microfit laminate stock c/w Pachmayer decelerator pad. To give credit where it is due, Bill Leeper built the rifle for me and did a great job. The idea of building a 416 Taylor on a Browning BBR action, however, was entirely mine....no-one else need take any blame for that! If anyone's sensibilities are offended by the 60 deg bolt throw, 9 locking lug, push feed BBR action on a Big Bore "DGR", feel free to rant. Please note, however, that I will not care a whit...I love the little big bore.

For this trip it will be loaded with 400gr Swift A-frames. I will also take a token amount of Barnes Banded solids (if they arrive in time...backordered) in case it has to do back up DG duty.

The bottom rifle is my 470 Mbogo. Enough has been said about it here already, so I won't repeat it.

I will be using 500gr Swift A-frames in it, with 500gr Bridger Solids underneath. Hopefully I get an opportunity at a full frontal shot (or a full going away follow up shot might actually be better!), so that I can test the penetrating ability of the 500 gr Bridger Solid at 2500 fps and provide reports back here.

So there is my arsenal. Comments welcome.

Cheers,
Canuck

ps: I already know I am crazy to take 2 wildcats on a trip to Africa...yadda, yadda...so no need to belabor that point either.

Nice rifles !! specially the 416 Taylor. What brass are you taking? Do you have any stamped brass in 416 Taylor??
L

Couple of nice looking rifles. Thanks for sharing.

Myself, I've always liked the BBR action, similar to a Weatherby. I wish they wouldn't have gone to the cheap A-Bolt.

Nice rigs, Chris!!
jeffe

COOL!!!!! A 416 Taylor as a smaller rifle for PG!!

quote:

Originally posted by Lorenzo:
Nice rifles !! specially the 416 Taylor. What brass are you taking? Do you have any stamped brass in 416 Taylor??
L

Hey Lorenzo,

I have some headstamped 416 Taylor brass (Qual Cart) from Midway, that Don_G kindly brought out to my place when he came for a bear hunt this spring (Midway won't ship to Canada!).

I have Jamison "Mbogo 470" headstamped brass as well.

So I am good to go, headstamp wise.

Cheers,
Canuck

ps: thanks adrook and Jeffe!

quote:

COOL!!!!! A 416 Taylor as a smaller rifle for PG!!

Why not, eh?

Actually, it kinda feels like a varmint rifle after shooting my 470 Mbogo (comparing both from the bench that is).


Canuck

Let me put it this way: I would not want to be a Selous buff in any of your hunting blocks!

Nice rifles! Even if that top one is a two-bit, PF redneck cousin to true CRF bolt rifle trash!

Canuck, very nice!

Canuck,

Those'll work for sure! Very nice.

How is your transit permit coming? I got mine, but not the amended one that listed ammo too. Waiting on that one.

Nice rifles! One question though:

It looks like your lop is quite a bit shorter on the .416, is that the case and does it cause you any concern if you need to grab it in a hurry after shooting the .470?

Canuck,

I think those 2 calibers will get the job done!

I am anxiously awaiting your field report of the .470mbogo. Are you planning on video taping your safari?
I could stand to see the .470 hammer some bruiser Tanzanian buff...

Regards,
Dave

Canuck,

Can you use standard .300wm brass with a neck up on the .416 Taylor?

If so how many steps to get to diameter?

Nice looking rifles BTW.

quote:

it kinda feels like a varmint rifle after shooting my 470 Mbogo

Canuck, that sounds about right(416T vs 470M)

Hog Killer

mstarling...no word on my permit yet, but they've only had my application for a week so far. I intend to follow up with another call in the next day or so.

The Slug...the LOP difference isn't as dramatic as it looks. The butt stocks are the same length, the difference is only in the thickness of the pad and how the scopes are mounted. The pad thickness accounts for just a hair over a 1/4 inch. The 1-4x scope on the 416 has a shorter eye relief than the fixed 3x on the 470 Mbogo, so it's about a 1/4 closer to my eye. You can feel the difference in LOP when you put it up to your shoulder, but it doesn't seem to make a difference in practice. I have shot the 416T quite a bit off the bench "free recoil" and have never been touched. And I must say, I do enjoy having a little extra room with the 470 Mbogo when shooting it with the scope mounted!

DavidC, Yep, we will be videotaping. Don and I are hunting 2x1 so that we can be in on each others buff and so that we will have some tape of each other. Hopefully Don has been practicing with is video camera!! I intend to get some video of the Mbogo thumping mbogo to put up on Dave E.'s website. In fact, Don says he'll use it on one of his buff too if things work out.

Surestrike, I have never tried 300WM brass. I would expect it would require a shoulder bump, eh? I think BW has tried it. I have used 338 WM brass and it worked great. Just one pass in my RCBS resizer die.

Thanks for all the compliments guys.

Cheers,
Canuck

Chris: Nice rifles! One question, and I hope this hasn't been covered and I missed it, but I am assuming the 470 was a rebore. There has been many threads lately about reboring vs. rebarreling. How is the accuracy of your .470 compared to when it was a .416(?) if you know.
Thanks in advance.

quote:

How is the accuracy of your .470 compared to when it was a .416(?) if you know.

No idea. Its been a 470 Mbogo since I have had it. I'm not sure if the previous owner (470Mbogo himself) shot it enough as a 416 Rigby to make an accuracy comparison. It is a re-bore obviously (by my comments here)...the work was done by Cliff LaBounty. As a 470 Mbogo it definitely shoots as good or better than I.

Cheers,
Canuck

Excellent redundant pair. I took a .375 H&H and a .416 Rigby. You have a similar redundancy there, but much more powerful and "distinguished" on the top end of your pair.

That .416 Taylor deserves "African Sheep Rifle" status. Mr. Chadwick would have approved of it for stone sheep. Should work great on anything, anywhere.

Now, may the red god smile upon you.

Hi Chris,
My how the time flies, just 40 days. I'm just having my 470 picked up this week if you think you might want a second on your trip. Send me a pm if you would like. I can hardly wait to see the video. I hope you and Don get to burn a lot of powder.
Take good care,
Dave


Congomike, The rebore job was done by Cliff LaBounty of Washington State. He is no longer doing reboring himself but his work was very good. The rifle shoots with the same accuracy as a 470 Mbogo as it did when is was a 416 Rigby. I did have another rifle that was rebored but the barrel was damaged and had to be re-barreled.
Take care,
Dave

quote:

I'm just having my 470 picked up this week if you think you might want a second on your trip.

Hey Dave! Time does fly...since I am not ready yet it really seems to be going at light speed at the moment. Thanks for the offer of the 2nd 470. I will have to stick with the 416T though, as I have already sent in the info for my Tanz gun permits, Netherlands Transit permit and Canadian Firearm Export permits! Would be a pain (and probably impossible) to change all those with the little time remaining. Will just keep my fingers x'd that all goes well with my 470 so that I can use it on everything. We need to catch up on the phone and quit playing voice mail tag. Hey, I am in VCR over-night on Thursday....not sure if need to run into town for any reason??? Will buy dinner if it works for you.

RIP, redundant is correct, but that way we have a good spare in case something goes wrong with one of our primary rifles. Don_G will be using his 416 Rem Mag and a Bowtech Allegiance compound bow (one buff each potentially)! So three rifles between us and one bow.

I actually have considered my Taylor an African Sheep Rifle since I saw you introduce the concept. I had it built for northern moose and bison hunting primarily, but I'd use it for anything. Its a little on the heavy side (just shy of 10lbs fully dressed and loaded) and it would benefit from a 2.5-8x Leupold to fully fit the "sheep" part of the category however. Dave E's Taylor fits the description of African Sheep Rifle better than mine though...its a beaut, synth stock and all.

Cheers guys,
Canuck

quote:

Originally posted by surestrike:
Canuck,

Can you use standard .300wm brass with a neck up on the .416 Taylor?

If so how many steps to get to diameter?

Nice looking rifles BTW.

Surestrike, if I'm not mistaken, the way to go, with makeing brass for the 416 Taylor, is use 458 Win Mag brass, with one pass through the 416 Taylor die, then fire in the rifle!

quote:

Surestrike, if I'm not mistaken, the way to go, with makeing brass for the 416 Taylor, is use 458 Win Mag brass, with one pass through the 416 Taylor die, then fire in the rifle!

That's certainly the preferred way to do it.

Cheers,
Canuck

Good choices! Post lots of pics of your trip!