African Classic Cartridges-Articles by Ganyana

[scottruss]

interesting articles you can get a lot of info thank u for sharing them here.

scott





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An pocket knife is a good weapon, but it can point both ways

[timmy]

Having gone through these articles (for which I thank you, Vikram), they are enjoyable, quick reads and informative, as well. One thing that I think was spotlighted quite well was Ganyana's constant stress on "the working man." I really enjoyed the settler/farmer/working man perspective that came out, especially when talking about 6.5x54, 7x57, 8x57, 318 Westley Richards, and the 577/450. Here I note his like of heavy bullets with high sectional density for penetration. It seems to me that his stress on penetration when using these marginal rounds (at least, that's what we'd consider them today) on big game has a similarity to the discussion on using small handguns for self defense.

I liked his discussion on Mauser and Mauser magnum actions, and his tracing how various events shaped what kind of guns and cartridges became successful and faded away in African use.

I loved his description of the British Martini Henry, which I also consider the best single shot battle rifle of that day.

One big thought that was reinforced was the importance of bullet construction. I've long felt that having a bullet hold together was a key factor, and in those days of largely proprietary cartridges, it was quite possible for a cartridge that performed quite well ballistically to be a dud when it came to getting the job done, due to bullets that broke up when hitting the target.

All in all, some fun reading!

[TamDl]

Thanks for these, very interesting. I read the 9.3 article on Nomas site which is quite an extraordinary claim for a cartridge that isn't major in every country, I gather. I used to read and occasionally ask questions of Don, on the Accuratereloader forum, and am glad to get some more of his work.