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"The .275 Rigby - really the 7×57 mm Mauser - is one of the greatest African and North American hunting cartridges of all time. The .275 "never let down" famed elephant hunter "Karamojo" Bell, and still renders sterling service to hunters worldwide today.

"Speaking personally, my greatest successes have been obtained with the 7mm Rigby-Mauser (.275 Rigby) .... It seemed to show a remarkable aptitude for finding the brain of an elephant."-W.D.M. "Karamojo" Bell The hunting exploits of Walter Dalrymple Maitland Bell often bring to mind the use of small-caliber rifles for taking Africa's largest game. Bell's adventures and big game experiences are chronicled in three books he wrote-Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter, Bell of Africa and Karamojo Safari. Judging by his accounts of hunting prowess and successes, it may not be too much to suggest that Bell was largely responsible for elevating the .225 Rigby rifle's capabilities to almost mythic heights.

Among his many rifles, Bell considered the .275 Rigby-Mauser a favorite, for it was with this rifle that he reputedly shot many of his more than 1,000 elephants taken during 30 years of hunting in Africa. As the ultimate tribute to his .275 Rigby, Bell claims in Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter, "[T]he fact remains that, although I have used about every other kind of rifle and bullet, the only one which never let me down was my .275 Rigby/Mauser using DWM ammunition."

When Bell first arrived in Africa shortly before the turn of the 20th Century, he was not yet 20 years old. In 1902 he pushed through to a remote territory in northern Uganda called Karamojo, which was destined to become one of his favored hunting grounds. It also accounted for the moniker by which he's most commonly known-"Karamojo" Bell.

As Bell's knowledge and big-game hunting experience increased, he embraced more and more the use of light-caliber rifles like the .256 Mannlicher and .275 Rigby (which he sometimes referred to as the .276). For a majority of the open-country hunting he did, he felt that either one of these calibers was superior to the heavy double guns used by most of the elephant hunters of that period. Bell firmly believed the size of bullet made less difference to the kill than did the placement of the shot, as long as there was sufficient penetration.

Explaining this contradictory concept of little bullets for big game Bell wrote, "I possessed the double .400.1 also had a .275. Sometimes I used one and sometimes the other, and it began to dawn on me that when an elephant was hit in the right place with the .275 it died just as quickly as when hit with the .400, and vice versa. When the bullet from either rifle was wrongly placed death did not ensue." Although Bell was controversial for his firearms predilections, history still counts him among the era's greatest elephant hunters.

Bell's Guns

Shortly before Bell died in his native Scotland in 1953, his accomplishments as an elephant hunter became known to writer Robert Ruark. It was during his first safari with Harry Selby in 1952 that Ruark became fascinated by accounts of Bell's extraordinary big-game achievements. Sometime after his first safari, Ruark happened to be in London and paid a visit to the Westley Richards gun shop. There he discovered that Bell's widow had recently consigned her late husband's guns to Westley Richards to sell.

Ruark bought two of Bell's rifles-a double Jeffery .450/400 N.E. and a .275 Rigby, both of which he earmarked for his godson, Mark Selby. Ruark had small silver nameplates encrraved with "Mark Robert Selbv from Uncle Bob Ruark" inlaid on the buttstocks of each and presented the famous rifles to Harry Selby for safe keeping-Mark was only 2 years old at the time.

Mark's .275 Rigby, originally owned by Bell and given to him by his godfather Robert Ruark, was a take-down model-a useful feature for the traveling sportsman. An early Rigby catalogue describes removing the barrel by grasping the barrel and fore-end with your right hand and placing the stock under your left arm. Pulling open the spring catch in the fore-end with the index finger of your left hand then allowed you to unscrew the barrel and fore-end.

The rifle was also distinctive for the elongated hole that was cut through the butt-stock, the purpose for which is uncertain. Possibly Bell utilized the hole for some form of specialized carry. For whatever reason the hole was meant, this particular feature is unknown on any other Rigby and is not mentioned in any of the Rigby catalogues, so Bell must have cut the stock with some specific purpose in mind.

It was a great privilege for me in 1973 to have the chance to handle that .275 Rigby rifle, by then in Mark's care. It also planted the seed of desire in my mind to one day own such a rifle. The gun's already-rich history was further enhanced by the hunting the Selby family did with it. Both Harry and Mark used the rifle to pot plains game, and in 1973 Mark's younger sister, Gail carried it on an elephant hunt.

Gail, while still in her teens, had indicated to her father a desire to hunt a jumbo. Harry was then Managing Director of Ker, Downey & Selby (KDS) Safaris in Botswana, which late in the season happened to have a few elephants left on quota in one of their hunting concessions. Accompanied by her father and armed with the .275 Rigby stoked with 175-gr. solids, Gail was successful in dropping a good bull in the open grasslands of the Mababe Depression in northern Botswana. It was a great personal accomplishment for Gail, and a grand hunt conducted in a style for which Bell surely would have approved."

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