Mentioned this story in passing on the BigBore forum. Probably belongs here.

http://www.hotkey.net.au/~orrs/GreenerStory.htm

Went out again 2 weekends ago, couldn't find 'Mr Big' but managed to account for 7 pigs, best boar below.

Good hunting all.

My goodness, but that was a fascinating report !!! I must get over there to hunt sooner than later !!! That rifle sounds too cool !!! Good on you !!!

Great story Marrakai, thanks for sharing.

Ditto the above comment. Nice write up, photos; well done.

Leighton

Excellent story.

I can't believe how tough those bulls are.

I guess it is not like shooting one of my holsteins in the pasture?

Good shooting

Graylake

Marrakai,
Very good!!!!
I love that picture.
Good hunting
LG

Sounds like you had a great trip. Remember if you ever get sick of having that terrible ,old fashioned .577 double ,drop me a line and I will be straight around to relief you of it. Whereabouts was the hunt?

Marrakai,

With regards converting a shotgun to a double rifle, I have a modern, factory made Brno SxS sidelock shotgun and i have often wondered if this would be suitable action for such a conversion and if so, up to what calibre ??

Regards,

Pete

Hey Marrakai good to see you here. Nice pig.

Bakes

Thanks for the welcome, Bakes. I have lurked here occasionally, but usually post on the 'Big Bores' forum.

Pete, I suspect that your Brno would be perfectly suitable for building a double rifle. I would recommend getting hold of a copy of W. Ellis Brown's book 'Building Double Rifles on Shotgun Actions', a web-search will get you the supplier. Its not the last word by any means, but there's a serious paucity of literature on this most intersesting subject! The book is not cheap (!), but could be rolled into the cost of the project.

Ellis Brown likes modern metallurgy, heavy nitro proof, and a Greener crossbolt. He prefers German/European actions. His list of eligible cartridges includes the .303, 7x57 & 8x57, and all the flanged nitro-expresses. Take your pick! I'm a bit conservative, and would recommend the Light Nitro cartridges (ie 8 to 10 tons, rather than 15 to 20 tons!).

The recommendation is to calculate the pressure thus:
For shotgun cartridges greater than 650 bar (9,428 psi), ie normal American 12-gauge, the East-German proof load according to "Standard Directory of Proof Marks" is 17,405 psi. Area of 12-bore cartridge head = 0.516 sq in, so total pressure on standing breech is 8,970 lbs.
Peak operating pressure of the .450 x 3 1/4 NE is around 17 tons (38,080 psi), with a cartridge head area of 0.23 sq in. This will result in 8,750 lbs force on the standing breech. Same ball park. There is a juggle here, comparing the shotgun PROOF pressure with the rifle OPERATING pressure, but modern proof is really testing the shotgun barrels, the actions are normally far stronger than the barrels. This calculation is not absolute and is only a guide to exclude the high-intensity cartridges. Even so, it is imperative to proove the final conversion with a stiff proof load, just to be on the safe side.

Hope this helps.

Marrakai,

One of the reasons all of the 577 BP / Light Nitro guns were made on Greener Shotgun
actions is that the Bar on a Greener is longer than other shotguns.
The Lumps are also bigger as well.

I have decided to turn my Greener Shotgun (plain jane Boxlock) into a double rifle.
Thinking of 500 BP. Will call to disccuss

500 Nitro

Dead right, 500 Nitro. I photographed the big Greener action some time ago to make this point.

On the left, a Greener 'Empire' duck-gun action, proved for the 12-bore 1 1/4 oz load. On the right, a Charles Hellis London game-gun, also proved for 1 1/4 ozs. Big difference!!

I remember seeing a greener shotgun for sale in a gun mag. What models are suitable for this conversion. What else should one look for?

Bakes

Bakes, only the 'Empire' Greener is really suitable, as per the action-bar post above. (...or perhaps a 'Blue-Rock', if you've got the readies!). In fact, the Empire is probably the only British gun considered strong enough for the conversion, most are game-guns and are far too lightly built. Modern European guns are considered OK as long as they are proved for the heavy nitro load (850 bar I think) and have a third bite, preferrably a Greener-style cross-bolt.

Again, I strongly recommend the Light Nitro cartridges, rather than the full Nitro Express loads. Some of these cartridges are simply marvellous, plenty of punch without too much recoil means the rifles can be made a few pounds lighter and much handier. Nothing wrong with a 350 gr .458 Woodleigh at 1950 fps for around 3000 ftlbs of muzzle energy! ..or the 650 gr .577 at 1650 fps for almost 4000 ftlbs!

Also a plea: look for a shotgun with stuffed bores, or a bulge etc. No point destroying a perfectly good gun, especially 'Empire' Greeners which are terrific duck/pidgeon guns in their own right!

cr500, the hunt was south of Darwin, another one of those 'secret spots'! ...and I happen to think that using the words 'terrible' and 'old-fashioned' in the same sentence is called a 'contradiction' so I'm not likely to get tired of this rifle in a hurry!! (but thanks for the offer, anyway!)

Here it is, May 2003 Australian Shooter mag.
Victorian Arms: Holloway & Naughton Field gun, 12g s850 Greener Empire vgc+ $995.

Just as a side note. Last year I visited my gunsmith and he showed me a DB gun that had the right barrel burst. He repaired the damage then sleeved a 45-70 barrel in there. Ghost ring sights on top, what a great pig gun!

Bakes