It ain't a laser

Recently watched a video of a guy shooting an elephant.

Your opinion of shooting elephants, unless you understand their biology, is irrelevant.

Anyway, the hunter was saying that people can and do kill the world's largest land mammal with a .375 H&H. In some parts of Africa, this the minimum gun needed to hunt dangerous game. One of my reloading manuals describes the King of the Midbores as ideal for most everything big & deadly, "but marginal on a bull elephant with attitude problems."

The same manual goes on to describe the 500 NE as the "ultimate in life insurance."

The tusker hunt vid did point out shot placement is very important, critical even.

He then added, every shot is not gonna be ideal. Every shot is not gonna be perfect. Every animal will not present a perfect broadside or a perfect head-on shot opportunity.

What he did not say is: Not every shot is gonna slam the X out of the bullseye either. Fliers happen. Flinch happens. Wind happens. Lots of things happen that can turn an otherwise perfect shot into just a little bit off.

A projectile firearm ain't a laser. A good gun with good ammo in the hands of a good shooter can be expected to deliver a payload in the expected every nearly all the time.

Nearly all the time ain't every time.

KNOCKDOWN POWER

Lots of gun experts say there is no such thing as knockdown power.

High grade fertilizer.

Knockdown power exists. Call it by another name, cool, but it exists. The pachyderm vid said hunters must chase Jumbo with solids, non-expanding bullets. Expanding bullets do not penetrate enough to deliver a quick kill. Gotta have a bullet that punches through lots of bone.

Where I come from, South Georgia, delivering a quick kill is the very definition of knockdown power.

Further, if you do not believe in knockdown power, I invite you to watch this video. If you start to argue and must use the words "yeah, well" or "yeah, but" then you have no valid point to dispute my claim.

ENOUGH GUN

The hunter said it is foolish to chase any animal with the minimum round needed to kill the critter. Use enough gun.

Amen,

Use enough gun to overcome that slightly off shot. Use enough gun to cover a flier. Use enough gun to deliver a quick kill with less-than-ideal placement.

Get you some knockdown power. A .22 long rifle is perfect on grey squirrels, the minimum needed for foxes and irresponsible on anything larger. A .223 has and will kill deer. It is right on the threshold of minimum. I will not let anyone hunt deer on my properties with a .223. I ain't real happy about using .243 or the 6mm family either. Get enough gun and come back.

Use enough gun.