Re: Bell, the .256 and the .275:
"Speaking personally, my greatest successes have been obtained with the 7 mm. Rigby-Mauser or .276 [sic], with the old round-nosed solid, weighing, I believe, 200 grs. It seemed to show a remarkable aptitude for finding the brain of an elephant. This holding of a true course I think is due to the moderate velocity, 2,300 ft., and to the fact that the proportion of diameter to length of length of bullet seems to be the ideal combination. For when you come below .276 to .256 or 6.5 mm., I found a bending of the bullet took place when fired into heavy bones.
Then again, the the ballistics of the .275 [sic] cartridge, as loaded in Germany at any rate, are such as to make for the very greatest reliability. In spite of the pressures being high, the cartridge construction is so excellent that trouble from blowbacks and split cases and loose caps in the mechanism are entirely obviated. Why the caps should be so reliable in this particular cartridge I have never understood. But the fact remains that, although I have used almost every kind of rifle, the only one which never let me down was a .276 [sic] with German (D.W.M.) ammunition. I never had one single hang-fire even. Nor a stuck case, nor a split one, more a blowback, nor a miss-fire. All of these I had with other rifles.
...
I have never heard any explanation of the undoubted fact that our British ammunition manufacturers cannot even yet produce a reliable rifle cartridge head, anvil and cap, other than that of the service .303. On my last shoot in Africa two years ago, when W. and I went up the Bahr Amuck, the very first time he fired at an elephant he had a miss-fire and I had identically the same thing. We were using .318's with English made cartridges. Then on the same shoot I nearly had my head blown off and my thumb severely bruised by an English loaded .256. There was no miss-fire there. The cartridge appeared to me almost to detonate."
Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter, Chapter 15, Safari Press, 1989.
Elsewhere in his writings, Bell repeatedly expresses his admiration for D.W.M ammunition; caps, powder and bullets. He does not admire "English made" ammunition at all, other than military ball, as noted above, for the .303.
