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Hello CptCurl,

Thanks for your comments.

I will no doubt continue to research this rifle's most interesting History, as did Cal Pappas who owned it back in the early 2000's.

Here is another reference to Capt. Malcolm McNeill from the London Gazette in May 20, 1902.

We now know exactly how he died. Quoting the Gazette; "...he died, ...suddenly, of heart failure after an attack of malaria. ..."

I suspect he acquired this disease from his several times in Africa.

On to the range.

And here are the shooting results from my second outing. As you can see, the velocity increased significantly from the heavier charge of IMR4198, and the use of F215 magnum primers. Surprisingly, the cartridges loaded with the Winchester Brass were over 125 fps slower in velocity. I can only deduce that this was due to the 1/4" increased "lead" of the shorter cartridge.

The duplicate 1717 fps velocities of the AH cartridges was not a miss-read as my chronograph has a "duplicate" indicator light just for such occasions. As you can see, the increase in velocity brought the L & R closer together. I suspect a little more increase in velocity should have them even closer.

One thing that did surprise me was, even with the rifle weighing 12-1/4 pounds, it kicked the crap out of me! The recoil is a full 15 pounds more than my 577-500 bpe. But, I'm sure that recoil is not a factor, when the alternative is being EATEN by a lion.

And, speaking of lions, I have now finished reading McNeill's book; "In Pursuit of the Mad Mullah--Service and Sport in the Somali Protectorate,"

In the book, McNeill tells of hearing about 4 lions that were attacking a nearby village, and his taking a few days off his Military service to pursue them. It happens that McNeill's 20-.577 was packed away on camels some hours distant, so he set-out with his 12-bore paradox double. With it he shot the first lion. It measured 8' 4" long from nose to tip of tail.

Some time later, his camels arrived bringing him the 20-.577 Dickson/Henry. With it, he went after the other 3 lions. Quoting from page 53;

"... I also had my .577 by now, and felt quite prepared to meet anything that might turn up. ..."

McNeill continued to pursue the other 3 lions and soon came upon the second. Quoting from page 57 and 58;

"... the lion was about 130 yards distant. ..." "... I immediately knelt down and fired with my .577, taking him just in front of the shoulder. On receiving the shot he pulled up at once, nearly falling as he did so, and the left barrel knocked him clean over. He managed to crawl under a small tree about 2 or 3 yards off and to get his head round facing me. I put in another shot for safety's sake when I got to about 80 yards from him, but he did not really require it--either of the first two would have killed him. This lion was the biggest of the three I got that day, 8 feet, 10 1 /2 inches as he lay--a big, powerfully made beast, but with no mane. ..."

McNeill then started after the last two lions. They were discovered in heavy cover. Since earlier one of natives had been bitten while pursuing the second lion, McNeill opted to start a grass fire to drive them out of the cover, rather than going in after them. Quoting from page 58 and 59;

"... After some difficulty we got it fairly alight, and after it was about two-thirds burnt, out he came. He stood at the edge of the fire about 80 yards from me, broadside on, and I at once gave him the .577 in the left shoulder. On receiving the shot he turned round and charged straight back through the fire (which was about 18 or 20 yards off), burning his whiskers and singeing himself generally, but not very badly. On getting through the flames he stood on his hind legs, pawing the air, and then fell over on his side--dead. ..."

The forth lion was a female, and McNeill's hunting ethics, dictated him not to pursue her.

So, 3 out of 4 lions in an afternoon's vacation from Duty. And, 2 shot with my 20-.577 Dickson/Henry. One shot at 130 yards, and the other at 80 yards.

I think I'm going to try to find a lion-skin sling for my rifle.

Simply Awesome!

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"You never pay too much for something, you only buy it too early."

Edited by CptCurl (29/09/13 09:36 PM)

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