Seems to me like the .50 BMG cartridge would be about ideal for loxodonta africana. Has anyone ever used this round for elephant?

you me other than the fact its in a 30 plus pound rifle? no way in [bleep] i would tote that bastard around the bush for many, many miles on foot that is normally required to get a good elephant......also doubt there is an African government that would allow such a rifle in their country by a sportsman......most elephant shooting is done offhand at short ranges.....a 50BMG rifle really aint suited to that kind of work....

I'd shoot an elephant in the ass with a 50BMG all day long.

I believe it would have the energy to flatten an elephant at 1000+ yards!

An ass shooter is way worse than a scab shooter...

Nah, my M99 only weighs 26lbs with optics. Throw in a 20lb pelican case and you get wheels though

If you could talk the local governments into it though, it could seriously take the dangerous out of the dangerous game. Imagine taking a heart & lung shot at 3 or 4 hundred yards... maybe you cant see that far over there though? Never been there, yet.

Just using a bigger gun in the same game though, would likely reduce your height significantly. I can see getting squished while trying to go prone and implement the bipod to get an accurate shot off with that 26lb rifle.

truck mounted unit?

Wait for perfect shot presentation, and be damn sure Ray's got his letter from the governor.

Dunno.. do know it works for whitetails....

.............The cartridge is certainly "MORE" than powerful enough. However, a 30 lb BMG rifle, would be a HUGE problem for mobility in the bush. Unless one is hunting from a stationary point, it serves no purpose for any practical hunting whatsoever.

Unless you are godzilla, a 30 lb or so 50 BMG is NOT ideal for any hunting situation.

The Cubans did in Angola and so did Idi Amin in Uganda. I think this would fall under the "duh" category. As to the photo, sure, just aim for the juncture of the hip and leg as elephants can't do the three lesusg thing then follow up with a finisher. Then again it's be stupid to shoot w/o first looking at the tusks, but then again given the nature of the whole thread, it's a fine line between the sublime and the ridiculous...toting that huge weapon around then setting up well I just think it would be unworkable. Or you could "set up" and wait for them to come to you then kill one. That would be killing and not hunting as one famous writer said, one hunts elephant with your feet, and merely kill them with your rifle. jorge

why don't you go where you are appreciated.....your a damned dickweed....

You've managed to ruin about 3 threads on the African forum....


maddog

Sweet! As if this one was going somewhere to start with.

Douch......



maddog

A wet-dream of sorts... Me, a .50 BMG, an elephant facing squarely away in an off limits Zimbabwe game preserve, and Ray backing me up with his trusty 505. I would be standing just a few yards from certain death about ready to prove to myself that I have what it takes to take the actions necessary to prove to myself that I am what I believe I am. I am not fearless.

well chit in that case......you be my gun bearer and ill shoot the damn elephant......26 pounds? i hate toting a 10 pound rife around all day......there is a reason my go to gun is a Kimber Montana

I almost put my favorite avatar in this forum, but.... NAH.

Greenhorn the clown.....

Man, that's an unsightly photo, but not nearly as much as this pillow-biting shooter of a bear. No photoshop required.

Assuming you could get within range toting the silly useless thing, I doubt if it would be as effective as traditional elephant rifles in .45 and .50 caliber shooting 500 or 535 grain bullets at around 2200 fps. The pointed BMG bullets would tend to change direction when they struck bone. You don't kill an elephant by "hydrostatic shock," whatever that is, and ordinary .458 elephant rounds penetrate plenty deep enough to kill. As do .375s for that matter.

And incidentally, a fast second shot might be nice and you ain'ta gonna do that with no .50 BMG, especially if you have to swing the gun and snap shoot.

I have to disagree Indy. I think it would be unethical to hunt DG with a 50BMG, but I also think that it would leave a nice big void between the ears or in the chest of anything walking this earth. Bone would not stand a chance.

given more elephants have prolly been killed with the AK47 than any other rifle/cartridge im betting the 50BMG bullet will penetrate in a straight line through bone just fine.....a 30-06 with FMG rounds do and the 50BMG is a 30-06 scaled up proportionally....

the silliness comes in toting around the heavy arse rifle all day, not any inability of the round.....

Good luck getting this type of damage with a 500NE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsD64KkCBFs

I'm a good looking MF'r ain't I Greenhorn! I lost that pic, I bet it was your screen saver huh?

Even though I think your being a jackazz for leaving smartazz remarks in AH section, I cannot leave your head on the body of Richard Simmons. I tend to have a little more respect for members and my fellow sportsman. You should also.

It's removed.

"im betting the 50BMG bullet will penetrate in a straight line through bone just fine"

You lose the bet.

100 years of elephant hunting experience proves that round nosed solids, or lately flat nosed ones, are necessary for straight line penetration.

The reason elephants get killed with AK 47s is the goons shoot at 20 elephants and don't care if 10 of them escape wounded. Try that with your $10,000 sport hunting trophy fee and your one elephant quota.

not all 50 bmg rounds are pointed.... there are other projectiles... i have barnes X in mine.... they open..... and IIRC there are banded solids...

BTW Greenhorn... I love that elk photo! Great job!

Jeff

Geez.... WTF did he hit that with... the ones I've shot have been 50 cal in , 50 cal out.... just like a punched hole.... I"ve yet to see that kind of damage. In fact my 50 cal ones have less damage than most average deer rifle rounds...


As to the poster who said unethical... WTF is that supposed to mean? F olks need to get off their high arrogant horses.

No offense meant, Rost. I am referring to those who think that shooting an elephant at 500yrds is sporting. If you want to carry that brick up close and personal, thats your business and more power to ya. Not necessarily the caliber I disagree with, just the though of hunting DG at long ranges.

A double rifle could be built for the .50 BMG that would weigh no more than a .500 Nitro Express and since it would be a sporting model, it would be no more difficult to bring into the African countries than any other sporting rifle.

So, whose gonna be the first to pull the trigger on a 12lbs 50cal with no brake?

name me one of your round nosed bullets hitting with 13,000 foot pounds of force......that spitzer bullet aint gonna be diverted enough to miss the brain....whole hell of alot of reasons why you aint gonna use a 50BMG to hunt elephants the fact your arguing this part is idiotic in the extreme.........

Sorry, but no. You'll never get a 50 Cal round past the TSA on an international flight. Second a bolt action BMG is practically impossible to shoot off hand and no way you can shoot it unbraked. A double? jeez, you bringing an APC to tote it around. Do you have any idea what an elephant hunt entails in the way of walking and carrying that absurd weapon. I'm sure it will shoot through a few elephants, that's not the issue, the issue is the very idea of the subject that blew threw the thin line between the sublime and the ridiculous like crap through a goose. Have you ever shot a 50BMG of the shoulder unbraked or otherwise? Do you have any idea what it entails to build a double to regulate properly? This thread needs a 50BMG, right between the eyes.

Jorge, the answer to all of your questions is yes. I've never hunted elephant, but I've read all about it and I know what it curtails. We've seen some very big, very hard kicking double and bolt action rifles, like the T Rex, and one could be chambered for the .50 BMG. There are people out there who seem to enjoy the recoi of these huge calibers. I'm not one of them, I'm only saying that the cartridge seems built for elephant. Had it been around 100 years ago, it certainly would have been used for dangerous game. I was just curious to find out if anyone else out there thought the .50 BMG ballistics would be devastating on elephant. Can anyone make an argument that it would be inneffective with proper bullets?

I cartridge is the issue. I didn't mention anything in the beginning of this thread about the launch pad.

I've been around the 50 Cal a long time during my thirty years in the Navy and I can tell you the 50cal with standard issue ball (AP) ammo will blow through an elephant and then some, no argument there, but I also know there isn't a human being that could take the recoil of a 50 on the shoulder with a 10 or even 15lb 50 cal rifle loaded to standard specs of a 750gr bullet@2700 fps. The T-Rex ain't even close to that. I can also tell you from dealing with the Feds (TSA DHS) there is no way you could export a 50BMG like you would a 500NE. jorge

It won't be me, RUMlover, but I know some guys who would. If Frank Barnes were still with us, he'd do it.

You answered my question jorge. The .50 cal will blow through an elephant and then some. All this talk about recoil, weight of the rifle, getting it into an African country etc. was irrelevant. I only brought up the question of the cartridge and the only reason I brought it up, was to see if anyone else ever had the same idea. Apparently, I was the first.

I think this one would work with the silencer/suppressor installed.


http://www.anzioironworks.com/light_50.htm



Chuck

Yeah. That one would work Colorado. Not too heavy either.

Idi Amin was reported in Time Magazine as using a 50 BMG mounted on a truck. His idea of "hunting" was to chase the herd in his truck and machine gun the entire herd. That would alleviate the portability problem, but one's PH would never agree to it, I hope.

Sorry... I don't think that distance really matters... some days I kill up close.... some days not so close. Too many folks telling others how to do legal things..... IMHO. Its like choice of weapon, animal and so on, how and where you do it, as long as legal, should be your call.

One could argue it not "ethical" to shoot elephant with anything other than doubles too I'd think.

BTW I've shot a few deer with my big 50... still have never seen anything but caliber in and out so far... I have not been able to tag one since I got the Barnes X bullets for it... that will be caliber in, inch out... I suspect...

They shoot humans with bigger stuff then that. Is a human about deer weight?

A small calculation shows the 460 Wby compared to the 50 BMG is about like a 30 calibre 180 grainer at 2600 compared to a 338 calibre 260 grainer at 2750 or so.

The SD of the 750 grain 50 calibre is 20% greater than the SD of the 500 grain 460.The SD of the 260 grain 338 is about 20% greater than the 180 grain 308. The 510 bullet is about 20% greater in cross sectional area than the 45 and 338 bullet is about 20% greater in cross sectional area than the 30

Rost, Not saying its not legal, but it misses the point of a DG hunt. Are you after the trophy, or the experience?

You are right to the extent that it would not matter to the elephant. Through the lungs at fifty feet or 500 yards is the same to him. It would not be the same to any PH who guided you or any fellow DG hunter to whom you related the expectation or experience. The major difference in hunting DG and simply exterminating it, is in getting close. And that is, in a very real sense, an ethical issue. After all a 30mm chain gun mounted on a land cruiser would be an extremely efficient elephant killer - but not a particularly ethical one. An elephant killed at 50 feet with a .50 BMG would to my mind be an ethical kill - It's just that once one accepts the ethical need to get close, the package necessary for a transportable - stalkable - .50 BMG no longer passes the common sense test.

Agreed!

I suspect its all in everyones minds and not worth the fun of the argument.... I don't get anything out of being close to the game and it being dangerous... I mean I don't have that desire. As close as I have is to shoot a buff with my bow... other than that no itch at all for African stuff. I say that.. I would not mind an Nyala on the wall either.

Point I'm getting at though is that each has their own set of desires and I wouldn't want someone telling me I CAN"T get up close and dangerous with an elephant.. as much as I don't want someone telling me I HAVE to get up close.

Guess I don't come across all that clear at times. But the experience can be the hunt, the weapon, how close or how far, and so on... many varying experiences can be had.

[/quote]

I suspect its all in everyones minds and not worth the fun of the argument.... I don't get anything out of being close to the game and it being dangerous... I mean I don't have that desire. As close as I have is to shoot a buff with my bow... other than that no itch at all for African stuff. I say that.. I would not mind an Nyala on the wall either.

[/quote]

Buffalo as a "maybe" for me, otherwise, me too. We were in an archery blind as a previously dart-hunted white rhino bull SLOWLY moved past upwind at maybe 15 yards. I did not like it!

Of course if Merkel chambered a nice 15 lb double rifle in 50 BMG, well that's a horse of a different color ...



Chuck

FYI, the 50BMG's operating pressures are way above what is the norm for doubles.

Ready for Jumbo!

Why stop there, why not a 105 howitzer

Wouldn't it be better practice to move the car a little further away before shooting it? or os this rehearsal for a charge?

I am thinkin' A-Max, not a solid.

BMT

Hey, why stop at .50? The Rangers use a 90mm recoiless rifle is definately man-portable.

Expat

I would use this on deer but it would way overpenetrate!
whelennut

Just load up some 600g Woodleigh protected points, they open up to over an inch in diameter and still hold together ... A little much for deer at 2700 fps though ...