Thread: Reloading - minimalist kit

Originally Posted by davetapson

Reading this, and GPM's comment re Bell makes me think of Selous who shot a bunch of elephant with a 4 bore (just over 1" calibre), charged with 'a handful' of powder. 'Handful' depending on who's hand it was, and if that hand was currently being charged by an elephant. And on one occasion two handfuls of powder and two shot after a gun got loaded twice in some melee. If I remember right, the gun held, his shoulder did not, and took some time to recover. As did his nerve.

My grandfather supplemented his income shooting elephant - I'm old, he was old, this is a long, long time ago - and legend has it that whatever he used to hunt with recoiled so fearfully that he had to shoot it once a week to maintain his nerve. I think it was one of these 4 bores (although my brain tells me they called them quarter pounders, but my brain has been wrong before) which he replaced with a .450 Nitro Express double, I imagine as soon as he could afford it.

Greetings Again,
I believe that Bell tried the heavy hitters but found it almost impossible to shoot accurately with them. Bell used several calibres including the 7x57 (.276 Rigby), 6.5x54 (.256 Mannlicher) and last the .318 Westly Richards. One of the later Ivory hunters toward the end of his life was asked what he would use now. His answer .308 Winchester with a 200 grain solid. We really have not come that far from the .303.
Regards GPM.