History of LARGE bore flintlocks?

[Dphar]

Shot palcement is another problem with heavy calibers. Most elephant shooting was and ofen is done under 20 yards.

Because of innacuraccy issues or the fact that the shooter develops an incredibble flinch shooting these large bored rifles?

Generally its because in many places you cannot see an elephant any farther than that. This did not change with the advent of modern firearms. Its one of the reasons hunting elephant and other dangerous game is dangerous. However, by using a ladder to see over the tall grass in some areas it is said one can kill elephants at much greater range this is far less dangerous/sporting from all accounts. If you are on foot in "elephant grass" visibility is measured in feet or inches. If in open areas with short grass long shots can be done.

I would suggest you do some reading on the subject if you are interested.
There are various books on African hunting. If you want something period try Bakers "With Rifle and Hound in Ceylon". Its been reprinted several times and should be available though some WWW book seller used.
John Taylor's "Pondoro" and "African Rifles and Cartridges" are interesting though the latter is geared more the the equipment. Capstick's "Death in the Long Grass" and its sequels are pretty good but I am not sure he did everything he claims. He does tell a great story regardless.
There are others as well.

Dan

 

[Dphar]

Frederick Selous, one of the most famous elephant hunters of the Dark Continent carried a 4 bore muzzleloading rifle in the beginning of his career ( he had a nice double rifle, but that was stolen and the 4 bore was all he could afford to replace it with). He carried his powder in a leather bag slung over his shoulder, and measured the charge for the rifle by the handful.
Oh, what a time that must have been!

These were actually two 4 bore shotguns he used RBs in. IIRC they were Dutch made and had shortened barrels to make them usable in the bush.
Gun bearer carried powder in bag and as you say loaded by the handful. He said he wished he had never used them since the recoil affected his shooting for the rest of his life.
Baker had a rifle the Arabs called son of cannon or some such and I think it was a 4 bore.

Dan

 

Gorgeous wood John! Your rifle is beautiful man. How's she shoot for ya? I am gonna head off to the range today to do some target work with mine. Better get my butt moving.

Billy

 

[JohnTheGreek]

Billy,

Thanks so much for the compliments! She shoots as nice as she looks, thankfully. Just a piece of advice...for your target work I highly recommend that you build yourself a set of shooting sticks. Just go to Home Depot and get yourself some 6' lengths of bamboo and lash them together 8-10 inches from one end with a good length of bicycle inner tube (this material makes your sticks true to African fashion ). Then cover the two short ends with a few layers of electrical tape to provide a bit of protection to your rifle from the bamboo. Believe me, this set up will make your shooting much more accurate and will be much more pleasant than trying to shoot that beast off some other sort of rest (of course, you know not to try to shoot this thing off a bench). I've got a video somewhere of me shooting the "big 8" off sticks and I'll post it here if I can find it.

Best of luck,

John

P.S. We should get these rifles together for a hunt and write an article about it! Maybe get a few of Jim's customers together for a group hunt someplace?