I couldn't help noticing how the bolt gun came off the shooter's shoulder when he cycled the bolt. This is an unnecessary waste of time and requires the shooter to reacquire the sights between shots, creating even more wasted time. However, cycling the bolt with the rifle in the shoulder is not a trick acquired without a lot of practice. In my opinion, that kind of practice is time well spent. See http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showflat....true#Post103292 for a tutorial on how it is done.

Also, I noticed both shooters seemed casual about reloading/replenishing the magazine. The last thing to be saddled with in a tight situation is an empty rifle.

When I shot my first elephant, I was standing looking down at it and it occurred to me that I should reload my rifle, a bolt gun which I had emptied at a range of about 35 feet. When I opened the bolt, I was surprised to find a live round in the chamber and a full magazine. I looked down and there were four empty cases at my feet.

I had drilled myself in reloading so carefully that reloading had become automatic and I had carried it out without even being aware of it. Practice makes perfect.

That said, this was obviously a case of very effective shooting in a tight situation. It would be interesting to see whose shots hit where, but wherever they hit, they were certainly effective.

I have always avoided a frontal brain shot on elephant, because of the smallness of the frontal cross section of the brain and the difficulty of locating the brain, depending on the head angle. In that situation, howeveer, there was no choice, and you do what you have to do.