The .375 [H and H Magnum] on Elephant

The African Hunter ^ | Maybe 2003 | Brian Marsh

[Squantos]

And then we see such as Hal's shooting a .40 Corbon into that POS robber right behind the ear and "not" killin the criminal.......Wow !

Stay Safe !!

[CARepubGal]

Awwww! The dog is cute too! :)

[giant sable]

You're absolutely right: big holes are almost always better.
I've never had an interest in shooting an elephant (or, for that matter, a lion), but I have hunted big game in Southern Africa (in Namibia and on the Okavango River in the Caprivi Strip) two of the last three years. I've also had several unpleasant encounters with elephants, including one who mock charged (a sight guaranteed to turn your bowels to water).
It is easy to forget how big a bull African elephant really is. It's something like having a thinking (and very pissed off) Winnebago coming at you.
Now, an experienced life-long elephant hunter (say, Selous) might be sufficiently sure of himself to put .375 round into an elephant's skull and be pretty sure he's going to drop it with a brain shot. But for us mere mortals, that's just not enough gun for safety.
African game is stunningly tough, capable of taking rounds well above what we are used to in North America.
For example,I took two rifles: a Weatherby 7 mm magnum and a safari grade Winchester Model 70 chambered for the .416 Remington magnum (300 grain).
With the 7 mm, a bullet you can use effectively on a just about any animal in this hemisphere, I shot an eland through the front pectoral on a frontal shot from 80 yards. The bullet never reached the animal's heart. We had to stalk it for four hours.
With the .416 I put a bullet, via shoulder shot at 40 yards, right into the heart of a large Cape Buffalo. It turned, stared at me (along with six of his friends -- a terrifying moment), then turned and ran fifty feet before tumbling. As I approached, he managed to get up on his forelegs and give me a look of such homicidal malevolence that it just about froze my blood. Getting around behind him (I was afraid of bouncing a shot off his boss and really ticking him off) I finally dispatched him with a spinal shot from about 30 feet.
Keep in mind, this was with a .416 Rem mag, a gun that could probably stop a bus with a shot through the engine block. A gun that has so much recoil, and transmits so many joules of energy, that the ten shots it took to sight it in left me whimpering, with a numb arm, and a shoulder that was black for two weeks.
All of this is a long way of saying that, in Africa, you can't have enough gun. Next time I go, I'm taking the .416, and a new .375 H&H (Win. Model 70)just for the mid-sized game.
As for elephants, if I were to hunt one (and again, I won't, mainly out of awe and respect) I wouldn't use anything less than a large bore (.416 Rigby or up) and only with a double gun -- bolt actions can get real complicated when you are about to get stomped into jelly. . .

[30-06 Springfield]

Surprised you have not brought out one of your favorites, from previous posts anyway: http://www.barrettrifles.com/

Has anyone used one for elephants or other dangerous game, other than the intended purpose on the world's most dangerous critter, man?

[Rebelbase]

Elephant kills former UP minister

Jharkhand death highlights plight of elephants

Elephant Kills Two Farmers

Elephant blamed for 21 deaths

Drunk man hurt After running Into elephant

Drunken tourist attacked by elephant he didn't see

BRIT NURSE KILLED IN ELEPHANT STAMPEDE

[Rebelbase]

Re: #56-57, Those must be your rifles.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I don't know about Burton's marksmanship. John Hanning Speake was an excellent shot by all accounts.

[Shooter 2.5]

I remember a story just like that in Reader's digest. The shooter was firing at sharks off the coast with a .303 and he hit a woman who was driving along the coast. The bullet had just enough energy to hit her behind the ear. The police said if she had her window up, she might not have died.

The shooter was tracked down and arrested where he worked at a car repair shop. He had read the reports of the girl but he didn't know that he was the killer until the police showed up.

I don't recall the name of the article.

[RLK]

Elephant kills former UP minister Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow | April 28, 2003 12:15 IST A former minister of Uttar Pradesh was killed by his own elephant in Paharpur village, Ambedkar Nagar district, on Sunday afternoon.

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This was not a wild african elephant. In Asia people capture elephants and abuse them. The result is the above. He thought the elephant was his to do as he wished. It wasn't.

[Tijeras_Slim]

We had a guy driving out on the west mesa of Albuquerque get one in the head a couple years back. A richocet over the backstop of an outdoor range.

[RLK]

Drunk man hurt After running Into elephant Associated Press

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He should have stayed sober. Why blame the elephant?

[RLK]

What do you like better? Africans or elephants?

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On the whole, elephants. Africans kill hudered of times more Africans than elephants do.

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

I'd have to say I like elephants better than Africans. Besides, there would be no problem with elephants eating your garden if the Africans hadn't overpopulated, stripped the environment bare for fuel, and eliminated the elephant's natural habitat. Elephants are the endangered species, not Africans.

Western medicine, Western hygiene, and Western do-gooder mentality has helped to allow Africans to procreate way beyond what their environment (or their native economy) can support; only AIDS and the occasional inter-tribal genocide can cull their numbers a bit. That's the bitter truth.

Besides, no one is trying to import millions of elephants into the USA to live off our welfare system and commit crimes, and I've yet to hear an elephant whine about "racism" and sue me for job discrimination. Yep; I definitely prefer elephants to Africans.

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

Just imagine him explaining his injuries to his drinking buddies. "No sh!t, there I was, drunk as a Lord..."

[RLK]

Har! I said I was the toughest guy and could take anybody in the house. But then, in walked this elephant...

[RLK]

That should read:
On the whole, Africans kill hudered of times more
Africans than elephants do.

[Hank Kerchief]

It's all moot. Another dacade or so and there will be no habitat left for elephants. You and I may not like trophy hunting, but it does no harm compared to over (human) population and habitat loss. If you want to save a little nature, you're gonna have to cull the humans.

Unless you think humans are "supernatural," humans are just as natural as any other creatures, and, so far, nature's highest form of life. Since it is survival of the fittest, elephants just aren't fit. Life's tough, and their not tough enough. That's nature's way. Those who would save elephants at the price of human life or happiness, just hate nature.

Hank

[PhilipFreneau]

I have a .460 weatherby mag on a custom ruger number 1 tropical. Great little plinker.

LOL. I heard that the shooting sequence with the .460 Weatherby goes something like this:

• (1) pull the trigger
• (2) pick yourself up off the ground
• (3) grab the bolt and place another round in the chanber
• (4) pull the trigger
• (5) pick yourself up off the ground
• (6) . . .

[verity]

Are those ok for gopher?

Yes - if you use a head shot! :~)

[Mini-14]

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