The truth probably lies in the middle.

Undoubtedly Bell had to learn the hard way about some things, but he did start out in the conventional fashion, with a 450/400.

On the other hand, when he went to smaller bores, he recognised that he needed to understand the anatomy of the elephant and studied it extensively.

With this knowledge and the regular practice he achieved with, amongst other things, shooting the meat animals for his labourers, he was able to develop his technique. As we often hear, the harder he worked, the luckier he got.

To suggest that he wantonly waltzed into he middle of a herd and put lead in the air until something fell over is just as foolish as suggesting that he never failed. (And grand, I know you didn't)

Bell was a man of his time. To judge him by today's standards is to misplace the context of his life, but we can still learn from him. I have certainly studied anatomy more closely after reading some of his work, but prefer to err on the "heavy" side, calibre wise. (See sig)