The next time you talk with Craig "I-Like-A-Cannon" Boddington, tell him that he needs to tread lightly on the legend and legacy of WDM Bell!!
Actually, he wrote an interesting article in the current issue of G&A. I'm still trying figure out, though, how he figures that Bell didn't shoot 1000+ elephants with the .275. I'm not saying he did or didn't, but is CB saying that his total with all rifles was 1000+, not just the .275? Somehow I missed how he explained it in the article.
I'll post a picture of the first big old boar I shoot DRT with my new Boddington No 1 in 7x57. You can forward it to him and tell him "little guns" work just fine on big old pigs.
I remember Bell saying in print that he slew 800 some Bull Elephants with his .275 Rigby alone. Of course he killed a passel of them with his .256 Mann. and .318 WR, and .450/400 as well putting his lifetime total around 2K as I remember.
It is a well know fact that all game animals have become tougher since the Interweb was invented. You are not a man, nor a hunter if you don't shoot somthing with the word "magnum" in it.
Face facts - the 7 mauser, 7x08, 6.5swede and all other "mild" cartridges will not penetrate, nor kill any game animal in these modern times......
Bell must have had HUGE Cahones to walk right in amongst a big herd of elephants and start blasting away with brain shots and a pee shooter like that. Got to admire the man for his courage!
It is a well know fact that all game animals have become tougher since the Interweb was invented. You are not a man, nor a hunter if you don't shoot somthing with the word "magnum" in it.
Face facts - the 7 mauser, 7x08, 6.5swede and all other "mild" cartridges will not penetrate, nor kill any game animal in these modern times......
Actually, the movement was well underway in the '60's (maybe before, but that's when I started reading magazines.) "It makes a helluva noise; it packs a helluva wallop."
JA Hunter said Bell picked off his elephants at a distance. He said in Bell's day the elephants were found on the open plains and Bell didn't get up close and personal with them the way JA Hunter had to in his day. He also said Bell tried to recreate his success later in life (with his .275)after the elephants had changed their habits to being more forest dwellers and the safari was a dismal failure and Bell was lucky to escape with his life.
JA Hunter said Bell picked off his elephants at a distance. He said in Bell's day the elephants were found on the open plains and Bell didn't get up close and personal with them the way JA Hunter had to in his day. He also said Bell tried to recreate his success later in life (with his .275)after the elephants had changed their habits to being more forest dwellers and the safari was a dismal failure and Bell was lucky to escape with his life.
this....the habits that elephants had were different when Bell was hunting....as above they changed within his lifetime....Bell killed a slew with the 7x57 but he was shooting them at alot farther distances than the guys that came after him.....he wasnt using the 7x57 at powder burn ranges in the thick stuff like the guys that came after him....
The next time you talk with Craig "I-Like-A-Cannon" Boddington, tell him that he needs to tread lightly on the legend and legacy of WDM Bell!!
Actually, he wrote an interesting article in the current issue of G&A. I'm still trying figure out, though, how he figures that Bell didn't shoot 1000+ elephants with the .275. I'm not saying he did or didn't, but is CB saying that his total with all rifles was 1000+, not just the .275? Somehow I missed how he explained it in the article.
I'll post a picture of the first big old boar I shoot DRT with my new Boddington No 1 in 7x57. You can forward it to him and tell him "little guns" work just fine on big old pigs.
If you have a bone to pick with Craig you should go to DSC Convention and tell him yourself. I'm sure he'll give you a smile and mabe give you an autographed book.
JA Hunter said Bell picked off his elephants at a distance. He said in Bell's day the elephants were found on the open plains and Bell didn't get up close and personal with them the way JA Hunter had to in his day. He also said Bell tried to recreate his success later in life (with his .275)after the elephants had changed their habits to being more forest dwellers and the safari was a dismal failure and Bell was lucky to escape with his life.
this....the habits that elephants had were different when Bell was hunting....as above they changed within his lifetime....Bell killed a slew with the 7x57 but he was shooting them at alot farther distances than the guys that came after him.....he wasnt using the 7x57 at powder burn ranges in the thick stuff like the guys that came after him....
Was it all the activity in east Africa during the Great War that caused the animals habits to change?
If you have a bone to pick with Craig you should go to DSC Convention and tell him yourself. I'm sure he'll give you a smile and mabe give you an autographed book.
Was at DSC a few years back and stopped at Craigs booth to buy a book. Some guy walked up and told Craig he was shorter than he looked on TV. Craig just smiled and signed his book.
Well the thing with Bell was that he did most of his hunting before WW-I, and he lived to tell the tale and retire in comfort in Scotland! Bell used a lot of rifles, what he liked was light rifles and recoil to go with it, he knew how to shoot and shoot well, my guess he had exceptionally good eye sight, he also served in the RAF as a Fighter Pilot in the First World War. So many have repeated the story in so many articles about hunting and cartridges in general, that if you write something about the 7 x 57 or 7mm Mauser or 275 Rigby and don't drop his name, you are considered in some circles rude! He was an astute businessman, after all he shot elephants for money! And there is no doubt he was one of the few that was really successful at it, but its more than 100 years ago now, these days the big Ivory on the old bulls are very very valuable, considering what it costs to hunt elephant these days and you might just get to do it just once in a life time if ever!
I've semi-wanted one of the Boddington #1's in .450 Nitro for a long time. Arguably - at least handloaded - it's the most powerful of the factory #1's. Hard to find them with decent wood, however, and every time I've seen one, other pressing items had to come first.
i would love to be able to hunt them but they are out of my price range and you kill them with your feet and my knees prolly wont handle it at all.....big difference between killing 1000 griz and 1000 elephants....griz are a top predator and one person killing 1000 of them would actually put a dent in their population....1000 elephants over Bells career was nothing in the population of millions of animals....
Was at DSC a few years back and stopped at Craigs booth to buy a book. Some guy walked up and told Craig he was shorter than he looked on TV. Craig just smiled and signed his book.
My dear chap,he was an ivory hunter, he was shooting them for their tusks, and the ivory was auctioned back in England. He was doing it for the money.
He made 863 pounds in one day once. This was at a time when the average working man would make 70 pounds a year.
WDM Bell sighted his elephant rifles in for 80 yards, and was commonly shooting them on foot at ranges of twenty to seventy yards. Other times he was shooting them over tall grasses by standing on his telescope tripod. But he shot in many different countries and terrains over many years. The range he most mentions is about brain shots shooting at around forty yards. He said that all of his elephant hunting was done with offhand shots, with no support.
I have heard before, about how he shot all his elephants at long range, or something - or even that he used to shoot his elephant when they were asleep by climbing up a ladder and shooting them in the ear! It is simply not true, if you read his books and articles. I have JA Hunters books, and also WDM Bells, and Hunter often seems to get stories a little bit cockeyed, like he read or heard about Bell several years ago and is telling it again from memory...
(As for shooting them in the forest and not doing well at it, that story was about shooting in Liberia and because the elephant were much smaller forest variety, Bell was very disppointed in the size of the tusks, not because he was unable to get close to them in the bush. He was lucky to escape with his life not because an elephant nearly got him, but because his African people got lost, and he had trouble finding his way out.)
The total - according to his own records - was exactly 1,011 elephants, of which 28 were cows which were shot because they were being aggresive and were bothering his people. Bell even itemised elephants shot by region, the most he shot in one area was the Lado enclave, which was 268 bulls. (On the other hand the average ivory wieght was lower in the Lado Enclave than elsewhere.)
He wrote that he shot around 800 with the .275. The rest was with the .303, 6.5x57,a handful with the 450/400, .350 Rigby Magnum and one that people always gloss over, the .318 Westley Richards. In his last trips it is apparent that he had swapped over to using the .318 WR as a preference.
He gave it up because he was in his forties, and because Africa was closing up, there were fewer places you could shoot freely the way he had done before WW1; he had acheievd his stated aim of a 1000 elephants, and he had money. Unsaid, but probably just as likely, was that he had got married and after two safaris after the war, the wife probably got in his ear about being away in Africa for most of a year at a time...you can imagine.
This is a typical bell elephant shooting, drawn by himself:
If you have a bone to pick with Craig you should go to DSC Convention and tell him yourself. I'm sure he'll give you a smile and mabe give you an autographed book.
That's actually a pretty good idea. Or better yet, just invite him to our lease and let him kill a few pigs with a .223.
My OP was just in fun. I enjoy CB's writing and watch some of his videos. And I'm sure he's a great guy. He seems like it anyway. My only beef with most writers is that they make blanket statements about firearm requirements for game without ever mentioning that environment plays a big part in each hunt. What might be the recommended round for one area may be too much or too little in another - but a blanket recommendation is generally made. A case in point is a fellow writing in American Hunter a while back, who was hunting pigs in Florida, and recommended that the .300 Win Mag is the minimum rifle someone should use. Really? I've lived in Florida all my life and if someone wants to use a .300 Win Mag, great. But it certainly isn't the minimum required to drop a pig in our Florida environment. I just wish the writers would end their stories with "In your neck of the woods, YMMV." That sure would have been beneficial to me when I was a kid back in the 60s and 70s.
By the way, one great tid-bit of info that CB mentions in the G&A article is that Bell did just about all of his major hunting before he was 35 years old. I can barely remember the shape I was in when I was 35.
My only beef with most writers is that they make blanket statements about firearm requirements for game without ever mentioning that environment plays a big part in each hunt.
You mean like 2,000 ft-lbs of energy is a good minimum for elk?
Great posts. I love hearing about WDM Bell and his exploits. I should get around to reading his book or books one day soon.
Bell sparks my imagination not for all the elephants he killed but for the no-nonsense approach he had to hunting in particular. He hunted for money, and to support his money-making safari, feeding the dozens of helpers that went with him. This approach provided for actual minimums, rather than political ones. If a 275 brought down elephants, then it was used.
People claim that he had vastly different shooting compared to today's hunting, and I agree with this, but I've read scores of modern elephant guides who prefer the brain shot and big-bores, so they get really close. Bell could have done this too, but chose other means, which worked equally well, given his economic approach.
Thus the real minimum for various hunting ends up being far different from the political minimum, or the ever-shifting ethical minimum. I've seen this far and wide with western big game hunting as well. There are endless cartridge discussions that take place because of the political and ethical minimums, rather than the actual minimums.
Another question. Did firearm and ammo availability play a part? In other words, were they simply using what they could get? Or was this even an issue?
Reason I ask is I remember a story Finn Aagard told. Mentioned there was occasions when finding ammo, all ammo was problematic. He was refering to the days his dad was hunting. Like late teens very early twenties. Best as I remember the story.
Bell never mentioned ammo availability as much of a problem, he would order it by the case from England apparently before he set out. He did however mention it was hard to get Snider 577 ammo for his 'boys' but he found some 577/450 once and gave them that. Said the bullet fairly rattled down the barrel, bit they still managed some miraculous shots with it.
I suppose part II of my question would be based on the supposition that it would be easier to find several 1000 rounds of say .303 or 7x57 and pack it into the bush that it would be to find the same amount of another larger cartridge.
Was looking at things from a logistics standpoint as a commercial venture. What cheapest we can get away with, still have room for other stuff and make money.
Bob, I don't think finding or ordering the ammo of any size was much of a problem for Bell, I got the impression he brought it all with him as part of his 'kit'. He shot the small bores because he did a stint ( I think with Fraser of Edinburgh) of shooting and regulating large caliber double rifles, and developed a hearty dislike for them.
Ha! I remember making 577 Snider out of 28 gauge double AA's and 58 Minie balls when I was 16! Hey they worked great. Extraction was simple with case pocket knife!
Bob, I highly recommend a book " Bell of Africa" it is his memoirs, written by him, and sheds a bit more light on the man. He led a remarkable life, and was not a man to be made sport of. Even the great Alan Black said he did not feel worthy to walk in Bell's shadow, and he meant it literally because he ran into Bell a couple times in person.
Another question. Did firearm and ammo availability play a part? In other words, were they simply using what they could get? Or was this even an issue?
Reason I ask is I remember a story Finn Aagard told. Mentioned there was occasions when finding ammo, all ammo was problematic. He was refering to the days his dad was hunting. Like late teens very early twenties. Best as I remember the story.
Bell said economy played a role in his choices. He liked the 450/400 but 7X57's were cheaper by the box and still got the job done. Plus he said recoil was a consideration because he was shooting so much.
Most folks can't do what Bell did with a rifle. Remember, JA Hunter started out as a 7X57 guy too but became the biggest .500 NE advocate ever. And Hunter was to Rhino what Bell was to elephant so he was clearly one of the all time greatest.
PS - in the last issue of F&S Petzel has an article on recoil and effective rifle shooting. He calls out the 7x57 and leopard thongs as a great combination for big game.
PS - in the last issue of F&S Petzel has an article on recoil and effective rifle shooting. He calls out the 7x57 and leopard thongs as a great combination for big game.
If anyone - anyone! - can find a picture of Bell in a leopard thong holding a .275 Rigby, you gotta post it. Ingwe will wet himself before he swoons.
To further my point, Bell could wingshoot geese with a rifle! Consistently!!
If I remember that passage correctly, he took to pass shooting geese with a .318 because his ammo supply suffered from a percentage of hang fires which made it unaccepatable for "serious" work.
To further my point, Bell could wingshoot geese with a rifle! Consistently!!
If I remember that passage correctly, he took to pass shooting geese with a .318 because his ammo supply suffered from a percentage of hang fires which made it unaccepatable for "serious" work.
IIRC they were a cormorant type bird�.that he used up the lousy ammo on.
In this anecdate about shooting birds out of the sky with a rifle, he was shooting comorants flying low over lake Victoria, range of about 300 feet. He was getting about 6-7 out of 10 of them apparently, two spanish gentlemen came over to ask if they could borrow his shotgun, and were amazed to find it was a rifle. He was using up .318 Westeley Richards ammunition, which was prone to splitting at the neck, or misfiring. (It probably didn't help either that in his .318 WR double rifle, one of the chambers had serious headspace issues. Have corresponded with modern owner of it.)
Another one I like myself, was that he was seen shooting fish in the air that were jumping from the surface of a lake.
(After a wile Bell starts to sound like a hunting super hero...)
A lot of people have mentioned his coolness under pressure and put his good shooting down to that, but on the contrary he would write that he was often of a nervious disposition when it came to elpehant hunting, with a trememndous desire to shoot - and that he had to calm himself down, he said to count to ten before doing anything.
What is just as interesting is that he shot around 800 buffalo, mostly with a 6.5 or 7mm Mauser also. He never had much trouble shooting buffalo, and he was never charged even once; but he wrote in a letter to a friend that he made it his business to never have a wounded one, and made evry effort to kill them outright. (Also, he was shooting them for meat and hides, so he wasn't singling out big bulls, he was laying waste to groups of them)
It is fascinating to think that this young man started shooting lions for the railways when he was sixteen, was hunting elephants for a living at the age of 22, after already having made a living shooting elk for meat in the Yukon, and fighting in the Boer war. He did indeed complete the majority of his African hunting by the time he was 35, but then he went and joined the RFC and started shooting at flying Germans. (It would also pay to remember that he didn't need to make a living doing anything really...google 'Clifton Hall' near Edinborough sometime. It's a school now, but it was his family home. It's a [bleep] castle.)
Another anecdote I like - sometime around 1909-10, he heard about flying machines as being viable (there was a well publicised flying race ie Those Magnificanet Men in Their Flying Machines" etc, and so he immediately sent a telegram to his sisters asking them to purchase one of those flying machiens and sent it to East Africa along with as much fuel as possible. They cabled back again, having made inquiries, and quietly explained that flying required considerable tuition. He immedaitly went back to England and got flying lessons, plainly believing that he could use the plane for spotting elephant. But his lessons were a dispointment - the pupils got one hour of flying time a month, the rest of the time they just taxiied around on the ground and he became dissatisfid and went back to Africa. But there are foreshadowings of why he joined the RFC at the start of WW1, he already had in interest in flying.
He comes across in his books as a very moderate, even tempered, likeable man, and quite modern compared to some of his contemporaries. (such as Roosevelt for example) It suprises me sometimes to rememebr that when he published "Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter" in 1923, at the age of 43 and at the start of his retirement from elephant hunting, it was still six years before they would even invent sound movies.
From what Ive read of Bell having a nervous disposition around elephant it was more like a kid on Xmas than a quasi frightened hunter He didn't seem to get rattled by much. While others have written complete books about Man eating leopards ( Not to EVER short Col. Corbett�) I remember a passage by Bell who was once asked to sit up at night for a man eating leopard. He said he could hear it coming through the village by its throaty cough, referred to it as an "impudent bastard" and shot it. No more details
REALLY liked his story of accidentally shooting down the French Spad�.
If you have a bone to pick with Craig you should go to DSC Convention and tell him yourself. I'm sure he'll give you a smile and mabe give you an autographed book.
That's actually a pretty good idea. Or better yet, just invite him to our lease and let him kill a few pigs with a .223.
My OP was just in fun. I enjoy CB's writing and watch some of his videos. And I'm sure he's a great guy. He seems like it anyway.
Mike
havent talked to him in person but have over the net...he has been prompt answering me on a few questions ive had when i finished this or that book of his....i have no complaints about the man, hope to share a campfire with him one day....unfortunately ive had to turn down two invitations by him so far cause i havent been able to make it work....seems most in the gun/hunting writing circles hold him in high esteem as a good guy aswell....
I suppose part II of my question would be based on the supposition that it would be easier to find several 1000 rounds of say .303 or 7x57 and pack it into the bush that it would be to find the same amount of another larger cartridge.
Was looking at things from a logistics standpoint as a commercial venture. What cheapest we can get away with, still have room for other stuff and make money.
Just throwing random thoughts out.
Getting ammo was no problem, this was the British Emire. One ordered ones ammo from Rigby and told them to deliver it to the wharf in Mombasa. That .318 WR stuff that didn't work well - he had six thousand rounds of it that he couldnt use for anything, which is why he was messing around shooting birds with it.
Bell had trouble with ammo in that it's quality was inconsistant. He was very disparaging of English commercial ammunition, having had all kinds of failures with it, whereas the army .303 was excelletn stuff and he had no issues at all. The DMW military ammo 7x57 he used in his .275, was likewise excellent. This seemed to have definately played a part in his firearms selection. he wanted to use the .318 Westey Richards earlier one, but the ammo was faulty. He wanted to conintue using the Mannlicher Schoenauer carbine in 6.5x57, but the Steyr ammo would split at the neck. Brass commercial hunting ammo was really in its infancy compared with today, and problematic. Bell carried his preference for military ammo over into his firearms in the early days and deliberately settled on the military type rifle for their reliablility, the Lee Enfield in .303 and the Mauser in .275. He had no opportunity to test loads, - he was just stuck with the one military load, and hoped it would shoot well in the rifle.
Later on the ammo situation seems to have improved and he used the .318 Westley Richards more, as well as trying out the .350 Rigby Magnum, and also the .416 Rigby.
Just out of interest, from what I have found he started later with the .275 than what people think, I can't find where he registered anything other than a .303 in Kenya prior to 1906.)
Yep. IIRC he said if the ammo behaved in the tropics for that .256 he wouldn't use much else. Likewise IIRC he said the .318 with heavy bullets was probably the best of the elephant killers. Shots from the .275 once in a while would not kill as intended. No apparent reason other than the bullets path apparently veered inside the elephants skull. He said with the .318s that that particular problem went away completely.
i actually liked the sidelines about Hunter, ive read all his books....alot of Bells are hard to find or expensive....only have one on the shelves....
If you don't have Karamojo Safari, then you should try and get it. It is his best one in my opinion. Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter has a lot about dealing with the native peoples and so forth, it was a collection of articles that he had written for Coutnry Life. Bell plainly felt it didn't quite get the emphasis right, and with his second book he addressed the lack that I found in the first one - in that their wasn't enough about what the day to day safari life was like. So he wrote 'Karamojo safari' which is about one single safari that he did in (probably) 1906. It may very well have been the first time he used the 7x57, although he does not say it. I like this book the best, it's pure elephant hunting out in the unexplored African wilds, and I enjoy rereading it every year when I go out red stag hunting, listenining to the red deer roaring at night while I reread my WDM Bell....
Sheridan- a tidbit for you, if you didn't already know. J.A. Hunter was the man who returned the remains of Denys Finch Hatton to Karen Blixen for burial.
ive got Wanderings but so far havent grabbed the others....i keep an eye out for them but so far just havent felt like paying out what most copies go for...
A comparable bullet to the 318 W-R heavy for a .308 cal would have to weigh at least 230 gr. SD of .351. I wonder how feasible it would be to attempt with an '06 what Bell did with 275 and 318 and have success.
The .318 WR load he used would have been a 250 grain solid.
I think if you were using 220 grain solids in .30/06, it would work just fine. But I read somewhere someone was once culling elephant with a Garand and military ammo, and that worked...
But for a .308, others have used SLR's for elephant culling with 7.65 ball, and that would have been 147 or 155 FMJ's.
I shoot heavy cast bullets in 30-06, 225-240gr. Even very soft, they penetrate well beyond what I expected. I haven't shot them at anything, but I would love to. The 240's throw pieces of nose and keep on plowing. When I find them, they are 150gr cylinders. Impact velocity around 1600.
Sheridan- a tidbit for you, if you didn't already know. J.A. Hunter was the man who returned the remains of Denys Finch Hatton to Karen Blixen for burial.
And to add to confusion. Has absolutely nothing to do with this thread. But have been reading the recent bio on Poet Robert W. Service. Didn't know his younger brother, Alexander, was captured with Churchill during the Boer war.
Ok! Walter Bell retired to Corriemollie with his wife, a small estate in Garvie, Scotland. Very pretty place, they still run it as a bed and breakfast. It was a hunting lodge for a while after his wife Katie died in the 1980's. Anyway, there is still a rusted steel plate hanging from a post not far from the house, riddled with holes. It appears Mr Bell used to shoot at it from the house. The property was small as these things go in Scotland, but it straddled a bottleneck in the hills between two much vaster estates on each side. Walter used to sit on the hill and wait for the great stags to come through during the rut, moving from one property to another, and right where they crossed his land, he used to drop them with his .220 Swift scoped Winchester model 70. Used to piss his neighbours off.
Sheridan- a tidbit for you, if you didn't already know. J.A. Hunter was the man who returned the remains of Denys Finch Hatton to Karen Blixen for burial.
I didn't know that. I know that they wee friends but didn't know that.
Sheridan- a tidbit for you, if you didn't already know. J.A. Hunter was the man who returned the remains of Denys Finch Hatton to Karen Blixen for burial.
And to add to confusion. Has absolutely nothing to do with this thread. But have been reading the recent bio on Poet Robert W. Service. Didn't know his younger brother, Alexander, was captured with Churchill during the Boer war.
Ok now back to Karamojo !
Bell himself had his pony shot out from under him and was captured during the Boer war. He escaped that night�.
Arthur Neumann was another of the great Ivory hunters who worked a lot with smallbores. The .303 was his choice. His harrowing escape from death after taking an elephant tusk through the the chest in the middle of nowhere is absolutely amazing. His recovery took months and the whole while he was stranded in the bush, laid up. The book is called "Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa ".
since this is up my alley, another guy along with Bell and Hunter and Neumann all interested in Africa should read is John Burger, he was to buffalo what Bell was to elephants and Hunter was to black rhino....the story in his main book, "Horned Death" about him and his buddy scheming to get rich off an albino buffalo calf they spotted in a herd and the lengths they go to try and catch it to sell to a zoo or collector are hilarious...when people ask me who they should read after Capstick gets them hooked on Africa i point to Hunter and Burger
also if you are really interested in what all rifles the major big game hunters used "The Rifle: Its Development for Big-Game Hunting" by Truesdell is very good but if your a book worm like me it leads you to other books you have to have cause he scoured the books by guys like Bell and Hunter and dozens of others to see what they used and why...
We're putting together a pretty good bibliography.
About two pages before Boddington's article on Bell, there is a picture of a Winchester 1895. It reminds me of another writer, Kenneth Anderson. He used a .405 Winchester to hunt man-eaters in southern India not long after Corbett was in northern India. He even shot a few rogue elephants himself. Great stories.
In what era did John Burger hunt? Was he a big bore guy?
you ask me this now im staying at my parents but most my books are boxed up at my brothers place.....want to say post WWI, forget what rifles he preferred....do remember he gained his experience shooting buffalo feeding railroad workers
Teddy Roosevelt was mighty fond of the .405 Win. himself. JA Hunter talked about somebody getting stomped into a pancake for insisting on using it on African Elephant because it worked for them on Asian Elephant.
The basic difference between a 405 and a 450/400 is 300 vs 400gr bullets, yes? I suppose a 405 fmj would get it done, but it seems more iffy than a 173gr 7mm to me.
Walter used to sit on the hill and wait for the great stags to come through during the rut, moving from one property to another, and right where they crossed his land, he used to drop them with his .220 Swift scoped Winchester model 70. Used to piss his neighbours off.
Yeah, a fellow ought to not hunt/shoot on his own property!!
Bell wrote that he used lighter recoiling rifles because the heavier recoiling rounds were unsuitable when he perched above the tall grass on his tripod or ladders. He had heavier guns at hand when using the lighter pieces.
It will give you a new perspective. And I think it was that book that had an" Appendix to Rifles and Shooting" at the end. About three pages long,and other than our modern wazoo bullets, it is STILL all you need to know about rifles and shooting for real hunting situations.
It will give you a new perspective. And I think it was that book that had an" Appendix to Rifles and Shooting" at the end. About three pages long,and other than our modern wazoo bullets, it is STILL all you need to know about rifles and shooting for real hunting situations.
I NEED to read this book. Trick now is finding one that won't raise the ire of my wife due to the cost.
It will give you a new perspective. And I think it was that book that had an" Appendix to Rifles and Shooting" at the end. About three pages long,and other than our modern wazoo bullets, it is STILL all you need to know about rifles and shooting for real hunting situations.
I NEED to read this book. Trick now is finding one that won't raise the ire of my wife due to the cost.
Bell wrote that he used lighter recoiling rifles because the heavier recoiling rounds were unsuitable when he perched above the tall grass on his tripod or ladders. He had heavier guns at hand when using the lighter pieces.
He did write something like that, which was referring to shooting over tall grasses while standing on his telescope tripod, or sitting on the shoulders of one of his men, but it was part of a passage listing all the different reasons he didn't like big bores. As a rule he didnt have heavier rifles available and didn't feel he needed them, writing chapters of his books and articles explaining why.
He did own a 450/400 but never used it after the first safari he took it on and describes this in a letter to a friend. He purchased a pair of 416's from Rigby after they came out, but I cannot find anything about him using them or taking them to Africa. He mentioned a .350 Rigby Magnum, but it was about giving up on it because it was so heavy and didnt kill anything any quicker than his 7x57.
Bell plainly worked quite well with his light rifles (800 elephants with a 7x57 says it all) but he was also a gun nut who liked trying the latest thing. He was a neophile. When the .22 Hipower came out he had to shoot an obstinacy of buffalo with one. When the 416 came out he bought two of them just to see what it was about. The .350 Rigby Mgagnum, same. When the Colt 1911 came out he bought one. When the .220 Swift came out he had to use it on red deer. (I have references to him fitting some kind of a machine gun to his plane early in WW1, that was designed by someone he knew.) Overall, although he doesn't say so explicitly, I think Bell thought of himself as a progressive man, and that he regarded big bores as old fashioned.
Elmer's writings on African rifles, cartridges, and bullets make for wonderful reading...true classics in every sense of the word.
Reading it, I am reminded that a lot of it was written before Elmer set foot in Africa. In fact, JOC shot more African game with more cartridges than Elmer ever did. The same could be said for his wife ,Eleanor.
I mentioned this to an Elmer zealot in a discussion about the 338 and elk hunting...the guy about turned purple he got so mad.
It reminds me of another writer, Kenneth Anderson. He used a .405 Winchester to hunt man-eaters in southern India not long after Corbett was in northern India. He even shot a few rogue elephants himself. Great stories.
I 've enjoyed Anderson's very much, but I've heard rumours that some of the stories he tells were somewhat "embroidered"
What ever the truth, he always struck me as a very "average" chap who worked for a living, rather one of the rich upper classes.
I thinks this is in part why he used a lever action .405win at least in his early career. Ammunition availability and cost was another factor...
Thanks to Pete, I too enjoy Anderson's books and of course, the 405 makes it all the more for me
On a separate note Pete, just got through finishing both of Col Snook's books on the AZWs, spcifically Isandwahlna and Rorke's Drift which has always fsacinated me. Good stuff!
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