Thread: Karamojo Bell article

Yes I have.

No, Bell didn't have a gun bearer 'ready with a heavy double". I am not sure where you got that from. You should read his books. Neither did Arthur Nueman for example, who used a .303.

Hunting was business for all of these guys, they were shooting for ivory. There were a great many people who shot elephant with .303, the 6.5x54, 7x57, .318 WR and so on. And more recently the cullers using the 7.62 NATO. All with solid military FMJ ammo. (The .303 load they used was the old round nose 215 grain solid, from the Boer War era.)
But think about it, there is not much difference between a .450 caliber 500 grain bullet and a 173 grain .284 caliber bullet when you compare it to a seven ton elephant. The only thing that is going to shock an elephant or 'stop' it in a charge is a howitzer, or a bullet of any size that penetrates his brain or breaks his spine.
But this is an argument that has been going on for a hundred years.

Don't get me wrong though, I would love to have an old school double 450/500.

I must apologise, have just consulted my copies and realised that it was Selous that I was thinking of having heavy backup with gunbearers, you are quite right, Bell did not use gunbearers.
He was known for using a stepladder to get the angle right in some instances though!

The discussion while interesting is moot anyway as it is illegal to use the calibres he recommends nowdays. I suppose it will rage for another hundred years nevertheless!

Yes, it is illegal today in nearly every African country, but fascinating history.

(Selous did his elephant hunting with a black powder 4 bore smooth bore: when it went off it used to give him a nose bleed! He got a .303 towards the end of his life and commented that he would have used it for everything if he had had one earlier.)

I am always tempted to get a .375 Holland and Holland, just so I can have an "African" gun. One in a Ruger No.1 single shot would be appropriate.

My favourite story of Selous' is when his percussion cap on his muzzle loader (I forget which one it was at the time) failed to fire, on handing it back to his gunbearer the bearer promptly put another handfull of powder and projectile on the existing one, replaced the cap and handed it back.
The force on firing it spun him around and flung him backwards, split the stock and his cheek and he couldn't raise his right arm for 6 months after!
Carried on hunting though!

Tough bastards!

After that he specced his rifles with the reinforced steel shrouds along the pistol grip that are famous on the farqhuarson falling block rifles he also used.

Originally Posted by Carlsen Highway

I am always tempted to get a .375 Holland and Holland, just so I can have an "African" gun. One in a Ruger No.1 single shot would be appropriate.

Do it, I regret selling mine, thay are awesome! Looking at a .416 Taylor or 10.75x68 on an Oberndorf 98 action for my next big bore for something different!

I always wondered why the Selous Scouts were named thus.

Originally Posted by Spudattack

Do it, I regret selling mine, thay are awesome! Looking at a .416 Taylor or 10.75x68 on an Oberndorf 98 action for my next big bore for something different!

There was a Mauser Oberndorf 10.75 x 68 on Ausguns a few months back, was in rough condition but sold for only Aus$500. I reckon a .404 Jeffrey would be the bees knees, would go nicely with my Mauser 9.3x62 and my Brno 7x57.

Whilst I don't have any text from the person who bequeathed the following to me, I do have a verbal account of what transpired. Given that he died when I was about 10 I'll attempt to recount what was told to me.

My great uncle Frederik Willem Jordaan (my Ouma's=grandmother's) brother was hunting in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1950. He chanced upon a lioness and cubs and was attacked. He was carrying a Lee Enfield .303 (what particular type I couldn't tell you) and as it charged at him, he managed to fire but it wasn't a fatal shot. In the process of working the bolt, the lioness was upon him.

All he could do was bring the rifle across his face to protect himself but he did get swiped in the process and as long as I knew him, he bore a heavy scar across his forehead which ran down across his nose and cheek. I can't recall exactly what happened thereafter but I think one of the gun bearers managed to inflict the kill shot and the below was taken from the carcass as a memento - something I treasure.

That is a good story and with a great momento. Look at the shape of that tooth, no wonder they do such damage.

Its not uncommon to read a story of African hunting that ends with 'And my gunbearer scraped the cat of my hide before he/she could make too many holes in it with a shot from the double rifle he had just finished loading'

Unless you were Harry Wolhuter one rarely had any chance of surviving if they didn't have support.

The story of Wolhuter is a South African classic which I read as a young lad in more detail than the link provides. He was a "meneer" (boss).

Originally Posted by Spudattack

Solids distort and deform and lose direction and sometimes tumble.

Not all.........I have a few solids in my collection that I have removed from elephant skulls that are that perfect you could reload them.

Originally Posted by Graeme Sturgeon

That is a good story and with a great momento. Look at the shape of that tooth, no wonder they do such damage.

Thanks Grame but it's actually a claw.

It was interesting that when over there I found that Bell did not have a great name. I have met a few elderly experienced hunters in Africa who did not like Bell at all. I was told that he would regularly shoot a lot of the elephants in the herd in the knees with the 6.5 and go back and finish them off later. No matter how big you are you cannot run far after your knees have been taken out. He apparently did not write about those actions in his books.................

Originally Posted by Kudu

Not all.........I have a few solids in my collection that I have removed from elephant skulls that are that perfect you could reload them.

Quite right, was referring to when being pushed too fast like out of a .460 weatherby, which had huge issues at inception and the factory load was actually reduced to stop this.