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NitroX
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Reged: 25/12/02
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Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...

"Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott
#381227 - 14/12/23 03:20 PM

"Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott

Jack Lott article from Gun Digest 1985. Thanks to 3DogMike.

"Make Mine a Side Hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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NitroX
.700 member

Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 39263
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...

Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: NitroX]
#381237 - 14/12/23 06:46 PM

Thanks 3DogMike

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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NitroX
.700 member

Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 39263
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...

Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: NitroX]
#381239 - 14/12/23 06:59 PM

There is something very nice about Jack Lott's Holland & Holland .577 NE Double External Hammer Underlever.

Something about the combination of the old .577. external hammers and an underlever, all combined. Classic.

Makes my mind think of Darkest Colonial Africa before WW1, when the wild places were still not fully known.

The smell of freshly burned cordite, the fresh buffalo dung and elephant dung, man sweat from the exertion and adrenalin of the follow up of tracks, the African red dust, and the smells of the tropical jungle. Wonderful.

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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3DogMike
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Reged: 29/01/15
Posts: 1420
Loc: Western Slope, Colorado USA

Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: NitroX]
#381244 - 15/12/23 03:31 AM

Quote:

Thanks 3DogMike

John, You are quite welcome!
That article by Jack Lott is what ultimately led me to acquiring my Jeffery .577 3 1/4" made in 1896.
While it is a BP Express it still packs a punch (on both ends) at 6 1/2 Drams and a 650 grain bullet.
As you note, there is, to me, an undeniable romance to the Jones underlever hammer rifle.
Cheers, Mike

--------------------
"Here's to killing people you don't like with people you do"

"Will Rogers never met a fighter pilot"
- Anon

“Always carry a flask of whiskey in case of snakebite, and furthermore always carry a small snake."
-- W. C. Fields

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NitroX
.700 member

Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 39263
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...

Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: 3DogMike]
#381250 - 15/12/23 11:15 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Thanks 3DogMike

John, You are quite welcome!
That article by Jack Lott is what ultimately led me to acquiring my Jeffery .577 3 1/4" made in 1896.
While it is a BP Express it still packs a punch (on both ends) at 6 1/2 Drams and a 650 grain bullet.
As you note, there is, to me, an undeniable romance to the Jones underlever hammer rifle.
Cheers, Mike

That's a classic and very nice.

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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bwanabobftw
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Reged: 29/12/04
Posts: 668
Loc: Texas

Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: NitroX]
#381256 - 15/12/23 07:00 PM

Great article and a beautiful rifle 3dogMike !!!!!!!!! Congratulations

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DarylS
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Reged: 10/08/05
Posts: 26575
Loc: Beautiful British Columbia, Ca...

Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: bwanabobftw]
#381262 - 16/12/23 05:11 AM

In "The Gun and it's Development", 9th edition by WW Greener, there are a number of very favourable "letters" re-printed by hunters using the .577 BPE. Appears to have been VERY well liked for elephant, etc.

--------------------
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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grandveneur
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Reged: 21/09/08
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Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: DarylS]
#381273 - 16/12/23 06:38 AM

C.E.M.Russel in his book BULLET AND SHOT in INDIAN FOREST, PLAIN AND HILL edition from 1900, also recommends a DR caliber 577 Express with solid bullets as a weapon for elephant hunting, although in the dense bush he would rather use a double caliber 4-bore with spherical bullets or a 8-bore paradox gun. The latter weapon would be in his opinion better suited for hunting African elephants. What he means by solids, I am not so sure that they are the same as our FMJ bullets.

In Africa, however, BP cartridges were for a lot of reasons not so popular for hunting big and dangerous game, so that nitro loads were used much more earlier that in India. Nevertheless, the DR caliber 577 Nitro Express was also in the foreground as the hunting rifle for big game, especially elephants, during this time.

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DarylS
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Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: grandveneur]
#381279 - 16/12/23 09:27 AM

grandveneur, the letters I spoke of were written prior to the .577 NE being invented.

--------------------
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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grandveneur
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Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: DarylS]
#381291 - 16/12/23 07:10 PM

That's how I understood it too.

At the time when Russel comments on the use of the cartridge 577 Express, the cartridge 577 Nitro Express already existed, but he still only speaks about BP cartridges. It was known that in India hunters held on to BP rifles for a very long time; apparently such rifles, especially caliber 500 Express, were made to order until the twenties of the last century.

All of this to emphasize that these BP cartridges had a certain efficiency when hunting big and dangerous game. It certainly no longer correspond our current standards when it comes to cartridges and especially bullets for hunting big game.

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3DogMike
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Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: grandveneur]
#381307 - 17/12/23 02:43 AM

Quote:

C.E.M.Russel in his book BULLET AND SHOT in INDIAN FOREST, PLAIN AND HILL edition from 1900, also recommends a DR caliber 577 Express with solid bullets as a weapon for elephant hunting, although in the dense bush …………..(snip)….. I am not so sure that they are the same as our FMJ bullets.
.

I have read that those BP Express "solid" bullets were typically tin-lead mix and "mercury hardened". No idea of the actual mercury content and no idea just how hard they were on the Brinnell scale.
- Mike

--------------------
"Here's to killing people you don't like with people you do"

"Will Rogers never met a fighter pilot"
- Anon

“Always carry a flask of whiskey in case of snakebite, and furthermore always carry a small snake."
-- W. C. Fields

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grandveneur
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Reged: 21/09/08
Posts: 1298
Loc: France / Germany

Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: 3DogMike]
#381310 - 17/12/23 03:45 AM

I also think that the bullets were made of pure lead, perhaps sometimes covered with a metal cup at the top.

Full metal jacket and solid metal Bullets are made since the end of the 19th century, but I cannot find out until now from when such bullets began to be used in rifles for big game hunting. I don't believe that such bullets were loaded into BP cartridges. In all probability these bullets were used at the same time as NC-powder when this replaced the BP in many big bore hunting cartridges.

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DarylS
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Posts: 26575
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Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: grandveneur]
#381311 - 17/12/23 04:54 AM

I understand the hardened bullets were with tin and/or mercury. I tried the mercury hardening back in the late 70's, but wasn't impressed with the results. Tin and antimony were much better for this.

The advent of the ctg. rifle allowed hardened bullets as I understand the situation. Hardened bullets could not be used in muzzleloaders due to their lack of accuracy. Only pure lead bullets could be used & with their excessive expansion, their penetration was poor. The advent of ctg. rifles in the BP era allowed the use of hardened bullets. Only then did conical bullets surpass the hardened round ball in penetration on dangerous game. We are talking about bore rifles now.
Samuel Baker was a staunch supporter of hardened 'balls' for the muzzleloading bore rifles use on dangerous game.

--------------------
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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grandveneur
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Loc: France / Germany

Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: DarylS]
#381313 - 17/12/23 05:20 AM

That's right, back then in the middle of the 19th century they all continued to use big bore muzzle loaders for hunting big game, F.C.Selous also in his young years.

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Vette447
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Reged: 15/02/09
Posts: 75
Loc: Oklahoma, USA

Re: "Make Mine a Side hammer Rifle" by Jack Lott [Re: grandveneur]
#381575 - 27/12/23 12:51 PM

Thanks for posting the full article. It is a gorgeous rifle. I find it a bit funny that Lott shot it and hunted with it using full house 750/100 577 Nitro Express Kynoch ammo as shown in the article. I believe it is technically a 577 BPE rifle but it is still rock solid with beautiful deep rifling showing no ill effects from Mr Lott’s full 577 nitro exploits.

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