FOREWORD by PH Mark Ivy
INTRODUCTION
1 ETHICS OF HUNTING
THE ANTI-HUNTING ATTITUDE 1/1
WHY I HUNT, AND MUST 1/3
Rules of Fair Chase 1/5
2 THE GOLDEN AGE
LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL, 1892 2/1
THEODORE ROOSEVELT, 1909 2/1
3 PLANNING & PRICING
a few terms to know 3/1
choosing your game and hunting area 3/5
SOUTH AFRICA or TANZANIA? 3/7
South Africa 3/7
Tanzania 3/9
go to a hunters' convention 3/12
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ASK 3/13
questions for the agent 3/13
questions for the outfitter 3/14
VARIOUS TIPS 3/15
PRICE NEGOTIATIONS 3/15
what is not included 3/16
THE SAFARI CONTRACT 3/17
GET INTO SHAPE! 3/18
typical American hunter shortcomings 3/18
DOCUMENTS 3/19
BUFFALO HUNT COST OVERVIEW 3/21
PLAINS GAME HUNT COST 3/22
4 INSURANCE & HEALTH
trip/baggage insurance 4/1
health insurance 4/2
HEALTH 4/3
get a dental check-up before you go! 4/3
vaccinations 4/3
malaria 4/4
trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness, tyrps) 4/5
yellow fever 4/5
schistosomiasis (bilharzia, schisto) 4/5
diarrhea 4/5
dysentery (diarrhea with blood/mucus in it) 4/6
get this $6 book! 4/6
final comments on prescription drugs 4/7
prescription eyeglasses/contacts 4/7
GSW blood clot powder (www.quikclot.com) 4/7
DISCLAIMER 4/7
5 TRANSPORTATION
BOOKING YOUR FLIGHT 5/1
Economy, Business, or First Class? 5/1
don't rely on your airline miles for Africa! 5/2
Internet vs. a travel agent 5/2
FLYING TO SOUTH AFRICA 5/3
European layover in comfort 5/6
FLYING TO TANZANIA 5/7
PRE-FLIGHT GOVT. PAPERWORK 5/8
the US Customs 4457 gun form 5/8
Dutch transit license for your rifles 5/8
visas 5/9
TRAVEL DOCUMENT FOLDER 5/10
AT THE AIRPORT 5/11
security tips 5/12
tips for comfort in Economy Class 5/12
are your checked bags onboard? 5/14
MY AFRICAN TRAVEL EXPERIENCES 5/15
Tanzania 5/15
South Africa 5/17
GROUND TRANSPORTATION 5/18
South Africa 5/18
Tanzania 5/19
GOING HOME 5/20
packing for the airport 5/20
6 2x1 HUNTS
HUNT ALONE OR WITH OTHERS? 6/1
7 PACKING
MONEY 7/1
PACKING FOR AIR TRAVEL 7/3
check-through bags 7/3
carry-on luggage and gear 7/5
CLOTHES 7/7
footwear (three pairs are all you need) 7/7
field clothes 7/8
town outfit and something for the pool/beach 7/9
PACKING FOR THE FIELD 7/10
misc. stuff to take for the field 7/10
misc. on-person field gear 7/13
on your belt 7/13
backpack left in truck 7/17
MISC. CAMP STUFF 7/18
gifts 7/18
GOING HOME 7/19
8 PLAINS GAME CALIBERS & RIFLES
BULLETS 8/1
Bullet Behavior Classification (BBC) 8/4
7mm (.284) 8/6
7-08 and 7x57 Mauser (140gr/2900fps) 8/7
.280 Remington (160gr/2800fps) 8/7
.284 Winchester (160gr/2850fps) 8/7
7mm Rem, WSM, SAUM mags (160gr/2950fps) 8/7
.30 8/8
.308 (200gr/2450fps) or .30-06 (200gr/2600fps) 8/8
.30-06 Ackley Improved (200gr/2700fps) 8/8
.300 WSM and SAUM (200gr/2800fps) 8/9
.300 H&H Mag (200gr/2850fps) 8/10
.300 Win Mag (180gr/3120fps, 220/2750) 8/10
.308 Norma Mag (180gr/3120fps, 220/2800) 8/10
.300 Weatherby Mag (200gr/3100fps, 220/2900 8/10
thoughts on .30 Ober mags 8/10
8mm (.323) 8/11
8x57S (170/2600fps, 220gr/2300fps) 8/11
8mm-06 (220gr/2500fps) 8/11
8x68S (220gr/2800fps) 8/11
.325 WSM (180/3050, 200/2950, 220/2800) 8/12
8mm Rem Mag (220gr/2900fps) 8/13
.338 8/13
.338 Federal (210gr/2500fps) 8/14
.338-06 (200gr/2700fps, 250/2500) 8/14
.338 Win (225gr/2850fps, 250/2700, 275/2450) 8/15
.340 Weatherby (250gr/2850fps) 8/15
.330 Dakota (250gr/2900fps) 8/15
.338 Lapua (250gr/3150fps) 8/15
.338 RUM (250gr/3150fps) 8/15
.338 Excalibur (250gr/3200fps) 8/15
.358 (9mm) 8/16
.358 Win (200/2500, 225/2500, 250/2400) 8/17
.35 Whelen (180/2800, 225/2610, 250/2500) 8/17
.350 Rem Mag (200/2675, 250/2475) 8/18
.358 Norma (125/3200, 225/3000, 275/2700) 8/18
.358 STA (225/3100, 275/2850) 8/18
9.3mm (.366) 8/19
9.3x62 (286gr/2400fps from 22", 300/2375) 8/19
9.3x64 (286/2650fps, 300/2550) 8/20
9.3x66 SAKO (286/2750fps, 300/2650) 8/21
.375 H&H (270gr/2700fps, 300gr/2550fps) 8/21
.45-70 Marlin (325gr/2050fps, 350gr/1900fps) 8/21
BUT HOW TO COMPARE? 8/23
calculating RoyceKoV (plains game) index 8/24
the 100-400yd RoyceKoV Plains Game table 8/27
The Winners .. 8/28
RELIABLE CALIBER MINIMUMS 8/29
200yd and 300yd winners for a//plains game 8/30
African hunting reflections on the ... 8/33
Royce wildcats 8/34
PLAINS GAME RIFLES 8/35
bolt actions 8/35
lever actions 8/35
pumps 8/36 scopes 8/36
rifle misc. 8/38
9 BUFFALO BULLETS, CALIBERS, RIFLES
CALIBER vs. CALIBER 9/1
.375 H&H vs. .416 (Rigby and Remington) 9/3
.416 vs. .458 9/5
what's the deal with belted cases? 9/6
.375 calibers 9/7 .416 calibers 9/9 .
458 calibers 9/12
.475 calibers 9/16
.500 calibers (.505 and .510) 9/17
the RoyceKoV (dangerous game) 9/18
PROPER BULLETS 9/20
solids 9/21
soft-nose 9/22
OTHER THAN BOLT-ACTIONS 9/26
BOLT-ACTION BUFFALO RIFLES 9/27
your viable choices of DG rifles 9/28
recoil 9/30
barrel length (22"-24") 9/31
iron sights 9/32
scopes 9/32
stocks 9/32
trigger 9/32
SO, WHAT DID I TAKE TO AFRICA? 9/33
my M70's modifications 9/34
scoping the Win M70 Classic Super Express 9/35
AT THE RANGE 9/39
A Few Words about Cast Steel Rifle Receivers 9/42
(by Kevin McClung, Senior Engineer, MD Labs)
10 SAFE GUN HANDLING
THE FOUR BASIC SAFETY RULES 10/1
GUN SAFETY AND CHILDREN 10/3
CONDITION OF WEAPON 10/4
MALFUNCTIONS 10/5
11 SOUTH AFRICA PEOPLE & CUSTOMS
understanding South African English 11/1
South African races 11/3
South African etiquette 11/3
food 11/6 prices 11/6
communication 11/7
political hot potatoes 11/7
OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH AFRICA 11/10
METRIC CONVERSIONS 11/10
12 ANIMALS
names for the sexes ("buck" and "doe" not used) 12/1
female animals without/with horns; species herding? 12/1
savanna/woodland diet of animals 12/2
pachyderms 12/2
buffalo 12/3
carnivores 12/4
spiral horned antelope 12/7
ringed horned antelope 12/9
gnu (wildebeest) 12/13
hartebeest 12/13
misc. antelopes 12/14
pig 12/15
misc. mammals 12/16
birds 12/19
venomous bushveld snakes 12/20
13 CAMP LIFE
SOUTH AFRICAN GAME RANCH 13/1
TANZANIAN TENT CAMP 13/5
OTHER PHs & RANCHES 13/8
TAKE YOUR RIFLE EVERYWHERE! 13/9
YOU & THE CAMP STAFF 13/10
EATING WHAT YOU KILL 13/11
DRINKING 13/12
THE SOUNDS OF AFRICA 13/12
READING 13/13
YOUR ATTITUDE 13/13
14 HUNTING
PRACTICING 14/1
YOU'VE ARRIVED IN CAMP! 14/4
THE CRAFT OF HUNTING 14/7
seeing game 14/8
hunting Cape buffalo 14/8
hunting plains game 14/9
stalking 14/9 target angles (be choosy) 14/11
"Should I take this animal, or wait?" 14/15
taking aim 14/18
the shot 14/18
the kill 14/25
photographing your animal 14/25
SKINNING 14/28
15 TIPPING
16 HOTELS & SHOPPING
HOTELS 16/1
SHOPPING 16/2
shopping in Dar 16/2
shopping in Zanzibar 16/4
HAGGLING WITH THE LOCALS 16/5
17 TROPHY COSTS
GETTING YOUR TROPHIES HOME 17/1
TAXIDERMY 17/2
in the USA 17/2
taxidermy in South Africa 17/3
18 PLANNING TIMELINE
19 PACKING CHECKLIST
20 FOR WOMEN ONLY
CLOTHING 20/1
CALIBERS & RIFLES 20/2
MISC. GEAR 20/4
MISC. CONSIDERATIONS 20/4
21 RESOURCES
BOOKS & VIDEOS 21/1
NOTES:
I want to correct page 9/17 and 9/19 mentions of the ".505 Van Horn," which does not exist. (The .500 Van Horn Express uses a .510 bullet.) To my knowledge, the first to neck up the .416 Rigby to a .505 was Dane Burns of Burns Custom. Hence, I should have properly credited his wildcat as the .505 Burns. My apologies to Dane for not getting this right. He reports that the case shoulder is sufficient for good headspacing, something I was skeptical of on page 9/17. This round is good for 500gr/2350fps and 600gr/2200fps. Pressures are mild at about 39k. For more details, go to http://pistolsmith.blogspot.com.
On pages 9/42-46, I published a "thesis" written by a then friend of many years whom I believed in good faith qualified to offer it. "A Few Words About Cast Steel Rifle Receivers" posited that cast gun steel (weight for weight) is inherently weaker than forged gun steel, and thus less desireable in a dangerous game rifle (DGR). Based on my good faith belief in this "thesis" (and its author's insistence), I explicitly warned my readers from considering certain brands of bolt action rifles for their DGR, namely the Ruger M77 Mark II Magnum (on page 9/29).
The "thesis" was vigorously challenged on a forum by an Australian fellow who worked in the field of metallurgy, beginning here (or here). Read through to page 6; it's very illuminating.
After trying to single-handedly defend a "thesis" not my own (and without any public support of its author), and after dozens of hours of technical research into the matter, I could not find a single reference to this issue with the steel used in modern firearms. Nor did I discover any report of any catastrophic failure suffered by any cast steel dangerous game rifle. Medium carbon gun steels are hypoeutectoid (medium carbon), not hypereutectoid (high carbon). As best as I can so far know, the "thesis" simply does not — cannot — apply to receiver steels as 4140, etc. of <0.83% carbon content.
Moreover, I was stunned to learn that the "thesis" author personally owns (or has owned) at least two dangerous game rifles made of investment cast steel (a Ruger #1 Tropical in .458 Win Mag, and a CZ-550 in .375 H&H). The evident ignorance (or hypocrisy) therein had the effect of fully imploding my faith in the author's relevant knowledge of the issue. While I respect his pattern steel knifemaking ability, he does not cast and forge his own material for knives (and certainly not for gun receivers). He has no degree in metallurgy or engineering or science.
Ron Smith of Smith Enterprise fame personally discounted the "thesis" to me in early 2008, calling the reliance on forged steel for rifles a form of superstition. (Ron has made up many M14s from both cast and forged steel, and has full confidence in cast steel "if the foundry is kept honest.")
I have concluded that the entire "dendritic carbides" (or "carbide dendrites") issue likely stemmed from the knifemaking world and their casting of high carbon ("hypereutectoid") ingots. Accordingly, I have publicly posted the offer below, so far without takers (including the "thesis" author himself):
If anybody can provide me conclusive proof that hypoeutectoid (i.e. <0.83% carbon, such as 4140 AISI) cast steels commonly used in firearm receivers:
1. unavoidably contain (as a result of the casting process) dendritic carbides which act as "failure paths,"
2. to the significant detriment of that receiver's tensile strength during normal usage
I will mail such person within 30 days my sincere thanks along with a postal M.O. in the amount of $500 (raised to $1,000 in January, 2011). See Post #136.
Barring any new information, I must herewith consider the controversy settled.
Although I do not personally gravitate to cast steel firearms, it now seems clear that the "thesis" was fundamentally and fatally inaccurate and thus unfair to the manufacturers of quality investment cast steel guns. I regret the error, and apologize for unknowingly publishing such information. I no longer can, in good faith, continue to generally dissuade my readers from investment cast steel rifles.
I will say that I believe that the "thesis" author sincerely believed his own theory, at least up until it was challenged/refuted in 2008. I do not believe that he would have allowed me to pubish what he knew (or strongly suspected) was false or incomplete. (He had also previously posted his theory on his own forum, before 2005.) Whether or not he still believes it after the countering evidence is unknown as he refuses to further discuss it with me or pubicly defend his belief as the word "thesis" requires:
"a proposition stated or put forwarad for consideration, especially one to be proved or maintained against objections"
Current inventory copies of Safari Dreams are individually red-ink stamped on page 9/42 with:
"Update! This "thesis" is now discredited. Kenneth W. Royce regrets its publication (www.tinyurl.com/caststeel — read to pg. 6)."
I will remove this "thesis" from the first reprint of Safari Dreams. Meanwhile, any distributor who wishes to carry the title without that 5-page "thesis" will receive their copies with such neatly removed at no additional cost.
Good Hunting!
Kenneth W. Royce 12 July 2010
author of Safari Dreams
Editor-in-Chief, Javelin Press
javelinpress [at] yahoo [dot] com
