Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa TZ Game Scout rifles

For those whom have been blessed with hunting in Tanzania what name brand/caliber rifle and it's condition did the Game Scout carry?
On a recent hunt to the Selous our assigned Scout,Saidi, carried what at first glimpse was a canoe paddle that had been used as a spade hanging from his shoulder by a strip of bark. Upon closer inspection it was agreeded among us it was a Turkish Mauser rebarreled to 458WM.
Saidi told us he had carried it for nearly 40 years. I doubt it had been serviced or cleaned in that entire time as well. Though when a lioness got snotty with us it did fire without exploding in the PH's hands but the spring was so worn it wouldn't lift another round to be chambered.

In Zambia our Game Scout carried a AK 47 which he shot into the air in full auto with joy after I took a sable after a hard hunt. In Zambia, the Game Scouts do more antipoaching activity than game stopping. That is the job of the PH.

In Tanzania, Our Game Scout last year had an old Mauser, as you describe.

Tanzanian GS Joseph carried a Model 70 375 H&H Magnum that had a cracked wrist that had been home repaired. He also carried the scars of a lions bite on the back of his scalp that occured while he was emptying his bladder.
Zambian GS had a AK.

As MoccasinJoe stated,the game scout who accompanied us in Tanzania was carrying a Turkish model '98 Mauser,converted to .458 Winchester.The stock was barely modified from military configuration.The metal was not rusty,but was certainly completely dark brown.The sling was crudely fashioned from twisted dried grass.Sights were military.He carried the same two cartridges for god knows how long.They appeared to be solids, and were almost black from constant handling and jingling around in his pocket.I was almost surprised when Our PH used it to fire in the air and it actually went off.
At that point the action all but locked up.When the PH finally got the action open,the magazine spring was too weak to raise the next cartridge up.MJ had to give him another few cartridges for the return trip in case they encountered the lions again.The whole set up was little more than a badge of office.

I've posted this photo elsewhere, but it brings back such fond memories that I'll jump at the opportunity to post it again here.
Juma, our Game Scout in TZ, carried an old Mauser in 404 Jeffery. He had one round of ammo that he had carried for years. The bullet was pushed so far into the case that there was a big gap between the neck and the olgive of the bullet.

Here's my buddy:

Beautiful . . . .
BMT

Hey,his was a gem compared to the one our guy was carrying.Still has some blue,butpad,sporter sights,sling swivels and leather sling,the bolt's been worked on,even a pistol grip.
At the prices that ammo goes for,I'm not surprised that they each carry only one or two old rounds for years.More than one of these guys has been suspected of selling their ammo to poachers.

Our Scout in TZ last year carried an old Parker Hale in 30.06. It had a broken extractor, so he carried a stick to remove the shell casing if he had to shoot. I couldn't believe it. Upon our return I sent him an extractor.

Our guy in TZ in '01 carried a Flaig's Mauster in .375 H&H, but had no ammo for it! Last year, GS Daviess carried a sporterized SMLE with PMP ammo. Neither rifle looked like it had been cleaned in years.

Quite a different situation in Zim, I suppose because the bush war was a relatively recent occurrence.
The one scout we were with carried an Avtomat Kalashnikova with a full 30 rnd mag, the other a Fusil Automatique Leger with full 20 rnd mag.
Both were in good+ condition considering their use as military pieces.

But they were mainly to solve 2 legged problems, not to stop a buff.

SOS