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Hunting >> Hunting in Africa & hunting dangerous game

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The recommended African battery per Bell
      #3479 - 28/06/03 11:13 PM

WDM Bell in his book "Bell of Africa" mentions he met a whie man, Phelizot, In Kampala in Uganda and on being questioned on how he should set about making a bag of elephants.

Bell advised him to purchase a .318 Mauser and a .450 double. He parted with his own methods and advised cool shooting and good shot placement as the key. That the calibre of the bullet wasn't as important as the placement.

This character Pheilzot however found that coolness wasn't part of his make-up and instead apllied new methods - fire both barrels of the .450 anywhere into the body of the elephant and then rush after or towards the fleeing elephant firing the .318 until a kill was made .

Adding a second .450 he did admit he thought it was actually the .318 which did the killing.

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Later in the same book he advises his friend Wynne to purchase an armoury consisting of a .450 Rigby, a .318 Mauser and a 12-bore shotgun. Bell's own rifle was a .318 plus a .22 rimfire.

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In an appendix he discusses rifles and shooting and again brings up the .318 with a long parallel sided 250 gr bullet of about 3 1/2 to 4 diameters travelling at a velocity of about 2,300 to 2,500 fps.


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My comments are - is this advice still pretty good for an African battery?

The old .318 Westley Richards maybe now has been superseded by a .338 Winchester Magnum. The defunct 8 mm Remington Magnum or the popular European round the 8x68S aren't far behind.

The .450 double in recent tmes probably was a bolt action .458 Winchester Magnum and now possibly a .458 Lott or one of the newer cartridges such as a Dakota or a Rigby.

To me they do appear to be pretty much the ideal two rifles to take to Africa if large and dangerous game is to be hunted. A 480 or 500 gr projectile for elephant, buffalo and perhaps lion. The .318 / .338 covers the plains game and has reasonable ranging potential. With the .338, bullets from 160 gr to 300 grs can be chosen with the 225 gr and 250 gr bullets probably being ideal for the African bushveld.

But a lot of hunters will take a .375. Why? Because a .375 will cover the mid-point of the .318 and the .450. It is versatile and flexible. Not too bad on plains game and with the right bullets, can take some longer shots. With heavier bullets is legal and will take without fuss large and dangerous game if shot placement is certain.

Also the .375 and the .416 have become more in favour with clients in Africa as elephant hunting is out of reach of most safari hunters and the heavier .450s and .500s which were ideal for elephant are less in demand.

What are your thoughts?


--------------------
John aka NitroX

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