2. As to Karamojo Bell and the 7x57 on elephant, anybody who's read about his exploits knows this was not his preferred cartridge, he lost a lot of elephant with it and it is really not a relevant issue.
?? Where did you read that Bell stated he lost many bulls using his 7x57..?..how can that be when Bell wrote the 7x57 worked admirably on so many bulls? Bell purchased 6 Rigby 7x57 mausers, why would he do this if they were consistent duds on elephant?
btw: His favorite ele drilling kit before the 7x57, was his stubby Daniel Frazer .256 Mannlicher carbine.... which he purchased after his long barrelled Gibbs .256 Mannlicher.
this from Bell,
" Speaking personally, my greatest successes have been obtained with the 7 mm. Rigby-Mauser or 276, with the old round-nosed solid, ..It seemed to show a remarkable aptitude for finding the brain of an elephant. " -- Wanderings Of An Elephant Hunter., WDM Bell.
Originally Posted by jorgeI
..As to Bell, and by his own admission, he lost a lot of tuskers because of those small calibers and he readily admitted the advantage of the Nitro doubles for that application. j
?? Where exactly did Bell supposedly make those two admissions...?
this from Bell,
" For the style of killing which appeals to me most the light calibres are undoubtedly superior to the heavy. In this style you keep perfectly cool and are never in a hurry. You never fire unless you can clearly see your way to place the bullet in a vital spot. That done the calibre of the bullet makes no difference. But to some men of different temperament this style is not suited. They cannot or will not control the desire to shoot almost on sight if close to the game. For these the largest bores are none too big. If I belonged to this school I would have had built a much more powerful weapon than the -600 bores. " -- WDM Bell, Wanderings OF AN Elephant Hunter.
" At one time I used a double -45 0-400. It was a beautiful weapon, but heavy. Its drawbacks I found were : it was slow for the third and succeeding shots ; it was noisy ; the cartridges weighed too much ; the strikers broke if a shade too hard or flattened and cut the cap if a shade too soft ; the caps of the cartridges were quite unreliable ; and finally, if any sand, grit or vegetation happened to fall on to the breech faces as you tore along you were done ; you could not close it. Grit especially was liable to do this when following an elephant which had had a mud bath, leaving the vegetation covered with it as he passed along. This would soon dry and tumble off at the least touch." -- WDM Bell, Wanderings of An elephant Hunter.
-Bulletproof and Waterproof don't mean Idiotproof.
