I'm headed out back to do some off hand shooting with my 416 Rigby in preparation for my elephant safari. Any suggestions other than off hand standing at 10 -25 yards and recycling after each shot?

How about running very fast in a zig zag with the rifle pointing backwards over your shoulder, repeatedly firing, cycling and reloading whilst shouting OH FUUUUUUUUUUUCK

Alternatively, practice shooting the tracker in the leg. After all, you don't need to outrun ol' Big Ears, you just need to outrun the slowest person there.

Go to the zoo and shoot every elephant you can find.

Like I told Kobus in a discussion before my recent elephant hunt last year. I bloody well have to shoot straight becausw its obvious I cant run.

Pick a spot on the wall or an object somewhere that is difficult to hit and repeatedly hold your sights their for as long as you can.You could then insert a dummy round or snap cap in the magazine and practice trigger control or dry firing on this same object.It is very boring but it's great practice.Another thing you could practice is loading and unloading the rifle and useing the safety.

Take your rifle on a prarie dog hunt, shoot off hand at any range you can, that will help you with your snap shooting.


Practice blaming your PH for poor shot setup and not pointing you at a trophy animal.

John

Stalk and shoot wild pigs, with your elephant gun, of course.

Steve and Will:+1

John,
I did just that a couple of weeks ago in Cody, Wy. That was great fun and excellent practice.

I guess there is no easy way to simulate shooting up to the height of an elephant's head other than Shootaways suggestion, which is a good one. I thought about shooting at knots in Aspen trees, but figured I'd kill the tree.

I tried to be as prepared for any eventuality as possible. Things I did to get ready for my tuskless hunt in Zim a couple weeks ago with my 416 Ruger:


1. Get a second or even third shot off without taking your rifle down from your shoulder. In the heat of shooting at mine, I still let the scope "kiss" me lightly on the third of four shots, because I didn't keep the same grip and mount!

2. Practice reloading from your belt in a hurry, and make sure that the rounds don't stick at all, or you can't access them instantly. Don't look down at the magazine while you reload.

3. Run up 30 yards to the firing line, like you're catching up to your bull, and shoot again under pressure to make another good shot.

4. Practice with that rifle safety, until its unconsious to know where it is and what it feels like in the right position.

5. Don't look for the brass. Tell the team that you'll give them a buck apiece for gathering them up behind you.

6. Practice smiling for the camera - Good Luck.

Blank, that is sage advise - thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
How about running very fast in a zig zag with the rifle pointing backwards over your shoulder, repeatedly firing, cycling and reloading whilst shouting OH FUUUUUUUUUUUCK

I nearly bust a gut on that one Steve.

Von Gruff.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
How about running very fast in a zig zag with the rifle pointing backwards over your shoulder, repeatedly firing, cycling and reloading whilst shouting OH FUUUUUUUUUUUCK

LOL - Great one Steve! Should make the hall-of-fame!

quote:

Alternatively, practice shooting the tracker in the leg. After all, you don't need to outrun ol' Big Ears, you just need to outrun the slowest person there. Wink

Not to get off topic, but an old hunter friend of mine was telling me about a time he was hunting and came upon a lion in some tall grass. He had only his bow and his tracker had just a hatchet. He asked me what he thought he did given the predicament.

"Shoot the tracker in the foot and run?" was my guess. (Climb a tree was his answer, BTW).

Back on track now, Blank seems to have some good suggestions. Just in case, you might want to try shooting from on your back while rolling around.

Have a fun hunt!

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
How about running very fast in a zig zag with the rifle pointing backwards over your shoulder, repeatedly firing, cycling and reloading whilst shouting OH FUUUUUUUUUUUCK

...........

If you are practicing for elephant it is pointless shooting at a piece of paper three feet off the ground. To make it an effective practice make it as real as possible. If you intend to do a brain shot on your ele you will be aiming at something approx nine feet off the ground so practice at the angle that produces.
I dont profess to be an expert, only having shot one bull, but before I went I did all I could by way of reproducing the situation. I had a picture made life size and did all my practicing on it at the correct height and at twenty five yards distance.I even emailed a copy of the picture to my PH before I started so that he could indicate the exact spot that he wanted me to shoot at. In the final event the shot I took happened to be at exactly the same angle but only ten yards.
The picture thing is also far more fun than black dots on paper. Enjoy yourself.

I have seen that real elephant target with my own eyes and yes it's super and a great idea.

Steve's comment about shooting running backwards reminds me of a question I had for my PH Alan Shearing last year after I had seen him in CM Safaris video Zambezi Extreme.
Alan is seen in the video having to shoot an ele cow in self defence. When I watched the video I noticed a bullet strike on the ground in front of the charging cow before Alan shot. When I asked him where it had come from he said that it was the game scout letting loose with his AK backwards over his shoulder while he was running away.He said he was more dangerous than the ele !!

I know that this is BS advice from a Texan that ain't ever gonna shoot an elephant or ever even want to, but I think the best thing to do, would be to practice putting the first shot just exactly where it needs to go, the first time, instead of worrying about that double tap.

Just a small rant here, but it seems to me over the pat 4 or 5 years or so, way too many folks worry about getting that second or third shot of on everything from cotton tails to elephants.

If that first round is placed where it needs to be, regardless of the critter, then the second shot will only be needed to make sure it stays down.

Jmo.

Have a Great Hunt.

Shakari, I have to agree, that piece of advice you gave is the best I have ever heard or read and will live in the Hall of Great Hunting Advice, for ever.

R. Jolly,

I really like your target. Anybody know where I can get one here in the US?

Google "wildlife artists"...
Or, for a smaller budget, take a high resolution picture down to your local printshop or a place that makes advertising banners.

+1 for Texas logic

SBT
I took a "free" picture off the internet and then had a wide format printer print it on a thin vinyl. To get it life size it ended up approx six feet high and nine feet wide. Dont worry too much about the resolution. You cant tell what the picture is close up on mine, but at the correct distance it looks real. I had one done for a buff as well.
Good luck.

I like the banner idea.

R.Jolly, PM enroute.

Seems like someone could make a few dollars by making them up and selling them to all the big bore shoots.

465H&H

I like Shootaway's idea. I dry fire every single day. Have done so now for nearly 30 years. BTW, I never use snap caps. But then again, I shoot bolt guns. Never had a firing pin break.

Actually, I tend to think that a lot of dry firing etc is a bit of a waste of time because I'm sure that having got to this point, you're already pretty familiar with your rifle(s) already.

I'd suggest you try to spend as much time as possible watching Elephants on TV,DVD or even at the zoo and with appropriate use of a book such as The Perfect Shot, study where the appropriate target areas are as the animal moves around and changes angles etc.

I appreciate some range time never goes amiss - esp fast 2nd and subsequent shots, but I reckon knowing exactly where to put the shot from a variety of angles is at least as important.

Of the DVDs, I'd recommend Boddington on Elephant as the best one.

Well, let me add I also shoot frequently - at least twice a week.

I think there is a difference between general practice and knowing where to shoot. Holding steady offhand only comes from practice. Knowing where to shoot doesn't involve a rifle at all.

One shouldn't need sticks to shoot offhand at distances less than 100 yards, but how many can do so? The reason they can't is pure and simple: practice.

I even dry fire off sticks before a safari, in addition to field shooting.

Ask anyone who shoots competitively: dry firing is invaluable. I can hit a pie plate every time from 500 yards with a sling from the sitting position, but you know what? I still dry fire every day. Did so today. Will do so tomorrow morning - after I get back from the range.

I wasn't suggesting dry firing should be ignored/abandoned completely and apologise if I gave that impression...... I just think there are other aspects that are equally important.

The banner target is one great idea.

If there are any entrepreneurs out there this would be a great venture, making them available through AR. It could include not just elephants but other big five animals and some plains game (kudu, impala, wildebeest etc.) The banners could come with a correct color tape to cover those brain, heart, lung shots that we all make so consistently (for repeated use).

(Or would it be cheaper to just get the picture & have it blown-up.)

There are some commercial targets with the same concept - but only 24" x 36". The back side of these targets have the internal pictures of the vital areas (correctly positioned) so that one can evaluate their shot placement. But man, lifesize would be the cat's meow.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
Actually, I tend to think that a lot of dry firing etc is a bit of a waste of time because I'm sure that having got to this point, you're already pretty familiar with your rifle(s) already.

I'd suggest you try to spend as much time as possible watching Elephants on TV,DVD or even at the zoo and with appropriate use of a book such as The Perfect Shot, study where the appropriate target areas are as the animal moves around and changes angles etc.

I appreciate some range time never goes amiss - esp fast 2nd and subsequent shots, but I reckon knowing exactly where to put the shot from a variety of angles is at least as important.

Of the DVDs, I'd recommend Boddington on Elephant as the best one.

I'm a bit surprised at Steve's take that dry firing is a waste of time. It has served extremely well in my DG and PG hunts. Shooting heavy caliber rifles with a lot of recoil plays havoc with your trigger control. I can get my trigger control to a very high level but 20 rounds of 458 Lott ammo will always take much of it away.

Try this in preperation for your next safari or any other rifle hunt:

Pick a heavy scope sighted rifle and sight at a light bulb sized target out one of your windows 75 to 100 yards away. But before you do this open your action and make sure both the chamber and magazine are empty. Do this any time you set the rifle down and before you restart your practice. Get into the habit of always checking the rifle any time you pick it up. Aim at the target and try to do two things, the first is to have the trigger break when the crosshairs are aligned on the target. Second, work towards seeing absolutely no movement of the crosshairs after the sear breaks. This is also a good way to check on how good your trigger control is. I will bet that most of you who haven't been dry firing will see appreciable movement. It takes a lot of work to get to thae point of no movement but the rewards are treamendous. It will enable you to get your shot off almost instantly when the rifle hits your shoulder and the sights align. AnotherAZ writer is giving you excellent advise.

You still need to spend range time firing live ammo to check that your rifle is functioning properly, you become very profecient with operating it and it shoots where you are looking.

465H&H

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
I wasn't suggesting dry firing should be ignored/abandoned completely and apologise if I gave that impression...... I just think there are other aspects that are equally important.

Ok, I agree with that.

Another question on the same front, which we have gone over many times, is when does the PH shoot? IMO, after I put the bullet into the critter, I have no problem with anyone else opening up. I hate to see a critter suffer. In fact, my days of single tapping are over.

True gun control is not having to double tap.

Saw that bumper sticker somewhere. Now that I made my smart alec comment I firmly believe in skeet, skeet skeet! BTW I love the lifesize pic idea.

quote:

Suggested Shooting Practice for Bull Elephant

This is a no brainer - a tuskless elephant hunt of course!

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Smith:
True gun control is not having to double tap.

Saw that bumper sticker somewhere. Now that I made my smart alec comment I firmly believe in skeet, skeet skeet! BTW I love the lifesize pic idea.

Reminds me of a great bumper sticker I saw: "My other auto is a 9mm."

Your rifle won't shoot strait at 10 to 25 yards. Practice getting closer

SBT,

I would start by practicing at 9 or 10 yards.

Not too many serious suggestions here, but I like Bill C's! (Hunt a cow elephant first as practice!)

Also like the idea of running 30 yards prior to your shot.

Get Will's book, and study the elephant chapter of The Perfect Shot. (I did and hit my cow in the left hip bone as instructed for going away shot, best shot I made according to my PH who was surprised I knew to aim for the prominent hip bone).

I would also like to suggest that you practice at VERY close range. Especially if you use a scope on your .416.

9-10 yards is perfectly realistic. Be ready to shoot that close!

Hopefully this will convince you to use a scope that has 100 - 130 foot field of view. (Just 3 that I know of).

Or make your rifle for elephant only and use a peep sight.

Enjoy your practice time, and best of luck on your hunt.

Andy

Shumba,
You know this rifle is as accurate as they come. I can't believe you sold it!!!!!