4 Bore Rifles - Magnum of Magnums

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 9/12/2019 | J Dickson

[w1n1]

'Think artillery' when it comes to the 4-bore double rifles of Austrian gunmaker Peter Hofer. - The long, illustrious history of the 4-gauge rifle goes back to the days of the muzzleloaders first employed against the pachyderms of India and Africa. These guns reached perfection with the advent of the breech-loading cartridge guns.
The standard load was 14 drams of black powder behind a 1,882-grain slug, which would give an approximate velocity of 1,200 to 1,400 feet per second. The immense unbridled power of a shoulder gun firing the maximum load for a ship's swivel cannon generated 300 pounds of recoil energy in a 22-pound rifle. For the record, a ship's swivel cannon larger than 4-bore size will normally tear itself out of the ship’s railing on firing.

To call the 4-bore rifle a cannon is no understatement. Its long rifled barrel actually makes it more powerful than the ship’s swivel cannon. The necessity of these monsters was driven by the inability of smallbore black powder rifles of the day to deal with the enormous beasts of India and Africa. In those days the big game had not yet learned the fear of the white hunter and attacks by big game while traversing thick cover could be expected.

Both 12-bore and 10-bore rifles were tried and found wanting on elephants and rhino, the latter of which might charge as a matter of policy upon being disturbed. There was also Africa's Cape buffalo and Asia's gaur, the largest of all the wild bovines, a monster that makes the Cape buffalo look like a runt in comparison. Only the 8-gauge and the 4-gauge proved up to the task of reliably stopping them under the worst conditions.

The 8-gauge guns with 200 pounds of recoil energy in an 18-pound rifle proved the most popular, as they were the most gun that many men could effectively use. For those who were man enough to handle them, the 4-gauge was the logical choice. It is worth noting that nothing has ever come close to the stopping power of the 8- and 4-gauge guns, regardless of the energy figures of high-velocity smokeless cartridges bandied about. When facing a charge from the largest and most dangerous game on Earth in thick cover at a range of just a few feet, you don’t want anything else. Trying to substitute smaller calibers with high velocity and paper energy figures for big heavy bullets on big game at close range has produced a long line of tombstones continuing down to the present day. Size does matter. Read the rest of 4 bore rifle.

[duckman]

How difficult is it to get a 4 Bore? I have a rather large squirrel in my backyard!

[snoringbear]

I believe the 4 and 8 gauge shotgun versions (smooth bore) were sometimes referred to as punt guns. Often, were mounted or affixed in the bow of a skiff. Used for duck hunting. Btw, in case you’re wondering how gauge is calculated (only the Brits could come up with this); start with a one pound sphere of lead. The diameter of this sphere equals 1 gauge. Ok, let’s melt this 1lb sphere and divide it into two equal spheres of lead. The diameter of these spheres equals the diameter of a 2 gauge. Alright, I’ll take it one step further to ensure it’s understood. Let’s melt our 1lb lead sphere and pour it into four equal spheres. The diameter of these spheres equals the diameter of a 4 gauge. Btw #2; if you’re wondering how the .410 shotgun fits into this calculation; it doesn’t. .410 is actually the caliber, expressed in thousands of an inch. As far as I know it the only shotgun barrel size not expressed using gauge. That’s it 🥴....

[central_va]

Get one of these:

[imardmd1]

OUCH!

[eartick]

How difficult. For me it would be coming up with the million dollars to own it.

[eartick]

The punt guns were actually up to 2” in bore and usually starting at 1 1/2”.

[Candor7]

I’ll simply take a 45-70 Henry Rifle any day. The gun will take custom loaded 45-100 up to .45 x 120 extended brass cartridges.

[dljordan]

I remember those!

[dfwgator]

“It shoots through schools!”

[Anti-Bubba182]

The 10 most expensive guns in the world

"Price: He does not like to discuss price but Bloomberg Businessweek reports the range as $200,000 to $500,000. What Hofer calls his “Mega guns” may cost more than £1 million."

Wow!

[real saxophonist]

So I looked up 'magnum of magnums' to see where you stole this from, and the first hit I get is Trojan Magnum condoms.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[TnTnTn]

A single shot 4 bore shouldn’t cost over 2-3 grand...

[Seruzawa]

Where did this guy steal this article from?

[Texas Fossil]

Today:

50BMG?

http://www.anzioironworks.com/Anzio_single_shot_50.htm

also a 20mm version

http://www.anzioironworks.com/20MM-TAKE-DOWN-RIFLE.htm

[JoeFromSidney]

Back in 1949, on a Naval Reserve training cruise, I learned how to fire, field-strip, and clean a 20-mm anti-aircraft gun. I imagine those things have long since been replaced, but we did well with them shooting at towed target sleeves. Noisy, but lots of fun.

[Eagles6]

At that price I’ll take 2 plus 1,000 rds for each.

[Texas Fossil]

Yep, my father will soon be 93, he was an armorer for a time during WWII. He worked on Bofors and Quad 50’s.

It is hard to imagine shooting a 20mm “rifle”.

But the Kurds have something similar in Syria. They call them Zagros (named after a moutain range). They are normally 50 caliber or 12.7MM. It is a hoot to see one of their women packing one of them. They are tough, but good people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eZ4MwgViQI

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/07/15/peshmerga-zagros-rifles-actually-accurate/

[Paal Gulli]

More American Shooting Urinal pap. A black powder 4-bore has about the same ME as a .375 Chey-Tac, less than a .416 Barret or .50 BMG. And none of those is a “magnum.”