On the other hand, experience has shown that bullets of .458" or better at velocities of 2050 or better can stop an elephant charge with even pretty poorly placed shots.

Stopping an elephant with a missed frontal brain shot means either turning it knocking it down. As for turning an elephant, who knows if a 375H&H wouldn't have done the same in those circumstances with that elephant. But when it comes to knocking an elephant down, this is an arena only the big bores run in.

A hundred and six years of experience with hundreds of thousands of elephants shot by thousands of hunters is silly to ignore. If you doubt history, watch Buzz Charlton's video. Results follow history, his comments reflect history, though of course there isn't the sample in any one video or PH's experience alone.

As for choice of rifle, bolt or double, I believe that for elephant hunting the big bore double is without rival.(This assumes the fellow using it knows his rifle, of course. In Buzz's video there are two examples of fellows who don't, and Buzz makes the comment that fellows unaccustomed to their double have an issue with double triggers.)

When it comes to buff, I suspect a true charge might be harder to stop. But a true charge is also a hell of a lot less likely too seems to me. Of all the buff charges I've seen on video, if the cns was missed, the bigger the calibre the more the effect, including knocking them off their feet or hurting then so bad they slow to a crawl. Not nearly as much has been written about buff hunting than elephant hunting, or at least I haven't read it, and there isn't the clear lesson to me.

I think a double is great fun to use to shoot buff so long as you are either willing to pass up on shots or trade out for the scoped bolt (of legal calibre) your tracker ought to be carrying. If you could only choose one rifle and the trophy was more important than how you got it then I believe that a bolt with a low power scope is the rifle to use.

My thoughts,

JPK