March 1962 - Guns Magazine

SHOOTING ACCESSORIES
RELOADING EQUIPMENT
FREELAND
.30 Cal. Kit
$13.50
48" RIFLE
TRUNK
$26.25
ALL ANGLE
TRIPOD $15.25
81POD
$17.50
NEW! FREELAND
"SUPREME" BEKCHREST
STAND $30.00
NEW MARK III BSA. MARTINI INTERNATiONAL .22
Caliber Target Rifle, the Supreme in Accuracy. com~
fort and workmanship. fOf RIGHT HAND or LEFT
HAND shooter, without sights....•••••.... $210.00
FREelAND B Shooting Mat. . . . . • . . . . .. 18.00
FREelAND \4 opening Rifle Kit. . . • • • • •• 20.00
" Foam Padded Shooting Glove.... 5.25
FREelAND .22 Caliber Dewar Block..... 2.30
FREelAND Sling Keeper.............. 1.25
" Deluxe Cuff & QD hook......... 4.25
" Mid-Century cuff Comb.......... 8.50
butt plate w/ rubber pad. . . . . • .. 13.00
Schutzen hook for above. . . • . . . . 8.50
OLYMPIC PALM REST, from ..••.. 13.50
Trigger Pull Gauge.................. 5.80
RIG SCORING GAUGE 22-38-45..... 2.00
MITCHelL # 2 Shooting Glasses. . . • • .. 12.00
lOX SHOOTING COAT........••..... 20.00
Win. Model 70's..............•.•...139.00
REMINGTON 40X rifle..........••...139.75
Sturm Ruger, Single-6 63.25
**LEE SONIC EAR STOPPLES, Pair , . 3.95
Win. Model 52 Std. or HB 139.75
S&W K22-K38-K32 81.00
HIGH STANDARD SPORT-King 52.95
HIGH STANDARD Sentinel. 42.95
Price. Subject to Change Without Notice
Jobbing all the Remington, Winchester, Marlin. S&W.
:~JJ.eEis~i\h';~Qt:t"~t'"~s.C:t~~W~'lrEo~8ir~A~~~a[E-::Sheri·
FREELAND'S Scope Stands, Inc.
3737 14th Avenue Rock Island, III.
Eley shotgun shells, 22 rimfire high velocity
cartridges and centertire sporting ammunition
are 'of the highest quality-for all guns,
all game. Ask your dealer now, and write
for fREE literature. Dealer inquiries invited.
S. E. LASZLO _ House of Imports
25 LAFAYETTE STREET, BROOKLYN 1, N. Y.
Belted Newton or some similar gun. When I
was in Africa in 1954, I took a .470 Rigby
double, a .375 Griffin & Howe Model 70, and
the .270 which has now become a .375 Belted
Newton. I used 150 grain Speer bullets in
the .270, chronographed at Winchester's ballistic
laboratories at over 3000 fps from a
22" barrel. I found that the .375 stayed in
the scabbard most of the time. If the animal
were so damned big that the .270 could not
handle it, I found myself reaching for the
.4.70.
On the other hand, if I had to confine myself
to one rifle for everything in the world,
it would without question be the .375 since,
particularly with handloads, it can be well
adapted to almost anything. With a good
235 grain bullet, such as Speer's, one can
reach 3000 fps without toO much trouble.
This makes it an extremely adequate plains
and mountain rifle in anybody's language;
and we all know that the world's biggest and
mightiest game have all fallen to .375 solids.
Now that Joyce Hornady is making a really
good steel solid, the rifle is better than ever.
The .375 is interesting, too, in that it can
be throttled back and thus become a light
kicking brush rifle. This is done by latching
onto some .38-55 bullets (which are the same
diameter as .375's) and loading them to
about 1800 to 1900 fps. Lyman also makes a
lion, I went with Tony to his camp on Jug
Mountain. There was a palm-thatched hut on
the bank of a rocky creek, goats feeding on
the hillside, a woman and a girl washing
clothes beside the creek. A shock-headed boy
mounted bareback on a pinto cayuse was
riding herd on the goats, and he came down
to greet us. Tony told me the boy's name was
Nacho. "He will talk with you," Tony told
me, "while I go to borrow a dog to help your
Sombra."
I asked Nacho about the lion. Was it, did
he think, supernatural? He gave the matter
careful thought and, finally, a diplomatic
answer. His father, he thought, was a better
judge than he of such matters.
Just then occurred a thing of interest, the
full significance of which escaped me until
later. A flight of doves pitched down to the
creek, alighting on a gravel bar. Nacho
whipped out a slingshot, loaded it with something
fished out of his pocket, and let fly. It
was a long shot, at least 50 feet, but he clobbered
a dove. I said it was fine shooting.
Nacho said it was nothing.
Tony came back finally, leading one doga
burly brindle crossbreed. "His name is
Tacos," Tony informed me. "He has never
hunted lions, but he is a strong dog, and a
fighter; one supposes he can learn about
lions."
One might suppose so, yes; but I remembered
dogs I have known who died as a result
of trying to make strength and courage
substitute for brains and experience in affairs
with lions. But Tacos was an amiable
dog, and Sombra liked him; who was I to
reject him?
We lunched on goat meat and tortillas,
and then rode up to a ridge where buzzards
perched hump-backed in a wild fig tree. Beneath
the tree were the remains of a black
she-goat.
It was a lion or tigre kill, all right. The cat
had eaten some fifteen pounds of meat;
mold for a .38-55 lead hollow-point. Stick a
gas check on that, push it along at about
1900 fps, and see what happen&. It might
surprise some people. The Lyman number of
this bullet is 375449, and specify hollow
point. If you question what this horrible
thing will do, just ask your grandpappy.
In conclusion, I believe that this is' an
interesting cartridge because it is an inexpensive
conversion. Any .30-06 action may be
modified to handle it for less than ten bucks,
and any .30-06 or similar barrel may be
rebored to .375 caliber for under $25. (I am
not dead sure of this latter figure but I
believe it to be close.) P. O. Ackley can do
the work, as can various others. Dies may
be had from R. C. B. S. for under $15-so
the entire expense is less than $50; not bad
for a good .375.
Moreover, this caliber has versatility and,
hence, ability to handle anything, anywhere.
And the .375 caliber is relatively efficient. It
produces results comparable to those of the
bigger cases, with less powder. Add to this
its very fine accuracy and the ease with
which cases may be made from .338 brass.
The only added operation necessary is running
the .338 case through a necking-up die.
From then on, it is the same as reloading
any case. Fire-forming is not neces- ~
sary. ~
KILLER CAT OF JUG MOUNTAIN
(Continued from page 19)
enough so he should be sleeping it off some·
where not too far away. I slipped Sombra's
leash and told her to get going. She circled
the kill, made a slanting pass up the hill,
then lined out at a high lope, with Tacos
plowing along behind her.
When we next heard from her, she was a
quarter of a mi;e ahead, and her wooo-wooowooo
was loaded with excitement. Tacos contributed
some hoarse bellows to let us know
that he was also in the act. I gathered that
the dogs had found the spot where the lion
had slept and the trail was now fresh.
And, sure enough, on the hillcrest, plain as
print in the adobe dust, we cut the killer's
trail. I dismounted to examine the tracks.
The animal was a lion, all right, and a
good-sized one. I measured several clear
prints with twigs, and l'towed the twigs in
my shirt pocket for reference.
Sombra was sounding off in a belt of
jungle laced and barricaded- by an-m:iholy-­
combination of coral and moonflower vines.
We lost three quarters of an hour hacking
a way through it, and by that time I had no
idea where Sombra and Tacos were, not
having heard them for at least 20 minutes.
More vines. More machete work. A flock
of six or eight green-and-brown long-tailed
chachalacas got up, and one, a pheasant-size
cock, alighted on a limb some 50 feet distant.
"Knock him down," I said to Nacho, the
slingshot expert. "With rice and chiles.
he'll make a good supper." The boy flashed
a quick sidewise glance at me, and shook
his head. This was sort of mysterious, but I
didn't dwell on it, having other things on
my mind.
Once clear of the barrier of vines, we
emerged onto a semi-desert studded with
mesquite and smoke-bush. A quarter mile to
the north the land fell away, yielding to blue
nothingness. "Moctezuma's Canyon, senor,"
Tony told me. "A very bad place, all cliffs
and rocks. But it is the home of many deer."
50 GUNS • MARCH 1962