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But what was Remington's double rifle?

Being 1898,was this not a black powder gun??? looked more like a hammerless 500ne.

Ben

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Ben, what the double was is a Westley Richards hammerless double with what looks like 28" barrels, and is most likely a black, or Nitro for black double probably in one of the older .450 bore cartridges. I'm speaking of the rifle used in the movie. The Rimington character is fictional, and never existed. Addtionally i don't think there is mention of a double rifle at all in the book account of this happening. Col Patterson, and most others in those days used the 303 Brit bolt rifles. However, black powder rifles were used far later that 1898 in Africa, and India. I have a rifle that looks exactly tlike the one in that movie, that is chambered for 500/450#1 Express,made in 1892, and this is a black powder rifle made for deer hunting in those days. Many lion were killed with deer rifles in those days, as well as many hunters were also killed by lions, that weren't stopped by the small rifles, as the 450s were considered to be in the late 1800s!

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..........Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY1, and MacD37 founding member of DRSS www.doublerifleshooterssociety.com
"If I die today, I have had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"

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Dugaboy,
While Patterson did indeed admit to preferring his 303, he also mentioned in his account of the events having carried, among other weapons a twelve bore shotgun charged with slug (which naturally had less than ideal results) and a twelve bore paradox rifle with conical solids.

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The double rifle in the movie was not a 12 bore anything! I'd say it was no larger than a .450 bore! We're not talking here about what might have been in the Tsavo camp, in actuaity, but what the rifle in the movies was!

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..........Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY1, and MacD37 founding member of DRSS www.doublerifleshooterssociety.com
"If I die today, I have had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"

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It has also just occured to me that being a movie and a fictional character, Remington COULD have been carrying a 450 NE, which were introduced around 1898, because it seems unlikely that a professional hunter would be carrying as ineffective a stopper as a 450 for black.

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CCMonster31, The movie being being what it was, useing a fictional character that didn't even have anything to do with the actual happening, would not have cared if the double rifle had shot nothing but smoke, which is probably the case with a movie prop gun. Besides, most likely Michael Douglas wouldn't know a muzzle loader from a machinegun, in fact, the hauwdah pistol he used in that movie was a caplock muzzle loader, and he was the dirrector, and producer, of that movie!

In fact many professional hunters used black powder rifles to hunt way up through the first 10 yrs of the 20th century, or so! Especially the elephant hunters who used the large 2, and 4 bore muzzle loaders, and 4, 8, and 10 bore NFB ball double guns, and explora doubles. The .450 bores came out way back in the mid 1800s, in black powder double cartridge rifles, then most were later re-proofed to NFB, the 450BP 3 1/4", was the exact same cartridge as the NFB, and Cordite version, and some simply didn't bother re-proofing, but simply used the new ammo in the old rifles. In 1898 the rifles smaller than 577 were considered small arms, but the .450s were regularly used on lion. The guns weren't considered to be big bores untill 3 bore and larger.

None of these facts have anything to do with this movie, it was strictly Hollywood!

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..........Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY1, and MacD37 founding member of DRSS www.doublerifleshooterssociety.com
"If I die today, I have had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"

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Double D is having another senior moment, but didn't I read right here on this board that Patterson used a Martini to kill the lions? Or is this more DD wishful thinking

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I could be wrong as far as the actual happening goes, but in the movie, the Martini was the rifle that was borrowed, and missfired when the lion was in it's sights!

In the book, I don't remember mention of a Martini, but I wouldn't doubt there was on in camp, because those old Black powder 577/450 Martinis were very popular rifles!

The double rifle in that movie, looks exactly like a little Westley Richards rifle I own, and apears to have the black powder long 28" barrels of that period, Mine is a 500/450#1 Express, and black powder rifle made in 1892, hammerless ejector rifle! It , in fact, was most likely a stage prop, and not a real rifle at all.

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..........Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY1, and MacD37 founding member of DRSS www.doublerifleshooterssociety.com
"If I die today, I have had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"

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the single shot rifle that misfired was a Farquharson

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You are absolutely correct! Damn Alzheimers desease! or maybe it's OLDTIMERS DESEASE!
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..........Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY1, and MacD37 founding member of DRSS www.doublerifleshooterssociety.com
"If I die today, I have had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"

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It , in fact, was most likely a stage prop, and not a real rifle at all.

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