Smoker,
I took no offence and no apology is required, I enjoy intelligent conversation and appreciate your views and do not require agreement from anyone..but your a gentleman and a scholer and thanks for the kind words...

Why shouldn't the 7X57 make a good elephant rifle?

After all, Bell almost always went for head shots. He wanted to drop the elephant before it bellowed and scared off all the other elephants. Also, high grasses often obscurted the heart region.

For this shot you need a solid bullet which will penetrate thick bone. The sectional density of a 170 grain 7X57 is the same as a 458 Lott in 500 grain, which means each will penetrate just as well when driven at comparable velocities.

The Lott will have more energy, but so what? 5000 foot pounds on a 12,000 pound elephant is like hitting an 800 pound elk with a 38 special. Same energy per pound of animal. Not impressive.

You want penetration and accuracy to hit the brain. About the only thing the Lott has is the possible ability to stun the elephant more easily if the brain is missed.

But the 7mm has accuracy. It's a lot easier to hit with one, whether you are "recoil sensitive" or not. That's simply a fact.

So it's a tie on penetration. The 7mm wins on accuracy. The only advantage of the big bore comes if you miss, which is more likely when shooting it than it is with the 7mm.

Such was Bell's argument. It's hard to refute it.

Indy

I hope to be in argument, I remember an article on a Italian Hunting magazine, where the writer describe his experiences as meat hunter for an Italian missionary who manage an hospital, an orphanage and other missionary structures in Equatorial Africa. The writer was a friend of this missionary and brought him supplying
and aids from Europe, and during the African permanence the missionary give him a military bolt rifle, a k98 8x57 of course, sending him to hunt for meat with a boy as tracker. There was a jar in the office of the missionary, with the special cartridges for elephant cal8x57. Machine gun cartriges (hot loaded), tungsten core armor piercing bullets these the features.
If I remember well he hunted elephants with the described combination, and he had success with brain shooting.
I don't know if I still have that magazine, a lot of years are passed, but I'll try to find time to look for it.
bye

Here is a picture of Bell's 318. It was made in 1911, in August. Shipped to Africa the same month. Bell received it in October of 1911, just in time for his hunt. He mentions it in Wanderings, but not by name, as it failed him by mis firing several times. He blamed the ammo,although it turns out that is was the fault of Thomas Bland, as the action streched from the high pressures of the load, and used it up by shooting at commorants flying over a waterfall. His mention is that some people commented that their shotguns would not reach out that far, and he showed them it was a rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
... I personally continue to believe we are obliged as "sportsmen" to use cartridges which will not only kill reliably, but which will kill quickly and mercifully, if we choose to kill at all. To me that usually means the largest cartridge which we can handly truly well.

I also believe the rifle must be properly sighted and be accurate enough.

We might also want to consider the style of hunting Bell used compared to what is used today. Today we think of elephant hunting as coming nose to nose with an old tusker in a "mexican standoff" hoping to "take the charge" so to speak. That was quite different from the way Bell shot most of his elephants. In reading both of his works (Bell Of Africa, Karamojo Bell) you find numerous references to "ranging alongside the moving elephant" and even a drawing of it using the "quartering away, behind the ear shot". This style of hunting was condusive to Bell carrying his own rifle, a light one at that compared to the heavy bores of the day. He found the .303, 6.5 and .275 Rigby to be quite adequate for this style of hunting.

In the case of such "hunting" Bell was a professional Ivory hunter not a "sportsman". If we look at it in the context of how he hunted (killed) elephants then his choice of arms and ammuntion makes sense. His obvious bag of elephants provides an indication that he wasn't wrong.

Larry Gibson

The 7X57mm is a great cartridge, quite useful on all game of the thin-skinned, nondangerous variety. It should not be regarded as a pachyderm round, and any person choosing to use it on a dangerous animal "pays his money & takes his choice". With the right bullets, shooting ability, and anatomical knowledge, one might just come home unscathed. Maybe!!

For one thing, although the 175-grain .284" bullet may have the same sectional density as a 500-grain .458 slug, it is more prone to bending due to its' diameter, which can take it off-course. But Jack O'Connor's wife took her elephant with a .30/'06, which is no elephant gun either.

IF the uninitiated are willing to take their PH's recommendations as to caliber for various game, they'll be a lot safer....

Speaking of the .303, I suppose it might perform alot likle the 7X57mm if one used the 215-grain FMJ roundnose bullet. But the military stuff with 174-grain spitzer would be worse than useless on heavy game. It is DESIGNED to tumble.....

quote:

But the 7mm has accuracy. It's a lot easier to hit with one, whether you are "recoil sensitive" or not. That's simply a fact.

I have a number of 7X57mm's. They are accurate, and easy to hit with - so's my CZ .416 Rigby. Just because a gun shoots big bullets does not automatically make it inaccurate! But I will agree that the light smallbore is easier and faster to handle!

Gail Selby took an elephant with a heart shot, with Bell's rifle. Her father, first in giving her a 7mm for elephat, must have had confidence in the caliber. 2nd,He stated that her shot killed it, although he placed a follow up shot.
Bell had problems with small caliber bullets riveting, that is why he went from the 6.5 to the 275. The 275 Rigby never failed him on shots, or he would not have used it.
The 318 W.R.that he replaced the 275 with, was touted in the W.R.catalog as being the bees knees as far as penetration in their 1910 catalog. That is why Bell switched to it. It preformed well for him, and the gentleman he took with him, who was carring a Mauser in that chambering Bell was correct, as sectional density and velocity determine depth of penetration, not bullet weight.To get a bullet 458 cal get a sectional density of .330, it must have a weight of over 500 grains. Then you must push it at 2200 fps. All this to obtain the penetration of a 275 or a 318 W.R.
No one I know can shoot a 458 Lott as well with repeat shots, as they can the 275 or 318. Recoil wears one down.
If you want to hunt Elephant, you should know the creatures anatomy very well. It is not a deer, and should not be treated as such. It demands respect, and all should be given.
Bell

This is a rather funny thread. Does anything written here discount or disprove the fact that Bell actually killed Eles with a 7X57? I would say probably not..

Heres what I think of all this;

- In the hands of a skilled rifleman a well placed shot will cause enough damage to kill anything on this earth given proper shot placement and adequate penetration.

- Do I think that hunting Eles with a 7X57 is advisable, or a good idea? NO!

- I attribute Bells success in this endevor to the extensive experience he had doing it more than anything.

- Does it suggest that other game can be killed with lesser cartridges? Sure! In the hands of someone who's been there and done it!!

- Could KB kill one of todays armor plated Eles with the same anemic 7X57? I would say yes, unless! lying in that grave all these years has made him loose his keen edge that allowed him to do it in the first place..

- Use enough gun by all means, but dont try telling me that I dont if Ive already done it!!

A Rhodesian gun builder (my Uncle) told me that the 174gr 7mm bullet would actually exit the skull of an elephant. The 215gr 303 bullet would reach the brain but not exit the skull. Another Rhodesian told me he ordered a special bullet from wherever for the 30-06 for use on elephant. He showed me one. It was a 220gr 'solid' truncated round nose. He said the flat tip gave it better penetration by improving its directional stability in flesh and bone.

While I don't have the experience to comment one way or the other, I would like to say that this has proven to be one of the most interesting threads posted anywhere on this site.

here is a picture done by W.D.M.Bell while living in Corriemoillie, in Scotland. He would do painting of Afrifa constantly. I guess we know where his heart was at.

This was taken off of Artnet.com.

El Deguello said, "I find the use of .308's for culling to be interesting! In one of his last articles that appeared in the American Rifleman back around 1954, Bell stated that despite his admiration for the 175-grain load in the 7X57, he opined that the .308 Win., with a 220-grain solid at about 2250 to 2300 FPS would be about the "ideal" elephant round for the kind of shootin he used to do. It had acceptable recoil, MV was in the right range for deep penetration, the 220 was a 4-diameter bullet which could be used in a short action, making cycling of the action faster than longer rounds! He was especially disenchanted with "long" magnum cases, because they took too long to cycle in a bolt-action rifle, and lead to "short-stroking" the bolt under pressure!"

Try 44.0 gr. of W-760 using the 220 gr. Sierra round nose. The load delivers 2310 FPS from my 22" barreled Winchester M70 and it damned accurate to boot. I'd suggest starting at 42.0 gr. and working up, but the load has been safe in three different .308 Win. rifles. Even the 18.5" Ruger 77 RSI did 2230 FPS with reasonable accuracy. That rifle is quite fussy as to what goes through it's barrel. Interesting load to play with. I also tried the 220 gr. Hornady's but they weren't quite as accurate althogh velocity was similar.
Paul B.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul B:
He was especially disenchanted with "long" magnum cases, because they took too long to cycle in a bolt-action rifle, and lead to "short-stroking" the bolt under pressure!"
Paul B.

My understanding was that Bell employed a strange shooting style where the left arm pulled the rifle forward, whilst the right cycled the bolt and the butt came out of the shoulder. If true, it explains his admiration of light rifles and short actions.
Cheers...
Con

I have read every thing written by Bell, and about Bell, and no where did I hear about a shooting style like that. He liked the 275 rigby round because it prefomed perfectly, with more than enough penetration for brain shots, and heart shots. As he sail "1000 grains not in the right spot is not as good as 100 that hit the mark. You cannot shock an Elephant. Only by penetration, and accurate firing can you cleanly take them. A sectional density of over .300 is nessecary as well as velocity in the 2200 FPS range.

Just watched a good video. Wally Taber hunting Cape Buffalo. Here is the link
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/adventure-album-7-1950s/2106499895

it is my recollection of Bells writings that he had matched pairs of Lee Metfords at various times in his hunting life. His first long safari of over a year was done with a pair of Lee Metfords. His oft reported killing 10 running Zebra's with 10 shots was done with one.

gunsmithing,
That's a neat old video. I think he's using a 300 Weatherby? Also, it appears he short stroked it after the first shot!

gunsmithing,
Reference to the odd shooting style may have come from one of Finn Aaggard's articles. I'll have to go see if I can find it.
Cheers...
Con

sendero. It was probibly because he was about to crap his pants. That would have been the end of Wally Taber. Imagine shooting Cape Buffalo with a 300 Weatherby. Talk about taking a chance. I don;t care how good Roy said it was, I would not risk my life on a 300 against Cape buffalo.

I have to enter into this on several points.
1. It is the sectional density and velocity that determines penetration, especially with solids.Lsrge caliber weapons have the same penetration as small bores if the sectional density of the bullet and the velocity is the same. All the larger bore will do is have more recoil,deminishing the likelihood of accurate follow up shots.
Bell never left animals to "rot in the bush". Not like the Pennsylvania archers. He respected the game, and kept a strict accounting of shots fired,in relation to game taken. I beleive it was a ratio of 1:1.5. Not bad. I wish I had that kind of ratio on groundhogs. He stated also that if a shot was off,the Elephant went away as if nothing had happened. It was either death or wait until another day.
I know a man that shot an Elephant with a 577. He admits to closing his eyes when he shot, and the bullet by chance went into the ear hole. He does not say if the P.H.had to settle matters, only that he had the tusks and tail. Then he sold the tusks for 10,000 dollars to and unknown person.(I think this is illegal). Got off the point somewhat, but you understand.
In testing,against many forms of media,the small bore always out penetrates the large bore,as there is less mass encountered by the nose of the bullet. This is if the velocities are the same. The 458 does not penetrate as far as the 7mm, when both have solids, or both have soft points. The weight of the bullet does not fit into the equation of sectional density.
I know that people think about shocking power. You cannot shock an elephant into death with anything less than a field piece. It is not like the groundhog in the garden. Penetration and accuracy,are the keys in this matter. It is a shame that testosterone has to get involved, and has been involved for such a long period of time. Bell tried to tell us the truth, but like politics, many are lead astray, and pass laws that urinate in the face of the truth.
Just my 2 cents worth.

quote:

Originally posted by eldeguello:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font>

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Case in point is W.D.M. KARAMOJO Bell's use of this round for elephant! Many today take the fact that Bell killed a lot of elephant with this cartridge, to mean this somehow makes small cartridges as adequate for dangerous game! Nothing could be further from the truth! Those who lean toward this type of thinking, are simply fooling themselves, or believe the hooey that is toughted by those takeing Bells own writeings out of context! These people seem to, either, not know, or choose to ignore the fact that bell lost many wounded elephant to the little 7x57, at a rate of as many as three out of five shot! </font>

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</blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I am unaware of the number of wounded elephants that Bell lost. I do know that the 7X57, and all similar rounds which may have been used to kill an elephant, are NOT dangerous game calibers! Particularly not today, under the kind of hunting conditions that prevail in Africa now! In addition, all African game today is well-acquainted with humans, and no-one could hope to be presented with the kind of shots Bell had. Besides, people who knew Bell stated that, in his hunting days, he was able to consistently hit a silver-dollar size target shooting OFFHAND at 100 yards WITH OPEN SIGHTS, an ability which would be indispensable if one was to consistently hit the brain of elephants! One would also require an intimate knowledge of elephant anatomy to perform consistently with such a pipsqueak weapon. <br /><br />However, none of this means that the 7X57 is inadequate for North American game, excepting the big bears, because it is! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" /><br /> <br /> <small>[ 10-04-2003, 19:18: Message edited by: eldeguello ]</small>

Hmmmm. This would be a decent group with a modern, scoped, rifle off bags let alone a 1910-1922 vintage open sighted Mauser with filed sights. Off hand besides. W.D.M. Bell was sure something else.

Another's opinions:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/bell_elephants.htm

W.D.M. Bell and His Elephants

By James Passmore



Walter D.M. Bell has become a legend among elephant hunters due to his great success in the ivory trade during the golden age of hunting in East Africa. He is known as “Karamojo” Bell because of his safaris through this remote wilderness area in North Eastern Uganda. He is famous for perfecting the brain shot on elephants, dissecting their skulls and making a careful study of the anatomy of the skull so he could predict paths of bullet travel from a shot at any angle in order to reach the brain. Using mostly 6.5mm and 7mm caliber rifles, he was an advocate of shot placement over big bore power for killing efficiently.

Modern writers on the internet and in magazine articles have tended to refer to him and his tally of elephants in this vein, “He shot many of his 1000 elephants with (such and such) caliber” or words to that effect. In fact, Walter Bell killed well over 2000 elephants in his career. Since most people refer to him for his small caliber prowess and his elephant tally I thought I would try and break it down, because there are a great number of people quoting what “Karamojo Bell” did or didn’t do and I have noted a common tendency in the last few years to play down what he did with small caliber rifles. Perhaps this is in direct relation to the resurgence in popularity of magnums and the larger safari rifles. Craig Boddington is quite apt to mention the "few hundred elephants" that Bell took. (Mr. Boddington, I believe, is an erstwhile heavy rifle enthusiast.)

Bell recorded all of his kills and shots fired. It was a business to him, not pleasure, and he needed to record expenditures.

He shot exactly 1,011 elephants with a series of six Rigby-made 7x57mm (.275 Rigby) rifles with 173 grain military ammo.
He shot 300 elephants with a Mannlicher-Schoenauer 6.5x54mm carbine.
He shot 200 odd with the .303 and the 215 grain army bullet.
He went to a .318 Westley Richards for a while, which is a cartridge firing a 250 grain bullet at about 2400 fps, but found the ammunition unreliable and returned to the 7mm.
He also recorded that one of the reasons why he favored the 7x57 was that the ammunition was more reliable and he could not recall ever having a fault with it. Whereas British sporting ammunition, apart from the .303 military ammo, gave him endless trouble with splitting cases.
The balance of his elephants were shot with this .318 and his .450/400 Jeffrey double rifle.
He wrote about being able to drop an elephant with a light caliber rifle if he shot it in the same place that he would have shot it with a heavy rifle.
It was unmentioned, but understood, that 7x57 ammunition cost a tenth the price of large caliber .450/400 Jeffrey cartridges and money is always a factor in business.
Just out of interest, I will mention that to judge ammunition expenditure and his own shooting, he calculated an average. He discovered that with the .275 (7x57mm) he fired an average of 1.5 shots per kill. This means that half the time he only needed one shot. That is a fair performance for such a large number of elephants killed and considering that it is common today to fire an insurance shot, anyway.

It is also interesting to note that, although Bell is the most famous proponent of using small caliber "nitro" rifles for large game, he did not discover the technique, nor was he its earliest advocate. Well known hunter Arthur Neumann, for example, had been shooting elephants with a .303 Lee Metford rifle for years before Walter Bell got into the business.

WDM Bell is forever associated with the John Rigby & Sons Mauser rifle and the .275 Rigby cartridge. ".275 Rigby" was the British designation for the German 7x57mm Mauser cartridge. This cartridge propelled a .284 caliber, 173 grain bullet at around 2300 fps and the bullets he used for elephant brain shots were full metal jacketed solids. He declared once that a soft point bullet had never sullied the bore of his rifle. It is interesting to compare these ballistics with what is commonly regarded as essential performance today.

The Rigby Mauser was just that, a Mauser action rifle in sporting configuration, half stocked and finely finished. The actions were made by the Mauser Company in Germany and Rigby had the rights to sell them in England. The Mauser action was the darling of the sporting world at the time and Bell was obviously a man who appreciated fine rifles; he bought the best. For most of his life, he was an advocate of the bead front blade and express rear sights. However, in later years he used an aperture sight as well as early telescopic sights. His last .275 Rigby rifle was sold by his widow (after his death in 1951) to the writer Robert Ruark, who later presented it to Mark Selby, son of the famous white hunter Harry Selby. A constellation of famous African names converged around the ownership of this rifle. Interestingly, it is a half stock, take down rifle with early telescopic sights and a trap made out of the grip cap to store cleaning gear.

Shot placement for the tricky brain shot on elephants required good marksmanship. Bell constantly practiced by dry-firing his rifle. He always carried his own rifle, eschewing gun bearers (another plus for the lightweight Mauser), and picked pretend targets of opportunity as he traveled, dry firing at a distant rock or bird. He believed that this was the single practice most beneficial to a hunter.

He was a great proponent of the bead foresight and it was his drawings, with which he illustrated his first book Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter, that explained to me how to use a bead front sight properly. You should hold the bead low in the notch so that your elevation is constant and open both eyes so that you can see through your hand and rifle with your non-shooting eye.

As a further example of marksmanship (if brain shooting a great many elephants isn’t enough), Bell used up the remainder of his unwanted .318 ammunition by shooting flying birds over an African lake. Spectators believed that he was using a shotgun and were amazed to find that he was actually using a rifle.

I will make the point that unlike many African writers (Peter Capstick jumps to mind), “Karamojo” Bell doesn’t seem to have been particularly threatened by an elephant, rogue or otherwise. Nor did he have to “turn a charge” or anything like that. The prose in his books has none of the trumpeting about the manly virtues of facing grisly death upon which Capstick built his writing career and that has been popular ever since Hemingway went on a couple of hunting trips. (Hemingway was disappointed when he shot a lion and it just died, and that’s all.)

A great many people have tried to explain away Bell’s elephant hunting success by asserting that he didn’t need to hunt in thick cover and could shoot elephants from long range, the implication being that somehow the behavior of African elephants must have been different back then. This is untrue, as any reader of his books will find. Mr. Bell hunted hard, walked thousands of miles, ran down elephants and was a very cool marksman at close range.

One does not walk down an elephant in uncharted African wilderness with a tool one regards as marginal and Bell had complete confidence in his ability to harvest elephants with the Rigby Mauser. It was his business and also his hide at stake, especially considering that the amount of money to be made was considerable. To put his efforts into perspective, he wrote of one day when he tracked and shot nine elephants. He estimated that he had earned 877 pounds sterling from the ivory harvested from those nine kills. After one expedition he returned with ivory worth over 23,000 pounds sterling. That was a vast sum of money and converted to today’s currency equivalent it would make your eyes water. One does not risk that kind of money and effort on a questionable caliber.

Walter Bell left Scotland a young adventurer obsessed with hunting, traveling to the North American Yukon territory to try to cash in on the gold rush and make his fortune. It did not pan out and he joined the Canadian forces sent to fight alongside the British in the Boer War in South Africa at the turn of the 20th Century. Taken prisoner at one point by the Boers, he later escaped. When the war was settled, he stayed on and bought his way into elephant hunting, outfitting his first safari on foot into East Africa. He later confessed that he had only joined the army in order to get to Africa.

Bell made himself into a successful elephant hunter not just because of his skill with a rifle, but also due to carefully maintained good relations with the local people in the territories through which he traveled. He was always ready with gifts for chiefs and kings; he bought hunting permission from them. One of his best ideas was to post a reward for any African who gave him information on the whereabouts of good elephants. He soon had a flood of elephant sightings coming in and he was as good as his word, readily paying for the information.

When the Great War (World War I) broke out, he became a pilot flying in Tanganyika (Tanzania). He was known for not flying with an observer, because the observer obstructed his view when he tried to shoot enemy planes down with his .450 elephant gun! He later served in Greece and Italy and was twice decorated.

After the War, Bell returned to ivory hunting, traveling by canoe into then uncharted African wilds after legendary herds of large elephants. He made his last expedition in the early 1920’s.

He retired to Scotland a wealthy man; there is no unhappy or overly dramatic ending to his story. He lived unscathed through all of his adventures to enjoy the wealth he had made with his rifle. [not the whole story, Bell was a member of the Bell's Whiskey family www.bellswhisky.com]

Except that, Mr. Bell was not your normal retired chap. He steps once more into history during World War II, sailing his yacht Trenchmare to the shores of Dunkirk in 1940 to help evacuate the besieged Allied forces from the beaches at the age of sixty.

Walter Bell spent his later years writing, practicing art and bird hunting on his Scottish estate. (One imagines with a fine "London best" double gun.) He created water color paintings and ink drawings of red stags in the Highland tussock as well as paintings of splendidly depicted elephants on the savannah, made with an eye for anatomical detail and an appreciation of the body language of the African elephant. He used them to illustrate his books.

He made it clear in his books what he would use if he returned to Africa. With a lifetime of elephant hunting behind him, he felt he could put his finger on the perfect caliber for the purpose. Strange as it may seem, it wasn’t his trusty 7mm Mauser. He seems to have matured and gone for a heavier rig. Any .30 caliber capable of sending a 250 grain bullet at about 2500 feet per second would do nicely as an elephant gun, thank you, old boy.

There are several incorrect pieces of info in this, but they only are peripheral. The main body of the article is spot on. I feel an FMJ of 220 grain at 2200 fps would do nicely,but that is my opinion.I own Bells 318, and I will tell you that accuracy is not one of its problems. The only problem was the right barrel was chambered a few thousandths too deeply, causing the cartridges to separate on firing. I had to shim the font hinge,and then it was fairly reliable. Bell, not being a gunsmith would have just gone to another more reliable gun. You cannot have Thomas Bland come to Africa to correct the problem. Especially were he and W.were at.
By the way, his father Robert, owned several mines in the Loathans, and invented the means to separate oil from Shale. He also invented the method of making paraffin from one type of mineral oil. The Bell family of distillers are another branch of the Clan.
Trenchemer was never used in Dunkirk, although it was enlisted,but was inland at the time.
He did so many other things after Africa, that apply to our world today, that I am writing a book. A wonderful gentleman, and a person to be looked up to.

Bell's home & resting place is now a B&B:

http://www.corriemoillie.com/

Description & photo of Bell's yacht Trenchemer & reference to Bell's Whisky distillers:

http://www.aberdeenships.com/s...fset=60&index=101464

I was aware of this. It is Definitly incorrect, as I have contacted the people from Bell's, and they set the record straight. It is a common problem,and one that has been made before. As I said, his father was an owner of several mines in Midloathan,and Inventor of Processes to extract Oil from shale. The type of shale that was common in this area is very high in oil and paraffin.He died when Bell was young, as well as Bells mother. He was raised by his brothers and sisters. This has all been documented.

fla3006 : great post, most interesting & informative. Where can pictures of Bell be found?

In the book I am writing. I will have several pictures of him. My avatar is one of them.

Gunsmithing: I will have to search it out but i too believe Bell wrote of pushing the left hand out while rapidly working the bolt. Will pull the Bell books out and check though.
best regards,
dmw

gunsmithing, have you been able to interview family descendents? do you know if it is true his ashes were spread in the garden at Corriemoillie? when will your book be published? thanks.

Absolutly true about his ashes. They are contemplating a memorial stone to be placed there.But it costs money, and all. Maybe some of our wealthier readers can help out. He and his wife had no children. I have not been able to contact any of his brothers and sisters descendants.Kind of hard to do that. I am trying to get a copy of his will, but everything went to Katharine, so it is not really important.
The book will be out in a few months. Working day and night for over a year so far. Hard to get info that is sometimes over 100 years old.

He speaks of doing the "Swedish Drill, and pointing his gun continually at objects. He also talks about the length of actions, getting a sturdy stand,learning anatomy,and picturing trajectory. I nevr read anything about pushing out the left hand to cycle the bolt. That is done by some of the old tatget shooters in the U.S.,and talked about by Whelen,Crossman,ect. But I never read andything by Bell on this. I may have missed it, but I do not think so. I have a photographic memory, and it does not come up.

Karomojo Safari in the Appendix titled Notes on Shooting Big Game. about 7th paragraph in. Page 281 in my reprint by Hillman Printers.
the shooting motion previously described is written in advice for the novice. I think it may be in one other place but one is enough I guess.
best regards,
dmw

Thank you. I guess I was incorrect. Personally I would not espouse this, but will try it and find out if it has merits. Thank you again. I must have missed it by taking a break for dinner or something.

You’re very welcome. I think I remembered it because I tried it and found it very hard to do well. Then again, Bell was a very exceptional man me thinks and did many things well that most of us would find hard indeed. He had to be a tremendous athlete and of very strong constitution to do as he did where he did when he did with so few physical problems.
I think of his description of watching the bullets in flight and in his minds eye being able to “see” the path of the bullet as it went it’s way to a bull Giraffe’s heart at “five or six” hundred yards and think of it as not a problem to “bowl” one over thusly. I know this “knowing the path of the bullet” is possible because at 51 years old I still have a BB gun I have had since I was 7 or 8 and I have only aimed by this mental path since I was 10 or so because of the fit of the gun. I still don’t miss much with it and “aim” simply by knowing where the BB will go as I look “through” the barrel of the gun using both eyes. The stock/cheek weld is the only other point of reference. I can’t say that this is possible for me with any other gun though and I don’t know of a single person who can do it either but I do believe indeed that Bell could.
Best regards,
dmw

Yes he was a MAN. Unlike the "Make your balls bigger"hunters we have today. He was a scientist,that experimented with guns and game. In Bell of Africa it is stated that he never lost an animal after he learned of the anatomy of the elephant. Very few times did he require a second shot.
I was watching Mark Sullivan in one of his videos,(a very gutsy man) and he guided some of the worst shots I have ever seen. Gut shot lion,swiss cheese buff. I guess that is what is out there now. I wish I could go to Africa and try my luck. With my memory, and ability, I should be able to duplicate some of Bells kills.
Did you know he shot Cape Buffalo with a 22 Savage Hi-power.This is in a book called I beleive Records of Big Game. It is on the internet in full. Bell wrote extensivly in it.

Just for what it's worth (and absolutely not with the intent to add oil on the fire)....

Rangers in the Kruger often use .308 FNs to dispatch elephants.......

Great reading, thanks to all!

hi
i don't understand why ammo makers are not loading some fmj solid flat point like hornady DGS bullets in 6.5mm, 7 mm and the other medium bore calibers, because fp fmj is a real good killer on edible games and occasionaly could be used on bigger animals if it is needed for dispatching with head shot.
regards
yes