Major Kahn, that was a fascinating story. The exuberance of youth did not go unnoticed. Your use of the corpse was probably the most effective way to stop the carnage this tiger was bringing to the local people and as such very understandable. What kind of firearm did your Nana use to kill his tigers? What happened to it? How did you keep your gun from being confiscated back in 1972? How did you come to be a Major? Did you wind up reloading your own shells or were you always able to purchase or obtain factory ammunition from your clients?
Dear Shootist43 , thank you for your insight and understanding my point of view at that age. My Nana used to use a Winchester model 1895 lever rifle , burning a 300 grain .405 Winchester cartridge . He had purchased the rifle in the period when India was still a British colony prior to 1947 . He purchased it from Kolkata from a shop called Manton . The cartridges were from a company named ICI Kynoch which were imported into India prior to 1947 .
After India became independent in 1947 and all imports stopped , ammunition became hard to find , as supplies got exhausted . Fortunately , my nana had stock piled quite a great deal of cartridges . Also , we came from an upper middle class family and we used to visit Great Britain once every year , during which time Nana would purchase 250 cartridges to bring back to India privately . ICI Kynoch was a British brand of cartridges and very popular . In around 1956 , however , ICI Kynoch stopped selling .405 Winchester calibre cartridges . Then , things really became challenging . Fortunately , Nana still had over 600 cartridges in supply in our house . That lasted him until 1966 . When he exhausted all his ammunition for the rifle , he sold it . I still regret letting him sell the rifle , because it was a beautiful American piece of art which greatly aided him for hunting deers , bears , royal Bengal tigers and panthers . However , Nana was the kind of person who did not care much about anything which was no longer useful to him .
Until he was killed in 1971 , he would hunt after that by borrowing my shot gun . By 1968 however , he would only hunt twice a year . 1 would be a sambhur deer and 1 would be a cheetal deer .
I will be writing stories featuring my Nana as well on this site .
I was able to retain my Belgian shot gun through a most co incidental twist of fate . During 1971 , l had enlisted in the Bangladesh liberation war . Due to lack of sufficient quantity of firearms to be used by the freedom fighters , those of us who had access to personal firearms were encouraged to bring them to the battle field . I brought my Mercury 12 calibre shot gun to the battle field , until l could acquire proper military firearms .
Eventually , l was issued a Sten gun and l kept the shot gun inside a foot locker in the military base at Rajshahi where l was posted . During the war , l was shot in the face in October of 1971. When Bangladesh became independent on December 16 of 1971 , l was still recovering from my injuries at the field hospital at Rajshahi cantonment .
In the mean time , in India the Wild Life Protection Act was passed in January of 1972 . By the time , l recovered fully and realized what had happened in India , l decided that l would rather stay back in Bangladesh. All of us freedom fighters were given free citizenship there . My fellow soldiers at the Rajshahi base , who knew that the shot gun was mine, had actually brought it back to the hospital before l was released ( people were still decent back in my generation . If something like this happened today , the l have no doubt that the shot gun would have been stolen ) . Thus , through pure co incidence , l managed to keep my shot gun . I will write an article here , dedicated just to that shot gun , as well.
Being a shikaree of Allwyn Cooper Limited had certain advantages , as we were the biggest shikar outfitters in India . Many of us professional shikarees of Allwyn Cooper Limited would specify to our clients to bring us ammunition from their own countries ( such as America or Europe ) . A client could bring up to 250 cartridges into India at a time , with the first 100 cartridges being duty free.
I personally would always ask my clients to bring me 3 boxes of Eley 12 calibre cartridges . 2 boxes would contain Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridges , which were 2.5 inches long . 1 box would always contain Eley Alphamax triple A cartridges , which were 2.75 inches long .
Thus , l slowly acquired a good stock of cartridges .
It was Kawshik who taught me how to handload cartridges , but this was in 1980 . These days , l still reload spherical lead balls into my Eley Grand Prix cartridges , to replicate the old Eley 12 calibre Grand Prix spherical ball cartridges of my time . They work very well on sambhur , cheetal and hog deer , and also bears . During winter , l shoot a few wild boars in the tea garden region of Sylhet ( where Kawshik lives ) to cook and give the meat to my Christian friends . The spherical ball also works well enough for wild boars .
I got introduced to Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridges , because the English gentleman whom l bought the shot gun from , sold the gun along with all his cartridges , some of which were Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridges . When he first sold me that shot gun , he sold it to me with 4 types of cartridges :
Eley Grand Prix spherical ball , Eley Alphamax triple A , Eley Alphamax no.1 and Eley Alphamax no. 6.
I became a Major of the Bangladesh Mukti Bahini after the Liberation war was already over , because l was awarded the title of " Bir Bikrom " . This was a title only given to those who suffered life long injuries during the Liberation war . I was in the Bangladesh Army until 1974 .
If anyone would be interested to see a photograph of my days in the service , l would be happy to privately provide it to them here .
