African Classic Cartridges-Articles by Ganyana

[Vikram]

Ganyana is a wildlife expert,professional hunter and firearms expert whose expertise related to all things African safaris is second to none. These are some of the articles he published on African classic cartridges. Not too long but not short on content and knowledge, I hope you enjoy reading them all.

There are nine articles attached as PDF files to this post.

All the articles uploaded here are taken from

http://www.huntnetwork.net/


No copyrights are violated to the best of my knowledge and all these articles are available on the internet.


Best-
Vikram

[Vikram]

Few more articles from the same topic.

[Vikram]

Bump.

[herb]

Lot of interesting info. Some calibers stand out...bolt actions.

.375 as an all round caliber for the one rifle hunter, suitable for anything from a small antelope to elephant.
.404 if you want a 400 caliber in a standard action, keeps cost down and a comparatively light rifle.
.416 if lot of dangerous game on the menu, low pressures.
9.3x62 sheer beauty and nostalgia - a vintage Oberndorf Mauser sporter Type A or B.
and the list goes on when talking of calibers ...(.275, 7x57, 30-06, .318 WR, .350 Rigby, .425 WR, .500 Jeffery, .505 G............................).

And then there is the bore & NE for DR's.

Thanks Vikram for sharing, hours of interesting read.

Herb

[timmy]

Part way through this collection -- very interesting, thanks! Can you tell us anything about this author Ganyana?

[Vikram]

Herb,
glad you liked the articles.

Timmy,

Ganyana (Don Heath) worked as a wildlife officer/Game Warden in the former Rhodesia, later Zimbabwe, and as a professional hunter. Chief Examiner for the PH qualifying exams for Zimbabwe too. Involved in many wildlife management projects, experiments and Gnayana is his nom de plume. He is still the R&D manager for Norma of Sweden, IIRC. Writes extensively on rifles, cartridges, hunting and wildlife. Very knowledgeable gentleman.


Best-
Vikram

[miroflex]

A very interesting series of articles, Vikram. Thank you very much for posting them. I was fascinated when I went through them.

Regards.

[TwoRivers]

Herb,
glad you liked the articles.

Timmy,

Ganyana (Don Heath) worked as a wildlife officer/Game Warden in the former Rhodesia, later Zimbabwe, and as a professional hunter. Chief Examiner for the PH qualifying exams for Zimbabwe too. Involved in many wildlife management projects, experiments and Gnayana is his nom de plume. He is still the R&D manager for Norma of Sweden, IIRC. Writes extensively on rifles, cartridges, hunting and wildlife. Very knowledgeable gentleman.


Best-
Vikram

Anyone who thinks the 8x57 cartridge was developed by Paul Mauser is not as knowledgeable as he thinks he is. Nor was the .280 Ross adopted by the Canadians as their military cartridge. Hate to think the chap is R&D manager for Norma.

[shooter50]

Thank you Vikram for a treasure trove of information there. Having owned both a 375 h and h, a 425 WR and a 404 Jeffery i can count myself really lucky. I always loved the 404 more.
All the best

[Vikram]

Anyone who thinks the 8x57 cartridge was developed by Paul Mauser is not as knowledgeable as he thinks he is. Nor was the .280 Ross adopted by the Canadians as their military cartridge. Hate to think the chap is R&D manager for Norma.

I understand what you are saying. Could it be possible that he was referring to the later 8X57IS that Paul Mauser was instrumental in developing?


Best-
Vikram

[TwoRivers]

I understand what you are saying. Could it be possible that he was referring to the later 8X57IS that Paul Mauser was instrumental in developing?


Best-
Vikram

No, Vikram. Mauser had nothing to do with that cartridge. "8mm Mauser" is a misnomer. The 8x57 IS simply evolved out of the original 8x57 I.
Appropriate barrel/bullet relationship with jacketed bullets and smokeless powder was a new field. The M88 Commission rifle started out with 7.9mm bore, 8.1mm groove, and bullet. What we today consider correct. Due to the barrel jacket, barrel diameter at the chamber is small, and bursts occurred with early rifles and ammunition. To prevent this, barrels were now manufactured to maximum tolerance, or 8.15 mm. By late 1894 groove diameter was further increased to 8.2 mm. Here is were they "simply copied the French", who went with deeper grooves from the beginning. When the 8x57 S Patrone was adopted in 1903 (not 1905), with its much shorter bearing surface, it was again made full groove diameter, 8.2 mm. When the Mauser Model 98 was adopted, it already had the same barrel dimensions as late M88 rifles, 8.2mm grooves. The 1903-1905 changeover only required enlarging the chamber neck and bullet seat, and sights.

That's it in a nutshell. No Mauser involvement in the 8x57 I, plain or "S".

Regards.

[timmy]

I think Two Rivers has a point here: The 8x57 was a German Commission creation, it seems, not one by Paul Mauser. I would also pick a petty semantic bone with Ganyana regarding the 7x57 being a "necked down" 8x57. Although the case length is the same at 57mm, the shoulder or bottleneck of the 8x57 starts closer to the case mouth than does the 7x57, meaning that the 7x57 case doesn't have as much capacity.

I think a true example of a necked down case would be the .243, which is a .308 necked down. The shoulder starts exactly the same distance from the rim on both cartridges, and the shoulder continues its inward angle further until the neck on the .243 is smaller.

I would say that the 7x57 is a "reformed" 8x57 case, but "reformed" can mean anything from a minor issue like the 7x57 being a necked down 8x57 with the shoulder pushed back all the way to a .300 Weatherby Mag being a "reformed" .300 H&H Mag. In other words, reformed is not particularly descriptive, but in the case of the 7x57 vs 8x57, simply saying "necked down" isn't quite accurate.

I'm still reading the articles. I found the first 4 in the series and Ganyana says that "British troops armed with Lee Enfields comfortably held their own in rapid fire and accuracy events against American troops armed with Semi-Automatic Garand rifles right through the second world war..."

To this, I have to say "horsefeathers," as a Lee Enfield is no match for an M1 Garand in the accuracy or the rapid fire department. I love the old SMLEs and am not a particular fan of the M1 Garand, but this statement is simply not true on either count.

None the less, in going through Ganyana's articles, so far, I have found them entertaining and informative. I think he has a lot of interesting points. Some of his observations on the 7x57 match closely to what people like Finn Aagard have written, and ring true to me regarding the sort of rifle used by plain old folks vs. well-heeled sportsman out on safari.

[timmy]

Here are some illustrations from Norma of what I mean:

Parent cartridge: 8x57, derived cartridge: 7x57



Note the dimension from the base of the cartridges to the point where the shoulders start: that dimension is 1.819" for the 8x57 and 1.726" for for the 7x57. Also, the shoulder angle is slightly steeper on the 7x57. I suspect that this is because Paul Mauser wanted a long neck for the long 175 grain bullets the 7mm used in military use and to which Ganyana refers to.

In comparison, check out the Winchester 308 and 243, and for good measure, I've thrown in the Remington 7mm-08, as well. I suspect that the .358 Winchester would show this same dimensional similarity.



You can see that the only thing different in these cartridges is the neck and the shoulder, which starts at the same 1.560" point for each cartridge. In these cases, I think it is totally correct to say that the .243 and the 7mm-08 are "necked down" versions of the .308. But there is more to the difference between the 8x57 and the 7x57; there's been more to the modification than just necking down. The shoulder has been pushed back almost 0.1" and the shoulder angle has been slightly altered.

[shooter50]

Spare him guys. He is a hunter, not one with loads of technical Knowledge. The articles may contain historical or minor technical inaccuracies but from the hunters point of view the articles are simply excellent. I am reminded of a story i read in an African magazine long ago. A Rich american armed with one of the ultra hot 300 magnums insisted on hunting dangerous game with it despite of the advise of the black Forest Ranger. He fired 3 well aimed shots into a buffalo which didnt stop the animal and lived to tell the story simply because the ranger stopped the animal with a well placed shot from his 404. He argued with the ranger and he insisted that his 300 magnum had more power than the rangers old 404, to prove his point he took out ballistic tables. He was ultimately silenced by the Rangers reply "Too bad buffaloes cant read"
All the best

[timmy]

The articles may contain historical or minor technical inaccuracies but from the hunters point of view the articles are simply excellent.

I quite agree, the articles are interesting and are of value.