Hi,
Can anyone tell me where I find some facts about the guns worn by the early pioneers in Africa. 4-bore and others. Also the muzzle loaders of the early Mountain men of North America are of interest.

Try the web site www.african-hunter.com there are some of the old stories on there including one on "the Guns of the Pioneers" - relating to Africa of cource. Also been a recent article on the 4 & 6 Bores, and more recently (so probably not on the web site, an article on Winchesters in Africa.

Actually most hunters favoured 8 bore with conical bulletts over 4 bore's with round ball. Selous used a 4 bore because that was all anybody would sell him at short notice and he graduated to a .450 as soon as he could get a replacement!

Sir Samuel Baker used a 2 bore with shells but had a 6 bore for normal hunting.

quote:

Originally posted by Sealhunter:
Hi,
Can anyone tell me where I find some facts about the guns worn by the early pioneers in Africa. 4-bore and others. Also the muzzle loaders of the early Mountain men of North America are of interest.

I recommend the National Muzzleloading Rifle Association website (http://www.nmlra.org) for links to a number of other sites. In addition, for information on guns of the fur trade, I recommend that you look for anything on Hawken rifles, and look for the book FIREARMS, TRAPS AND TOOLS OF THE MONTAIN MEN by Carl P. Russell.