On the road again

So far his year I have given a power point presentation in three locations that span our great states. One hosted by Terry Niegel in Eugene OR. Another in San Antonio TX hosted by Hamlet Newsom and the most recent one along the historic lower Potomac River in MD. This last event was put together by Joe Coogan and Capt. Bob Wetherald. Like most of these events it was attended by a small but dedicated group of rifle enthusiast and big game hunters.

The presentation gives the audience an uncensored look behind the curtain at building a best quality big game rifle. The program is less than an hour in length and covers the entire construction of a rifle from commission to completion. I have offered this presentation to interested parties for over 20 years and it has allowed me to travel the country and meet some very dedicated hunters.

For further information on arranging such an evening in your area please feel free to call us at 435-755-6842 or through our e-mail address at echolslegend@comcast.net

Classic 505 Gibbs in the field

Bryan Walt just returned from a hunt in Botswana that fulfilled a life long dream. Hunting with John Oosthuizen of Hunters & Guides he took an excellent bull elephant. The rifle he used was a Classic 505 Gibbs assembled in our shop. The bull was taken with one round and killed with a newly designed Barnes 525gr Round Nose solid. Congratulations to both Bryan and John.

The .30-06: Still killing sheep after all these years...

One of our clients took this beautiful Stone's ram while hunting with Collingwood Brothers in northern British Columbia last week. He hunted the ram with a rather unique .30-06 Legend rifle built on a modified left hand Granite Mountain Arms G33/40 action.

Congratulations on a great hunt and a great ram!

Two Standards of the World: The Stinson Gullwing and the Echols Legend .375 H&H

We recently had the pleasure of delivering a Legend rifle chambered in .375 H&H to Mr. Michael Boren.   Our usual procedure for delivery involves lots of packing tape, foam nurbles, and a visit from the UPS truck.  So we were pleased when Mike indicated that he wanted to pick up his rifle in person.  After a quick tour of the shop and short stop at the range to zero the rifle, we dropped Mike off at the airport for his trip home in his "old plane".

The "old plane" turned out to be a gorgeously restored Stinson Gullwing.  Built in 1939,  the Stinson was the depression-era equivalent of today's Gulfstream V.  Spacious and powerful,  Mike's Stinson was sent to England as part of the Lend/Lease program, and served as a coastal patrol aircraft.   Repatriated in 1943,  it moldered for years until Mike bought it and began the 6 year restoration process.  A medalist at the Oshkosh fly-in, this Gullwing isn't a "hangar queen" and is flown regularly.

Brian, Mike, and two Legends

The Stinson takes us back to another time.  A time when quality in design and execution was the norm, and not the exception.    Stinson's motto, "The Aircraft Standard of the World",  embodies what we strive to achieve in our shop.

Variety of groups fired from Mike's .375 with 300 gr. Barne's TSX/Solid and Woodleigh 350 gr. PPSN/FMJ

"Real Men Shoot Them In The White"...

Or "How to Stop Worrying and Love the .375 H&H".

I've always had a soft spot for the .375 H&H.  It is just one of those cartridges that performs.   Adequate power for most anything on Earth with the proper bullets.  Excellent accuracy.  Mild recoil. No muss, no fuss.  So I was a happy camper when one of our clients ordered up a Legend sporter chambered in this grand old cartridge.

Upon completion of the required metal work and stock bedding, Matt and I proceeded to take our creation down to the range for its maiden test firing, barrel break-in and load development.

The results were adequate for most purposes, don't you think?

These were the results with two different powder charges of R15 and H4895 and the 300 gr. Barnes TSX.  The group on the left measures .566".  The group on the right measures .166".  The scope was our trusty Leupold MK-4 16x test scope.

Brian Bingham
D'Arcy Echols & Co.

African Dangerous Game Cartridges by Pierre van der Walt

Recently a good friend of mine called to say he was sending me a book with a modern look at African rifles and cartridges that he felt I would enjoy. I thanked him profusely and politely tried to get him the cancel the order as I had not read a book on this subject in years that wasn't a re-hash of the same old tired themes. He said it was to late to cancel as the book was in route.

The book arrived in due course and I have not been able to put it down, it is that good. My favorite time to read or re-read a chapter is at dawn with a fresh cup of coffee. Some pages are already becoming dog eared.

To say Pierre van der Walts book African Dangerous Game Cartridges is "refreshing" is like seeing Victoria Falls for the first time and saying, gee that's nice. The work and effort that went into the text is extensive to say the least. The opening chapters on rifles, optics and related equipment is worth the cost of the book alone. The following chapters on cartridges and the load data comprised for each cartridge is a treasure trove of information.

I cannot recommend this book enough for those interested in African hunting, rifles and caliber selection in general.

You can contact author directly by e-mail at info@pathfinder-publications.com

2 more Legends head for home

Karl D and his lovely wife drove 12 hours on Tuesday to pick up another pair of Legends. One was chambered for 270 Winchester and the other for 300 Winchester. Both are in out standard sporter configuration. We spent some time at the range shooting these at 200 and 300 yards. As the session came to a close and they were facing the long drive home Karl wanted to shoot a 458 Lott we had and try and compare it to the recoil of his Legend chambered for 416 Rem. He has another Elephant coming up the this fall and just needed to see for himself if this caliber was a real man killer in the recoil dept.

So we set up his shooting sticks about 35 yards from the target frame and he fired 3 shots in very rapid succession as one might be required on such a hunt. He wanted to see what the recovery time was like  from shot to shot. As the third case hit the ground he turned and smiled and said, "Hell that's not bad !"