.256 Mannlicher-Schoenauer

7 mm. Mauser solid

.303 Mark VI

.450/.400 solid

.416 solid

Terse comments on a controversial subject by oneof the world's most interesting big-game hunters

This is perhaps the last article writtenby W. D. M. Bell-called the first manto use the high-velocity rifle in Africa­before his death late in June 1954.Prepared at THE RiflEMAN's request, itsummarizes Bell's strong opinions onrifles for dangerous game, opinions hedeveloped in 30 years of adventuring.Climaxed by five years of hunting withthe natives of the Karamojo district ofUganda-Kenya, this experience earnedhim the appellation of 'Karamojo', Belland the reputation as an advocate ofthe high-velocity smallbore rifle. Bellwas infinitely successful in the use ofa .275 Rigby Mauser on elephant, hav­ing used this caliber in killing most ofhis bag of 1011.

'DECEMBER 1954

I SUPPOSE there are few more hotlycontested subjects than that of the

caliber of rifles for use against largegame, especially against that consideredto be dangerous. Ever since man be­gan to walk erect-even before that, Iexpect-this controversy probably ragedas freely as it does now, if not aboutrifles then about clubs, bludgeons, bat­tle axes, and bows. It may in fact bestated, with fair reason, that bores of allkinds have existed in great numberssince the word go.

It will be observed that it is almostinvariably the Big Bore who attacks theSmall Bore. Why this should be so isat first glance not apparent. It can bestated with very fair accuracy that theSmall Bore does not usually bear any illwill towards the Big Bore. I should saythat, on the contrary, the Small Borerather commiserates with his brotherBore for having to burden himself withhis heavy equipment.

On the other hand, the Big Bore willtake every opportunity to attack theSmall Bore. He will perjure his soul bydeclaring the smallbore rifle to be un­sporting. He will even go so far as todeclare that the use of smallbores shouldbe made illegal. \Vhy should the BigBorc get so hot under the collar about

the number of thousandths of an inchtha t constitu tes the difference between,say, a .270 and a .375?

Is it that the Big Bore has devotedpainstaking, laborious research into theeffect on animals weighing several tonsof this so important 105 thousandthsof an inch? Has he, perchance, stum­bled on some important truth. hiddenfrom less penetrating eyes? Not a bitof it. He generally knows rather lessof matters of moment to riflemen. Us­ually he will leave the matter of choiceof weapon to his chosen gunmaker andshould he be successful-as very oftenhe is, for even a .600 caliber 900-grainbullet in the right place will kill as deadas a 100-grain bullet-they foreverswear by that particular rifle, and damnall others of smaller caliber as being un­sporting. In fact, they show a heat andvenom quite unknown to the smallboreaddict, leaving him wondering what allthe fuss can be about.

It is this curious inner rage-in somerespects like the rabies of the caninewor1d-sho~fn for the Small Bore by theBig Bore that forms the subject of thisarticle. Before a positive hatred of thismagnitude can be generated there mustbe deep-rooted forces of great intensityat work. I have known of a man who

27

of origin, and it was heavy and costly.Finally, you did not like to use suchhard-to-come-by cartridges in mere prac­tice.

Here the Double-Barrelled Bores al­ways bring in their favorite argumentabout having a much quicker secondshot than that of the magazine rifle. AllI say to that is that it is possible to firea second barrel slightly quicker than todo the same from a light bolt-action ri­fle, but whereas the former will be ashot into the blue, owing to the disturb­ance of aim of the first discharge, thelatter will be a properly aimed shot­into a second victim more than likely.That is how bags are made.

A strong. D.B.B.B.

I remember meeting up with a well­known Double Barrel Big Bore at" ariver crossing. His particular weaknesswas for double .500's. These come inbetween the .470 and .475's and the.577 and the .600's. It was the dryseason and all the elephant in creationseemed to be gathered in the still-greenswamps. All the country away fromthe river had been burned off and noth­ing you could do to those enormousherds would induce them to leave theshelter of the high grass (ten to twelvefeet) .

The great burly D.B.B.B. seemed verydiscontented with things in general, infact he was in a slow-motion simmeringfury. It appeared that his boys hadstruck at swimming the river-it wasreally an arm of the Upper Nile andfull of crocks-and had actually refusedto mount a raft the B.B. had had madefor their transport. This filled the BigBore with fury. But they weren't suchfools, those boys.. They knew perfectlywell that the wood used in the raftwould not float, as the B.B. found whenhe launched it with some of his loads onboard. -

I had been doing pretty well with mylight rifles at this swamp hunting, justhaving had 15 head of bull-stuff on twoconsecutive days. I was feeling prettygood, and as I had some whisky I askedthe hunter to have a drink while I toldmy very experienced gang to give a handwith getting my rival hunter's boys andgear across.

Over our drinks a mellowed B.B.confided with many curses that his rifles-two D.B..500's-knocked him tailover tip off the ant heaps or elephantbodies every time he fired them. As helooked a burly sort of beggar, I sug­gested his rifles might be too light. Thisset him off. Too light, he roared, tryhumping them through long grass andyou'll soon find them too bloody heavy.

"Why not try a light smallbore?" Iasked him. "What do you use?" he

.275 Rigby Light Model. Weight 634 pounds

.256 Mannlicher·Schoenauer. Weight 7 pounds

a time fell under their sway.I bought myself a double .4 50;'400

hammerless ejector first grade rifle byDaniel Fraser of Edinburgh. I knewFraser well and often fired his heavypieces on his regulating range. In fact,he tried to persuade me to have a mon­strous double .577 in place of the .400but I thought the latter would serve mypurpose all right.

It fired 60 grains of cordite behinda 400-grain bullet in each barrel and Ithought that if I wired the two triggerstogether I would get the equivalent of120 grains of cordite pushing 800 grainsof bullet. This seemed near enough tothe 900-grain bullet and 100 grains ofcordite of the .600, or the 750-grainbullet and 80 grains of cordite of the.577, to convince me whether there wasanything to this big stuff or not. Aswell. as the .450/.400, I acquired a Mag­num Mauser Rigby .416 four-shot mag­azine rifle with their own design of steel­jacketed bullet drawn so that the metalin the nose-end was very thick. At thesame time I had my .303 ten-shot, the.275 Rigby Mauser, and the meat-pro­viding .256 Gibbs Mannlicher. Whetherthe newly acquired .400 double or the.416 Mauser failed me or not, I wasstill adequately armed. Thus equipped,I left for the hunting grounds.

Let me say right away that they allkilled dead. All rifles using proper bul-

lets do. None kill deader than dead be­cause they can't. But there are otherconsiderations.

The double .400 with its gold-washedlocks weighed ten poundS. It carried,or rather you carried, ,two barrels to dothe work of one. The noise of a dis­charge, especially of both barrels to­gether, was disturbing to a great extentof country. Also, a discharge seemedto be more alarming to game, whetherby waves of air pounding them or mere­ly by cracking their sensitive ear drumsI do not know. The ammunition wasnowhere obtainable away from its place

tractive proposition much favored bythe Big Bore school. When they quotethe striking energy in foot pounds, itbecomes almost irresistible. The weightof the piece, the size of the cartridge,the noise it makes, and the cost of itall, quite overcome the totally .inex­perienced man or those of naturallyweak reasoning powers.

Of course, it must be recognized thatsome of the very finest of craftsman­ship goes into these heavy weapons.They are things of entrancing beautyand have an attraction quite apart fromtheir utility as killers. I myself once on

wrote a whole book of bitter attacks onsmallbore practitioners. Obviously itwas intended in some inscrutable wayto get his own back, to re-instate himseltin his own esteem.

Perhaps this case conceals a clueworth following up. He projected hisjet of venom against the .220 Swift inparticular. He argued .that because afriend of his had fired at a woundedbuck at 20 paces, and the .220 hadfailed to kill, the .220 was not a suitablerifle for the killing of deer. No word,be it noted, where the bullet struck oreven if it hit the buck at all. That spot­lights my allusion to the canine rabies­nature of these attacks in no uncertainfashion. Using 3; telescopic sight andshooting at the neck, I have found the.220 Swift 48-grain bullet with a muz­zle velocity of 4150 feet per second be­yond compare for country where a shotclear of obstruction and where the proneposition can be used. Nothing couldsurpass it, or, I venture to say, join thesame class. Anyone who denies this haseither failed to zero his rifle properly­for Scottish red deer it should be on thedot. at 220 yards-or he suffers fromsome defect and should see a specialistor something.

Similarly when it comes to big game.The argument here is that the small cal­iber often wounds and loses game wherethe large bullet kills. This is a very at-

28 THE AMERICAN RIFLEMAN

a 12-bore shotgun. Elephant were nu­merous and native trackers able andkeen.

He left at ·dawn and returned nextday having spent the night in the bush.He took forty rounds with him and re­turned with none. He swore he hadput all forty into the same elephant.

The case of this particular man couldnot be passed off as one of inexperiencenor could his guts be queried. As stouta fellow as could be found, as his laterexploits proved to the hilt, he said hcfired at close range. Knowing the coun­try, I can well. believe him. He told usthat at first there was plenty of bloodspoor but that this tended to diminishas time and the battle went on. Howlike some of the old hunters' encountersit sounds, where, if you found a suitable /bull in the morning, it occupied youfully to get him do)Vn by evening bypouring into his body 4-, 8-, 10-, or 12­bore bullets driven by enormous chargesof powder. .

All the same, and laying aside all prej­udice, I am still wondering where thoseforty 900-grain slugs ended up. As Ihave before remarked, even a .600 willkill and we know from the presence ofblood spoor that some bullets must havefound a billet in the elephant. Yet thatelephant simply vanished. Never was

-his body found. He must have beena ghost, if ghosts have blood.

'vVith some 150 to 200 men and\~omen depending solely on a couple ofnfles for food and footwear; beer and'baccy-for all could be bartered formeat - ruggedness of constructionseemed to me to be the greatest asset.To get a repair effected would havctaken at least three months by.foot-run­ner to the coast even if an armorer couldhave been found willing and able to doit. So it will be seen how vitally im­portant it was to keep the battery inworking order.

Rigby double-barrel rifle. Weight10'14 pounds

.2S6 Gibbs. Weight 7 pounds

An interesting rifle built on a 1903 Springfield actionhas interchangeable barrels, one .30-'06 and one .318

2,400 feet per second, will sedately pur­sue the course entrusted to it by thehunter and a clean kill will ensue to' thesatisfaction of all concerned.

All rules have this in common-theyare subject to the exception. I oncekilled an elephant with a high-velocity.280 solid by the heart shot at 600 yards.Normally the distance for this shotwould be from 20 to 100 yards. Thepointed abomination had lost nlOst ofits superfluous velocity.

Yet one more instance of the utterfutility of supposing that the shockingpower of the rifle used has anything todo with its killing power.

Strong man, big gun

I happened to be staying with theDistrict Officer of a very wild, backwardarea. There was a detachment of troopsunder a white officer. This man was ayoung, splendid-looking chap and hehad ambitions anent the elephant, inpursuit whereof he had acquired a verybeautiful double .600.

The day he left we both thought hewould be successful. The man was sixfeet four inches, and broad yet lean, andcheeked the .600 about as if it had been

asked. I showed him the modest little.275. "Hell, I wouldn't use a ruddypopgun like that", he declared. Butwhen he saw the proceeds of the .275in actual ivory, 60 tusks, and I told himthey were the result of two days' hunt­mg, he began to think hard.

Was that convincing?

\Vas he convinced? No! You can­not penetrate the hide of a confirmed,fully adult Big Bore. Catch an imma­ture one and he will at least trv out thesmallbores. But once the skin 11as hard­ened into a shell, no proof, howeverconvincing. stands a chance of beingeven considered.

In this high-grass hunting, where tosee at all you must have some means ofat least br'inging your eyes level with thethinner tops of the grass, the recoil ofyour rifle becomes of vital importance.Often the only eminence sufficientlvhigh is the carcass of a slain elephant,espeCially that of a brain-shot kneelingone. You run quickly up his bent-upforeleg onto the highest point of hisback, often with the thumps of his still­beating heart throbbing through thesales of your light shoes. From thisvantage point great lines of heads andtops of backs will be discovered, some­times quite near you. These great herdsare making so much noise, belching andwhat-not,. that the report of a .256,7 mm., or .303 passes unnoticed by themaJor~ty of the herd, resulting only ina partial movement.

Although the target is so presented,with the important bulls standing wellabove the cow-stuff, care must still beexercised. Only the brain-shot is feasi­ble, generally speaking. But close in­spection, especially with the binoculars,which should never be absent from thehunter's person, will show that the pathof the bullet is cluttered up with theql1lte strong grass stalks.

As everyone knows, even one of thesepests will deflect a light high-velocitybullet but one of the old heavy rouncl­nosed solids, travelling not faster than

DECEMBER 1954 29

hflnd grasping the barrel near the muz­zle, the hot steel cutting you in two.Weight 9Y2 pounds. Too heavy. Muz­zle velocity 2300 feet per second. Bolttravel too long. .

But I can well imagine what confi­dence those four great cartridges withtheir steel-coated jackets would inspirein a beginner in high grass or densebush. It was only that I had begunwith the smallbores, and had been con­vinced of their deadliness, that I lookedon the larger calibers with such a criti­cal eye. Per~hance had I started withsuch weapons I might now find myselfamong the Big Bores or even among theelite, the Double-Barrelled Big Bores.A lot depends on what rifle you beginwith and whether you are successfulwith it or not.

The double .450/.400 suffered fromsoft-jacketed bullets. Although com­pletely metal covered, they often col­lapsed. The jacket did not break up butthe lead squeezed out at the base. Ithink it undoubtedly became meltedby the heat generated when passingthrough skin, muscle, and tissue. Ithink, also, that the solid base of thesoft-nosed bullet explains its astonish­ing penetration. As it seems quite im­possible to devise a totally enclosed leadfilling for a bullet, it would seem thatthe next step would be to use a homo­geneous brass or Monel metal bullet.

\Vith both triggers of the double­barrel .400 wired together the result onthe animal was just the same as froma 173-grain slug from the 7 mm., al­·though the firer was left in a sort ofshock-drunk state. You were firing 120grains of cordite behind 800 grains ofbullet from a ten-pound rifle. For a sec­ond or two you were off balance and inno condition to select another targetand to fire an aimed shot in spite ofhaving braced yourself for the comingexplosion. -

In case anyone is crazy enough towish to repeat this experiment, I wouldlike to warn him that it is no easy'matter to get the two barrels to go offtogether. As a result of the constructionof these mighty pieces, the recoil ispartly reduced by the bend in the stock.This tends to throw the muzzles up. Itwill be readily understood that themerest fraction of time difference in thefall of the strikers results in the secondshot going much higher than the first.Altogether an abomination, thesedoubles.

Then coming down the scale wereach the .318 with its four-diameter250-grain bullet. This is a killer. Itholds its course through almost any­thing and is superior in this respect toall other bullets I have tried. For ob-

.416 Rigby. Weight 10 pounds

Solid steel-covered bullet

It must not be thought that I had anyfacilities for experimenting with differ­ent loads for my rifles. They just hadto be content with the military loadworked out by the various armies con­cerned. It was just pure good luck thatthe bullets with their considerableweight, their round noses, and theirmoderate velocities proved in practiceto be so well suited to the job.

The .303 with its 215-grain bullet(with a muzzle velocity of about 21 00feet per second), the 173-grain 7 mm.bullet (muzzle velocity. 2300 feet persecond), and the .256 Mannlicher withits 154-grain bullet (muzzle velocity2200 feet per second), were just aboutperfect for the job.

When it came to testing the largerbores against these small, handy, light,and deadly rifles with which I had al­ready'been so successful, it was almostcertain that their imperfections wouldstand out vividly.

First of all their weight, to a manwho habitually carried his rifle, seemedexcessive and unnecessary. The .416Rigby was certainly a grand killer andshowed great penetration and truecourse-holding ability. It was handytoo, and well balanced, and did notseem its weight.

In fad, it was only when you hadbeen toting it through the bush foreight hours or so that you began to say;"Why the hell am I carrying this heavybrute around when it kills no deaderthan the .303 or .275?" That would bewhen you had reached the stage whereyou carried the thing on your shoulder,

.303 Lee-Metford la-shot. Weight 7'/2 pounds

The best way to do so was to haveeverything of the simplest and most ro­bust description possible. As the mili­tary anns of the various nations are themost highly developed of any, havinghad more thought, time, and moneyspent on them than would be possibleon any commercial arm, I chose fromthe start to pin my faith on the .303,the 7 mm. Mauser, and the .256 Mann­licher. These arms formed the backborie

• on which all depended. Similar remarksapply to their cartridges.

In pursuit of this ideal of simplicity,only one plain, open V backsight ofvery robust construction with plenty ofmetal was used on the .303 and 7 mm.

. Mauser. I used to file down the V sothat the full ivory bead covered thegroup of shots at 80 yards. In this kindof hunting it is important to always usethe full bead as this is the only amountthat remains constant. If you startmonkeying about with just the top ofthe bead appearing in the bottom of theV, then in poor light your shot will gohigh as you will unconsciously take moreof it.

Whenever I had to do any file cut­ting, and it was surprising how oftenyou wanted to alter the profile or thewidth of the backsight, then the wholebacksight was heated to a dull red andquenched in vegetable oil or ground nut.This was a quite adequate substitute forbluing and could be renewed at will.

On the .256 there were the usual ironsight leaves for 100, 200, and 300 yards.As at first I got only soft-nosed bullets,this rifle was used exclusively for pro­viding meat. Without experiencing it,no one would credit the amount of buckmeat a hundred boys could consume be­sides having ;yl the elephant meat theycould carry off.

Buck game was quite unmolested andin parts was still in countless numbers.It was nothing out of the way for the.256 to slay 15 or 20 buck handy tocamp for their meat and for rawhidesaddles for the donkey ivory-packers.

30 THE AMERICAN RIFLEMAN

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Small bores versus. big bores

lique shots into large animals it is quitethe best (muzzle velocity 2400 feetper second). Cartridge about the samelength as .30-'06. Could be shorter withadvantage. Also requires more shoulderon cartridge case. I have a .318 weigh­ing seven pounds ten ounces exactly,when empty. The deadliest weapon ofthe push bolt type known to me. It isquite sufficiently pleasant to fire in thestanding position, and is heavy enoughto keep the arm muscles in trim forstanding shooting when carried all day.

The .303 British Mark VI round~

nose 2l5-grain solid. The rifle hasmany advantages. It is light-can be6% pounds. Stock is bolted to actionthrough grip and can hardly be broken,although it may work loose and requiresa very long turnscrew to tighten it.By continuous working of bolt smearedwith very fine emery powder, bolt canbe brought to a fine polished perform­ance. With its ten-shot magazine, a

, very useful hard-working and efficientrifle. Can hardly be stopped function­ing by mud or sand.

A seven-pound rifle empty, .275 (7mm.) Rigby Mauser. Muzzle velocity2300 feet per second, 173-grain bullet.The scierttist's rifle par excellence.Weight can be 6% pounds. A delightfulcompanion with its German D.W.M.­made bullet, it killed over 800 head oflarge bull elephants. Its· diameter tolength of bullet and its rather pointedround-nose bullet gave it extraordinarypenetration. Its true course-holdingquality- very good except in extremeconditions as when firing for the brain inelephant from behind-an extremelysevere test. Out performed by the .250­grain. 318 in this case alone. Bullet maybe required to enter at an angle of 20degrees from body axis. The least de­flection· cannot be tolerated as brain ispresented in least favorable aspect. Bul­let has thinnish hide, heavy muscle,thinnish bone to contend with but allat 20 degrees angle. Failure to connectwith brain one in three. Human errorsay 50%. Misses due to deflection sayone in four. Similar figures for. 318, sayone in 3Yz. I never saw a mangled orbent 7 mm. bullet, possibly becausemost of them had passed on whistlingas they went. An inspiring little rifle,requiring knowledge of anatomy andexact pointing.

.256 Mannlicher and :256 Mannlich·er-Schoenauer. Here we are approach­ing the limit of safety, in diameter tolength, for long traverses in heavy game.These long narrow four-diameter bulletsbend into the most extraordinary hook­like shapes and this oddity of theirs in­evitably brings under suspicion theirtrue course-holcling properties. I mustS<lY I only once failed to kill the animal

DECEMBER 1954

78

I fired at with the ,256 and that was dueto a misfire because of a faulty rounel.- I once had a carbine Mannlicher-

Schoenauer 20" barrel down to 5Y2 Ibs.with a hollowed out walnnt stock thatwas simply lightning for the brain shoton elephant. I believe a homogeneousMonel bullet might overcome the bend­ing propensities of the lead-filled bulleteven in .256 caliber. It would certainlybe stiffer. Once that is overcome thething is perfect as far as bullet goes.

The bolt action could be improved.The delay between striker release andfiring of cartridge is much too long forgood off-the-shoulder work from wobblyor insecure stances.

Good word-for .30-'06

The ,30-'06., I regret to say, ne"ercame my way so I cannot speak of itfrom experience on African game. Butcoming as it does between ,275 and.318, it might well prove to be theideal caliber, large enough in diameterto resist bending, heavy enough tohold a true course, and with sufficientdensity to give good penetration. Thenew short version, the .308, with asuitable bullet may yet prove to be theanswer to the hunter's prayer. Sufficientdiameter, enough penetration with nobending, is a specification that wouldanswer others' than the hunter's dream.

There IS a simple test for bullets suit­able' for kIlling large game. It shouldnever be less than four times its diam­eter in length and should have a shortround-nose POll1t and long parallelsides. Its jacket should be of steel of athickness that will keep it togetherthrough any going, however tough. Orit should be of homogeneous metal.

Granted these conditions, let the BigBores choose their own caliber.

It would be interesting to speculate onwhat sort of punch such cartridgeswould give.

Take a .475. I suppose its bulletwould measure maybe I Y2 or twodiameters 111 length, weighing 500grains. A bullet to measure four diam­eters would therefore weigh somewhereabout 1,000 grains. Although it wouldbe an adequate killer, the Big Boreschool can have it-it would kill at bothends.

Yet another bone to pick with thecannon-worshippers. They often saythat smallbores wound when they donot kill, and that the animal goes offto die a lingering death-a favoritephrase this-whereas a large caliberbullet causes such a wide area of de­struction that the animal is more likelytOI die ..

But it must notbe overlooked that thesmallbore, while making a smallerwound channel, also makes a longerone. It is much more likely to be a well­directed shot "al~o, and anyhow withheavy game where the vitals are so

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large, there is no excuse for woundingto enter into the question. Any long­range stuff is out of place· on theseanimals.

We now come to what I would taketo Africa if I h'Jd to go through thewhole thing again under the same set ofconditions.

I would base my battery on a Win­chester .308 Model 70 burning a car­tridge loaded with a homogeneousbronze or Monel metal bullet ,of theform as worked out by Kohlbacker. Atthe same time, I would have a .318barrel to fit the same stock and a supplyof 250-grain solid conventional lead­filled steel-jacketed bullets, just in caseany unforeseen snags arose from the useof homogeneous bullets in the .308.

My reasons for choosing the. 308 arethat it most nearly meets the elephanthunter's dream-sufficient penetrationwith no bending.

My reason for preferring the .308case is because it is shorter than the. 30·'06 M2. My only really close calls inhunting African game have come fromthe too long bolt travel of bolt-actionrifles and from firing at very close rangeinto elephant with the body shot invery thick stuff when they were facingme. They launch themselves straightahead when hit in the heart and theyare as likely as not to tangle you up intheir legs.

The greatest menace

The too-long bolt is I think the great­est menace a man has to face in Africanhunting. My own experiences happenedwith rhino in long grass. \Vith sightingranges of three yards or so, the back­ward bolt travel is liable to be cutprematurely. The empty case is notejected but reinserted in the barrel andyou have a misfire at contact range.

A thing I miss very much in themodernized copies of the Mauser bolt­action is the cut-out thumb slot onthe left side of the .action body. Thisthumb recess was probably intended tohelp the thumb press down a c1iploadof cartridges into the magazine. In thefield I found it suited me for the load­ing of single cartridges with the lefthand holding the light rifle and thethumb pressing the single cartridgedown into the magazine, and the righthand extracting a round from the belt.This could be done while the eye re­mained on the· game.

I have tried out these homogeneousbullets in brass on Scottish red deer andon an African buffalo's head and from itsperformance I feel sure it would prob­ably knock all ordinary bullets right outof the field.

Instead of going back with the oldFour Bores and Eight Bores of thelast· century, I would go forward andform a new school of bores-The Homo­geneous or All Metal Bores. ~ ~ ~

DECEMBER 1954