quote]
The 8 Bore was made when men were men and elephants weighed more than three times what a goose weighed. You have to compare 179 ft.lbs. of recoil to getting stomped into a puddle by an elephant.
Mike
There's some truth to that, Mike. Selous thought so until he sawed an elephant's head in half to locate the exact spot at which to place a bullet from different angles. Then, he put the big guns down for good.
And no wonder, Selous originally favored the 4 bore - until he didn’t.
W.D.M. “Karamojo” Bell from “The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter”.
”As regards rifles, I will simply state that I have tried the following: .416, .450/.400, .360, .350, .318, .275 and .256. At the time I possessed the double .400 I also had a .275. Sometimes I used one and sometimes the other, and it began to dawn on me that when an elephant was hit in the right place with the .275 it died just as quickly as when hit with the .400, and, vice versa, when the bullet from either rifle was wrongly placed death did not ensue. In pursuance of this train of thought I wired both triggers of the double .450/.400 together, so that when I pulled the rear one both barrels went off simultaneously. By doing this I obtained the equivalent of 800 grs. of lead propelled by 120 grs. of cordite. The net result was still the same. If wrongly placed, the 800 grs. from the .400 had no more effect than the 200 grs. from the 275. For years after that I continued to use the .275 and the .256 in all kinds of country and for all kinds of game.”
(Wonder what the the ft.lbs. of recoil would be from intentionally doubling that .400?)
