Rifle Lessons Learned from the Zimbabwe Professional Hunter Proficiency Exam

[expresshunt]

Agreed.. those action screws need to be checked regular.. as thats mostly the cause of the stock problems. More so in kickers... and other factors are rifles going between different countries climates, and rough roads in transit.
Years ago I saw a Sako floor plate fly open... and a Weatherboard floor plate fly open.. after 1st shot at game.. due to loose action screws.
Now adays we have a few Wheeler gunsmith driver sets at camps. A good guide arrives with his own set and cleaning gear... better prehunt to check all screws than not. The hunt costs a lot of money.
And.. take a spare scope in mounts and pre zeroed.... better in luggage than sitting at home.

 

[expresshunt]

... lol... right now looking at a dented scope.. from a Kyrgyzstan mountain hunt.. and assistants and rocks..

 

[IvW]

Agreed.. those action screws need to be checked regular.. as thats mostly the cause of the stock problems. More so in kickers... and other factors are rifles going between different countries climates, and rough roads in transit.
Years ago I saw a Sako floor plate fly open... and a Weatherboard floor plate fly open.. after 1st shot at game.. due to loose action screws.
Now adays we have a few Wheeler gunsmith driver sets at camps. A good guide arrives with his own set and cleaning gear... better prehunt to check all screws than not. The hunt costs a lot of money.
And.. take a spare scope in mounts and pre zeroed.... better in luggage than sitting at home.

Had to guide a hunt but outfitter screwed up rifle permits....I was assured they had a Sako 375H&H in camp....ya right....
Got to the range loaded up with my own 340gr loads lined up and sent the first bullet down range....the magazine contents ended up on my boots....ok maybe the latch was not secured...redo....same result....back to the cruiser....duct tape it shut and the pistol grip that was cracked....at least I hit the target but never again....no place to screw around with rifles when hunting DG....

 

[colorado]

Don knows his stuff and I have read this a couple of times. No surprises and in fact I was glad he is so blunt and points out the problems with Rugers. I have seen Rugers malfunction many times, but most American hunters seem to think they are like Mom and apple pie.........so when you start to point out that they are not the best things since sliced bread, many become instantly indignant.

Same goes with Weatherby. I do admit to liking a couple of their cartridges but have never liked the rifles. I had a hunter from Florida pull the trigger on a B&C grizzly in BC one fall at about 30 yards. His very fancy Weatherby Mk V jammed and he could not get the bolt opened, so I had to finish what he had started and later on I got to do the hammer trick back at camp.

Remington 700's..........I have never understood the rabid followers, especially if we are talking a rifle to be used by ardent big game hunters.......not guys going on little home safaris in the back yard or executing drive by shootings from their pickups. All I have seen over the years is a never ending problem with extractors and always at the worst possible time. I guess there are some that just work without fail for many years in standard cartridges, but it has not been my experience and even now I have a good friend with 3 of them in heavy calibers and he has one problem after another since I have known him.

What this article really points out though is that few hunters ever truly wring out their big game rifles. Hardly anyone takes the time and many more do not really know how to do it. Heck, most of the hunters I have guided don't even know how to take the bolt apart on their rifle................

I agree with the Mauser variants for DG. I have a CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery that has been worked on by Wayne at AHR to include a M70 type 3 pos safety, single stage match trigger and fill and straighten the bolt. I love the rifle, it feeds, functions flawlessly and in a 3 shot group at 50 yards it's hard to tell there's more than one hole. That being said I have a beloved Rem 700 BDL in 270 Win that has probably seen close to 1000 days of hunting since I bought it in the late 60s. It's never failed to feed, function or extract. It sill shoots .5 inch groups at 100 yards (it's on it's third barrel). I've killed dozens of elk, more deer, javelinas and varmints with it. Add to that 9 black bears and finishing off two grizzlies in the Bob while working as assistant guide in the early 70s. That and my 500 Jeffery I'll never part with.

 

[Sideshow]

Lol Dont look on the holts auctioneer site https://auctions.holtsauctioneers.c...D&sale_no=S1222&subs_value=17&index=view&pg=1

Some sweet looking deals on there.

 

[Bush Buck]

On DG.. we have mostly controlled feed rifles, 100% proven feed, 100% proven extraction, reloads that are not loaded to maximum. Stock have all been bedded, addition crossbolts fitted, and action screw tensions checked preseason, and again. As they are used a lot, actions and tension have all settled in, and now firm and consistent. Company and guide rifles are CZ 375 and 416, Kimber 375, Whitworth 375, Blaser 375, Heym 404, Rigby 416, Mauser 404, 458, Ruger 458lott, Winchester 416RM...
Problems we encountered have been; Kimber Caprivi 375 chamber too precise.. so some reloaded ammo would jam, gunsmith ran his reamer in out, fixed. A particular CZ 404 had 3 problems, so decided to sell rather than persevere.. and it also had prior a recoil reducer permantly glued in the stock and rifle was too heavy for caliber, as a carry rifle. A couple of CZ action and ramps have been polished to feed smoother. We have seen CZ and Ruger stocks start to split, so it's best to bed them and additional crossbolts, before hunting. Some makers stop making 416 Rigby and 458Lott calibers as too many stock recalls.

I've also noticed that the Kimber chambers are tighter tolerance.
This works out great if that's the only 375 H&H you feed.
Factory ammo feeds great.
Reloads made with brass fired in the Kimber work great.
Brass lasts longer.
The problem is feeding a fleet of rifles. Brass previously fired in Remington and Pre-64 Win chambers can be a tight fit in a Kimber if not aggressively resized.

 

[Finprof]

The TGS YouTube feed has several Holts episodes every year, mostly dealing with fine side by side double shotguns. Prices are ridiculously low by US standards. Brits often have to dump a side by side in order to buy a new over and under and many come from estates where the heirs and assigns are revolted by the thought of gun ownership, so the market for used guns is very different. Over there they depreciate faster than cars.
It probably won’t be long before the same is true in the US.

 

[KWALATA SAFARIS]

I hear you, to be frank I have never had a sticky bolt or faulty ejection on my 460 weatherby and it has been used EXTENSIVELY on African dangerous game. For 23 years….

I refuse to accept that my situation/experience is to be jotted down to luck/coincidence… with that said I do not use any Weatherby factory ammo, all ammunition is hand loaded, and I look after my rifles they are cleaned religiously. It’s like servicing a vehicle you don’t look after it it won’t look after you.
Keep in mind Mr. Heath is offering his opinion and it simply can not be regarded as law.

For the most part I agree but there are sections as I highlighted above that I think he is gargling a bit.
My best always.
Jaco.
I really appreciate the scientific approach the author has. He even timed exactly how long it takes to reload ("A two round reload took on average, twice as long with the Model 700's as it did with just about any other make of rifle."), compiled the data, and worked out the averages. I wonder if these were hand timed or electronically timed?

Odd that he did not address accuracy.

I am so glad to hear yet another opine on the "American attitude", and the shoddy American products (sarcasm intended). Perhaps we Americans should spend much more of our cash to buy wonderful European rifles (if it is not made in Europe it is absolutely substandard!) and less on taking expensive hunting trips to Africa.

Perhaps he is correct in his opinions, but his approach is crude and a bit offensive. Perhaps he knows it all!

 

[geoff rath]

Hi Pascal, at this point I am not sure. First the action was professionally glass bedded, the screws were properly torqued. I have quite a collection of new and used spare Mauser, CZ & M-70 parts at one point I went to a follower that was slightly longer than the one that was original to the rifle. The crazy part is hundreds of rounds were cycled through the action after that, up until two days before the test. The barrelled action has not been removed from the stock in several months. Here is what has happened, the wood blank came from a area with very low humidity, we live on the banks of the Zambezi very humid. Then we have had lots of rain recently. The rifle was in a soft gun case for the two day trip to Harare. Stowed in a hidden compartment, inside the vehicle for the trip. I believed this caused a very high humidity condition that led to the slightest bit of swelling of the wood, which put just enough pressure on the magazine box, little more than six months ago this stock was a wood blank!
Somewhere I read how long it should take to make a rifle stock it seemed to me it was something like a year. This is due to the fact that the wood changes as it is worked. Maybe someone out there can enlighten me or us?
At this point I am only half way home later this week I will disassemble the rifle and examine everything very closely.

talking to my stockmaker and his blank supplier down Under, he wont release a blank until it's at least 20 years old, and under 10% humidity. He literally has thousands on hand after a lifetime of harvesting. Not too many can claim that ...

 

[geoff rath]

Finally read the thread right through; took so long I missed lunch! So much knowledge to absorb, from many knowledgeable people. Made me realise I've been buying too many "off the shelf" rifles, instead of focussing on one, or maybe two custom built ones, rom skilled gunsmiths.
Accordingly, there are rifles going on the market, then one D/G item, built to simply perform, regardless of when and where. Function in preference to reputation, or form. Wish me luck, and a full wallet.

 

[Ray B]

Made me realise I've been buying too many "off the shelf" rifles, instead of focussing on one, or maybe two custom built ones, rom skilled gunsmiths.

Seems to me there are two aspects regarding a custom rifle. One is the reliability/performance issue. this is a property of the rifle in that if the rifle performs as desired for one person it will do so for another. So this aspect is transferrable.
The other aspect is fit. A custom rifle will be made to fit the person purchasing it. A rifle fit to one person may not fit someone else. Fit is not transferrable.
One solution to the custom rifle question is to bey a used custom built rifle that meets the function/performance criteria, then if it doesn't meet the fit requirement, have it restocked with a stock that meets the fit requirement.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

There have been two posts recently that really strike a chord with me, Geoff's one above and the one on 'beware the man with only one rifle'. To suggest such a thing to our USA members who can buy rifles like groceries and enjoy the pursuit is not meant to be in any way disparaging, but I wonder how many have a real favourite that could be the one and only if push came to shove?

 

[Tundra Tiger]

Me Kevin.

Rifles like groceries...

Heaven forbid it would ever happen, but if I had to pick and stick with one, it'd be my MXLR in .338 Marlin Express. That doesn't even require hand wringing on my part: for me it's an easy choice.

 

[Lone Star Bluegrass]

There have been two posts recently that really strike a chord with me, Geoff's one above and the one on 'beware the man with only one rifle'. To suggest such a thing to our USA members who can buy rifles like groceries and enjoy the pursuit is not meant to be in any way disparaging, but I wonder how many have a real favourite that could be the one and only if push came to shove?

Kevin,

I’ll speak for my fellow grocers.

Some have a favorite.

Many refer to their “battery” (an analogy I was always partial to).

I think “harem” is probably more appropriate. Why choose one when you can surround yourself with so many that make you happy!

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

I think “harem” is probably more appropriate. Why choose one when you can surround yourself with so many that make you happy!

And unlike a beautiful woman, we only pay for a beautiful rifle once. We can also take it into our arms and hold it close, even fondle it whenever we want...

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

For the above, yes a person who has only one gun may shoot it exceptionally well, if they practice.

Chances are however if they could afford the money, time, and work to truly practice, they are probably enthusiasts and will lust for another gun!

 

[Foxi]

nothing compares with the old Mauser System

 

[ZG47]

View attachment 516514View attachment 516514
nothing compares with the old Mauser System

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As perfected circa 1908 (if I have the right year) following some ammunition-related safety issues with Serbian contract rifles? There is bound to be a bigger Mauser 98 geek than me, who can give us the details right off the top of his/her head.

 

[VertigoBE]

There have been two posts recently that really strike a chord with me, Geoff's one above and the one on 'beware the man with only one rifle'. To suggest such a thing to our USA members who can buy rifles like groceries and enjoy the pursuit is not meant to be in any way disparaging, but I wonder how many have a real favourite that could be the one and only if push came to shove?

I like my harem... and hope to grow it in the future. There is no way I could choose between the 7x64 Dumoulin Centurion, the .375H&H Heym 88b and the .416 Rigby Hubert Vereecke. They each fill a role, a need and are each gorgeous in their own way.

 

[colorado]

I saw a bowed mag box on my brothers 416 rigby /CZ 550.We found it at the guides shooting exam 2 years ago. A friend of his had the same gun and we swopped parts until it we saw the sides of the box bowed in. My brother just bent it with his hands. The symptoms were that the second/third rounds came out with the ejection of the first. Interestingly, 2 years later, it is bowed again. We believe it is recoil that does it.

I don't doubt you but I can tell you I have in excess of 400 full power rounds (570g TSX at 2300 fps) through my CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery. There is no issue with the magazine box, follower or latch. When I first got it, there was a feeding issue which is not unusual in a 500 Jeffery. It was worked on by Harlan at Triple River, Wayne at AHR and Kevin Weaver until it fed and extracted flawlessly. I have to look at my magazine box and see if it's stock or not, I really don't know.