If you read W.D.M. Bell's books on elephant hunting, it becomes apparent he made a lot of one-shot kills with small caliber rifles and brain shots. But he also frequently missed that small target while attempting to take as many as possible out of a suddenly alarmed herd, and ended up having to track wounded animals. He described sometimes quickly jumping up on a dying elephant to have an elevated position for shots at others in the herd. So he had to hold his sights steady while standing on a still breathing animal. Witnesses say he was an extraordinary shot with nerves of steel.
I found it fascinating that sometimes he would stalk a resting bull so close that he would shoot upward into the brain cavity, and then quickly run away so the elephant wouldn't fall on him.
Then there was Sir Samuel Baker at the other extreme, who used 4 and 8 bore guns, and sometimes used the single barreled 2 bore gun he called "Baby". "Baby" was a muzzleloader built by Holland & Holland, and fairly light. It weighed a little over 20 lbs. while firing an 8 oz. projectile at around 1500 fps. He said when he shot "Baby", the recoil spun him around, knocked him down, and always left him with a violent headache. He did admit to being afraid of it. He would sometimes allow his native gun bearers to fire it to empty it after being loaded for long periods. He said one native would brace the other who fired the gun. The recoil would knock both of them to the ground, and the rifle would fly several yards behind them. The Arabs called it Jenna-el-Mootfah, which meant Child of a Cannon.
