Anyone out there shooting the .600N.E.? I was at Euroguns in Houston looking for a new rifle for myself and they have a Heym 88B Jumbo due in July.I was kinda thinking this would make a nice b-day present to myself.

Check on accurate reloading in the Big Bore group. There are some users there.

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/groupee/forums/a/frm/f/4711043

a 577 is a much better caliber for penetration and general performance
Jack

TRUSTFUND I have sent a Priv Mess to you.

Trustfundhaveing thing you want is a nice thing! However, sometimes we want things we are not prepared to handle! In most cases the 600NE double rifle is one of those thing we thought we wanted, till we got it! You can believe me, a 600NE double rifle is a thing that is hard to get rid of, if it turns out it wasn't what you thought! A much better choice would be the Heym chambered for 450NE 3/14", 500/416, 470NE, or 500NE, at about half the cost, and twice the utility.

Of course if your sure you want a 600NE the Heym is one of the best made, OFF THE SHELF, doubles you can buy!

Don't forget this: http://www.golfjoy.com/Bag_Boy/Golf_Carts.htm
and a gun boy to pull it!

Hullo! I noticed your post...You might want to acquire a .460 Weatherby Magnum at the same time, or the 600 alone is useless unless you intend to use it just for a plinker.Here is some useful info if you take the plunge though. A .600 is a last resort gun, really, almost exclusive to elephant killing. An African write up on the subject said that elephants have extremely low blood perssure, so 4 penetrating rounds (bolt action capacity for .40 and up calibre rifles generally) is just a irritator to them, since they can't bleed out in time for you to get away. Their brains are small, and well protected in a styrofoam-like skull (very thick, though slightly spongy), are impossible to hit even after penetration issues are addressed. The solution? Hit them with a round that will separate their brainstems from their brains no matter where on the head it hits them via shock (.600. 6, 8 and 4 bore rifles were used for this. This may not kill them, but it will drop them (or bring them to a skidding, abbreviated charge) and allow you to retreat and regroup, assess what type of medical help you need and prepare yourself for the pain of a cracked or broken collar bone, nerve damage, and finger numbness after the adrenaline rush wears off.

Are you serious?

Try telling this to the the hundreds of ex-pat Brits and Europeans who shot elephants 'professionally' for their ivory between the turn of the previous century and the second war, using the brain-shot pretty-well exclusively! Several of them wrote about it, WDM Bell most notably. Get yourself a library-card, Mark, and start doing some homework!

John Taylor, Karl Larsen, Hans Schomburgk, John (Pondoro) Taylor. You'll find them in the biographies section, but may have to grab a German dictionary for some of the stuff. I can kill anything with a .303 British, if it stands still long enough, and plenty of pre-1980 poachers will say the same. Plus, if they didn't have the luxury of a back-up (i.e. .600 or 8, 6, or 4 bore) piece, pelvic shots were the key, not brain shots-they can't charge if they've got no back legs that work.

This is easily the biggest crock I've ever read on the internet. Elephant are taken with brain shots every day. It's still the preferred method, especially in culls. Long for caliber full nickel jacket round nose solids solved the "penetration issue" well over 100 years ago even for small bore rifles like the .256 Mannlicher and the .275 Mauser. Lots of famous early hunters like Bell, Percival, Foran, Melland, etc. would not have lived to tell the tale had it not worked reliably.

The .577s and .600s were too specialized to have much utility back when, let alone today. Guys like Jim Sutherland and Karl Larsen, who used them almost exclusively, were the exception, not the rule. Even Taylor, who concentrated almost exclusively on elephant and briefly used rifles in both calibers, admitted that they were just too specialized for him to justify keeping one around. In the end, he recommended the .400, and only suggested the .465 for the man who needed a boost to his confidence. You'll get a lot more use out of a double rifle in that range of caliber. Today, most of the .577 and .600 rifles that see use in Africa are in the hands of visiting sportsmen, not PHs.

If you just want a .600, that's a good enough reason to get one. If you want a Heym, I'd suggest Heym USA in Dallas. I'm not impressed with Eurogun's prices.
-------------------------------------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

:D UMMMMMMMMMM HUHHHHHHHHHHH! A full crock, it is!

It's so obviously a crock, I just assumed it was tongue in cheek. Maybe I was wrong.
If brain shots on elephant didn't work I wouldn't be here to type this.
Pete

"that will separate their brainstems from their brains no matter where on the head it hits them via shock"

Thats an interesting theory. What a load.

"If it is a herd of pachyderms that needs to be thinned, use the long 160 grain bullet. 160 grain RN solids (loaded in the somewhat smaller 6.5x54 Mannlicher cartridge) are what the famous British ivory hunter WDM Bell used to kill the many of the 1000 or so elephants he shot in East Africa." (From an Article called Sensible Rifle Cartridges)

I am sure he didn't shoot them in the butt.

JC(AL)

P.S.: He also used a "larger" 7x57 Mauser:"He appreciated the light recoil, accuracy, and deep penetration of the 175 grain FMJ 7mm bullet, and felt that the combination made a superb cartridge for executing elephants with precisely placed brain shots."