Forums.NitroExpress.com

After seeing all the deleted posts, I don't want to add more heat than light to the issue.

But as to why I would want to hunt buffalo with anything other than a iron sighted double rifle, I'd like to point out one benefit of hunting with a bolt action rifle for most people.

It's what they're used to. I know it's what I'm most familiar with when it comes to hunting and shooting.

PHs such as Buzz Charlton and Myles McCallum, with whom I hunted elephant earlier in the year, say that the vast majority of hunters using a double aren't very good with them. Under pressure, pulling the first trigger twice is a problem for the majority.

So much for the advantage of two fast aimed shots.

I'm willing to concede a double rifle is theoretically faster for the second shot than a bolt rifle. But as a practical matter, if you've built up a lifetime of muscle memory hunting with bolt action rifles, you're more likely to get the second shot off faster if you're using the rifle you've shot most.

The fact of the matter is, most hunters do most of their hunting with bolt action rifles. Or if not bolt action rifles, something other then double rifles. This is generally a matter of cost. How many of us could afford a battery of light, medium, and heavy double rifles? But it seems to me that for most of the hunting I do in North America the bolt rifle is more appropriate. How many really accurate 7mm doubles are there, capable of a long shot on a pronghorn? Or light enough to haul into the mountains?

So I practice with my bolt action rifles a lot. So why would I want to switch to a double for dangerous game, and not use a rifle I can operate without thinking about it?

I'm not immune to the attraction of a double rifle. But the best advice I've gotten about learning a double is to get a shotgun that's configured exactly the same and shoot it a lot. That's the way to unlearn old habits and develop new ones.

I'm not much of a shotgunner, thought. Besides, I'm in my late forties. Right now my eyes are fine. My .375 and .416 wear iron sights. (I have scopes for them, but I usually don't have them mounted on the rifles. The cheek weld is different, so I do the opposite of most and only mount the scope if I need it for a longer shot. I figure any shot I need with the irons I'm going to need fast, so that's how I practice.) But I'm at the age where they can go fast. It seems to me that by the time I develop new muscle memory, I may need that scope. As a matter of fact, I read a sad story recently in African Hunter magazine of a man about my age who had to sell his double for that reason. He couldn't stand the thought of scoping his beautiful double. So he sold it on the installment plan to an up and coming PH. Now he does all his DG hunting with his scoped bolt rifles.

I'm willing to concede all the advantages double rifle enthusiasts claim for their rifles. But only on a theoretical basis. Not if the guy behind the rifle has just recently switched from the type of rifle he's shot his whole life because he wanted a double rifle for dangerous game. It's entirely likely that he's put himself at a disadvantage instead.

Invest in ammo, not rifles. Get good with something, then stick with it.

That's just my opinion.

Post Extras