454 Holland & Holland rifle!!!

[bersaguy]

Has anyone here besides me shot a 454 or 500 Holland & Holland double barrel?

[leroy]

Shot a 458 Winchester mag Ruger #1 Tropical ( mine ).  Five hundred grain solids.   Offhand, iron sights.  Headache after the second shot.  Did it as a " community service " as a warning to any rogue elephants ( Old Diamond wuz still around then ).  He wuz a good boy.  Stayed right until his dad passing.  I hated to see him go.

Banana leroy...

[1gewehr]

The H&H doubles are true art in steel and wood!  If you get one, you will want to have it where you can gaze on it lovingly from time to time!  I've never shot a .500 H&H.  But, I have shot a Westley-Richards .450 Nitro Express double rifle.  

While a double rifle gives the hunter the option of a very quick second shot on dangerous animals, the heavy recoil has been known to cause the second sear to jump if the spring has weakened.  I have seen this happen, and the two shots going off almost together caused quite a bruise on the fellows shoulder!

Years ago, I had a .416 Rigby built on a M1917 action.  Beautiful rifle!  It came with 110 rounds of Kynoch 400 grain solid bullet ammo.   At the time, I had dreams of being able to go on safari.

[leroy]

25 minutes ago, 1gewehr said:

 

Years ago, I had a .416 Rigby built on a M1917 action.  Beautiful rifle!  It came with 110 rounds of Kynoch 400 grain solid bullet ammo.   At the time, I had dreams of being able to go on safari.

RE: 416 Rigby... A great cartridge.  I think Ruger built some of these in a Safari Model 77...

leroy....

[bersaguy]

I thought I would ask that question because back about1983 I was visiting a buddy of mine down at the Craig Ranch he owned and while I was sitting on the back porch drinking some Ice tea when he can walking out  the door with what I thought was a 4.10 side/side shotgun. Out in the back of his yard was an old dog house and he handed me the gun and told me to shoot the dog house. I knew that the gun felt a lot heavier then my 4.10 s/s but I stood up and walked to the edge of the porch, raised the gun and pulled the trigger. Derby was busting out laughing as I was knocked back against the house. He looked at me and said there is another round in it and I said yea and it's gonna stay in it too!!!!!! My first mistake was not paying more attention and my second was not tucking the butt tight against my shoulder before squeezing the trigger. Derby fired off the second round but he had shot that thing a couple times and knew on the tuck and pull.....LOL. I had the head of a Bengal Tiger head bruised into my shoulder for about a week or longer. The gun was made by Holland & Holland by special order from a Prince in Nu Deli India to go tiger hunting. The head was engraved in the butt plate. Derby use to travel all over the world working cattle herds with his three Blue Heelers and two horses. He leased them to the bigger Cattle Ranches at Cattle drive time. I got to go on one Cattle drive right here state side with him and watch his dogs work on the Gatlin brothers Ranch down in Franklin Tennessee. On one of his trips is how he came to own that Double Barrel cannon. 

[bersaguy]

On 5/11/2025 at 9:22 AM, 1gewehr said:

The H&H doubles are true art in steel and wood!  If you get one, you will want to have it where you can gaze on it lovingly from time to time!  I've never shot a .500 H&H.  But, I have shot a Westley-Richards .450 Nitro Express double rifle.  

While a double rifle gives the hunter the option of a very quick second shot on dangerous animals, the heavy recoil has been known to cause the second sear to jump if the spring has weakened.  I have seen this happen, and the two shots going off almost together caused quite a bruise on the fellows shoulder!

Years ago, I had a .416 Rigby built on a M1917 action.  Beautiful rifle!  It came with 110 rounds of Kynoch 400 grain solid bullet ammo.   At the time, I had dreams of being able to go on safari.

I have zero plans on buying one and even the memory of that one time pulling the trigger on that one makes my entire body hurt and especially my right shoulder.....lol.

[leroy]

Back when a dear buddy and I were " mean n mischievous ", we would pick on my buddie's kid brother in law... We were always shooting something, and the 458 wuz close by if he was around.

He wuz a little, spindly thing; about 130 lb or so, and we would make fun of him and tell him he wuz a weenie if he couldn't shoot the ole 458 or Wayne's old TC Hawkin 50 caliber with the 500 grain maxi balls and about 90 grains of black powder and a brass butt plate.

  That's all it would take.  There wuz always a bruised shoulder, a headache, and plenty of laughter, because he always took the challenge...

leroy....