Body Shots On Elephant (Does Caliber Really Matter?)

[Tanks]

@TOBY458 Can't go wrong with CEB solids, I have taken multiple elephants with them.

 

[rookhawk]

@TOBY458 Can't go wrong with CEB solids, I have taken multiple elephants with them.

Call me old school. Whether its to ensure they feed, fire, and don't damage my doubles, or just because they are proven, I like Woodleigh Weldcores. Pretty similar copies with great reputations include Hornady DGX and Federal Trophy Bonded Solids.

 

[Mark Audino]

An interesting question - here is what I can share about it. I took a 70X70 bull in Botswana with a body shot. The bulls in Botswana are notoriously big in body size and bigger than the ele in other parts of Africa that I have seen. That proved to be the case with my bull. The situation did not present a brain shot opportunity. I was using a .450 Rigby Rimless Mag. The marketing literature for the cartridge, recently announced at that time, offered insights directly from Paul Roberts heading up Rigby. He specifically stated that the cartridge was designed for body shots on elephant for modern day elephant hunting. To see his quoted words in the context of the great .416 Rigby being a proven do-all cartridge spoke to me.

 

[IvW]

An interesting question - here is what I can share about it. I took a 70X70 bull in Botswana with a body shot. The bulls in Botswana are notoriously big in body size and bigger than the ele in other parts of Africa that I have seen. That proved to be the case with my bull. The situation did not present a brain shot opportunity. I was using a .450 Rigby Rimless Mag. The marketing literature for the cartridge, recently announced at that time, offered insights directly from Paul Roberts heading up Rigby. He specifically stated that the cartridge was designed for body shots on elephant for modern day elephant hunting. To see his quoted words in the context of the great .416 Rigby being a proven do-all cartridge spoke to me.

Using which bullet? Velocity?

 

[Tanks]

Call me old school. Whether its to ensure they feed, fire, and don't damage my doubles, or just because they are proven, I like Woodleigh Weldcores. Pretty similar copies with great reputations include Hornady DGX and Federal Trophy Bonded Solids.

I'd submit that based on many hunt reports here, and elsewhere and as @michael458 would attest the CEB solids are proven in the field.

They also have fed flawlessly in my (and other's bolt guns). I also did not see any issues in my double and have not heard of any issues with any modern doubles.

The ones below were recovered from a couple of elephants, due to the banded design contact with the barrel is minimal.

 

[Rare Breed]

Call me old school. Whether its to ensure they feed, fire, and don't damage my doubles, or just because they are proven, I like Woodleigh Weldcores. Pretty similar copies with great reputations include Hornady DGX and Federal Trophy Bonded Solids.

They are all I use in my 1908 Westley Richards 500 NE DR. For elephant I use the Woodleigh FMJ both 570 grains

 

[Rare Breed]

rookhawk off sticks I can now place all my shots in a 4 inch circle every time with my DR at 100 yards! Very happy

 

[Tanks]

Here is the picture I was trying to load above. Hard to make picture posts when one's bandwidth is restricted on a site where it takes minutes for pages to load.

 

[Mark Audino]

Using which bullet? Velocity?

I used Kynoch factory loads with Woodleigh solids.

 

[TOBY458]

I did some load development with the Sako 416 Rigby today. The CEB solids feed like butter in my gun, and I loaded them to the same velocity as my Swift AF loads. I'm doing a mild 2350fps with 400gr bullets. 99gr of RL22 for the Swifts and 100gr RL22 for the CEBs.
Recoil is manageable, and the rifle is very controllable. Now, hopefully the softs and solids will print together on target.

 

[zephyr]

One of the many tests Michael458 did while testing CEB bullets was pressure testing barrels as various bullets were fired using a 470NE. At that time OSR (outside rifling) was all the talk and conventional wisdom was blaming it on Mono-metal bullets. His findings were what led me to use CEB's in my Gibbs 450NE made 1903. CEBs then Northfork proved to create the least amount pressure as they passed down the barrels Woodleighs and Hornady the most..

Barrel Strain Double Rifles

Barrel Strain Double Rifles

www.b-mriflesandcartridges.com

Is this what caused OSR ?? D\on't think so I believe other evils were at work

 

[sureshot375]

Since I've added a bull elephant to my 2023 safari, I've been re-reading this thread. My current gun selection for my upcoming hunt is between these two rifles. One is a Blaser R8 in 458 Win Mag. The other is Sako 85 Brown Bear in 416 Rigby.
The ammo for the 458 would be 450gr CEB solids for Elephant. And either 450gr TSX or 420gr CEB Raptors for Buffalo. All of these are running approximately 2250 in my rifle.
For the 416 I'd be using 400gr CEB solids for Elephant, and 400gr Swifts for Buffalo. I'll be pushing these along at 2300 fps or so.
For elephant and Buffalo in thick cover, both of these rifles would be wearing a Trijjicon 1MOA RMR.
For everything else, I'll be using a 1-4 or 1.5-5 scope. Everything is in qd mounts, so it's a quick and easy swap between all sighting systems.

Heres hoping those rifles don’t round the corner to the kitchen of no return.

 

[Gemsbok45]

I know a 416 with a Barnes Monolithic solid will shot through an Elephant side on. When I walked up to my first bull I was pretty shaky. i shot him behind the shoulder and then emptied the rest into as he ran away. Dead in 100 yards. If it’s a one time hunt of a lifetime,take a heart/ lung.I saw an Italian client lose one on the Mozambique border. It was a quiet camp. Not good.

 

[Rule 303]

One of the many tests Michael458 did while testing CEB bullets was pressure testing barrels as various bullets were fired using a 470NE. At that time OSR (outside rifling) was all the talk and conventional wisdom was blaming it on Mono-metal bullets. His findings were what led me to use CEB's in my Gibbs 450NE made 1903. CEBs then Northfork proved to create the least amount pressure as they passed down the barrels Woodleighs and Hornady the most..

Barrel Strain Double Rifles

Barrel Strain Double Rifles

www.b-mriflesandcartridges.com

Is this what caused OSR ?? D\on't think so I believe other evils were at work

Which Woodleigh's? Their solids of Hydrostatics. The Hydros are bore riders similar to the CEB above. That is the bands are grove depth and the shank is same or slightly smaller than the lands.