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WDM Bell, on rifles, by Shaiaz Shah

Ivory hunter , war hero and fighter pilot , the great W D M " Karamojo Bell " tells us about small bore rifles and big bore rifles . This is the final article written by this great man before he passed onto the happy hunting grounds in '54 . Mr. Bell achieved celebrity status in the hunting world , even during his time for using small cal rifles to take out six ton elephant tuskers and 1500 pound Cape Buff . His success is mostly associated with a 7×57 mm Mauser ( Which the Englishmen would call the .275 Rigby ) M-98 action magazine rifle built by John Rigby and Co. This was at a time when the standard DG rifle used by most hunters , was a Double in either .577 NE or even ( less commonly ) .600 NE .

I believe that if you really want to get the accurate information about anybody/anything , you should always look straight at the original source material . A lot of gun writers have written articles online about this gent , frequently using information which is half true or completely false . That's why I decided that the only way someone can get accurate information about Mr. Bell's choice of rifles , is by looking ONLY at Mr. Bell's own writings .

Having extensively read all of Mr. Bell's books and articles , I wanna clear up some common myths people often have about Mr. Bell .

Myth 1 - " Bell Killed hundreds of elephants with a .256 Mannlicher Schoenaur and 168 gr FMJ cupronickel jacketed solids "
Fact - Bell only used a .256 Mannlicher Schoenaur rifle ( made by Daniel Fraser ) to kill exactly 12 elephants . No more . No less . And he killed those 12 on one day . He was about to kill a 13th . But the rifle jammed due to a misfire . Bell never used the .256 Mannlicher Schoenaur on DG ever again . And all of these 13 kills were made with side brain shots ( where an elephant's skull is the thinnest ) . Even then , after recovering the bullets from the skulls , Bell noticed how all of the bullets were badly bent into " long hook like shapes " .
Source : " Karamojo Safari "

Myth 2 - " Bell killed a herd of 23 Cape Buffalo with a .22 Savage HP cal M-99 rifle . "
Fact - Bell NEVER killed ANY African game with a .22 Savage HP . He saw ANOTHER HUNTER pull off this stunt . But even then , there's a lot of things to consider . To start with : The Buffalo weren't even Cape Buffalo , but rather West African Forest Buffalo . These critters are FAR smaller than a Cape Buffalo . Secondly , the hunter took out a herd . Herds consist mostly of cows and calves . So , virtually no big bulls . Thirdly , the bullets weren't what killed those buffalo . The shooter wounded the buffaloes with lung shots . This caused blood to spill out of their mouths . The sight of blood drove the other buffaloes mad , and they all started goring each other to death . The last ones standing when it was all over , were so weak by then ( from blood loss and getting gored ) that the shooter just had to empty out his rifle into the ( already dying ) animals and finish them off .
Source : " The Neck Shot " Article on American Rifleman - 1950 .

Myth 3 : " Bell always preferred the 7×57 mm Mauser cal for putting down tuskers " .
Fact - Bell did kill the bulk of his tuskers with the 7×57 mm Mauser cal ( Using 175 gr D W M FMJ round nosed solids ) , but he lost many elephants after wounding them with this cal . He used it only because he was unable to find proper , reliable ammo for any other cals . And by 1913 , he upgraded to a .318 Westley Richards after he finally got a reliable cache of ammo for the .318 . By his own words , he stopped losing elephants once he switched to a .318 WR and 250 gr FMJ round nosed solids .
Source - " Small Bores Vs Big Bores " Article on American Rifleman - 1954 .

Myth 4 - " Bell Preferred Rigby Mausers his entire life " .
Fact - Bell ( Towards the end of his life ) actually preferred the American pre 64 Winchester Model 70 in .308 Winchester , over any English made rifle .
Source - " Small Bores Vs Big Bores " Article on American Rifleman - 1954 .

Finally , I wanna address a common belief shared by people who were critical of W D M Bell . Some people believe that Bell was lying about his success with small cal rifles against elephants and Cape Buff . This is just wrong . Bell was telling the truth . Even when Bell was alive , there were other hunters who were writing about Bell and his success with small cal rifles ( Such as Dennis D Lyell ) . Bell's exploits are even recorded on " Big Game Shooting Records " - A book which was published by another author , while Bell was STILL AN ACTIVE HUNTER . The late Harry Selby's daughter ( Gail Selby ) also took out a six ton elephant with a single side brain shot from a 7×57 mm Mauser ( and a 175 gr Kynoch FMJ round nosed solid ) . Retired Tanzania PH , the great Terry Irwin wrote me a letter about how he once ( as part of a bet ) took out a bull elephant with a .22 Hornet .

But it must be remembered that Karamojo Bell wasn't a PH . He was an ivory hunter . The requirements of a PH's backup rifle is VASTLY different from the requirements of an ivory hunter's rifle . A PH's job is to shoot game when it is either CHARGING , or GETTING AWAY . No perfect shots are guaranteed . So , you need cals large enough to floor the animal even with less than optimal shots . An ivory hunter's job was to creep up upon UNSUSPECTING elephants and then take them out with perfectly placed shots . Bell NEVER faced an elephant charge in his life ( Source : Big Game Shooting Records ) . He would stand on a ladder , and hide in the elephant grass which taking brain shots at unsuspecting elephants.

Also , a little known fact is that Bell also owned a .416 Rigby Mauser and 410 gr Kynoch FMJ steel jacketed round nosed solids in his battery. This was presumably his " charge stopper " in case any of the elephants or buffalo he shot , tried to charge him .

If anybody wants a larger size copy of this article , don't hesitate to ask . If anyone would like a copy of any of the sources that I quoted , don't hesitate to ask , either .

On a personal note , look at the level of foresight the guy had ! In 1954 , he predicted that one day the monolithic solid would COMPLETELY replace the old school FMJ solid . In 2020 , we're finally realizing how correct his prediction was ! Damn .

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