Affordable Elephant Gun?

[sixgunnin]

Anyone know of an affordable elephant gun option under about $1,000? I'm thinking something upwards of 6000 foot pounds. Wouldn't have to be a bolt action, but that would be pretty nice.

Thinking something along the lines of the 500 Jeffery, 500 nitro, .458 Lott. I figure with casting my own bullets I could reload rounds for less than twenty cents.

Probably will never shoot at elephants, just wanting to lob really big chunks of lead around

[FITASC]

That's funny right there......

[Rob228]

This is about as close as you are going to get:

https://ruger.com/products/HawkeyeAfrican/models.html

Looking at about 5k foot pounds of energy.

[jmr40]

Street price on the Ruger should be about $1000 +/- $100. The 375 Ruger or 375 H&H would do just fine.

Another option

http://www.weatherby.com/products/ri...rd-safari.html

And probably the cheapest option

http://www.weatherby.com/products/ri...c-375-h-h.html

There is always the used market.

Probably will never shoot at elephants, just wanting to lob really big chunks of lead around

Then you want this:

https://www.marlinfirearms.com/lever...-1895-big-bore

[CalmerThanYou]

Better price in a case of Ben-Gay and a chiropractor.

[FITASC]

More like an ophthalmologist for the detached retinas...............

I figure with casting my own bullets I could reload rounds for less than twenty cents.

About $5+ /empty brass case, the lead alone will be more than .30, let alone the cost for primer and powder.........sure smells like fish.......

[zxcvbob]

A Browning or Winchester 1886 in .45-70 is pretty close. And it's a good cartridge for big cast bullets. Don't know if you can find a decent one under $1000, though.

[ThomasT]

Probably will never shoot at elephants, just wanting to lob really big chunks of lead around

Just buy a large bore muzzle loader. A .58 caliber or a smoothbore musket in 12 gauge. There are lots of way to shoot big chunks of lead.

[Dufus]

I got my Weatherby 460 for $1000 a few years ago.

Shop around and you might get lucky.

I shoot cast out of my 375 H&H and the 460, but it shure as hell ain't 20 cents.

The powder alone will run 50 cents.

[sixgunnin]

Just buy a large bore muzzle loader. A .58 caliber or a smoothbore musket in 12 gauge. There are lots of way to shoot big chunks of lead.

Oh, forgot to mention, I also want them to be going really fast

[COSteve]

Originally Posted by sixgunnin

Thinking something along the lines of the 500 Jeffery, 500 nitro, .458 Lott. I figure with casting my own bullets I could reload rounds for less than twenty cents.

Probably will never shoot at elephants, just wanting to lob really big chunks of lead around

That's hysterical!!! The empty brass will likely cost you $5-$10 per round, the powder (90 to 110grns per rd) say even 100grns at $30/lb will cost likely about 45¢ per rd, and primers (Fed GM215M) are what, 3.5¢ per rd. So, on the cheap side, you've got $5.50 in brass, powder, and primer per rd without a bullet or reloading dies, etc., to load it.

[sixgunnin]

About $5+ /empty brass case, the lead alone will be more than .30, let alone the cost for primer and powder.........sure smells like fish.......

Ok. Sounds like I might have stretched that one a little bit

[Drm50]

None of the above are "really" fast, with jackets. With cast a good bit slower.
458Win are fairly common used at gun shows for under $1K. 375H&H which is
a lot more useful caliber for most people usually bring more. Those big English
cartridges were never made in cheap guns. The cheapest would be a #1 Ruger
which are not really cheap.

[sixgunnin]

And probably the cheapest option

http://www.weatherby.com/products/ri...c-375-h-h.html

That is about what I am looking for, I will do some more research on the 375, think I might like that though. Might be easier to find brass for that too

Thank you for the help!

[TXAZ]

Why not consider a .50 BMG? 12,000 ft lbs. There are a few around. Serbu and LAR make both make single shot .50 BMG’s around $1K.

[Pathfinder45]

If you get one, it will likely lose its charm in the first box of ammo fired.

[Model12Win]

Just get an NEF single shot rifled slug gun and shoot Lightfields.

[Nunya53]

Here you go....

https://www.gunbroker.com/Bolt-Actio...303&ca=5000145

or this one...it's a "must have" https://www.gunbroker.com/item/785826528

Jerry

[Nunya53]

In all seriousness you can pick up a Winchester Alaskan for about $1300 or an African for about $1400...depends on what you consider "affordable". To me, that is affordable, for some that is sky high and for others that is chump change. I don't know you or your situation.....

Jerry

[briandg]

At one time you could pretty easily pick up a .458 or .375 magnum at a local place because men bought them as trophies. Not to hunt, it was a matter of pride that they owned the ultimate gun. My father in law had one. So, these things would sit in cases and sell for a small return decades later.

[Cheapshooter]

375 Ruger will handle anything that walks the earth. A good friend that has been hunting in Africa for more than ten years was recently fortunate enough to be drawn for a cull elephant. Although he has both a 375 H&H and 375 Ruger, along with a 450 Nitro double he did not have time for the aperwork to bring his own rifle. He used tge outfitters CZ in 375 H&H which worked flawlessly.
Now if you really want "afordable" his 375 Ruger chambered Mosberg Patriot was less than $400. He says it actually shoots better than a custom built Remington 700 in 375 H&H that cost him three times or more.

[FITASC]

Just get an NEF single shot rifled slug gun and shoot Lightfields.

LOL, that will surely be close......

https://youtu.be/4xglt35uWSw

[taylorce1]

How about a bolt action cartridge that pretty much duplicates the old .450/400 Nitro Express ballistics? It's about 2000 ft-lbs shy of your 6000 ft-lb goal, but it does launch a 400 grain projectile at 2000-2100 fps and is made from really easy to find brass. If that sounds appealing to you then do what my buddy did and make a .400 Whelen. You could do it for under $1000 by finding an old Rem M700 .30-06 or .270, send it off to JES Reboring and have it cut rifled to .411 diamter, and if necessary have it set back and chamber recut. If you do the last part try to find a reamer using Michale Petrov's specifications.

Here is how his rifle is shooting.

Originally Posted by Snellstrom

[Wyosmith]

I have owned a numebr of 458s in the past. With the right barrel the 458 is an excellent caliber for cast bullets. BUT going "really fast" with cast bullet is a dream that never seemed to work out. About 2300 seems to be the top velocity thresh-hold I have ever seen with really good accuracy from cast bullets. Every now and then I found a load in a 30-06 that would do 1.5 MOA at around 2450 to 2500, but faster never worked out (for me anyway)

However with "elephant weight bullets" (450 to 500 grains) you will not exceed that level anyway.

For energy, the 5000 FT LB level is easy to find with the 458 and the 458 Lott. Getting to 6000 FT LB for under $1000 is highly unlikely. You can't get to that level with cast 45 cals in my experience and that means going to a larger bore, usually a wildcat 47 cal or a 505 Gibbs or 500 Jeffery. You go from about $850 to $1000 in the 5000 FT LB level to about $3000 at the 6000+ level.

[briandg]

How about a bolt action cartridge that pretty much duplicates the old .450/400 Nitro Express ballistics? It's about 2000 ft-lbs shy of your 6000 ft-lb goal, but it does launch a 400 grain projectile at 2000-2100 fps and is made from really easy to find brass. If that sounds appealing to you then do what my buddy did and make a .400 Whelen. You could do it for under $1000 by finding an old Rem M700 .30-06 or .270, send it off to JES Reboring and have it cut rifled to .411 diamter, and if necessary have it set back and chamber recut. If you do the last part try to find a reamer using Michale Petrov's specifications.

Colonel Whelen asserted the very small remaining portion of the .30-06's 17° 30′ angled shoulder was likely to cause potentially dangerous headspace difficulties

This was taken from wikipedia, I read the very same thing in james howe's books, it failed to gain popularity at the time. Back when extremely precise work and home gunsmiths this would have posed a problem. At the time, they had the rimmed .405 winchester, this was redundant and not worth the trouble.