Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters M70 - David Ommanney

Here you go, Ingwe.

http://www.ezine.nitroexpress.info/NickuduFiles/Africa-PDF/Africa317.pdf

And this link as well since it has some correspondence from Harry Selby saying that he went back to the .416 once he got it back from Rigby. Here's what he says about it: "The .458 did me well enough but to even suggest that I had become attached to it and sold the Rigby .416 as a result is laughable... it is like comparing chalk and cheese."

Here's the link to the AR discussion.

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1411043/m/9561097831/p/1

Good deal Rev. Learn something new every day....

"...like comparing chalk and cheese." I heed to remember that.

Best means different things to different people, but after 30-some years of hunting with it, my pre-64 is my favorite HUNTING rifle by a good margin, and I really like me some Mausers.

Well, I always kinda liked that Winchester SS Extreme Weather so I'll have to order one up in 7 WSM. Might as well order an Edge stock now to beat the Christmas rush............

Sounds like a good idea if you are gonna hunt 'water' deer!

....must have crack in the drinking water over there.

As I recall, David was quite enthused about the new shotguns and the Mark V plastic shell as well.

Dave did have a very nice double rifle too.

Professional Hunter David Ommanney with new pushfeed (pre-production stock) Model 70 African, chambered for 458 WIN MAG, in Tanganyika - 1963.

But you gotta admit, it is a nice hat.

Thats the M70 that developed such a reputation for breaking at the wrist.....


As I remember, Ommaney took quite a lacing from a leopard after his stint with Winchester.

Must have been using one of those push-fed M70's

And lion.

The leopard mauling was in the late 50's. Also I've read that pre64's might have been used for some of the killing and the new guns swapped in for the photo shoot. At least thats what one Alaskan guide who took Ommaney hunting up here claimed happened on a brown bear.

If I was gonna hunt Africa as a Pro....it would be with what Peter Hathaway Capstick used...a .470 Evans....with irons!!

I've heard rumors that Capstick used a Smith-Corona typewriter for most of his killing, but I don't know for sure. His stuff is very entertaining, real or not.

Old Jack once said that some folks don't seem to be able to step outside their tent without being charged by something, but I'm not sure if that was a general statement or if he had someone in mind.

Now that it's been brought up, I remember the Ommanney ads. I was blissfully ignorant of the pre- and post- hoopla at the time.

I looked at the new Winchesters in 1964 and 1965, and I read the Winchester ads featuring this PH. The quick conclusion was he will lie for enough money.

Pappy348,

Though Capstick did have a PH license, apparently he got most of the stories he published while working as a bartender in bars PH's frequented. I have hunted with several far more experienced PH's than Capstick, and none of them have had nearly as many close calls as PHC reported in just his first book.

None of them resent Capstick, since his books did more for the safari business as anything published during the same period. But the consensus is that he was more of a good semi-fiction writer than anything else.