The load Tank used in Africa. Simple formula with a long history.
Deciding what guns to bring for an African hunt was a tough decision. Tim Sundles, and his wife Kim, graciously invited me to the Buffalo Bore Game Preserve in South Africa for a cull hunt. Species would range from massive Cape Buffalo to impala, and everything in between. I had some decisions to make. Here’s the trio I picked making for a most interesting and enjoyable hunt.
Lever Loony
I’ve dreamed of taking a Cape Buffalo with a Marlin lever gun in .45-70 for over two decades and wasn’t having much luck seeing any here in the states, no matter how hard I looked. Ruger’s newly released SBL Marlin fitted with a Skinner Sights extended Peep Rail and “bear Buster front sight would be perfect for the tas
All-Around Bolt
A Ruger African rifle chambered in .375 Ruger purchased 16 years ago got the nod for my utilitarian piece, performing wonderfully on the 15,000 acres preserve. Lastly, I wanted/needed a handgun … because hunting/shooting with one keeps things interesting. Besides, they’re handy too, as you will see.
Tank’s Custom Shop BFR from Magnum Research at its first range outing.
Magnum Research Custom BFR
A year before the hunt, I was kicking around the idea of having a custom handgun built with Brett Pikula, the head honcho of the Magnum Research Custom Shop. The .45 Colt is my favorite handgun caliber, but we turbo charged it a bit, going with the .454 Casull.
I love stainless steels rust resistant properties, but much prefer the warm looks of blued steel. Thanks to Brett, I got both. He informed me he could nitride the gun after a robust hand polishing. Afterwards, he went over the gun to give it a “used” look. Brett knocked the ball out of the stadium! The gun looks beautiful!
Using classy, high-grade Turkish walnut stocks, he expertly fit them to the Bisley grip frame. The grip frame provides plenty of room from the trigger guard for large, fisted shooters. A low setting, wide spur hammer makes cocking comfortable, while adding elegance to the gun’s profile.
The fit and finish is as one would expect from Magnum Research’s Custom Shop — pure perfection. The final stamp of approval is the script BP Maker’s Mark on the end of the frame, custom shop manager Brett Pikula’s initials.
Tank used his handloads while shooting steel in Raton,
New Mexico at the NRA Whittington Center.
Buffalo Bore uses cast bullets from Rim Rock Bullets in Montana.
The last group shot by Tank before his hunt at 50 yards.
That’s a 2” target with 6 o’clock hold
Ammunition
Buffalo Bore’s catalog item 7C, was my choice of ammunition for the wheelgun. It features a 360- grain flat-nosed, gas checked bullet from Rim Rock bullets of Montana. Velocity is advertised at 1,425 FPS but was nearing 1,500 FPS from my 9” barreled BFR.
For sight-in I had to file the front sight down to correspond with point of impact/point of aim. Once dialed in, sub-2” groups are the norm at 50 yards. This says a lot about both the ammunition and gun.
Here’s the rig riding in style on top of the Land Cruiser.
Three aces for a perfect hunting combo!
Leather
Mi amigo, Doc Barranti of Barranti Leather surprised me with a custom shoulder holster featuring a hand carved Cape Buffalo skull and hammered background. The rig also came with an ammo pouch capable of holding five rounds of ammo. It’s a beautiful rig and one I’m extremely proud to wear.
Tank’s wildebeest knocked down with the .45-70 and finished with the .454 Casull.
First Blood
It was towards the end of the first day and it was pouring rain. From a distance, Tim and I saw what we believed to be blue wildebeest. Checking with our binoculars, we still weren’t sure. “Nah, they’re bushes …wait a minute, did one move?” We got about 140 yards away and sure enough, they were wildebeest.
Using the peep sighted Marlin 45-70, I took aim at the largest one and shot. The telltale “SMACK” of the 380-grain monolithic solid hitting his shoulder sounded like a baseball bat hitting concrete and the wildebeest dropped. Approaching him, he was still alive. A coup de grace shot from the BFR ended things instantly, as it should.
A heavy horned impala taken with the BFR.
Impala
A few days later we spotted a heavy horned impala. He was unaware of us and about 75 yards away. Aiming tightly behind his shoulder, the gun fired. He mule kicked into a death run and was recovered a short distance away. Later the same day, a cull water buck was taken the same way. Nothing dramatic, the gun and load just worked.
A blesbok shot stern to stem with the BFR.
Blesbok
Hunting blesbok and black wildebeest on top of the mountain was spectacular. I really got to stretch the legs of my .375 Ruger. There were blesbok and black wildebeest everywhere. But they were anywhere from 300-400 yards away. One of the first blesboks I shot dropped straight down in high grass, disappearing. Believing he’s done, we continued our hunt for black wildebeest.
After getting a few black wildebeest, we went to retrieve the blesbok. Pulling up in the Land Cruiser, we got out to throw him in the back of the truck. Exiting the vehicle, he jumped up and started hobbling away. Wearing my shoulder rig, I drew my BFR, shot him at the root of the tail and he collapsed.
My rifle shot was too low, hitting both front legs below his brisket. The .454 Casull 360-grain slug entered his rump and exited his nose for complete penetration. I told you it’s always good having a handgun handy.
A tickled Tank posing with his impala.
Conclusion
Bonding with the BFR .454 Casull and Barranti rig was a pleasure. It proved a handy, convenient combination. The Buffalo Bore ammo also performed flawlessly. The humble cast bullet is still a worthy and viable projectile when placed in the vitals of any game. Many thanks to Tim & Kim Sundles, Doc Barranti and Brett Pikula for making this hunt a special one indeed.
The new Springfield Armory M1A Tanker melds the timeless power, utility and class of the traditional M1A rifle with the maneuverability and practicality of the shortened SOCOM 16. The end result offers Information Age function and design along with Old World parkerized steel and stained walnut. However, today’s M1A Tanker has some remarkably deep roots.
The Springfield Armory M1A Tanker is an Information Age rendition of the shortened Garand action fed from a detachable box magazine.
Origin Story
Bottom line up front, the “Tanker Garand” as we know it today has a bit of a convoluted history. There was indeed a two-pronged parallel development process during the war to produce a shortened version of the standard M1 rifle for use by paratroopers and jungle fighters, but the term “Tanker Garand” was actually coined in the post-World War II era. However, the same tactical exigencies that drove the genesis of this abbreviated Garand still make for a superlative compact rifle today.
The M1 Garand was an exceptional rifle on every count, but was admittedly quite long and heavy.
Late in 1944, fortunes were turning against both the Japanese and the Nazis, but there yet remained a great deal of fight left in the snake. Around this time engineers began experimenting with a shortened Garand for use by airborne troops and the like.
That initial effort was marked M1E5 but classified as the M1A3. However, it fared poorly. This new gun incorporated a folding steel pantograph stock that was both unwieldy and uncomfortable. Additionally, the sluggish powders used in wartime .30-06 ammunition lit up the countryside unduly when fired after dark.
The early experimental pantograph stock was interesting, but unwieldy and uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, one Colonel William Alexander served on the Pacific Warfare Board, a brain trust of sorts tasked with review of weapons systems in theater from a strategic perspective. He tasked the Ordnance Division of the 6th Army in the Philippines to bodge together some 15,000 shortened M1 rifles for use in confined environments. They eventually produced 150 handmade samples before running out of steam.
These guns ended up going in several different directions with at least one of them actually seeing combat with the 503d Parachute Infantry Regiment. Two of these homebrewed weapons were shipped back to the United States for evaluation. This rejuvenated the previous project and catalyzed yet another updated prototype designated the T26.
The T26 had its barrel shortened from 24 to 18 inches and sported a pruned forearm to match. Soon this endeavor was overshadowed by such stuff as the island-hopping juggernaut and atomic bombing. As a result the T26 project got canned as well.
The T26 (top) was a later simplified prototype for a shortened Garand. Image: Springfield Armory NHS
The military is hard on its toys, so most of those prototype rifles were ground up during testing. The sheer novelty of the things makes them unimaginably valuable to a dedicated Garand nerd.
After the war, the world was covered in a thin patina of small arms, and a lot of returning soldiers and Marines wanted a copy of their service weapon sitting in their closet back home. As a result, enterprising folk sold gobs of military surplus guns. To add some flair to their offerings, the shortened Garand project was resurrected and offered as the infamous “Tanker” Garand.
The M3A1 “Grease Gun” soldiered on for decades as a weapon for armored vehicle crewmen.
Information Age Treatment
I’ve spent some time working inside armored vehicles myself, and they are unimaginably cramped. Against all expectations, the M3 Grease Gun, a cheap stamped steel stuttergun that cost a paltry $18 apiece back during World War II, actually soldiered on until the 1990’s as an individual weapon for armor crewmen. The Army didn’t cling to its Grease Guns through the First Gulf War because they were awesome. We kept using the Grease Gun because it was small.
So clearly, compact size was an important feature. But, adapting an M1 Garand into a tanker’s personal defense weapon is about as practical as stuffing a housecat into a Pringles can. There are just better places to keep your cat. However, there yet remains a persistent need for a handier version of a full-sized .30-caliber rifle.
The M1A Tanker combines the charm of a shortened Garand with all the benefits of the M1A design.
While the M1A Tanker might not be historically accurate in the purest sense, that doesn’t make it any less valuable to today’s shooter. Taking the short and handy concept of the “M1 Tanker” and applying it to the detachable box magazine-fed M1A gives you a rifle that combines “Garand’y” charm with the benefits of the M1A’s more modern updates. The result is a handy and compact .308 that looks the part of a World War II-era rumbler, but gives you a gun that isn’t a priceless prototype that you can actually shoot!
During the Second World War, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Yamato was feared due to its immense size and power. She was the most heavily armed battleship ever built, with nine 18.1-inch (460mm) main guns, the largest ever mounted on a warship. Each shell weighed nearly 1.5 tons and had a range in excess of 26 miles.
Yamato was also the heaviest warship ever constructed and the most heavily armored, leading to a belief she might be “unsinkable.”
The super-battleship Yamato carrying out sea trials in October 1941. Image: Mr. Kazutoshi Hando/U.S. Navy
Still, today, she lies at the bottom of the East China Sea, about 180 miles southwest of Kyushu, Japan.
The warship was sunk more than 80 years ago, on April 7, 1945, and is now broken into multiple pieces — proof she was neither unsinkable nor as well-protected as her designers may have believed. Naval historians have noted a design flaw, namely that her armor was riveted instead of welded, creating a point of weakness that allowed damage to propagate after bombs and torpedoes struck.
Another notable fact about Yamato is that, due to a shift in naval strategy during the Pacific War, she spent most of her career in naval bases and engaged in combat just a handful of times. Her only real battleship-to-battleship sortie was during the Battle off Samar, part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944.
In that engagement, the IJN super battleship was credited with sinking the United States Navy’s Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) and the Fletcher-class destroyer USS Johnston (DD-557). At the same time, Yamato also inflicted hits on another destroyer, USS Hoel (DD-533), fired by her 6.1-inch guns, contributing to the U.S. warship’s sinking.
Given all the hype, it is hardly an impressive record for what was built to be a decisive weapon, one that could single-handedly defeat multiple U.S. battleships and bring America to the peace table. Obviously, that never happened; instead, it was aircraft that sank the Yamato and her sister ship, the Musashi.
The Imperial Japanese Navy’s super-battleships Yamato (left) and Musashi (right) moored in Truk Lagoon sometime during 1943. Image: Naval History & Heritage Command
As Bernard Ireland and Eric Grove wrote in Jane’s War at Sea: 1897-1997: 100 Years of Jane’s Fighting Ships, “One of the great unanswered questions of the Pacific War surrounded the likely outcome of a gunnery duel between [the U.S. Navy’s USS] Iowa and a Japanese Yamato.” The authors suggested that speed and maneuverability of the U.S. Navy’s “fast battleship” might have given it an edge, despite being armed with 16-inch guns.
“That the battleship’s day was done, however, was underlined by the loss of both Yamatos to carrier-based air attacks,” Ireland and Grove explained. “As scorpions succumb to a massed attack by ants, so did these super-battleships founder from the cumulative effect of scores of torpedo hits, bomb hits and near misses.”
Building the Yamato
An irony of Yamato is that the Japanese military invested a massive amount of money, resources and time in three super battleships, only to barely utilize them in their intended role. In fact, the third hull of the Yamato-class battleship was converted into the aircraft carrier Shinano, but that is a story for another time.
Builder plans for Imperial Japanese Navy Battleship Yamato. Image: Naval History and Heritage Command
What is important to the discussion is that the super-battleship was built in keeping with the pre-war naval strategy that called for victory in a “Kantai Kessen” or “decisive battle.” The doctrine had worked in the Russo-Japanese War at the Battle of Tsushima Strait in May 1905, and in the early 1930’s, it remained a sound strategy, at least to Japanese naval designers.
Even as the IJN began to build aircraft carriers, it initially underestimated their capabilities.
That policy evolved, but by then, the construction of Yamato was already underway. The UK’s Royal Navy carried out its raid on the Italian fleet at Taranto in November 1940, which simply confirmed what many in the IJN believed — that carrier-based aircraft could be the weapon to lead a Kantai Kessen doctrine.
What is also known about the construction of the super-battleship is that no fewer than 23 designs were prepared between 1934, when plans for a super battleship were first introduced, and by 1937, two such vessels were ordered. Construction occurred in great secrecy, with Yamato laid down at Kure, Japan, and Musashi in Nagasaki. That included the installation of high fences, protective roofing and camouflage netting.
The Yamato came under attack on October 26, 1944, while retreating from the Sibuyan Sea. The photo was taken from a B-24 Liberator. Image: Naval History and Heritage Command
The debate over the building of Yamato is the central theme of the highly fictionalized 2019 film The Great War of Archimedes. It started a debate over the necessity of such a warship, yet it does put some of the costs in the spotlight. It also explains how truly massive the battleship was compared to existing capital ships of the era.
Well Armed and Armored
As built, Yamato was 263 meters (863 feet) in length, had a beam of 39.9 meters (130 feet, 3 inches), and a full load displacement of 72,809 tons. As previously noted, its primary armament was nine 18.1-inch guns, the largest ever mounted on a warship. Secondary armament consisted of a dozen 6.1-inch (15.5 cm) guns in four triple turrets; guns larger than the primary armament of the U.S. Navy’s Fletcher-class destroyers!
The IJN Yamato under attack by USS Hornet (CV-12) aircraft during the first strike. A torpedo or bomb has just exploded forward on the starboard side. Image: Naval History & Heritage Command
The battleship was initially equipped with 36 25mm anti-aircraft guns and four 13.2mm machine guns. By 1945, the number of 25mm anti-aircraft guns had increased to 162, an indication that the IJN saw what aircraft could do (and had done) to battleships.
The main turrets on Yamato were protected by 9.8 to 25.6 inches of armor, while the battleship’s belt armor was 16.1 inches (410 mm) thick. The deck armor was 7.9 to 9.1 inches (200 to 230mm), and the conning tower was protected by 19.7 inches (500mm) of armor.
Yamato was powered by four steam turbine engines that gave the battleship a top speed of 27 knots (31mph), while she had a range of 7,200 nautical miles. By 1945, her crew consisted of 2,700 officers and sailors.
From Midway to Leyte Gulf
The IJN Yamato was not part of the fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, as the warship was still being fitted out. However, just over six months later, she served as the flagship for IJN Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto at the Battle of Midway in June 1942.
As part of the “Main Body” that stayed about 300 miles behind the carrier strike force, she saw no combat in that action.
Yamato listing to port and afire at the after end of her superstructure, but still underway, while under attack by U.S. Navy aircraft on April 7, 1945. Image: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
The super-battleship was present at the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, and then took part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, specifically the Battle off Samar. It was during that engagement that she was damaged after two bombs dropped by U.S. carrier-based aircraft impacted turret 1. Some crew quarters were destroyed, but Yamato survived the battle. She returned to Brunei for repairs.
Less than six months later, she was sortied on a mission that was to be her last.
Ten-Go
Yamato was ordered to disrupt the American landings at Okinawa. Dubbed “Ten-Go,” it was the final major Japanese naval operation of the Pacific War and called for the super-battleship to beach herself and serve as a coastal defense gun until she was destroyed.
On April 7, 1945, the IJN task force sailed from Japan.
It was also a mission that the crew almost certainly knew they wouldn’t survive, a one-way trip with no air cover and limited fuel supply. There are reports that some crew members were given the option to refuse the mission, but everyone chose to proceed.
What the IJN didn’t know is that the United States Navy had intercepted and decoded radio signals and was prepared to engage the IJN Yamato in the open sea. Within hours, U.S. carrier-based planes launched devastating waves on the IJN task force.
That particular day has been described as having low overcast conditions, which was ideal for an air attack. It was truly like ants carrying out a massed attack on a scorpion. Within 10 minutes of the aircraft engaging the battleship, Yamato had taken two bomb hits and another from a torpedo. One of its escorting destroyers was sunk, and a light cruiser was disabled.
Between 1300 and 1417 hours, the IJN force was under almost continuous air attack.
The scorpion was barely able to sting back, as the anti-aircraft crews lacked adequate training and were only able to shoot down just over half a dozen American aircraft. The U.S. pilots, seeing an opportunity that wasn’t to be missed, piled on the attacks against the battle wagon.
Yamato took at least 12 bombs and seven torpedo hits in just two hours. The combination of bombing and torpedo attacks knocked out every gun on the topside and caused the mighty warship to list significantly. The 1,000 watertight compartments proved ineffective in saving the ship, as the lower decks began to flood.
Ten-Go Operation, April 1945 Japanese battleship Yamato blows up after receiving massive bomb and torpedo damage from U.S. Navy carrier planes, north of Okinawa on 7 April, 1945. Three Japanese destroyers are nearby. Image: Official U.S. Navy
The sailors clung to what they could, but it was a hopeless endeavor. The ship’s deck went nearly vertical, with her battle flag just barely above the waves.
Shells flew across the ammunition room and crashed against the bulkhead, setting off a chain reaction. The unstable cordite charges in the battleship’s forward leading gun magazines detonated in a massive, spectacular fireball.
It created a mushroom cloud that witnesses said reached a height of over three and a half miles into the sky. It was seen nearly 100 miles away on the Japanese mainland of Kyushu. The force of that blast broke the ship in two and caused her to sink rapidly with a tremendous loss of life.
Just 269 of her crew survived.
The light cruiser Yahagi proved almost as challenging as the battleship, taking 12 bombs and seven torpedo hits before finally sinking. Four IJN destroyers were also sunk or scuttled, while four others that were damaged managed to limp back to Sasebo. An additional 1,167 Japanese sailors were killed on the combined vessels.
A total of 10 U.S. aircraft were shot down in the engagement, with a loss of 12 men.
Sunset of the Battleship Era
The IJN Yamato wasn’t the last battleship to be sunk in combat, as the IJN Hyūga survived until July 28, 1945, when she was sunk in port in Kure Harbor, Japan. Battleships would also remain in service after the war, and the United States Navy briefly returned its four Iowa-class battleships during the 1980s, when then-President Ronald Reagan called for a navy of more than 600 ships.
However, the sinking of Yamato can be seen as symbolizing the end of the battleship era. It demonstrated the vulnerability of the capital ships to air power. It may have been heavily armed and armored, yet it played a minimal role in combat operations.
Had Japan been on the offensive, Yamato could have played a role in providing fire during amphibious landings, but the tide of war turned essentially before such an opportunity was ever presented to the super-battleship.
Destruction of Yamato in Pop Culture
For the Japanese people, the battleship Yamato remains a symbol of national pride, heroic sacrifice and even a cautionary tale about the futility of war. That latter fact is noted in the film The Great War of Archimedes, where (spoilers) it is even suggested that the warship needed to be built to be lost in a heroic sacrifice. The 2019 film even opens with the warship’s destruction in Operation Ten-Go. It is a dramatized depiction that relies heavily on CGI, but is still worth watching.
The final mission of the IJN Yamato is also presented in the 2005 film Yamato, which chronicles the last year of the ship’s service. The film’s final act also recreates the April 7 air assault that destroyed the battleship.
Both films received high praise in Japan.
The 2005 movie was filmed on a 1:1 scale replica of the forward section and the portside anti-aircraft guns. After filming was completed, the set was open to the public for nearly a year, during which it attracted more than 1 million visitors. Model maker Tamiya also released special-edition scale models of the battleship to coincide with the film’s release, and the company even produced a special 1:350-scale diorama of the wreck site.
Finally, Yamato has remained a staple of Japanese pop culture, including the anime series Space Battleship Yamato, which was released in the U.S. under the title Star Blazers.
