I'm glad to hear another opinion, Tophet. There are obviously a lot of people who aren't Bell fans out there.

He definitely found the .318 a better killer. He said so, in the article I linked above. Pinning the 7x57 "adoration" on Bell is stretching it a little though. I'm sure there were a few Rough-Riders who wished they had one, in Cuba, or Brits in the Boer War. Its a useful cartridge. Nothing supernatural, mind, but very useful, particularly back then.

As John pointed out, above, you are always going to cast yourself in the best light in your own memoirs. That said, in reading the only primary sources we have, his own books, and the occasional accounts by other hunters, he doesn't come across as a puffed-up writer. He is certainly no Richard Meinertzhagen, in that I haven't found a lot of dissenting views on his honesty.

Who knows though, really, without being there?

I wish those contemporaries had written books too! All the more fun to read.