...would be the .577 Nitro Express, and you can probably guess why...

BWAAHAHAHAHA, it was my pleasure Tex, I have a doubled gallon plastic bag of 100 rounds I reloaded sometime back when I thought I'd get to go pig hunt with you guys this Spring, I was gonna bring it just for YOU!

It WAS a privilege to shoot it, a wonderful rifle. Cured me of wanting one, however!

Is 416 Rigby even close?

I would be scared to fire it

Not even remotely close.

Uummmmmm...what is "remotely close?"

tex n cal,

If you ever get a chance, try the .600 Nitro Express....

An African hunter (I forget who) once was asked why he used a 600 nitro express. He replied, because they don't make a bloody 700 nitro express.

As I told a friend not long after shooting the .577, if an elephant was charging me, and the .577 was laying in front of me, I'd have to think about it...

so no to the .600. I have shot .458's off the bench, and can handle them fine. Would like to have a .416 Rigby at some point. I think it was JA Hunter who said the .500 Nitro was his limit, and I suspect it's mine as well!

I've never fired anything like the .577. Biggest I have owned and fired was a 416 Rigby and a 378 Wby. Those kicked enough for me, thank you very much.

LOL!

I have done .416 Taylor, .416 Rigby and .458 Lott, both from the bench and off hand.

Those were enough for me. I don't even own them anymore since my Cape Buffalo.

donsm70

Absolutely correct, the 600 and even 700 Nitros pale in comparison to my 8 Bore black powder rifle.

IIRC, a 10lb rifle firing 400 grs black powder under an 825 gr round ball at 1450 fps has 190 ft. lbs free recoil!

That old heifer really boots fully loaded, the 300 gr charge is plenty enough for me or anything I'd ever hunt with it.

10 or so years ago a buddy showed up here with a Ruger #1 in 458 Lott asking if I could help him zero it.

He had a new Leupold scope and 4 boxes of ammo, that Lott really boots from the bench Don.

Gunner I loved shooting both of them

Hey Bea, I was pleased to find 30 Woodleigh 750 gr softs and 30 solids going through my load bench awhile back, those came with the rifle and I had forgot about them, I loaded them up with some 40 or so rounds I already had loaded.

We need to have another pig hunt in Tennessee so's we can shoot em up buddy.

I would like that

You bet, you could bring all your new guns for us too see and shoot, bet you've built 10 damn guns since we hunted Tennessee.

Call me a wuss, and that's OK. My .375 H&H is more than enough for me, and it's 9 1/2# with a Decelerator pad. Never did care for recoil. That's why I have so many 7x57s and smaller.

I have Ruger #1's in .458 mag and .475 Turnbull. The Turnbull has 95% of the .458's case capacity, so it is basically a 7½ lb .470 Nitro (less scope).

One of these days I think I'll get a nice .375 #1 and have it rebored to .416. It should be fairly light and handy

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.

You are no wuss, some like me are just kinda thick-headed.

Ever run up and slap a headlock on a 600lb steer just too see what happens?

DUH, of course not, You're the nurse that works on guys like me.

Forgot I was replying to a Nurse there for a sec.

Sounds like a nice carry rig Tex, if you could lay in a big stash of the old Speer 350 gr hot-cores you be set with a nice lighter weight bullet too, have read about men using that bullet for Elk.

.500 NE double Merkel is my biggest so far. I was helping a good bud get ready for Africa. We were shooting 570 gr. at 2,150 fps.

It was a big push back with barrels in the air after each shot, not a severe slap. I'm thinking that gun was probably 10-11 pounds or so. I was pleased at how well I could control that big gun.

If you guys think you can keep up with gunner...

Hmmm...

His eyes dilate and he gets to salivating when those REALLY big boomers are brought out...

He gets excited just talking about them...

DF

My hats off to you gentlemen who will shoot one of the big guns from the bench. The older I get, and especially since my heart surgery, I don't even shoot my Ruger UL 270 much anymore.

It reminds me of the crusty ol' gunsmith in my hometown (he's now deceased). Told me about 3 men who came to him wanting him to re-chamber their handguns to a 454 Casull. He told them he would if they bought the reamer, which they did. Apparently they weren't feeling as froggy when it came down to crunch time so they brought him one of the guns to try out 1st. He re-chambered/re-bored (can't remember what all he had to do to it) the gun and the 3 guys came and picked it up. He guessed that satisfied their thirst for a big bore handgun as he never saw them again.

One last thing from you men who have hunted the dangerous game with the big bores. Do you feel the recoil when you pull the trigger on one of them? Those of us who shoot game such as a whitetail know that there is no felt recoil whenever we shoot at game, but wondering if that changes as the bore gets larger.

Same thing with African game...all attention is focused on the animal. Gunner's 577 was mine at one time, a great double in my favorite caliber. I did own a 600 NE double as well, but it was too heavy at 16 lbs to hunt with, and I don't think they create the velocity needed to assure penetration with a .624" bullet. The 577 is my favorite, for sure.

TFF.

Compare a .243 to a .300 or .338 mag, in comparable weight rifles.

The .416 is a nice shooting rig; a good bit there but not bad. The .577? Um....

Is that the one from a few years ago in Tennessee?

If so, I think I have that video.

Pictured here:

The biggest I've shot was a 505 Gibbs after 15 rounds I was getting a head ache.

LINK

No doubt some do-gooders wil want them re-established in all of their historic range.

LOL, sounds like you're describing Hubel458, now he shoots the really big boomers, I'll just sit my spike buck ass down over here out of the way somewhere.

I can imagine the hell out of that JWP, 15 505's from the bench would make a man a little soupy.

15 505s? From a bench?

I like me more than that.

The worst I ever fired were .460 and .378 Wby; neither braked, neither scoped. The .460 just knocked me backwards. The .378 hit so hard and fast I could not get out of the way. The .460 would be like getting hit by Foreman; just an irresistible force. The .378? Tyson; just a lightening bolt. Never again; either of them.

Yes, the [15] 505's from the bench belong to JWP, not me.

I've had both the big WBY's you speak of, the 378 WAS and IS the rudest most ill mannered cartridge I've ever fired, my 505 is/will be relegated to iron sight shooting at couch sized animals from 25 yards in, it has killed two good rifle scopes.

The first shot with the .460 just knocked me backwards. As did the next two.

The first shot with the .378 rung my bell so hard, I thought I'd screwed up and not held it tight or something. The next one proved I was doing what I was supposed to. The third one had my vision blurry.

The only thing close to that is a non-backboard, non-ported Mossberg 835 firing 3 1/2" max turkey loads. Those are just NASTY.

Hard recoil motivates me....

I doubled my 9.3x74 once. 572 grains total at 2250...in an 8# double all up.

Came back, busted my shooting glasses and rang my bell proper good.

I came the conclusion proper quick: .375 H&H is my comfort tolerance.

Big guns are okay, after awhile all the fun is gone.

That really is a great rifle Biebs, glad you sent her my way Buddy, for my limited knowledge, and all things big bore double considered, I don't believe the 577 can be beat, quicker follow up shot than the really big doubles and penetrates into next week with more than enough bullet diameter.

I "HAD" one of those Mossbergs too, 6.5lbs of pure mule kick with the 3.5" 2-1/4 ounce turkey magnums, they may as well have glued a brick to the buttstock instead of that pad they used.

Ya, kinda like getting sucker punched, flicks on your GO switch for sure.

At one time I had a .375 H&H and a 10 gauge. That's the biggest I've ever shot and after two heart surgeries in the last three months it will remain that way.

I shot a Texas Whitetail (*about 150#) with my .375 H&H. I loaded a Nosler 300gr. Partition to about 2,500 fps.

I don't recall feeling the recoil but I do recall that when I came out of recoil the deer was nowhere to be seen. (*it went straight down and never kicked). Took me 20 minutes to find it in the tall grass of Texas.