Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Minimum cartridge for elephant.

https://archive.today/20200110151356/https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/easier-stuff/342415/elephant-killing-probe-heats-up

I’m guessing no one has tried it with 22 short or long though.

That's surprising that a .22 would kill one

I'd hate to be the guy that pisses that elephant off armed only with a .22

Elephants are pests. Do what you have to with what ya got.

Capstick related this in one of his books. Apparently a shot right behind the foreleg, the main artery is very close to the skin (which is over 1" thick) will punch through and the ellie will eventually bleed out.

Fred Bear killed one with a cedar arrow from a recurve bow!

Reading this book now, pretty interesting, using 4 oz balls from a muzzle loader in 1872.

Frederick Courteney Selous: A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa: Being a Narrative of Nine Years Spent Amongst the Game of the Far Interior of South Africa

There was fellow, Bell, who killed them as a livelihood with a 6.5 x 54 Mannlicher...eventually graduating to the 7x57. And the .303 etc.

Hunt them with a binocular & let them be.

That's where I'm at.

Perhaps you should read a bit more on elephant conservation and destruction of habitat. Here's a hint; EVERY place where elephant hunting has been banned, populations crash due to poaching and destruction of habitat by too many elephants...

The environment also got devastated everywhere they got rid of the elephants.

Now I AM confused...shoot the elephants, don't shoot the elephants, shoot the Africans, don't shoot the Africans...I'ma just stay home an' shut up.

One shot from a M-16 was all it took to lose the bet. Pop and flop. Cost me a case of beer.

Depends on the game laws of the country you hunt in. Certainly a 375 or larger.

I would use either my .404 Jeffery or .460 Wby.

In my opinion a 40 caliber or larger is the best choice

THIS. Sorry I forgot to call back, JW, on my way home today, I'll touch base with you when I'm back in the office Monday

I thought that .460 was dedicated to NM jackwabbits….

Your .404J looks to me to be way too fancy to take hunting.

DF

Yes, the .460 is dedicated to NM jackwabbits, but it might graduate to something bigger.

The .404 Jeffery is never too fancy to take hunting.

Yes. Bell nailed elephants with some rather small calibers, and if memory is correct, he might have gone down to 0.25 in a couple instances. He, however, spent a couple days dissecting his first to learn the animal's makeup. Before cartridges, folks poured dozens of 4-bore cap and ball rounds into elephants, and probably half of them waltzed away.