Which Elephant Rifle and cartridge?

[AZDAVE]

Backed up a friend with a CZ 550 500 Jeffery with irons and 570gr solid. Hunting my own in 2025 with Davenport 500 Jeff, and 570gr or 600 gr solids with irons.

 

[Rare Breed]

My 460 Wby worked extremely well. I've written recently that I would opt for a red dot over a magnified optics now after my Cow hunt.

Load wise, I am planning to work with the CEB solids for my next Ele encounter.

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CEB solids were awesome on my elephant!!!

 

[spike.t]

I like my .458 Lott with Swarovski Z6 and CEB 450grain flat nosed solids. I now just need to find a country I’m allowed to take it to!

If you ask nicely am sure we can let you bring it to zambia....

 

[AimSmall]

470 NE DR w/RMR and 500gr solids
or
500 Jeff w/RMR and 570gr solids

Others will certainly work just fine, but it seems Elephants don't always pose for side brain shots.

When do we leave?!

 

[spike.t]

Why thank you so much, Rare Breed. 153 LB was the tusk weight.

Combined weight of both tusks?....

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Combined weight of both tusks?....

That would be 302 LB, Spike T.

 

[spike.t]

That would be 302 LB, Spike T.

Mmm actually was asking it the 153 was combined weight of both tusks

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

Heym .89b .470 or Heym Martini mauser ,404J

 

[Bert the Turtle]

My GMA 404 built for me by Reto Beuhler did very well for me. Barnes flat point solid. They switched back to round; I have no doubt the flat point works better. Z6i 1-6 EE. Apparently manufacturers like to stop making the best tools for the job.

An R8 in an appropriate caliber would do the job as well or better in all respects other than aesthetics.

 

[Andrew62]

.375H&H for 3 elephants. 2 with Barnes banded solids, took a tuskless with Barnes TSX.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

404 Jeff - 400 grain CEB solid
458 Lott - 500 grain CEB solid
505 Gibbs - 600 grain North Fork Solid
577 NE - 750 grain CEB solid

HH

 

[bakerb]

Same for me. Heym 89B in either 470 or 500, and either a Heym 404J or a Martini 404J

 

[matt85]

A well made 577 NE double would be my dream gun for elephant. I would use either iron sights or a red dot, depending on the rifle.

 

[sureshot375]

Elephant hunting is really the only area where a double offers a real advantage to those who can shoot them well. The ability to have an instant second shot is a big deal.

I’m partial to my Krieghoff in .500/.416 with iron sights. I’m 3 for 3. Two side brains and 1 heart shot after a buddy missed the brain on a side brain.

I like this caliber for 2 reasons. 1: penetration is as good as it gets. 2: recoil is mild and I can get back on target for a second shot fast.

On my last ele I would have probably been better served with a scoped bolt. Shot was about 35 yards and the way it was standing in the shadows it made it hard for me to discern its exact head angle and aiming point with my naked eye. She eventually turned her head sideways which made for easy aiming.

In terms of bullets, is there a bad solid on the market? I have yet to recover. Hornady or Woodleigh.

 

[cajunchefray]

I’ve successfully shot two bull elephants (so far) in Botswana & Zimbabwe with the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum.
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I dropped one with a perfect side brain shot, but the other gave me some real difficulty after taking an entire magazine full of 300Gr Hornady round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solids (Remington factory loads) through the heart-lung region.

I unsuccessfully attempted to hunt another bull elephant in South Africa in 2006 with a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum, but that tusker was the only dangerous game animal in the last 53 years of my dangerous game hunting adventures which came the closest to killing me. I actually needed to be saved by my white hunter, Devon who shot the charging bull after my frontal brain shot didn’t do the trick. But to be fair, this wasn’t the fault of the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum. Rather, it was due to the poor construction of the 300Gr Prvi Partizan round nosed gilding metal jacketed FMJ solids which I was using. The bullets simply were not strongly constructed enough. And velocity left a great deal to be desired.

Based upon my field experiences, I’ve concluded that the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum is a pretty marginal choice for body shots on bull elephants (although excellent for brain shots at any angle).

My choice of rifle for elephant hunting would have to be:
DOUBLE RIFLES
A .600 Nitro Express Heym Jumbo (26” barrels, manual safety, wide V backsights & uncovered ivory bead foresight) loaded with the new Buffalo Bore factory ammunition (900Gr Cutting Edge Bullets flat nosed monolithic brass Safari Solids at 1950 FPS)
MAGAZINE RIFLES
A .505 Gibbs custom built by either Joe Smithson or Ryan Breeding or Armeria Concari on either a Granite Mountain Arms African Magnum Mauser action or an Armeria Concari detachable magazine Super Mauser Magnum action (26” barrel, flag style safety, wide V backsights & uncovered ivory bead foresight) loaded with hand loaded 600Gr DZOMBO MARK 6 flat nosed monolithic brass solids at 2150 FPS.

@HunterHabib. Thank you for sharing your real-world experience with elephants, backed up by photos. It is fascinating that safari hunters, like yourself, with varied elephant hunting experiences, end up wanting and recommending .500 + bore rifles.

Has this been your experience with your peer hunters? Larger rifles above .375 H&H?

Thank you for your insights.
CR

 

[Hunter-Habib]

@HunterHabib. Thank you for sharing your real-world experience with elephants, backed up by photos. It is fascinating that safari hunters, like yourself, with varied elephant hunting experiences, end up wanting and recommending .500 + bore rifles.

Has this been your experience with your peer hunters? Larger rifles above .375 H&H?

Thank you for your insights.
CR

In my humble experience... This varies from hunter to hunter, @cajunchefray

Some of my hunting peers simply cannot tolerate recoil and would prefer to hunt elephant with a 7x57mm Mauser (like WDM Bell) if it were legal.

Some of them can barely control the recoil of a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum, yet show up at the white hunter's camp with double rifles chambered in calibers as large as .700 Nitro Express due to some misguided insecurity about "Being a real man".

And then, there are some crazed dare devils like myself who are fortunately not troubled too much by recoil. I have hunted a hippopotamus bull on land with a .600 Nitro Express in the past. And also hunted American bison with a .505 Gibbs. The recoil genuinely does not trouble me at all. And I'm no Herculean bodybuilder.

So it really does vary from hunter to hunter.

I really like this quote from Sir Samuel White Baker in “Wild Beasts & Their Ways”:

“There can be little doubt that a man should not be overweighted, but that every person should be armed in proportion to his physical strength. If he is too light for a very heavy rifle he must select a smaller bore; if he is afraid of a No. 8 with 14 drams, he must be content with a No. 12 and 10 drams, but although he may be successful with the lighter weapon, he must not expect the performance will equal that of the superior power.”

And George P. Sanderson In “13 Years Amongst The Wild Beasts of India”:

“I advocate the use of the heaviest rifle the sportsman can manage upon all sorts of game. Yet it is not unusual to hear men express a decided opinion to the contrary, generally conveyed in the formula, "A small bore is big enough for anything." Such men should rather say, " I cannot carry a heavy gun," or, " I cannot shoot with one," than speak against them on principle.“

Even though both of these authors are from the 19th century, their assessment is still very much on point today. Just replace their black powder 8 bore and 12 bore rifles with the .600 Nitro Express (or any other big bore rifle) and .375 Holland & Holland Magnums (or any other similar caliber of this class). And the principle is still very much the same.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

In my humble experience... This varies from hunter to hunter, @cajunchefray

Some of my hunting peers simply cannot tolerate recoil and would prefer to hunt elephant with a 7x57mm Mauser (like WDM Bell) if it were legal.

Some of them can barely control the recoil of a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum, yet show up at the white hunter's camp with double rifles chambered in calibers as large as .700 Nitro Express due to some misguided insecurity about "Being a real man".

And then, there are some crazed dare devils like myself who are fortunately not troubled too much by recoil. I have hunted a hippopotamus bull on land with a .600 Nitro Express in the past. And also hunted American bison with a .505 Gibbs. The recoil genuinely does not trouble me at all. And I'm no Herculean bodybuilder.

So it really does vary from hunter to hunter.

I really like this quote from Sir Samuel White Baker in “Wild Beasts & Their Ways”:

“There can be little doubt that a man should not be overweighted, but that every person should be armed in proportion to his physical strength. If he is too light for a very heavy rifle he must select a smaller bore; if he is afraid of a No. 8 with 14 drams, he must be content with a No. 12 and 10 drams, but although he may be successful with the lighter weapon, he must not expect the performance will equal that of the superior power.”

And George P. Sanderson In “13 Years Amongst The Wild Beasts of India”:

“I advocate the use of the heaviest rifle the sportsman can manage upon all sorts of game. Yet it is not unusual to hear men express a decided opinion to the contrary, generally conveyed in the formula, "A small bore is big enough for anything." Such men should rather say, " I cannot carry a heavy gun," or, " I cannot shoot with one," than speak against them on principle.“

Even though both of these authors are from the 19th century, their assessment is still very much on point today. Just replace their black powder 8 bore and 12 bore rifles with the .600 Nitro Express (or any other big bore rifle) and .375 Holland & Holland Magnums (or any other similar caliber of this class). And the principle is still very much the same.

Well put.

 

[cajunchefray]

In my humble experience... This varies from hunter to hunter, @cajunchefray

Some of my hunting peers simply cannot tolerate recoil and would prefer to hunt elephant with a 7x57mm Mauser (like WDM Bell) if it were legal.

Some of them can barely control the recoil of a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum, yet show up at the white hunter's camp with double rifles chambered in calibers as large as .700 Nitro Express due to some misguided insecurity about "Being a real man".

And then, there are some crazed dare devils like myself who are fortunately not troubled too much by recoil. I have hunted a hippopotamus bull on land with a .600 Nitro Express in the past. And also hunted American bison with a .505 Gibbs. The recoil genuinely does not trouble me at all. And I'm no Herculean bodybuilder.

So it really does vary from hunter to hunter.

@Hunter-Habib,

Thank you for that insight. I really appreciate this.
Sounds like a different reality for different folks in the real- world.
Some shooters are good and some not.
The variance from hunter to hunter, recoil, versus shot placement is very interesting.

When moving up from a .458 Win Mag to .500 Jefferey, there is a limit in accuracy and recoil control as a rifleman.
Can't imagine a 600 Nitro Express.

 

[Green Chile]

I’ve taken ele with .50 (iron sights) and .416 calibers (scoped). Future ele hunts will be with .416 and .458 with low powered scopes. Favorite bullets are flat point and cup point solids by North Fork and CEB…400 grains for .416 and 500 grains for 458. I never use slings on DG rifles and shoot from sticks if time allows or offhand.

 

[Scott CWO]

It's doubtful I will ever have the chance to harvest an elephant considering the investment required to do so. However, if I did happen to win the lottery...I'd still be boring and take my Blaser R8 375H&H with a Trijicon RMR-HD (or maybe even the Blaser RD20) with 300 grain Woodliegh Hydros or CEB's.

For sure a 375H&H with a red dot and premium solids.

My friend, you certainly are in love and nothing if not consistent. Lol