doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com My African bird hunt

That's a wonderful trip, looks like the dogs had a good time as well!!...thanks for posting

CJ

Very good!

I'm looking forward to our bird hunting safari - 19th - 31st August in the Free State for the third year running. My old 1970 Thompson will be making her fourth trip to Africa!

Those photos of yours definitely got the juices flowing. can't wait!

Please post photos after you are finished! I booked again for 2013. I will be going to Norway next summer for salmon and to visit my wife's parents, so I won't be able to go back until then. Have you taken Crested Guinea fowl? Any other partridge species?

Treblig,
If you stay at Afton Guest House, Annalise can take care of the gun permit for you. They will meet and greet at OR Tambo airport and have the permit in hand. There is no real reason to take shells with you. 12 g shells are easy enough to get there for not much more than here.

I am sure many will frown at my choice for guns . I took my CZ Bobwhite in 12ga for waterfowl and my S&W Elite 20ga for the upland birds. I have nicer guns such an AyA, Ithaca and a Dickson but I use the two Turkish guns for my main hunting guns since I travel a lot. I don't have to worry about damage, etc while traveling with them. I know many look down on the Turk guns but they seem to either be built well or like crap. My old CZ has had well in excess of 10,000 rounds through it without a hiccup and I trust it totally for a trip like this. The S&W was a highly overlooked gun that has also proven to be bulletproof. Actually the S&W is a joy to carry and shoot for a modern gun. I just purchased a 12ga clone of it last weekend and it will replace the CZ since the gun is lighter and has ejectors. Both guns can shoot steel shot as well and heavy shells if that is all I can find while on the road. My friends brought Beretta, Weatherby and S&W guns. You are only allowed 2 shotguns and each must be a different gauge.

We used the Afton Guest House to do the SAP 540 form for preapproval prior to getting there. Greg did have a slight issue due to at the last minute he had to swap guns out due to his Beretta had to go in to the smith. The guest house sent the wrong paperwork with the guy they sent to pick us up. Luckily Greg brought a copy of the partially filled out form he had sent the guest house. The police used that and he was good to go in about 20 minutes.

As far as shells go we purchased them over there. We shot Imperial brand shells which were poor quality compared to something like B&P but they went bang each time I pulled the trigger. Next time I am going to see if I can find some better shells.

Cost was around 6500/person including airfare and tips.

Reading some of these shotgun boards, those Turkish built guns are enjoying some high praise from people that use them hard, such as yourself. That much praise from that many different people that use them can't be discounted or ignored anymore.
Thanks again for that great information and the great post!!!

Very nice trip and photos.

We went into town to a gunshop and found British Eley shells. Our hunt was an adjunct to the Plains Game hunt we booked so no dogs. Still had a heck of a good time though. The PH had a gun marked with a brand something like Vaal but it is a dead ringer for a Beretta. I am certain it was a Beretta 687 non ejector but could not find Beretta markings anywhere on it. It was Brescia marked and Italian prooved.

Very nice. The country looks just like our chuckar country in Utah.
I like your gun choice, something serviceable instead of a 120 year gun made by some British company that 1 out of 10 people have heard of.

Not sure what point your are trying to make IM.

Are you suggesting my gun is not serviceable because the name is not well known?

Surely you have ben around here long enough to have learned better than that?

wburns, I shot crested guineas in Botswana in 2007 (with the unserviceable no-name antique). We are off for ten days and normally get a bag of about 30 head walked up to two Guns in the morning before heading off to shoot pigeons while the sun is high - knock of 200 shell by 16.30 and then fresh pointers, more francolin and guineas and finally red and yellow bill teal as it gets dark.

By then my old nail will, of course, have fallen apart and need re-building overnight.