Whats the least pleasant gun you've shot?

[Maverick44]

To All,

NO QUESTION. - The MOST unpleasant firearm that I've ever fired was a about 7.5 pound .416 Rigby Magnum rifle by Parker-Hale on a commercial Mauser action & that I won in a poker game, years ago.

Just 2 shots on a USAF R&G Club range encouraged me to DUMP IT at the next nearby gun-show to a HUGE guy, who may have NOT been bothered by the brutal (at least to me) recoil.
(Another good reason to sell it was that at that time the shells were > 2.50 each.)

yours, satx

So it left you battered and bruised, and with an empty wallet? It sounds like you got mugged.

 

[baboon]

To All,

NO QUESTION. - The MOST unpleasant firearm that I've ever fired was a about 7.5 pound .416 Rigby Magnum rifle by Parker-Hale on a commercial Mauser action & that I won in a poker game, years ago.

Just 2 shots on a USAF R&G Club range encouraged me to DUMP IT at the next nearby gun-show to a HUGE guy, who may have NOT been bothered by the brutal (at least to me) recoil.
(Another good reason to sell it was that at that time the shells were > 2.50 each.)

yours, satx

I carried a .416 Remington magnum on safari. IIRC my scoped loaded rifle is in that weight range. I shot my Steenbok with a 400 grain solid. Just another gun I need to sell.

 

[satx78247]

So it left you battered and bruised, and with an empty wallet? It sounds like you got mugged.

Maverick44,

SORRY if I wasn't clear. = I won the rifle in a poker game (The PO asked if he could put it in the pot for 100.oo & the other 5 of us agreed.)

IF I remember correctly, after just 2 shots, I was truly "battered & bruised"
(In those "days of yore" I weighed about 160 pounds, with a pocket-full of rocks) but I got about 300.oo for it at the Baltimore Gun Show about a week later.

I've wondered more than once since if the "GIANT" that I sold it to kept it, resold it or traded it off. = The guy was about 6' 5", probably weighed at least 300# & was built like a lumberjack.

Fwiw, my Model 760 in 9.3x62mm will make the trip to Africa in 2021. = I don't NEED a bigger rifle than that.

yours, satx

 

[baboon]

Maverick44,


Fwiw, my Model 760 in 9.3x62mm will make the trip to Africa in 2021. = I don't NEED a bigger rifle than that.

yours, satx

Where are you planning on hunting? Botswana & Namibia are about the only two places I even consider. If you have not set up a safari yet I'll tell you how to save a bunch of money.

 

[satx78247]

baboon,

IF it actually "comes off" (my hunting buddy isn't in great health right now,) we're headed to Namibia & then to a close friend of his ranch in RSA to "cull" some excess game.

By all means, tell me more about how to save $$$$$$$$, inasmuch as at 72YO I may NOT get to make another trip. = This one needs to be SPECTACULAR & my lady is going along, too.
(Fyi, about 6 months ago my friend Thomas was seemingly in FINE health.)

yours, satx

 

[baboon]

baboon,

IF it actually "comes off" (my hunting buddy isn't in great health right now,) we're headed to Namibia & then to a close friend of his ranch in RSA to "cull" some excess game.

By all means, tell me more about how to save $$$$$$$$, inasmuch as at 72YO I may NOT get to make another trip. = This one needs to be SPECTACULAR & my lady is going along, too.
(Fyi, about 6 months ago my friend Thomas was seemingly in FINE health.)

yours, satx

That's why I hunted when I was younger & could do it my way. Getting to old to do what you worked your life for seemed a bad plan to me.

Not sure I'd enter RSA ever again for any reason. Join your local safari club & join SCI go to their conventions & bid on the auctions. Use to be they went for a 1/4 of what they were worth. Most are package hunts of plains game. Talk to the outfitter about upgrades & bring lots of extra cash if you end up going. It's really just that simple. Never prebook a safari with an agent. By going to the auction you really are dealing with the outfitter/P.H.. You really need to research those who are donating to the auction. Never book with someone who does not have references in your area. Lots of ways to get screwed. Bring your tropies home & spend money on a big named taxidermist with references.

Personally I could not see wanting to fly from Texas to Atlanta to Africa @ age 72. Flying to europe then to Africa waste both time & money. The drive from Joberg to like the northern province is a big trip that can suck bad for an old man.

At 72 you might be better off hunting exotics on a big ranch in Texas. On one trip I was on my hunting buddy broke foot tendons falling into an old anteater hole. It was 45 minutes from the front gate to the camp. Dirt road to blacktop was another hour ride, + an hour to a town. Private hospital treated him good & was cheap.

 

[Maverick44]

That's why I hunted when I was younger & could do it my way. Getting to old to do what you worked your life for seemed a bad plan to me.

Not sure I'd enter RSA ever again for any reason. Join your local safari club & join SCI go to their conventions & bid on the auctions. Use to be they went for a 1/4 of what they were worth. Most are package hunts of plains game. Talk to the outfitter about upgrades & bring lots of extra cash if you end up going. It's really just that simple. Never prebook a safari with an agent. By going to the auction you really are dealing with the outfitter/P.H.. You really need to research those who are donating to the auction. Never book with someone who does not have references in your area. Lots of ways to get screwed. Bring your tropies home & spend money on a big named taxidermist with references.

Personally I could not see wanting to fly from Texas to Atlanta to Africa @ age 72. Flying to europe then to Africa waste both time & money. The drive from Joberg to like the northern province is a big trip that can suck bad for an old man.

At 72 you might be better off hunting exotics on a big ranch in Texas. On one trip I was on my hunting buddy broke foot tendons falling into an old anteater hole. It was 45 minutes from the front gate to the camp. Dirt road to blacktop was another hour ride, + an hour to a town. Private hospital treated him good & was cheap.

Are those hunting ranches any good? I've heard about them before and seen what they charge, but I've always been under the impression they were basically a caged hunt. I don't see much fun in that. If they're not, I'd probably do one of those in lieu of going to Africa some day.

My REAL dream hunt would be going after Moose and Caribou in Alaska, along with a whole lot of fishing. I wouldn't be opposed to staying up there to be honest. Between the lax gun laws, the vast wilderness, and the amazing amount of game animals and fish, it's a sportsman's paradise.

 

[Glockzilla]

Any gun that I was really looking forward to shoot for one reason or another but turned out to routinely malfunction.
What comes to mind first is a Taurus Tracker 22 mag which only went bang in SA mode.
Also Zastava M88

 

[satx78247]

baboon,

Fwiw, I want to take a CAPE BUFF and (with CITES agreement,) a LEOPARD.

Truthfully, we have MANY game ranches in the Hill Country of Texas & those "hunts" are like shooting a Holstein heifer in a farmer's pasture.

I visited one, with the intent to take an American Bison, took one look & immediately came back to San Antonio. = The bull saw the truck & came running to eat.

NOT my idea of HUNTING. = Instead, it's just SHOOTING.

ADDENDDA: As I'm a "part-blood Indian, with a tribal roll card", I can hunt on some of the Southwestern reservations that are closed for hunting to NON-Natives. = I'm considering going after a Bison on one of those reservations, where the Bison are NOT routinely "herded" or constantly fed. = The hunter gets the hide, hooves, head & can buy 1/3 of the meat (at a low price per pound, cut/packaged/frozen for transport home), IF you take a bull.
(I'll take my XB with me for that job, as well as my 9.3x62mm.)

yours, satx

 

[baboon]

Are those hunting ranches any good? I've heard about them before and seen what they charge, but I've always been under the impression they were basically a caged hunt. I don't see much fun in that. If they're not, I'd probably do one of those in lieu of going to Africa some day.

My REAL dream hunt would be going after Moose and Caribou in Alaska, along with a whole lot of fishing. I wouldn't be opposed to staying up there to be honest. Between the lax gun laws, the vast wilderness, and the amazing amount of game animals and fish, it's a sportsman's paradise.

High fence hunting ranches are only as good as the owners. It also depends on the size of a ranch & what the ranch raises. Anyone with a trailer can show up @ an exotic auction and buy what they want as afar as animals in Texas.

What's more caged a high fenced ranch that has what you want free ranging or one that goes & buys what your after right before you get there? I seen that in both Africa & Texas. Lots of big boar hogs being trapped & sold to hunt under high fence in Texas.

I hunted a ranch in Africa that was between the Klasseri Game Reserve & Timbavati Reserve. https://www.klaserienaturereserve.com & https://timbavati.co.za practicall in Kruger Park. They raised lions for hunting. If your in a 10,000 hectre high fenced area with lions on foot stalking how caged is that? How different is it from the 5 acre high fenced place in Texas the guy bought hogs from a trapper the night before. How many guys right here on the forum harvest deer & hog hunt off their porch waiting for a feeder to go off?

I use to like to walk & stalk hunt in Africa. I could if I wanted to shoot from a truck or a blind. You could build a hasty blind or use the ones they built. The ones they built on the ranch were full of baboon shit. I have a picture from a hasty blind we built in Africa on the ground that a rhino walked up on us from behind. One of the coolest feeling you can have is feeling rhino foot steps through the ground. It was in a high fenced game farm that was 60,000 hectares. They had free roaming rhino.

Caged hunts do happen.

 

[satx78247]

baboon,

In addition to the 760 in 9.3x62mm that I'm taking to Africa for Cape Buff, should I also take my "pet" 760 in .300 Savage caliber for lighter game??
(You've been there & I have not, so your advice is solicited.)

yours, satx

 

[baboon]

baboon,

In addition to the 760 in 9.3x62mm that I'm taking to Africa for Cape Buff, should I also take my "pet" 760 in .300 Savage caliber for lighter game??
(You've been there & I have not, so your advice is solicited.)

yours, satx

I wouldn't go after dangerous game on my very first safari. $20+K to shoot a Southern/Cape Buffalo is a lot of money IMHO. Not sure you are going to find a budget dangerous game hunt. Dangerous game always has & always will go for a premium $.

A 9.3X62 is capable of killing everything in Africa if its shot right! It's not a bad idea to take 2 rifles. I'd say take what you shoot the most accurately with. Back in April when I go shooting with a couple of my best friends one brought along his .500 N.E. and another brought out a .460 Weatherby magnum. I didn't care to shoot either. Got called a pussy too by more then a few guys. Like I said I did Africa while I was younger & could do it.

 

[baboon]

baboon,

Fwiw, I want to take a CAPE BUFF and (with CITES agreement,) a LEOPARD.

Truthfully, we have MANY game ranches in the Hill Country of Texas & those "hunts" are like shooting a Holstein heifer in a farmer's pasture.

I visited one, with the intent to take an American Bison, took one look & immediately came back to San Antonio. = The bull saw the truck & came running to eat.

NOT my idea of HUNTING. = Instead, it's just SHOOTING.

yours, satx

Having a SITES permit gets it into the USA. You also need a export permit or you will have nothing more then a picture & memory. Here is my buddies leopard.

 

[satx78247]

I wouldn't go after dangerous game on my very first safari. $20+K to shoot a Southern/Cape Buffalo is a lot of money IMHO. Not sure you are going to find a budget dangerous game hunt. Dangerous game always has & always will go for a premium $.

A 9.3X62 is capable of killing everything in Africa if its shot right! It's not a bad idea to take 2 rifles. I'd say take what you shoot the most accurately with. Back in April when I go shooting with a couple of my best friends one brought along his .500 N.E. and another brought out a .460 Weatherby magnum. I didn't care to shoot either. Got called a ***** too by more then a few guys. Like I said I did Africa while I was younger & could do it.

baboon,

I cannot count on going on safari again, so IF I want a Cape Buff & I definitely DO, it has to be next year.

Fwiw, I shoot the little .300 SAV marginally better than the 9.3x62 but I can do well with both rifles out to beyond 200M.

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

baboon,

Looks like a NICE spotted pussycat to me.

I keep hearing that CITES may prohibit all taking of cats & SOON. = My fingers are crossed that I can "get in under the gate", IF what I heard is correct.

Yours, satx

 

[baboon]

baboon,

I cannot count on going on safari again, so IF I want a Cape Buff & I definitely DO, it has to be next year.

Fwiw, I shoot the little .300 SAV marginally better than the 9.3x62 but I can do well with both rifles out to beyond 200M.

yours, satx

Most Cape Buffalo & leopards are shot pretty close up.

Sitting up all night in the pitch black drinking Bio Plus to stay awake as your P.Hs snores is exciting shit. Hearing a leopard near your bait & not seeing it with night vision multiplies the excitement. Seeing the tracks around the bait in the morning light is speciall too.

I forgot to mention P.H.'s put up a listening device & red light on a rheostat by the bait.

http://bioplus.co.za/effervescent/

 

[Coop's Dad]

AMT Backup .45 ACP- it has a long, stiff, gritty trigger and an extremely snappy recoil. I thought it blew up the first time I fired it but, unfortunately, it was just the way it works.
My brother left his Ithaca 37 to me. It has a 26" barrel and a straight comb stock and, with a turkey load, it feels like a Mike Tyson sucker punch to the shoulder. It's brutal. My son hates it even with dove loads.

 

[Charlie]

To this day I will never forget shooting a hot loaded round in an 8X57 Mauser when I was a skinny 13 yr. old fart. It felt like someone had hit me in the shoulder with a sledge hammer!

 

[Maverick44]

High fence hunting ranches are only as good as the owners. It also depends on the size of a ranch & what the ranch raises. Anyone with a trailer can show up @ an exotic auction and buy what they want as afar as animals in Texas.

What's more caged a high fenced ranch that has what you want free ranging or one that goes & buys what your after right before you get there? I seen that in both Africa & Texas. Lots of big boar hogs being trapped & sold to hunt under high fence in Texas.

I hunted a ranch in Africa that was between the Klasseri Game Reserve & Timbavati Reserve. https://www.klaserienaturereserve.com & https://timbavati.co.za practicall in Kruger Park. They raised lions for hunting. If your in a 10,000 hectre high fenced area with lions on foot stalking how caged is that? How different is it from the 5 acre high fenced place in Texas the guy bought hogs from a trapper the night before. How many guys right here on the forum harvest deer & hog hunt off their porch waiting for a feeder to go off?

I use to like to walk & stalk hunt in Africa. I could if I wanted to shoot from a truck or a blind. You could build a hasty blind or use the ones they built. The ones they built on the ranch were full of baboon shit. I have a picture from a hasty blind we built in Africa on the ground that a rhino walked up on us from behind. One of the coolest feeling you can have is feeling rhino foot steps through the ground. It was in a high fenced game farm that was 60,000 hectares. They had free roaming rhino.

Caged hunts do happen.

My idea of a caged hunt is where you are pretty much guaranteed to see something within a short amount of time. The kind of place that puts a tree stand right over a feeder. I don't see any skill involved in that. You could probably stick someone who has never hunted before up in that stand, and they would likely bring home a trophy buck that day. We feed deer basically out of our back door. We usually have at least 2-3 doe come up each night, but have had as many as 15-20 deer there at a time (our now thankfully ex-neighbor was a piece of shit who hunted out of season so much, he wore down that population. It's recovered quite a bit. I'm pretty sure he was cooking meth down there too). I could very easily fill all my tags with those deer each year. I wouldn't get any pleasure out of it, and I don't see it as being even remotely sporting.

Here's a couple of our "pets" that were up here last night. Sorry that the pic is a bit fuzzy, I had to zoom in a bit. Mama will dang near walk up to you if you have a can of corn in your hand, but she's a little more cautious when her young one is with her.

If you're just after cheap meat, I guess that's fine. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't use a feeder to target hog. That's mainly because they tear up our land and the nearby cemetery, and need to be exterminated. I consider that harvesting, not hunting. I'm sure everyone has their own definition of what hunting is though.

Hundreds or thousands of acres, with wild, free roaming animals? I'm cool with that. I don't consider that caged.

 

[Maverick44]

To this day I will never forget shooting a hot loaded round in an 8X57 Mauser when I was a skinny 13 yr. old fart. It felt like someone had hit me in the shoulder with a sledge hammer!

That surplus Turkish 8mm will do that. I can't even shoot it in my Hakim. It would beat it to pieces.