Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa On Safari in Africa in 1980

Here are a few original photographs that I digitized by scanning them nearly 20 years ago now. They are pictures of my friend that went to Africa after he went to law school in Washington State. Look closely, he took that Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Leopard as well as other African animals with a Winchester Model 1895 take-down model in TR's favorite Big Medicine .405 WCF. He once told me back in the 1990s that he acquired the rifle, round trip tickets to Africa, hunting licenses, taxidermy for several large animal and shipping back to the USA for under $10,000 USD. Of course it was a different time back then and he grew up reading George Leonard Herter's Book, The Truth About Today's Hunting in Africa and How to Go On Safari for $690.

He said the toughest part of going was ammunition. Getting brass, loading information with current powders as well as solid bullets were not readily available. A letter to Fred Barnes got sample bullets and a letter in Fred's hand of his recommended loading data. Reloading was pretty much the only way.

The PH told him it was the first lever action in Africa since Theodore and Kermit were there in 1909/1910.

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Wow. That’s awesome. Thx for sharing.

Does your friend still hunt? Did he ever go back to hunt there again?

Ben

Wow, if we could only turn back time.

Sadly he passed away over a decade ago and it was his only trip there. Near 6'10" tall, the animals seem dwarfed next to him. I have more photographs from his trip and if I ever figure out how to retrieve those from my formerly working Pentium 4 computer I will post more.

If you look closely at the elephant photograph you can see the optional peep sight that mounts on the top of the rear part of the bolt of the 1895.

$10K went a lot farther back then.

Over the top cool!

This is great stuff. Thanks for sharing.

This is a great post!

Thank you.

Before he decided to get the Winchester 1895 in .405 WCF he had Marlin lever action rifles in .444 and .45/70. He concluded the cartridges couldn't develop enough energy and be safe in those rifles. Solid bullets were available in .45, but, not available in .444. For those that will wonder, the rifles did not come apart during his experiments developing loads for the Marlins, although extraction did get a bit sticky at times.

Great story and an African "classic" rifle/cartridge. I say that due primarily to the T. Roosevelt and his son Kermit's trip and use there.

My Deceased buddy's Dad went to Africa in 1980 and spent a year there hunting, killing everything but an elephant, He smuggled his Rhino mount back into Tx through Mexico. The ranch house is full of mounts, some were stolen from the house he had here in Corpus back in the early 90s though.

That's very cool. I hope the rifle is still in good hands and in working order.

TR's book, African Game Trails, introduced him & myself to that rifle/cartridge combination. Thankfully, Hornady made some .405 ammo to supply the demand of the reproduction rifles that Winchester was selling. I remember trying to size some brass that he got from a maker in Australia back in the 1990s that was not drawn but turned if I remember correctly, the wall thickness of those cases were very thick and I could not force them through a sizing die screwed into my RCBS Rocker Press with an extra long handle on it. The Hornady brass went through the sizing die without a problem.

AKwolverine,

Thank you for getting the photographs to show in the thread without needing to click the link. I am getting to an age where I am starting to think I won't live long enough to figure out how to do it right!

It is in both cases.

I thought there might be a few of you fellows that might appreciate a little African hunting history. I am glad you are enjoying it!

Too, bad about the mounts being stolen. W.D.M. Bell's, The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter and his predecessor, F.C. Selous', A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa should be required reading for anyone going to Africa to hunt with camera or gun. When reading Selous' account make notes when he talks of how many days he traveled without water ... a tough fellow.

That is a nice maybe unattainable buff today but probably less of a trophy back then.

Damn cool!

That Buffalo once was on the wall in his law office, it is a beautiful mount.

And modern hunters will find it hard to believe he shot a leopard with an iron sighted rifle

Do you know what it measured?

Hunting is a game that is not played well if there is no risk to both participants.

An interesting book that many of my septuagenarian compadres may have read from the Outdoor Life Book Club titled, A SPORTING CHANCE: Unusual methods of hunting by Daniel Pratt Mannix. It was published in the mid 1960s (I still have my copy) and I know my friend had it in his outdoor sporting library. I also know he was a TR fan and I suspect if Art Savage had an African caliber with a straight walled case in the Model 99 that was readily available he may have gone that route, but, I cannot say for certain. I do know he was target fixated on taking a lever action to Africa and I do not believe that he ever considered anything else. But when he found an advertisement for the Winchester 1895 take-down model in .405 WCF in the SHOTGUN NEWS years ago the die was cast and the ammunition search was on. So while big game hunting in Africa was the goal there were many other hunts going on in preparation for the trip.

I do not know if it was ever measured, but, I will call his brother who also hunts and may know if it was measured and any details about it. I will report back here either way.

A text message received this morning from his brother indicates no knowledge or information of the Cape Buffalo measurements.