In 1972 I began discussions with Heinz-Ulrich Krieghoff, then CEO of Krieghoff GmbH concerning the right to represent Krieghoff hunting guns in the USA. At the time, the K-32 competition shotgun was being marketed through Hal DuPont, who had been instrumental in reviving the pre-war Remington 32 shotgun by having it reproduced in Germany by Krieghoff.

At the time, the Krieghoff hunting line included the Neptun and Trumpf drillings and the Ulm and Teck over and under double rifle, combination gun and double barrelled shotgun. The drillings were available in 12, 16, 20 and 20 gauge Magnum shot calibers and an assortment of European and American rifle calibers. The double guns were available in only 16, 20 and 20 gauge Magnum shot calibers and an assortment of German and American rifle calibers, including 7X65R, 8X57JRS, 8X68S, 9.3X74R, 9.3X64, .30-'06, .300 and .375 H&H Magnum, and .458 Winchester Magnum.

The year before, I had taken a Teck double rifle in .458 Winchester Magnum, with interchangeable barrels in .375 H&H Magnum and 20 gauge 3" Magnum on a five week safari in Kenya, and I was convinced of its suitabilty for African hunting.

As a result of the discussions with Herr Krieghoff, my company, Creighton & Warren, Inc., was given the distributorship for Krieghoff hunting weapons in the US, and an order was placed for a certain number of each of the models, the drillings in 12 gauge/.30-'06 and 20 gauge 3" magnum/.243, and the double rifles in .458 Winchester Magnum and .375 H&H. The weapons were all fitted with stocks similar to the one on my Krieghoff double rifle (straight comb, no cheek piece), but any type of stock was available on special order.

One of my main concerns at the time had to do with the lack of a cartridge really suited to a double rifle. Kynoch had ceased production of Nitro Express ammunition and existing stocks were dwindling. I saw the need for a rimmed cartridge which could duplicate the ballistics of the classic Nitro Express cartridges and at the same time reduce the pressure generated by the H&H and Winchester Magnums.

My idea was to use the existing .375 Flanged Magnum case and create a rimmed version of the .450 Watts, a cartridge I was thoroughly familiar with, which would duplicate the .458 Winchester Magnum ballistics at considerably lower pressure. The.375 case was chosen because the same equipment used to manufacture the .375 H&H Magnum could be used to manufacture it, and both Winchester and Remington offered the .375 H&H.

I obtained a quantity of Kynoch Berdan primed .375 Flanged Magnum brass, had a reamer made by Keith Francis, assembled a test platform in the shape of a Winchester High Wall single shot, in which I first fire formed the cases (with a significant loss of brass through splitting) and then tested loads until I had a reliable 2150 fps with the 500 grain Winchester solid.

I then shipped reamer and loads to Krieghoff and had a Teck double rifle made up with the new cartridge. Winchester agreed to turn out the empty cartridge cases, headstamped ".450 C&W Magnum" provided a large enough order was placed.

However, about that time disaster, in the form of the Arab oil embargo and the concomitant economic downturn, intervened, and other than for that one double rifle, the reamer was never used again.

Herr Krieghoff was what the Germans call a "passionerter Jäger" (a passionate hunter), but his interest lay in conventioal European and North American hunting. Africa had no appeal at all for him, and my suggestions that Krieghoff embark in a double rifle development program fell on deaf ears. Not until 1996 was my plea for a rimmed low pressure African cartridge and a side by side double rifle realized.

My DEVA handbook cites the maximum allowable pressure for the .500/.416 cartridge as 3150 bar, compared to 4300 bar for the .416 Remington Magnum. That translates roughly to 44,100 lbs/in2 versus 60,200 lbs/in2, so there is a significant difference.

My problem with the choice of a .416 projectile for a double rifle is that in my opinion the .416 is a mid-range caliber and short range calibers start with .458, so a .500/.450 would have made more sense to me.

Moreover, the revival of the .450/.400 has created the opportunity to employ a traditional British African .40 caliber cartridge with little loss in performance. I think Krieghoff was too hesitant and came in with both the cartridge and the double rifle, with its questionable hand cocking feature, too late to secure a reliable share of the market.