Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant?

"About the year 1936, a South African in Kenya was found with the tusks of five elephant in his truck. He did not have any elephant licences nor did he have a rifle heavy enough to shoot elephant. He was charged with poaching five elephants.

On being asked where the heavy rifle was, with which he had shot the elephants, he produced an old Belgian made .22, which would only fire .22 short rounds. He then explained in detail how he had killed the elephants.

Game warden Thomas Carr Hartley (commonly known as Carr) was at that time doing elephant control on shamba raiders in the Meru area. He was given the .22 rifle, instructed in the method of hunting used by the accused, and asked by the chief game warden to see if it was possible to kill an elephant in this manner.

With a reliable game ranger armed with a heavy rifle backing him up, in case of mishaps, Carr Hartley got in close to a shamba raider, and when it put its front foot forward, exposing the thin skin covering the ribs, he fired between the two ribs into the heart.

The elephant ran 150 to 200 yards and collapsed. Carr repeated this on four other elephants to prove the point."

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