American Hunter Killed in Uganda

[Ontario Hunter]

No idea what rifle was used, but on a mauser type rifle you could reassemble a bolt one rotation less than required. That being said, never take apart a bolt in the bush. At minimum, you need tremendous force to cock it against a hard object while forcing the safety back on, prior to reinsertion in a rifle. A slip or gouge of the cocking piece in this process can render a gun non-functional or a damage the trigger/sear engagement.

Please do not do gun smithing in the field, always have a backup rifle. It's not the place for it and you do not have the tools to do the work properly at camp.

In my workshop when I do the above procedure, I have on work gloves, a heavy vise, blocks of hardwood and leather, and a kid assistant to throw the safety when I say "go". The more proper way to do it is to have a bolt vise for each action type which is a substantial investment but one I would make if I was my profession.

As I discovered today the bolt shroud only has to be just barely started in the threads and the bolt will close and operate. If the shroud is screwed on more than that, the bolt will still operate, albeit defectively, but the shroud will not separate from the bolt.

Mauser made a tool, I believe, for servicing the bolt, even in the field. Isn't that why there's a notch at the end of cocking piece? Resetting the safety is a bit tricky without the tool but I can manage it by myself using either the open claw of vice or just the edge of the table. Done it countless times. Half a dozen times today during above experiments. Examining the sear with a magnifying glass, I don't see that it's sustained any damage ... beyond the grinding necessary to change to Timney trigger. That sear metal is VERY hard!

Mr Cox was hunting buffalo in a very dry dusty environment. Maybe I'm wrong, but cleaning the rifle thoroughly every day, especially the bolt, would seem to be a prerequisite. Seems doubtful there would have been a gunsmith in camp to do it for everyone hunting with a classic CRF DGR.

 

[deewayne2003]

Condolences to the hunter and best wishes for the PH, after all It sounds as though the PH, even if he recovers could be left with life altering injuries.

To each his own, but at 78yo with a pacemaker, a mans got to know his limitations, for both his own sake and others.... Just like making the decision to hang up the car keys when your getting old, it may be a hard decision, but one that needs to be made for your own safety as well as others.

Regardless of age we as hunters should make every attempt to be as accurate as possible with the first shot; while in Zimbabwe this July.......

Two PHs'(for other Safari camps) were severely mauled by Leopards that were wounded by clients.

One PH in camp had to deal with a Lion that was wounded by another hunter before we arrived and shot it while charging......

Another PH for the same company had to deal with a Leopard that was wounded by a hunter.

 

[uplander01]

Buffalo can really ruin your day. Very sad to hear.

 

[bashaw]

It is always unfair to Monday morning QB these type of things, but maybe there are lessons to be learned.

This isn’t the first time, and won’t be the last time, that people have been killed or injured after the client taking the position that “I don’t want anyone else shooting my animal”. There is no place for pride in DG hunting. Maybe the guy was a good shot and the PH trusted him to take the follow up? Who knows? In general I think we would all prefer to finish our own animals. It’s not my intent to cast any negative aspersions on Mr. Cox as we really don’t know the facts.

The rifle malfunction aspect is interesting. Hopefully more details will come out about the rifle. I’m having a hard time envisioning a scenario where the rifle went bang for the first shot, but failed later in such a manner that the firing pin was laying on the ground.



I’m also curious as to the nightly stripping of the rifle. Was the guy just compulsive about it? Not sure what the weather was like. Maybe the rifle was getting wet while out hunting?

In any event, prayers for fall involved and the family of Mr. Cox.

Don’t fix it if it’s not broken, borrow the PH’s gun if you think you have a problem

 

[coreydb]

My prayers to all of them.

 

[DLSJR]

This is a terrible tragedy, but there are lessons to be learned, especially for those who haven't done much buffalo hunting before.
A few thoughts / observations…

1. You absolutely ALWAYS keep shooting your buffalo until one of 3 things happens - You either run out of ammo, your buffalo disappears from sight, or your buffalo is DEAD. Even when on his side on the ground, you shoot him again unless and until he’s DEAD DEAD. Ammo is cheap and more than one ‘dead’ buffalo has gotten up after laying down. A Death Bellow is not a sure sign of a dead buffalo. I have first hand experience with a dead buffalo getting up and traveling 2+ kilometers after death bellowing and pouring lung blood on the ground. We eventually killed him dead enough but it was an interesting tracking job after he'd taken 2 - 300 grain TSX’s through the lungs. It was Good experience for my son, he did well all the way and finished what he started.

2. After a buffalo has been hit, nobody should have issue with your PH shooting if he thinks the situation calls for it. Nobody should insist your PH defer shooting so that you can kill your own buffalo. Once a buffalo has been hit, put your pride aside and get the buffalo dead as fast as possible, no matter who has to shoot it. If your PH judges that he should shoot to stop the buffalo, you should not 2nd guess his judgement. Lives sometimes depend on it.

3. Dont work on your gun while on safari unless absolutely necessary. Clean the barrel if you need to, but a typical barrel doesn't need cleaning for the amount of shots fired on 95% of all safaris. Especially, don't screw around with your scope or mounts while on safari unless absolutely necessary and if you do, don't hunt with it till you've verified zero is still good. The time to finish gun and sights adjusting is weeks before you leave home. It’s not while you’re in the bush.

4. Be physically & mentally ready to hunt buffalo. I’m not saying this fellow wasn't, but at 78 with a pacemaker he may not have been. I saw more than a few horribly out of shape men at SCI who were looking at dangerous game hunts. Some of them (most?) have no business hunting dangerous game that requires walking.

5. Realize that dangerous game hunting isn't for everyone and don't let pride or ego cause a bad decision. We all will reach a point where we just can’t do some things like we used to and we need to know when to step away.

Condolences to the survivors of the deceased fellow. Word is that Mini Trappe is stable and should recover, but he's very lucky. He suffered broken ribs, a collapsed lung, lacerated diaphragm and internal bleeding. Was in surgery 6 hours but is now stable. A few mistakes were made and different choices would have likely resulted in a much different outcome. RIP Mr. Cox.

 

[Red Leg]

This truly is a tragedy. Having no understanding of the client's life or family situation, I have hard time concluding it was a "good" death. That whole Viking thing tends to fall apart when mortgages, businesses, family, and dreams are added to the mix. My prayers go out to the PH as well. Losing a client is the sort of thing from which nightmares originate.

I simply would urge everyone to use whatever gun as accurately as possible. Wounded buffalo tragedies can only happen when the first shot fails. 300 grs of the right bullet in the right place beats 500 grs in the wrong place every single time. Bigger is better only if it can be placed exactly where it needs to go.

 

[roklok]

#2, Kind of a touchy subject. I had a conversation with my PH prior to my buff hunt. I had seen a number of buffalo hunting videos where the PH would shoot immediately after the client, without even determining the effect of the hunters shot. This would rub me wrong. I am not even sure if it is a pride thing, or more likely an OCD thing. If I am hunting an animal, I want to know I killed it, not have the mental doubt. Maybe it is pride. Anyway we had the conversation early on before I committed to the hunt. My PHs position is that he would ask before shooting unless it was coming for us, then he would be shooting, not asking for permission. It turned out well, I got my buff with one well placed shot and a second insurance shot at a dead buffalo with no need for the PH to enter the fray.

 

[DLSJR]

#2, Kind of a touchy subject. I had a conversation with my PH prior to my buff hunt. I had seen a number of buffalo hunting videos where the PH would shoot immediately after the client, without even determining the effect of the hunters shot. This would rub me wrong. I am not even sure if it is a pride thing, or more likely an OCD thing. If I am hunting an animal, I want to know I killed it, not have the mental doubt. Maybe it is pride. Anyway we had the conversation early on before I committed to the hunt. My PHs position is that he would ask before shooting unless it was coming for us, then he would be shooting, not asking for permission. It turned out well, I got my buff with one well placed shot and a second insurance shot at a dead buffalo with no need for the PH to enter the fray.

I simply don’t hunt with those type of PH’s. Maybe I’m fortunate but the PH’s I hunt with know me and I know them, so we all know what to expect. I’ve only had a PH shoot one buffalo with me and one elephant. Him shooting the elephant with me likely saved one or both of our lives. The buffalo charged unprovoked from very close range and was a few feet off muzzles when we both shot. In both cases, the PH shooting was totally appropriate.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I don't believe the official report and consequently I don't see how we can learn much from this tragedy. It is virtually impossible for any rifle I've ever seen to successfully fire a round and then moments later fail to fire and somehow lose its bolt shroud and striker. A buffalo could dance for a half hour on my 404 Mauser and the shroud would never come off the bolt if I'd just put a bullet in him with the gun. I don't believe Mr Cox was shooting a Gunwerks rifle or similar mutant. Watching the company's promotional video I don't see a detachable shroud, only a striker unit. If the bolt somehow became disembowelled, there would only be one piece laying on the ground, not two as described in the report. I'm not sure Gunwerks even has a shroud. Clearly, someone failed to reassemble the bolt properly. If it was a Mauser or CRF clone with 3-position safety, which seems the most likely candidate, and the bolt was reassembled on safety position 2 (necessary for reassembly) without threading the shroud onto the bolt, the rifle could still be loaded without knowing the bolt assembly was inoperable. The safety could then be fully engaged to lock the bolt, again without any indication the shroud was not properly threaded and the rifle inoperable. Mr Cox could have carried his rifle this way for hours without knowing it could not be fired. At this point the story goes awry. The quarry is spotted and stalked to shooting distance which as we all know is typically VERY close. Supposedly Mr Cox then gets on the sticks and wounds the bull. Sorry, but that just didn't happen. It could not happen. Not with a rifle that had a bolt shroud that was essentially detached. My theory is the client attempted to fire and the shroud became fully detached when the safety was disengaged. Perhaps the client had instructed PH he would only pay for a buff that he personally killed. The PH is exclaiming "Shoot! Shoot!" Confused client utters all kinds of expletives and frantically recycles the action thinking he had a dud round. PH holds off shooting because he hears and/or sees the client successfully reload (detached shroud would not interfere with cycling). The racket unnerved the buffalo and it charged. After client reloads twice and fails to fire, the PH finally shoots but not in time to put the bull down before it's on them. Unknown what the armed soldier was doing through this. I think I can guess. Bull clobbers the client and the detached shroud and striker slide out of the bolt. I would bet money that buffalo has three slugs in it ... all from the PH's rifle.

Why was the gun not reassembled properly? It is hard for me to believe anyone in command of his faculties who repeatedly disassembles his rifle every night as the report claims, would somehow fail to reattach the bolt shroud properly. There again the story becomes unbelievable. I wonder if we will ever know what actually happened.