Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Small Bores versus Big Bores, by Bell

He was piling up elephants with cartridges some on here would consider only marginal for whitetail deer.

Bell, from what I read, used a 7mm Mauser with fmj bullets. He made brain shots. Between the eyes or between the eye and ear from the side. Bullet didn't expand but penetrated the skull and killed them right there. Heart shots or lung shots mean they may run a distance before collapsing. He really didn't want this. He also left them to feed his caravan, then, came back later to easily pull out the ivory tusks.

His commentary on killing the first and then climbing on top of it, feeling the heart still beating under his feet while he proceeded to shoot more from his newfound vantage point is particularly chilling.

He had a 6.5 Creedmoor, sort of, and used it to kill most of his "meat" game. It was a .256 caliber which is the bore, not the groove, if I remember right firing 156 grain RN softs and solids, and he had both a short and long rifle. He found those solids to bend on Elephant skulls too often but he did shoot a few with it. He also killed Giraffe at 500 yards with it seeing with his internal "eye" the trajectory of the bullet over the screen of bush down into the vitals.
Been a few years since I read the book but think my memory serves. WDM Bell was one of those people who have the true Gift of shooting. I have met precisely one of those in my lifetime. He is now passed on. There are many good and even great shooters but few who have the Gift of shooting.

Bore size I'd no substitute for shot placement and
Power is no substitute for bullet performance

Bell actually preferred his .256, the British designation for the 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schoenauer, to the 7x57 for hunting elephants. But the Austrian FMJ ammo tended to split cases during firing--so he switched to his 7x57. But he killed more than "a few" elephants with the .256.

When I refer to a "few" with Mr. Bell, a few percent of 1100 is 110... He did tell us roughly the numbers killed per caliber, I just don't remember exactly so I went to the safe side. He also referenced the bending and also the strange "perfect shot" with the 256 but the elephant not dropping to it problem that eroded his full confidence in it. Yes he complained quite bitterly that the Germans could make such fine ammo but "we" could not, comparing the British 303 I think. Again my recollection. He did like the 10 shots and speedy repeat shots of the LE though!
I also recall in later writings he figured the perfect elephant rifle to be a 30 caliber with a 220 grain parallel sided solid at 2400 or so. I think we have such a beast today in the old '06. We also know now that putting a flat meplat on the solids improves them measurably. I am sure had he had a chance to use such a bullet, he would have agreed.
Best Regards,
F01

FO1,

Maybe so--but know he wrote this:

"I was using at that time a very light and sweet working .256 Mannlicher-Schoenauer carbine weighing only 5-1/4 pounds. With this tiny and beautiful little weapon I had extraordinary luck, and I should have continued to use it in preference to my other rifles had not its Austrian ammunition developed the serious fault of splitting at the neck. After this discovery I reverted to my well-tried and always trusty 7mm. Mauser."
--Bell of Africa

John

Somewhere I remember reading where Bell claimed in his later life that the 308 Winchester met all his requirements for the perfect rifle.

I recall that article as well. In it he also says an expanding monometal bullet would be ideal.

Bell also became very fond of the .220 Swift for red deer, after he retired to his native Scotland. He recommended neck shots--which he briefly mentions in the article.

Bell favored DWM ammunition for the quality of its brass, primers, powder and bullet construction, and his 7x57 ammo was, IIRC, DWM.

Very interesting thread F01, that said, i'd shoot ANY animal in Africa, Ele, hippo, rhino, buff included if my PH would let me with those very old steel jacketed 220gr Hornady solids you gave me, a very easy low recoiling 2500 fps from my pre-64 300 H&H would handily do it all, everyone knows any animal, including us, leads with their head, a piece of cake with good accurate load, rifle and shooter.

Gunner,
We have much in common methinks.
Was running second shooter to a swat commander with a m4 from a large metro area a few years back with what I had under my jacket that day which happened to be a 4 inch model 15. My job was to provide cover fire when he went to cover or reload. After the drill he asked me, “why were you shooting them all in the head?” I answered “I have 6 shots, 3 hostiles and I can.”
Good hunting on your upcoming trip!

The simple fact is this is good for internet discussion and not much else. Pretty much every country in Africa has a caliber and energy requirement and it is usually right around a 375 H&H magnum.

Bell was a great hunter and I will never discount what he accomplished; however there are plenty of other well respected hunters that believe(d) bigger is/was better.

Shoot premium bullets.
Use the largest caliber you can shoot proficiently. If you cannot handle a properly fitted 375 maybe you should stick to deer hunting.
Use a cartridge that will drive the premium bullet to sufficient velocities.

One other note, there is a such thing as not big enough. Over the years I have killed around 2000 alligators, most with a 22 WMR. That is about the same number of elephants Bell killed, so I have a good sample size. I just finished my season and shot 66 with a 22 magnum, as usual no issues. The previous two years WMR ammunition was difficult to find so I used 22 long rifle. On a big alligator a 22 LR is just not enough to consistently kill one.

Phil,

see the last page of the linked article.

Very interesting point.

I watched a culling video where the cullers were using 30/06 and they were dropping elephants as fast as they could work the bolt. Good bullets that penetrate through the skull from any angle and i to the brain will kill just as wel as anything larger.

I once read that the elephants Bell shot with the 7 x 57 had never really been shot at before and this allowed him to easily get amongst them and use a small bore. As I was not there, I can't say how accurate this is - any comments? Also, if after all his experience he says a 30 cal with a 220 grain projectile at around 2400 fps would be his preferred choice, doesn't that mean he thinks such a choice is better?

Am curious: Have had that issue of American Rifleman in my library for a long time (along with hundreds of others). Did you see that in the article, or somewhere else? This would seem to describe the .30-06 with 220s.

But in this article he makes comments that would seem to contradict it: "My reason for preferring the .308 case is because it is shorter than the .30-06 M2. My only really close calls in hunting African game have come from the too long bolt travel of bolt-action rifles.... With sighting ranges of three yards or so, the backward bolt travel is apt to be cut prematurely. The empty case is not ejected, but reinserted in the barrel and you have a misfire at contact range."

0 bores.
eking personally, my greatest successes have been obtain
he 7 mm. Rigby-Mauser or -276, with the old round-no:
weighing, I believe, 200 grs. It seemed to show a remarka
de for finding the brain of an elephant.
This holding of a ti
I think is due to the moderate velocity, 2,300 ft., and to
at the proportion of diameter to length of bullet seems to
eal combination. For when you come below 276 to •256
m., I found a bending of the bullet took place when firec
bones.
en, again, the ballistics of the -275 cartridge, as loaded
any at any rate, are such as to make for the very great
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