Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Throw Back Thursday - Lions, Tigers & Bears...

.....add buffalo to the list of HP quarry.

So what do we know about the good Reverend? I certainly hope he enjoyed a good long life and didn't meet an early demise at the end of a fist full of claws from some angry beast who got stung by a 22HP!

Iv got the tiger add in a frame here at the house.

Caldwell killed a bunch of tigers, 48 I believe.

Online text of his book is in this thread:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt.../11896531/An_interesting_read,_Blue_Tige

The 22 Hi-Power wasn't exactly a wimp, but for "Lions and Tigers and Bears--Oh My" not what I'd like to be using. I'm sure there was someone with a big double rifle as backup, if not, not real smart. I've seen a 22 LR put down a cow with a head shot at close range, guess the right shot placed with a 22 LR will eventually kill big beasts, but I think Savage's adverts were nothing but that, adverts to entice sales. Alot of 'Machoism' with those ads and those in them IMO. Interesting and amusing reading though---reminded me some of the Ol' Herter Catalogs back in the day with all the hype of their products.

I have said this before. More than one person has told me Wyoming Game and Fish ruled years ago that elk and moose had to be taken with a rifle shooting a .243 inch or larger bullet. Some old timers told me that was because too many people were wounding elk and moose with 22 Hi-Powers. That was probably people who believed the ads.

I agree. Back then you had pro's like Bell that would get within ten yards of a Jumbo, and shoot it in the sweet spot, with a 6.5. Then you have the seasonal hunter that tries to shoot an Elk in the pie plate size, behind the shoulder, and misses by a foot. If you shoot them in the eye, they die.

Harry Caldwell was an interesting character. His book BLUE TIGER is an interesting read. He is often referred to as a missionary, but I think that I recall reading that he was an administrator, maybe a superintendent of schools, rather than an preaching member of the clergy.

Roy Chapman Andrews wrote about hunting with Caldwell in one of his early books, this was before his Mongolian Expeditions in the 1920's. IIRC, RCA wrote about Caldwell shooting a Savage 1899 in 303 Savage, but RCA's stories may have been from a period in time before the 22HP was introduced.

We know that RCA was a Savage fan, shooting 1899s and 1920s in 250-3000 and 300 SAV.

EDIT: I think that the picture that Olgrouser posted in the thread that Rory posted the link to is a picture of RCA, not Harry Caldwell. I say that because I've only seen pictures of RCA with pistol grip 1899/99s, probably a 250-3000 Rifle, and I've never seen pictures of Harry Caldwell with a pistol grip 1899/99.

A picture of Harry Caldwell, as per his son John.




Another from the internet, not very good.

Not ever having shot a tiger, and really not desiring to, I bet when facing one up close and personal nothing you hold in your hands would feel big enough. But, like Joe said, it's all about bullet placement and keeping a cool head when facing a creature that would cheerfully eat you.

I suggest that a 70 grain .22HP bullet placed anywhere in the central nervous system from the head back to the spine would be instant lights out. Execute a heart/lung shot with the same bullet and Ol' Tigger would have plenty of time to shred your sorry butt before he expired.

RCA was a Southern WI boy.

RCA was a great front man, story teller, and fund raiser who rubbed elbows with the rich and famous of his time, but Walter Granger was the guy behind t he scenes who did much of the rear scientific work.

I like the buffalo ad that talks of 22HP and shows an 1899 Short Rifle.

Speaking of RCA, I was doing some filing in the gun room today and pull out my binder on the Savage 1920s.

In a letter dated March 24, 1993, to me from Roe S. Clark, Mr. Clark wrote that on December 17, 1920, Savage shipped three Model 1920 rifles in 250-3000 to The American Museum of Natural History 3rd Asiatic Expedition. The rifles were serial numbers 5575, 5742, and 5747. On January 19, 1922, a fourth Model 1920 rifle, this one in 300 Savage, was shipped to The American Museum of Natural History "Special Attention - Roy Chapman Andrews". This rifle was serial number 5648 and is likely the Model 1920 that RCA is holding in some pictures and in at least one Savage ammunition ad illustration.