4-Bore? 2-Bore?

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Nightcrawler

New member
In the book UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES, the author makes reference to a 4-bore rifle and a 2-bore rifle, and even shows a picture of a 4-bore. Has anyone actually fired or seen one of these? What's the bore diameter? I understand that these are big, slow-moving cartridges. On a slightly related note, why not hunt really big and dangerous game with a .50BMG?
 
I've seen a four bore but never shot one. It was an old English single shot that weighed about 16 pounds IIRC. I don't really care to shoot a gun throwing 2000+ grain lead bullets.
 
In Merry England, "bore" and "gauge" have the same meaning: The number (4-bore) refers to the number of round lead balls to a pound. Same for 12-gauge, etc. (Don't ask me how the .410 got in there.) These El Gigantico critters were mostly used in the early days of hunting in Africa.

(I'm no blackpowder expert, but I have read that in early America, a 40-caliber rifle was considered a small-game gun.)

Part of the Roy Acuff collection was on display in the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, last May. There were three or four four-bores there; one a double-rifle.

During the late 1800s, "market hunters" hunted ducks from small boats. Places like Chesapeake Bay. They would use long-barrelled "punt guns" of 8-guage and larger, shooting rafted ducks for sale to hotels...

As far as hunting African game with a .50 BMG, an important aspect is having a quick-handling rifle, light enough to be carried all day long across many miles of rough country. Another is surviving the recoil, and rapidly getting into action for a second shot. Do you know of any .50 BMG which fits the bill?

:), Art
 
Nightcrawler, a 2-bore should have a bore diameter of about 1.325" and a 4-bore should have a bore diameter of about 1.052". Hope this helps!

Steve Mace

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After today, its all historical
 
Just started reading UC myself. Check out the picture of Ross on the dust jacket with his 4-bore. It's not a gun, it's a pair of sewer pipes. :eek:
 
I just finished reading Unintended Consequences this very day, and I knew before I clicked on this thread that you were asking this because you either were in the middle of reading it or had also just finished.

What a book!

And what a gun, too!
 
We had a 4 bore shell in my shell collection at the shop I worked at. It was donated by our resident big-bore junkie. It was the size and shape of a small anti-tank gun round (save, of course, for the round nosed projectile). As an idea of the cost of this hobby, he purchased some of these from Old Western Scrounger, I believe. Unit cost for unprimed brass and projectile was on the north side of fifty bucks...

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"..but never ever Fear. Fear is for the enemy. Fear and Bullets."
10mm: It's not the size of the Dawg in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog!
 
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