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Shooting .600 NE in a double rifle gets spendy very fast, like after the third shot at $14.50 a pop. Over here in yUK the auctions locally have usually got a few African calibre double rifles, which is where the serious money is - $20 - 30K gets you started on something from any of the big five English builders as they are known over here where most of them came from anyhow. But then they quickly go stratospheric. Typical new build from Boss, Cogswell and Harrison, Churchill, William Evans, Holland & Holland or Boss can easily reach the $100K mark without even stretching the tick the box list. Plus you have to BE there every now and then to make it fit - tough if you have a busy schedule stateside...
Bolt guns can be had, too, of course, and a VERY nice Rigby long action Mauser in .416 Jefferies by the late and much-missed Ron Wharton - taken to Mozambique once - went for ~$8500. Ammunition for that is still made by Kynoch here in UK and in Kenya.
You just need to be rich to have bragging rights on a real African rifle bigger than .375 H&H.
I get to shoot a pal's W. Scott double rifle in .450 Black Powder Express. Shooting a 500gr hardened lead bullet over 120gr of 3Fg is a bit much for me these days, especially after a facial rebuild last November on the right side, but 70gr is manageable. The thing is built like Harry Potter's wand, and points like the best shotgun you've ever had in your hands. Loading for it is a breeze - you can even use a nitro equivalent of around 55gr of 4198 if you want. It cost him around $6800 three years ago, and is one of the beautiful guns I've ever handled in my many years of shooting. Mind you, it came as a bare gun - no case, no accessories. You can easily add another $1500-2000 for that lot.
Here I am shooting it a while back -
You might notice that although I'm pretty short at a tad under 5' 11", I'm built like a brick s**thouse, and weigh North of 225#, and even with the pussycat loads it's still a moving experience.
Bolt guns can be had, too, of course, and a VERY nice Rigby long action Mauser in .416 Jefferies by the late and much-missed Ron Wharton - taken to Mozambique once - went for ~$8500. Ammunition for that is still made by Kynoch here in UK and in Kenya.
You just need to be rich to have bragging rights on a real African rifle bigger than .375 H&H.
I get to shoot a pal's W. Scott double rifle in .450 Black Powder Express. Shooting a 500gr hardened lead bullet over 120gr of 3Fg is a bit much for me these days, especially after a facial rebuild last November on the right side, but 70gr is manageable. The thing is built like Harry Potter's wand, and points like the best shotgun you've ever had in your hands. Loading for it is a breeze - you can even use a nitro equivalent of around 55gr of 4198 if you want. It cost him around $6800 three years ago, and is one of the beautiful guns I've ever handled in my many years of shooting. Mind you, it came as a bare gun - no case, no accessories. You can easily add another $1500-2000 for that lot.
Here I am shooting it a while back -
You might notice that although I'm pretty short at a tad under 5' 11", I'm built like a brick s**thouse, and weigh North of 225#, and even with the pussycat loads it's still a moving experience.
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