Dinosaur Hunting

I just got the boxed set of Jurassic Park movies on DVD, and SWMBO and I watched the whole franchise today.

The character 'Roland', the professional hunter in JP2: The Lost World, intrigued me.

So here's the question:

If you were going to hunt Tyranosaurus Rex, one of the largest carnivores that has ever lived, what weapon would you use?

Personally, I'm thinking RPG-7, but that might be both overkill and not accurate enough.

I guess another question could be what would you use to defend yourself against Velociraptors? For that I'm thinking some flavor of .308 battle rifle, like an FAL, with big soft nose bullets. And a couple of mates to cover your back.

And does anybody know what that double rifle was that Roland was using in the movie?

GE Minigun.

For the t-rex I would use a rifle, like the Barret, in .50 bmg. armor piercing A hip shot or 2 should bring a t-rex down so he can be dispatched. For smaller dinos I would prefer 30'06 rifle, like the M-1, with ap ammo as well, or even my Remington 740 in 30'06 ap with the 10 round magizine. With a beast like a dino penetration would be most important.

I don't know. I don't think a shaped charge would do any damage that a good taxidermist couldn't fix. An antipersonnel round would probably just make it mad.

Is that a double neck on that case?

Holy $h!t!

I just don't weigh enough to fire that monstrosity without a BIG muzzle brake!

No, no, no!

Here you are: http://www.african-hunter.com/site/firearms/ 4bore_part01_01.htm

'The Return Of The 4 Bore.'

That's 4 guage. The infamous 'quarter pounder'. And I'm talking _rifle_, not shotgun!

In a word, OUCH!

Of course, a friend of mine who's favorite passtime is playing Doom said that since the whole thing is a flight of fancy anyway, why not use a BFG-9000. That'd put the beast down!

Naturally, with a topic like this, dingbats are always going to jump in and try to act funny and ruin the thread. Anyway...

Keep in mind that these are lizards, not mammals. They're not very intelligent in the manner of, say, a lion, buff or elephant. They behave more with automatic, instinct-driven reflexes. What this translates into is that your weapon will need to disable the dinosaur, not just 'change his mind.' Of course, you can pretty well forget brain shots - even on a T-Rex, the brain's about the size of a walnut, underneath about a foot of skull bone.

Also, I'm assuming we're talking about hand-carried firearms here, not a jeep-mounted Bofors gun or a Quad 50.

I can't seen any handheld firearm working against a T-Rex. You're talking about a lizard several times the size of an African elephant. You might be able to disable both of its knees, something of that nature, but I wouldn't bet your life on it.

The v-raptors would be another matter. I think you'd want a deep-penetrating hollow point projectile. Maybe something like a .338 Win Mag.

I don't think there is any ruining this thread. It was pre-ruined when I started it. At least the netcops haven't jumped in to say how useless it is. Heck, I knew it was useless when I posted it. Flights of fantasy are almost always useless.

But if somebody does succeed in inventing a time machine...

Well, actually there is some conjecture about the physiology of dinosaurs. If the honeycomb structure of their bones is a telltale then they may have had a metabolism much more like modern birds than lizards. And dromeosaurs, the critters that velociraptors were based on, have been found covered with fossilized feathers.

But, heck, how much _can_ we know about them. They've been extinct for 65 million years.

Actually, the size of a small orange, not that it makes much difference. We're still talking about ten tons of teeth, apetite, attitude, and little brains.

Jeep mounted weapons wouldn't be out of the question. Somebody suggested an M-1 tank, but I think that would be overkill, even on a T-rex.

Indeed. That's why I was leaning toward an RPG-7, or its US equivalent. I don't remember the designation of the beastie that replaced the LAW, but it's a contender. I figure if they can take out an APC or disable a tank then they'd probably do a pretty good job on a T-rex if you could get a clean shot. Might be messy, though.

I'm still leaning toward an FAL or a G3. That way when they start coming at you from all sides you can play them a little rock 'n roll. A couple of mates similarly armed to watch your back and flanks would be a good idea too.

And who knows? On the odd chance that somebody like John Hammond does actually succeed in actually creating a dinosaur we might actually get a chance to put these ideas to the test.

In our dreams, anyway.

Just what you need. Missiles and 7.62mm miniguns, rockets and 30mm automatic

<snip>

It's called the 'AT-4', and don't forget the M203. I have seen what they do to a human with a center mass hit. Completely cleaned out the chest and abdomen...not pretty.

T.

Ron, For a fair chase hunt I suppose most any dangerous game rifle will do. Since running and hiding is going to be a big part of such a hunt I'd go with ultralight tackle and give my Guide Gun 'Mjolnir' a chance to stretch its legs with Garrett's .45/70 540 grain Hammerheads. Even then I'd certainly put 'Hunt T-Rex' toward the bottom of my 'List of Things to Do Before I Die.' Now for culling (of which there will likely be much as the odds do not favor the sport hunter and we'd only find out whether T-Rex breed like rabbits after we recreated them) I'd go with a Barrett Light 50 and custom deep penetrators loaded with some sort of neurotoxin optimized for the great lizards. Good hunting! Michael