Bell was a very experienced hunter and a very, very good game shot. This is very different than shooting targets. No one can acquire the experience to do what he did using their own resources today. They could only do that by shooting on "control" or as a professional where someone else is "paying the freight". Bell disposed of a shipment of .318 ammo that had proven to be unreliable by shooting birds "in flight" for practice. To learn about the good ones we read their books, to learn about the ones, not so good, we have to read their headstones. There are plenty of headstones caused by believing the "hype" of small bores and substituting that for experience and skill. Cordite and jacketed bullets are different than black powder and lead bullets (even explosive bullets) anyway.
Mike
