50.BMG....overkill for Elephants?????

DelRock83

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Just for the sake of entertainment and to curb boredom I came up with a ludicrous idea I wouldn't wanna test firsthand LMAO...I have never been to Africa even though it's a dream of mine but I was noticing on a lots of videos frontal brain and side brain shots are the most frequent shots that I've seen taken with medium and big bores but in you guys experiences would a broadside double lung or heart lung shot with a 50.BMG make sense and if so how effective it would be and how much damage do you think it would do to the vitals....lol
 
Well, a broadside shot with a 300 gr .375 has worked thousands of times so I guess a fifty would as well. But who would you coerce into carrying thing? 23 lbs is pretty much standard for even a Barrett single shot. I lugged around an M 60 a few times and didn't much like it (weight 23 lbs).
 
Well, a broadside shot with a 300 gr .375 has worked thousands of times so I guess a fifty would as well. But who would you coerce into carrying thing? 23 lbs is pretty much standard for even a Barrett single shot. I lugged around an M 60 a few times and didn't much like it (weight 23 lbs).
Just need the right gun bearer.
boogie-commando-pic.jpg
 
During the Indo-Pak war in 1971, the forces of the East Bengal regiment who were posted in the Chittagong Hill Tracts were frequently attacked by rogue Asiatic jungle elephants. Our SC (Sector Commander) had ordered us to use the jeep mounted .50 caliber Browning M2 HB (Heavy Barrel) against any rogues attacking the base camp at Farua.

We killed four elephant bulls with the M2 HB. A short burst to the head or behind the shoulder always did the trick. Ammunition was the military issue 647Gr FMJ Armor Piercing variety with the black pointed tip. The bullets were frequently prone to deflecting, though
 
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One of the most common things I hear from PHs in countless videos is "Your Bullet is too Fast".

The most common Africa hunting calibers move from >600m/s to <900m/s.
A .50BMG on my limited research shows it around the 860m/s to 930m/s.
Not too mention as others have stated it's a very heavy firearm.

Keith Warren has a younger bloke with him that takes a single shot .50 BMG to Africa but I don't think they do DG.
 
Well, if you compare the size of a deer to an elephant, it’s roughly 50 times smaller. If a 100 grain bullet is good for deer, a 5000 grain bullet should be just about right for elephant……. No man-portable weapon is capable of that.

I joke, a little, but it amazed me how effective a little tiny .416 pinprick to the chest of an elephant was. If all goes well, they walk over there a little bit and fall down, stone cold dead. Up close to an animal that weighs about the same as an adult T. Rex, the “elephant gun” in your hands seems awfully, awfully small.

It’s all about causing mischief to the vitals. A .22 LR with solids is perfectly adequate for deer, even up to 100 yards if you sneak it in the lungs in the right place. The vital zone of an elephant is enormous, especially inside of 50 yards, brain shots excepted.

I see little added advantage to a .50 BMG vs traditional elephant calibers. Sure, it would work, perhaps with a bit of added accuracy lee-way, but the impracticality of it would be a value-subtracted proposition.
 
Just for the sake of entertainment and to curb boredom I came up with a ludicrous idea I wouldn't wanna test firsthand LMAO...I have never been to Africa even though it's a dream of mine but I was noticing on a lots of videos frontal brain and side brain shots are the most frequent shots that I've seen taken with medium and big bores but in you guys experiences would a broadside double lung or heart lung shot with a 50.BMG make sense and if so how effective it would be and how much damage do you think it would do to the vitals....lol
First post on the forum? Never been to Africa?
So what else can you tell us about elephant hunting?
:giggle:
Ever asked about actual range of hunting elephant?
10 to 40 yards, forest, ticket, jesse or bush.
Long barrel, 25 pound rifle, with long range caliber high recoil 2 to 3 times more powerful then required, in the bush, quite handy isnt it?
 
Lol.....I can also tell you from my years of baiting elephants over peanuts...they are better climbers than people think I saw one climb a southern yellow pine to get to a can of planters I hung in a tree
 
But in reality no disrespect to the craft of African hunting or the hunters i was having a "what if" moment I get when boredom meets imagination
 
First post on the forum? Never been to Africa?
So what else can you tell us about elephant hunting?
:giggle:
Ever asked about actual range of hunting elephant?
10 to 40 yards, forest, ticket, jesse or bush.
Long barrel, 25 pound rifle, with long range caliber high recoil 2 to 3 times more powerful then required, in the bush, quite handy isnt it?
 
During the Indo-Pak war in 1971, the forces of the East Bengal regiment who were posted in the Chittagong Hill Tracts were frequently attacked by rogue Asiatic jungle elephants. Our SC (Sector Commander) had ordered us to use the jeep mounted .50 caliber Browning M2 HB (Heavy Barrel) against any rogues attacking the base camp at Farua.

We killed four elephant bulls with the M2 HB. A short burst to the head or behind the shoulder always did the trick. Ammunition was the military issue 647Gr FMJ Armor Piercing variety with the black pointed tip. The bullets were frequently prone to deflecting, though
Man I bet that was a sight to behold
 
I thought you couldn't take 50BMG or 338Lapua out of the country because they are NATO sniper rounds. I assume we are starting in the US because we love 50bmg and 338Lapua
 
Seriously? Don't bite!
 
Lol.....I can also tell you from my years of baiting elephants over peanuts...they are better climbers than people think I saw one climb a southern yellow pine to get to a can of planters I hung in a tree
You know why elephants paint their toenails red right? It's so they can hide in a cherry tree.
 
DON'T get me started on elephant jokes.
You know what Charles DeGaul said when he saw an elephant coming down the path?
"Voilas le elephante down le path!"
You know what the elephant said when he saw Charles DeGaul?
Nothing. He didn't speak French.
I have a hundred more.
 

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