My friend and I were talking about medium and big bore rifles tonight. He has been itching to get a short barreled thumper for a few months now - as have I.
I've owned a No.1 chambered in .375 H&H and rather liked it. It was a touch heavy though. The .450/400 Nitro Express looks quite interesting, but again it is 9lbs. What a fellow needs is a lighter rifle, like the Medium Sporter. They are available in 9.3x74, an excellent cartridge but not big enough to satisfy our "needs". I thought it would be neat to buy a Ruger No.1 in .475 Linebaugh - which is a Medium Sporter and weighs 7.25lbs, and just have it rechambered to .470 Nitro Express. Bingo! A reasonably priced classic big bore in a decent rifle.
Would the 22" barrel be long enough?I better check some reloading data - it easily reached 2250fps with a 500gr bullet out of 23 - 24" barrels, and the classic load is 2150 fps, so it should be fine. Wait a minute...2150 fps...500gr bullet...108gr of powder...in a 7.25lb rifle.
Let me just check the recoil calculator - 99.27 ft-lbs. Interesting. 500gr bullet, 112gr of Vihtavuori N160 and 2250 fps - 108 ft-lbs of recoil. Well, that is quite a bit, isn't it?
What can we compare that too? Well a .460 Wby is known to be stout in the recoil department. The Mk V weighs 10lbs - so 500gr at 2500fps using 115gr of powder gives us 92.7 ft-lbs of recoil.
Even more interesting is the velocity of the recoiling firearm. Weatherby's big .460 comes back at at 24.4 fps. The .470 in the No.1? 31 fps.
Maybe a 7.25lb .470 Nitro Express is not such a good idea. Even if it is affordable.
Edit - I was on the excellent site - www. 470mbogo. com and looked at the chart of recoil. Only the .500 A-Square with full power loads - 600gr at 2400 fps in a 10.6lb rifle has more recoil - 109.3 ft-lbs. And the recoil velocity is 25.8 fps - still well under 31 fps!
I've owned a No.1 chambered in .375 H&H and rather liked it. It was a touch heavy though. The .450/400 Nitro Express looks quite interesting, but again it is 9lbs. What a fellow needs is a lighter rifle, like the Medium Sporter. They are available in 9.3x74, an excellent cartridge but not big enough to satisfy our "needs". I thought it would be neat to buy a Ruger No.1 in .475 Linebaugh - which is a Medium Sporter and weighs 7.25lbs, and just have it rechambered to .470 Nitro Express. Bingo! A reasonably priced classic big bore in a decent rifle.
Would the 22" barrel be long enough?I better check some reloading data - it easily reached 2250fps with a 500gr bullet out of 23 - 24" barrels, and the classic load is 2150 fps, so it should be fine. Wait a minute...2150 fps...500gr bullet...108gr of powder...in a 7.25lb rifle.
Let me just check the recoil calculator - 99.27 ft-lbs. Interesting. 500gr bullet, 112gr of Vihtavuori N160 and 2250 fps - 108 ft-lbs of recoil. Well, that is quite a bit, isn't it?
What can we compare that too? Well a .460 Wby is known to be stout in the recoil department. The Mk V weighs 10lbs - so 500gr at 2500fps using 115gr of powder gives us 92.7 ft-lbs of recoil.
Even more interesting is the velocity of the recoiling firearm. Weatherby's big .460 comes back at at 24.4 fps. The .470 in the No.1? 31 fps.
Maybe a 7.25lb .470 Nitro Express is not such a good idea. Even if it is affordable.
Edit - I was on the excellent site - www. 470mbogo. com and looked at the chart of recoil. Only the .500 A-Square with full power loads - 600gr at 2400 fps in a 10.6lb rifle has more recoil - 109.3 ft-lbs. And the recoil velocity is 25.8 fps - still well under 31 fps!
