Elephant gun

“ To one to whom the pen is mightier than the gun and whose half a century's bag contains only a few rabbits, a hedgehog and a moorhen, it is no inconsiderable ordeal to be handed a repeating rifle and some dozens of cartridges and be told that that is your elephant—the big one there, with the red ochre on its forehead. To be on an elephant in the jungle without the responsibilities of a lethal weapon would be sufficient thrill for one day: but to be expected also to deal out death was too much. In the company of others, however, one can do anything ”

“ Away dashed the herd, trumpeting and screaming as they rushed through the high grass. For a few moments my game leg grew quite lively, as it was all downhill work, and I caught up an elephant and killed him with the left-hand barrel. Getting a spare gun, I was lucky enough to get between two elephants who were running abreast towards the jungle, and I bagged them by a right and left shot. ”

“ How is it that a primitive literary gun which began as a hundred-yard flint-lock smooth-bore muzzle-loader, and in the course of forty years has acquired one notable improvement after another—percussion cap; fixed cartridge; rifled barrel; efficiency at half a mile how is it that such a gun, sufficiently good on an elephant hunt (Christian Science) from the beginning, and growing better and better all the time during forty years, has always collapsed back to its original flint-lock estate the moment the huntress trained it on any other creature than an elephant? ”

“ If, however, you come on fresh elephant tracks, not more than a [Pg 37] day old, you can usually catch up with the elephants, for as they feed along through the country they do not go fast. Only if they are making a trek from one region to another it may take much longer to catch them.
Once up with an elephant, if you are shooting, you are pretty sure that, even if he is charging you, a bullet from an elephant gun, hitting him in the head, will stop him even if it does not hit him in a vital spot. Moreover, if you stop the leader of a bunch that is charging you, the bunch will stop. ”

“ He knew nothing, either, of the tricks of these big, old-fashioned elephant guns, for he kept both barrels full cock, and it is almost three to two that if you fire one of these rifles with both barrels full cock, both barrels will go off simultaneously, or nearly so, from the concussion.
With the gun trailing after him—another foolish trick—the savage crawled on his belly through the long grass to within firing distance of the tree clump. ”

“ In that position the elbow is raised upon the right, and the recoil of the gun will not throw it up towards the shooter's face, which might happen should the gun be held with the hammers uppermost; it is also much easier to hold a gun with one hand in the attitude described. Should a tiger spring upon an elephant, it would be exceedingly difficult to defend the animal unless by shooting with one hand, as the struggles of the elephant would render it impossible to stand. ”

“ The old-time "elephant gun" which shot an enormous ball and a staggering charge of black powder has given way to the modern double-barreled rifle, with its steel bullet and cordite powder. It is not half so heavy or clumsy as the old timers, but its power and penetration are tremendous. The largest of this modern type is the .650 cordite—that is, it shoots a bullet six hundred and fifty thousandths of an inch in diameter, and has a frightful recoil. This weapon is prohibitive on account of its recoil, and few, if any, sportsmen now care to carry one. ”

“ Rut whether the Elephant is wanted as a beast of burden, or it is only his great tusks that are desired, it is no joke to hunt him. He will not attack a man without provocation (except in very rare cases) ; when he does get in a passion it is time for the hunter to look out for his precious skin. If the man is armed with a gun, he must take the best of aim, and his bullets must be like young cannon-balls, for the Elephant's head is hard and his skin is tough. If the hunter is on a horse, he need not suppose that he can escape by merely putting his steed to its best speed. ”

“ An elephant, drawing another gun, was advancing in regular order close behind. Whether from falling asleep, or over-fatigue, the man fell from his seat, and the wheel of the gun-carriage, with its heavy gun, was just rolling over him. The elephant comprehending the danger, and seeing that he could not reach the body of the man with his trunk, seized the wheel by the top, and, lifting it up, passed it carefully over the fallen man, and set it down on the other side. ”

“ I took the gun from the hands of Kalil, and crept cautiously along in the direction of the elephants. I must have been sixty yards away when I spied the back of one rising among the bushes; an enormous back it was, fully nine feet from the ground, but it was no use shooting at that part of the animal, and I withheld my fire. There are only a few places where you can hit an elephant and kill him at the first shot: one is directly in the center of the forehead, where the skull is a little thinner than elsewhere ”

“ He had his mouth open and trunk uplifted, and I watched for a chance to give him another shot. Shooting was difficult under the circumstances; a man on a dead run around a tree is unable to aim a gun with any accuracy, and, furthermore, there are not many vulnerable points about an elephant, as I have already shown. ”

“ First came the tracker and then the gun-bearer. I abused them roundly for having run away, though I really felt that their departure was not altogether unjustifiable under the circumstances. The elephant would have made no difference between white man and black, and he was not expected to draw a line between the man who carried the gun and the one who fired it. When I had talked myself out on that subject I asked Mirogo what had become of the other elephants. ”

“ Time is lost in getting the sights of a rifle on to a swift-moving objective, and there is so little time to lose, for it is most inadvisable to wound a tiger without killing him; whereas with a shot-gun one simply raises it, looks down the barrels and fires as one would do at a rabbit, and a solid lead bullet has enormous stopping power. I took with me daily in the howdah one shot-gun loaded with ball, another with No. 5 shot for birds, an Express rifle, and one of the Maharajah's terrific 4-bore elephant-rifles ”

“ The heart, or broadside, shot is usually employed. Incredible as it may seem, these enormous creatures can be killed by a single pellet of hardened nickel, discharged from a .303 rifle. A weapon of heavier calibre is, however, to be recommended, and a .450 rifle, or 10 or 8 bore Paradox gun, are most suitable; the closer the hunter can safely get to the animal the better. A charging elephant can usually, but not invariably, be turned by a shot in the chest; to fire at the head is useless. ”

“ Owing to the left eye seeing the whole image—as its view of it is not obstructed by the hands—the whole of the elephant’s head appears visible through the hands and rifle. The advantage is obvious. Anyone can do it who will take the trouble to practise.
Finally, I would like to warn anyone who may be going out for his elephant for the first time to beware that the native gun-bearer does not rush him into firing too soon. They have not our medical knowledge which teaches us that the brain, heart and lungs are the [11] best places to hit. ”

“ The larger the gun, the less opportunity there is of game escaping, to die a lingering death; and this generally decides the true sportsman. During the last decade, twelve-bore rifles were greatly used (11⁄2 oz. ball) , but these are rarely seen now. Sanderson, one of the best living authorities on the subject of hunting the Asiatic elephant, killed several of his first elephants with a No. 12 spherical-ball rifle with hard bullets and six drachms of powder. But this he discarded for a No. 4 double smooth bore, C. F., weighing nineteen and a half pounds, built by W. W. Greener. ”

“ It has already been remarked that a really staunch and tractable elephant is rarely met with. This renders tiger-shooting exceedingly uncertain, as it is impossible to shoot correctly with a rifle when an animal is flinging itself about to an extent that renders it necessary to hold fast by the howdah rail. I generally take an ordinary No. 12 gun as an adjunct. If the grass is very high and dense, the tiger will seldom be farther than 20 yards distant, and a smooth-bore breechloader with a spherical ball will shoot sufficiently well to hit the palm of your hand. ”

“ There is another advantage in heavy metal; a heavy ball will frequently stun a vicious elephant when in full charge, when a light ball would not check him; his quietus is then soon arranged by another barrel. Some persons, however, place too much confidence in the weight of the metal, and forget that it is necessary to hold a powerful rifle as straight as the smallest gun. It is then very common during a chase of a herd to see the elephants falling tolerably well to the shots, but on a return for their tails, it is found that the stunned brutes have recovered and decamped. ”

“ Such, however, is the case; and the service they perform when it is necessary to transport, troops, is invaluable. The elephant is not only attached to divisions as a baggage-carrier, but is utilized in actual service, elephant-batteries being organized for field-work. The Bengal, Bombay, and Madras artillery establishments each comprise an armament of two eighteen-pounder S. B. guns, one eight-inch iron howitzer, two eight-inch mortars, and two bronze mortars of five and a half inch calibre, with seven gun-carriages and platforms, and twenty-two ammunition-wagons drawn by bullocks. ”

“ A tiger being thus located by his "kill," the long line of beating elephants, riderless except for their mahouts, goes crashing through the burnt-up jungle-growth, until a trumpeting from one of the elephants announces the neighbourhood of "stripes," for an elephant has an abnormally keen sense of smell. The various guns are posted on their elephants in any open spot where a good view of the beast can be obtained when he breaks cover. I have explained elsewhere how I personally always preferred an ordinary shot-gun loaded with a lead ball, to a rifle for either tigers or bears. ”

“ The accuracy with a pure leaden bullet is quite sufficient for the comparatively short ranges necessitated by game-shooting. The arguments of leading the barrel, etc., cannot be supported, and the result is decidedly in favour of pure lead for all soft-skinned animals.
The elephant requires not only a special rifle, but the strongest ammunition that can be used without injury to the shooter by recoil. It is impossible to advocate any particular size of rifle, as it must depend upon the strength of the possessor. ”

“ Thus no animal is spared whose flesh can be passed off for deer. Fortunately, their guns are so common that they will not shoot with accuracy beyond ten or fifteen paces, or there would be no game left within a few years. How these common guns stand the heavy charges of powder is a puzzle. A native thinks nothing of putting four drachms down a gun that I should be sorry to fire off at any rate. It is this heavy charge which enables such tools to kill elephants which would otherwise be impossible. These natives look upon a first-class English rifle with a sort of veneration. ”

“ The right-hand barrel will generally stop a charging elephant if the bullet is well placed very low, almost in the base of the trunk. Should this shot succeed in turning the animal, the left-hand barrel would be ready for a shot in the exact centre of the shoulder; after which, time must be allowed for the elephant to fall from internal haemorrhage.
There is no more fatal policy in hunting dangerous game than a contempt of the animal, exhibited by a selection of weapons of inferior calibre. ”

“ If I had not fortunately killed this elephant at the first shot, I should have had enough to do to take care of myself, as he was one of the most vicious-looking brutes that I ever saw, and he was in the very act of charging when I shot him.
With these elephants the four-ounce rifle is an invaluable weapon; even if the animal is not struck in the mortal spot, the force of the blow upon the head is so great that it will generally bring him upon his knees, or at least stop him. ”

“ For many ages these animals have contended with savage man in unremitting warfare, but the lance and arrow have been powerless to exterminate, and the natural sagacity of the elephant has been sufficient to preserve it from wholesale slaughter among pitfalls and other snares. The heavy breechloading rifle in the hands of experienced hunters is a weapon which nothing can withstand, and the elephants will be driven far away into the wilderness of an interior where they will be secure from the improved fire-arms of our modern civilisation. ”

“ When successful with the above two shots he may be able to reach the zenith of the elephant hunter’s ambition, i.e., to kill instantaneously any of these huge pachyderms with one tiny nickel pencil-like bullet when moving or stationary and from any angle.
From the point of view of danger to the hunter, should a miss occur, an ineffective shot in the head does not appear to have the enraging effect a body shot elsewhere than in the vitals sometimes has. Should the bullet miss the brain, but still pass sufficiently close to it to stun the animal, he will drop to every appearance dead. ”

“ With such weapons as the double-barrelled No. 10 rifles a shot is seldom wasted; and during the chase, an elephant drops from the herd at every puff of smoke. It is a curious sight, and one of the grandest in the world, to see a fine rogue elephant knocked over in full charge. His onset appears so irresistible, and the majesty of his form so overwhelming, that I have frequently almost mistrusted the power of man over such a beast; but one shot well placed, with a heavy charge of powder behind the ball, reduces him in an instant to a mere heap of flesh. ”