Domino H:  WJ Jeffery is the name of the manufacturer of the gun, it sounds like you're speaking of this double-barreled rifle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.600_Nitro_Express
2007-11-16 10:46:17

flstc88:  http://www.wjjeffery.co.uk/ good luck!
2007-11-16 10:52:48

gunguy58:  W.J. Jeffery is a European manufacturer of custom made guns selling in the many of thousands of dollars. They are custom made for caliber, grade of wood, finish, engraving and side locks. They make custom shotguns and rifles. They are famous for the high grade weapon and decoration as well as the exotic calibers the rifles, typically a double rifle are chambered for. They definitely are heavy and quite capable of dropping any large game around the world depending on what caliber they select to have them chambered for. Great book too by the way.
2007-11-16 11:08:39

steven a:  I had the privillage of firing a fine British double rifle (can't remember the maker) in .404 Jefferys. The cartridge seemed like it was big as a finger. Recoil was moderatly heavy but not as bad as the belted mags like the .458wm. The coolest thing about the rifle was the way it handle. Felt like an English db shotgun. And the history just dripped off it. I'd fell confidant going up against a lion in the tall grass with one.
2007-11-16 11:35:57

W W D:  One of the great gunmakers, I don't have the book handy, but one of their famous cartridges for bolt guns was the 404, and its .423" bullet of 400 grains' weight at around 2150 fps is adequate for any game, equalling the now-resurrected 450/400 ballistically. The cartridge is the basis for all the Remington UltraMags, Winchester Short Mags, and most of the Dakota line of cartridges. Ruger originally planned to chamber the 404 in their big bore rifle but had problems getting it to feed, if I'm not mistaken, and settled for the 416 Rigby, which isn't a bad cartridge itself, and the 458. CZ's Safari 550 is available in the chambering. And just because it dates from 1910 does not by any means translate into obsolescence. It's as good a cartridge as any modern one, as its progeny have shown. If that cartridge is the one you're asking about, the rifles were relatively inexpensive (at least compared to doubles) magnum Mauser actions, so there's not much to look at except to see what vanilla is like when done perfectly.
2007-11-16 12:26:31

Garrett B:  British firms were known for making the best double rifles for dangerous game. There were many calibers. Big game calibers start with the .375 H&H, but some African nations had laws that nothing less than .400" diameter bullets with certain ballistics were allowed to be used on elephants. There were .400 Nitro Express, .450/400 and various other proprietary cartridges. Tops was the .600 Nitro Express. More recently, a .700 Nitro Express was made. Jeffrey, Bland, Purdey, Rigby, Holland & Holland, etc. were some of the leading makers of double rifles and bolt-actions, and cartridges were named for these firms too. It is quite difficult to make a rifle with two barrels that will have both barrels shoot to the same point of impact with one set of sights, so there double rifles were quite costly. British rifles were the most reliable by far, and a double rifle gives one a quick two shots, while a bolt-action is slower if a 2nd shot is needed. I have a .460 weatherby bolt-action that costs $300 or so by now, while a Jeffrey duble rifle might cost $45,000 or so. Just a Jeffrey rifle could be any caliber, but for elephants, I would expect it to be .450, .470, .475 or .476 Nitro Express. Such rifles fire 480 to 520 grain bullets at about 2100 feet-per-second.
2007-11-16 12:44:28