WALLOP - An Origin Story

[DisplacedHusky]

I started reading Death in The Long Grass for the first time and came across this section.



Capstick is referencing the double barrel .470 Nitro Express that he was using to hunt man-eating lions.

The book was published in 1977 so, we are coming up on 50 years of Wallop.

 

[ndlawrence]

Good read! If capstick is about wallop, maybe I have it wrong

 

[Tmac]

So did JvB plagiarize? Someone needs to ask him lol.

 

[willfrye027]

Such a great book! Thankfully my 22 creedmoor has plenty of wallop

 

[Dioni A]

I think in a time of marginally performing bullets it may have mattered. So much of what we believe today stems from corrosive gunpowder’s stocks designed for open sites and bullets with unreliable, poor mechanical performance. so much of this industry is designed around what granddad told Pappy and Pappy told me with no recognition of the innovation in between.

 

[DisplacedHusky]

He also references that he was not allowed to carry a sidearm during the hunt because of local regulations. I’m guessing there were other weapon restrictions as well.

 

[TaperPin]

Wallop was used long before that.

Two million animals a year in North America have been taken with old school wallop. You may not like it, but it works.

 

[Dioni A]

you could drive across the country in a bulldozer, but that doesn’t make it the best choice. nobody ever said it doesn’t work. @TaperPin

 

[EastHumboldt]

It’s been said before…. “How ken ye have enny whallop, if ye don’t eat yer recoil?”

 

[9.3koolaid]

you could drive across the country in a bulldozer, but that doesn’t make it the best choice. nobody ever said it doesn’t work. @TaperPin

If you've never seen it, it's worth your time

 

[MuleyFever]

If you've never seen it, it's worth your time

Lots of poor shooting and poor bolt work in that video.

 

[Marbles]

I think in a time of marginally performing bullets it may have mattered. So much of what we believe today stems from corrosive gunpowder’s stocks designed for open sites and bullets with unreliable, poor mechanical performance. so much of this industry is designed around what granddad told Pappy and Pappy told me with no recognition of the innovation in between.

I'm not so sure. This is W.D.M. Bells take, 1900s time frame. The last sentence is the real key though.

Redirect Notice

 

[eric1115]

Wallop was used long before that.

Two million animals a year in North America have been taken with old school wallop. You may not like it, but it works.

View attachment 847009

I can't read that last paragraph without JVB's voice in my head. Between the word choice and the phrasing/ellipsis, it's a funny example of the style he has become a parody of, and why he appeals to who he does.

 

[RockAndSage]

This explains everything - it comes from an unscientific, antiquated Old French word: https://www.etymonline.com/word/wallop

I'll bet we wouldn't be in this situation if the Germans had just invented a way more scientific 7 syllable mashup of 4 words for it, that just made everyone want to quantify it all. Like, Knocksendeshitzenfaktor, or something.

 

[EastHumboldt]

This explains everything - it comes from an unscientific, antiquated Old French word: https://www.etymonline.com/word/wallop

I'll bet we wouldn't be in this situation if the Germans had just invented a way more scientific 7 syllable mashup of 4 words for it, that just made everyone want to quantify it all. Like, Knocksendeshitzenfaktor, or something.

Dikkenzedurtfaktor….Geschmakkenzeit… Assubertenkuppen

 

[JBradley500]

Once the official wallop scale is approved the hunting community will come to agreement that 7mm rem mag is the minimum for deer and 338 win mag for elk.

 

[Jbehredt]

The leopard story still lingers in my mind. Great read.