Short barreled big bores

Boomer,
Tan'x fer the photos, sucked me in too, lookin' for that big 'ol white teddybear, surely must be hiding in there somewhere.
Most interested in your sights, is the front a protected post?, what do you use for rear backup irons?'
 
The shortest I have is my Marlin 1895GS, 45-70 with 18" barrel, something I picked up not too long ago. I haven't used it on game yet but punching paper with hot 420gr GC cast loads or hot loads using the 400gr Speer or 405gr Remington bullets, it's a handful.

Marlin1895GS45-70.jpg
 
vviking said:
Boomer,
Tan'x fer the photos, sucked me in too, lookin' for that big 'ol white teddybear, surely must be hiding in there somewhere.
Most interested in your sights, is the front a protected post?, what do you use for rear backup irons?'
Click to expand...

The front sight is unprotected, its a Ruger Barrel band base with a brass rectangular post.
DSC_0007-1.jpg


The rear sight is a Talley ghost ring.
BrnoGhostRing.jpg


The brass front sight is pretty cool in that it appears black on a white background and white on a black background. The disadvantage is that the McMillan stock has a higher comb than the original Brno stock did, and I have to mash my face hard into the stock to get onto the sight. The sensation is a little unpleasant under heavy recoil that tends to snap my head back. I have a NECG receiver sight on my ZG-47, but I should try it on the .375 to see how it works.
 
Why not? said:
Boomer,

I have actually had experience with three 20" H&H rifles. Two of them were Mark X commercial Mausers that we shortened the barrels on.

We shot for group, and chronographed, five rounds from each rifle before shortening the barrels, and five from each after. All twenty rounds were from the same box of 300 gr factory ammo.

The accuracy was unchanged, around 1 1/2" at 100 yd. The velocity loss was negligible. It has been at least twenty years ago, and I am not handy to my notes, but I know for sure the velocity loss from 24 to 20 inches was less than 50 fps.

IIRC, you shoot heavier bullets than that in your Ultra Mag, but for 300 gr there was little difference in two shortened barrels we did. The third rifle was Churchill Arms that had a severely pranged muzzle. We never chrongraphed it, just shortened it, reinstalled the front sight and went afield. :)

Ted
Click to expand...

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I had assumed a greater loss in velocity than was later reported by those who had shortened their H&Hs without re-chambering to a large volume cartridge. Had I thought it through I would have realized that this would have been the case. On the plus side though, the larger capacity .375 Ultra does perform a bit better than the H&H when loaded with bullets heavier than 300 grs, even though it probably fires 100 "light" bullets for every heavyweight.

The rifle has proven very accurate, although I don't try to squeeze every last fps out of it. Early on I had intended to go sheep hunting with it in the Yukon and I still have the ammo I loaded waiting to go. These were 260 gr Ballistic Tips loaded to 2600, the idea being that the lower velocity didn't hurt the trajectory in any meaningful way, and the BT might not be quite so explosive with a lower impact velocity . The 260 gr Accubonds don't quite make 3000 fps, but that was without any real experimenting, just working up with H-4350. I don't shoot many of those now and load them mainly in my pal's .375 Ruger.

I have since changed to H-100V as my go to powder, and have seen an across the board increase of about 50 fps over 4350. H-4831 proved a bit too slow,and although R-19 was a good performer I didn't buy enough of it to gain confidence with it. I don't want to have to load summer loads and winter loads, so the loads that perform well at -35 must also perform well after sitting in the sun at +30 without any pressure issues. My habit is to load my working loads a full grain below max, and thus far I haven't run into any pressure problems in the warm weather.

By the way, I had a Mauser X .458 prior to building this Brno. It was perhaps the prettiest rifle I had ever owned up till that time, and it hurt me to carry it. I'm glad its gone!
 
Got a few 35cal rifles with 16" tubes I really like.
But I've got a TC factory 15" 45-70 barrel coming in a week or so for my Encore rifle. It should qualify in this thread as a short barreled big bore - really short - but I can't tell u if it's a good idea or not untill I try it.
 
OK boys and girls put up or shut up time with your short barreled big bores. Here's the old dangerous game challenge thread where Ike and Camp Cook ruled.

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125156

Rules are best rapid-fire, 3 round group, as many tries as you wish, with any medium/big bore rifle or shotgun, loaded with full power ammunition at 25 yards, freehand standing or kneeling, no slings, any sights that you feel are appropriate for close range, dangerous game.

Time elapsed for the 3 shots. Hit start at the first shot, hit stop at the third shot.

I just played back my videos and timed them with a stopwatch as I was alone at the range.

And no rests, bipods, shooting sticks or slings.

Score: group size in inches x time in seconds.

Lowest score wins

This would function on the honor system.

Who's up for this?
 
SAM_0008.jpg

458 American, on a Mauser action, 21 inch pipe.
And yes, she's a little bit on the heavy side, but when loaded up, the weight sure keeps the muzzle down.

If I really want a light-weight close range stopper, the M37 Ithaca Deerslayer would be put to use.
 
Actually it's the other way around my friend.......458 American is A.K.A. 458 x 2inch.
(Yes, recoil....I had a Benelli mercury recoil reducer installed, it helps a bit)
So it's exactly one half inch, cut off from 458 Winchester Magnum case. It is almost identical to the 450 Marlin.

With the appropriate amount of Reloader #7, she still can rock with the best though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom