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NitroX
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Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant?
#172349 - 30/11/10 04:26 AM

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."

Can a .22 kill an elephant? - click here to read the article

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John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
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DarylS
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: NitroX]
#172351 - 30/11/10 05:30 AM

Hey - I've now got a lot more Elephant rifles I thought I had.

--------------------
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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Ben
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: DarylS]
#172357 - 30/11/10 08:00 AM

Very interesting!

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RLI
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: Ben]
#172360 - 30/11/10 08:43 AM

So that means the 22 magnum is the .577 of rimfires!

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"Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid." — John Wayne

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Mike_Bailey
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: RLI]
#172361 - 30/11/10 08:53 AM

saw that in a book about 20 years ago, interesting, best, Mike

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Huvius
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: Mike_Bailey]
#172363 - 30/11/10 09:02 AM

Hard to believe that a .22 short can penetrate through that much tissue (let alone the skin) and have enough left to penetrate the heart as well. Maybe hitting a coronary artery could cause the elephant to die of a "heart attack"
Next member to bag an elephant could replicate this on the dead beast and see if it is at all plausable.

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He who lives in the past is doomed to enjoy it.

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DarylS
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: Huvius]
#172366 - 30/11/10 10:03 AM

Huvious - I'm having a difficult time with the penetration requirement as well- especially form a short. I can possibly see it with a sectional density superior 40gr. solid, but a 29gr. short bullet?

RLI - not the .22 magnum with one of it's thin skin jacketed bullets, but the .22 WRF - with it's 45gr. "solid" lead bullet at 1,450fps!!!

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Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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NitroX
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: Huvius]
#172372 - 30/11/10 02:03 PM

Quote:

Hard to believe that a .22 short can penetrate through that much tissue (let alone the skin) and have enough left to penetrate the heart as well. Maybe hitting a coronary artery could cause the elephant to die of a "heart attack"

I have trouble believing these .22 stories as well.

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

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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Tatume
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: NitroX]
#172397 - 30/11/10 11:05 PM

Having no elephants to spare, I set up a piece of 1/4" thick soft aluminum angle, thinking that might approximate elephant skin. Firing 22 shorts at 20 yards, two shots made small depressions on the impact side, but no dent was discernable on the back side. A third shot made a crater on the impact side, and a substantial dent on the back side. I have little confidence that the 22 short will kill an elephant.

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Take care, Tom
NRA Life Member

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9.3x57
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: Tatume]
#172398 - 30/11/10 11:43 PM

Ok, Ok...

Looks like I'm going to be filling my milk jugs and panhandling a chunk of elephant hide from Ozhunter.

Good heavens I'm certain he must have stacks of skins, tusks and skulls laying about his place. His wife will probably be delighted to get rid of a few elephant hides, especially since in all likelihood he'll be trucking in more in the next few months...

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What are the Rosary, the Cross or the Crucifix other than tools to help maintain the fortress of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

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Mike_Bailey
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: 9.3x57]
#172413 - 01/12/10 01:58 AM

if it is of any interest, when I saw the story it was a .22LR, not a short, the guy who took the shot was trying to scare a problem ele out of some very thick stuff so his mate could shoot it with a proper rifle. he couldn´t see much but swatted it. Ele ran out of the bush but away from the guy with the big bore. ran about 200 yds then piled up. When they got to it the .22 had gone in under the very thin skin behind the knee and entered the heart.....whether true or not God knows but it was a LR NOT a short, best, Mike

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9.3x57
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: Mike_Bailey]
#172414 - 01/12/10 02:24 AM

Quote:

if it is of any interest, when I saw the story it was a .22LR, not a short, the guy who took the shot was trying to scare a problem ele out of some very thick stuff so his mate could shoot it with a proper rifle. he couldn´t see much but swatted it. Ele ran out of the bush but away from the guy with the big bore. ran about 200 yds then piled up. When they got to it the .22 had gone in under the very thin skin behind the knee and entered the heart.....whether true or not God knows but it was a LR NOT a short, best, Mike

Mike;

You and I must hang out in the same seedy bars, cuz that is identically the story I heard {read??} many years ago.

I think we all need to remember tho, elephant have been killed with a whole garden variety of implements and to say "it can't be done" can't be said, really.

There's the story of the elephant that was shot at with the air rifle and at the "splat" of the gun spooked and fell down a muddy slope into the donga. Killed with a Diana .177??

During my time spent in the Congo, I heard all sorts of stories about elephant killed with this and that and have no reason to doubt the veracity from a purely ballistic perspective. Mining cable, shotguns, Big Holes in the ground, whatever.

Remember, elephant have over the centuries been just so much damn trouble for many rural people, so what's at hand is what's used.

"Big game hunters" sometimes forget that rural folk must put up with "big game" and often don't benefit much by it so one man's jewelry is another man's junk. We feel that here sometimes...

--------------------
What are the Rosary, the Cross or the Crucifix other than tools to help maintain the fortress of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

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DarylS
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: 9.3x57]
#172419 - 01/12/10 04:22 AM

I'm not getting this. Are you now saying that my elephant rifle collection is now reduced by the # of .22LR's I own, but increased by the one .177 pellet gun (if handguns are allowed)? If so, what about a .22 calibre pellet pistol - that one's really powerful - you can pump it up to 10 times (before it leaks like a seive, then bleeds off to 6 pumps - about)?

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Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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9.3x57
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: DarylS]
#172425 - 01/12/10 05:00 AM

Yes, Daryl, that is exactly what I'm saying.

--------------------
What are the Rosary, the Cross or the Crucifix other than tools to help maintain the fortress of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

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Ben
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: 9.3x57]
#172442 - 01/12/10 07:59 AM

Somewhere in a Capstick book lurks a similar story involving a .22LR.

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iqbal
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Reged: 05/02/03
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: NitroX]
#172472 - 02/12/10 12:57 AM

Maybe he shot it in the balls.That could do it.

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Huntersheart
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Reged: 23/03/10
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Loc: Qld,Australia

Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: iqbal]
#172513 - 02/12/10 04:49 PM

In the African Hunter or one of the Zimbabwe publications around 2002-3 there was a story published about a poacher charged with shooting elephants with a 22 or 22short . He claimed to close up on the side of the elephant and wait for the front leg to extend at full stride and then shhot through the intercostal muscle between the ribs into the heart.The story was written by a couple of rangers who attemped the trick to verify the substance of the evidence whilst preparing the court case against the poacher.I can't cleary remember the full story but it seemed to have some veracity .
Give me my trusty 416 Rigby !!

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Huntersheart
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Re: Can a .22 rimfire kill an elephant? [Re: Huntersheart]
#172521 - 02/12/10 06:19 PM

Dumbo (me) didn't spot the link to the story - at least the brain recalled it fairly close to the story - given the grey hairs !!

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