Tigris115
The reason why ( l personally believe that ) the under lever rifle never caught on , as a rifle for dangerous animals is because of a combination of a few reasons .
Firstly , the typical under lever rifle uses a tube type magazine under the rifle , which makes it imperative that the cartridges used , must have flat noses ( like Winchester's .30-30 cartridge ). . Otherwise , if one was using a conventional round nose or pointed nose nose munition , there would always be a chance that a sudden jolt could cause the point of one bullet striking the primer of the bullet before it ( as they are horizontally placed inside the tube type magazine ) . This essentially means that the bullets which can be used in such rifles ( with tube type magazines ) will ( on account of the shape of the bullet's nose ) lack penetration compared to conventional round nosed cartridges .
This is certainly problematic when the Shikari's intended quarry is a large , physically imposing , thick skinned and thick bones elephant .
Secondly , there are under lever rifles , with conventional box type magazines , which are capable of safely using pointed nose or round nose munitions .
This was my Nepalese gun bearer , Rishi holding such an under lever rifle , which belonged to my respected client.
The rifle was a model 99 made by the firm , Savage and it was calibrated for the .243 Winchester cartridge. The model 99 did not utilizing a tube type magazine , but rather a rotary type magazine or a box type magazine . Therefore , in such a design of rifle , pointed nose and round nosed bullets could be used safely .
The firm , Winchester did infact design the model 1895 under lever rifle calibrated for the .405 Winchester cartridge ( using a 300 grain bullet ) . At the time , l do believe ( unless l am very mistaken ) that the .405 Winchester cartridge was the largest calibre cartridge commercially available in a repeating rifle .
The grandfather of my learned colleague and fellow forum member , Major Poton Khan , infact did manage to kill a rogue Indian elephant with three solid metal envelope cartridges from his .405 Winchester model 1895 under lever rifle . Our late friend , Mohiyuddin ( who was a forest department officer , particularly assigned to shoot rogue elephants ) had to have a great deal of knowledge about the calibres ideal for killing elephants , on account of his profession. In a manual which he wrote ( to teach novice forest department officers how to shoot rogue elephants ) , Mohiyuddin states that the .405 Winchester and the 300 grain metal envelope bullets can kill an Indian bull elephant with a side brain shot , but that the penetration was too unreliable for a brain shot taken from the frontal position ( as the front part of an elephant's skull is the thickest compared to the side parts ) . Considering how many rogue Indian elephants l have seen him dispatch , l am inclined to believe him .
This would make the .405 Winchester a very poor calibre for facing a charging elephant ( which only affords the Shikari a frontal shot to the brain )
I do wonder if a a modern brass homogeneous bullet would ensure adequate penetration for the frontal brain shot on elephants .
Another reason why the under lever rifle is shunned for dangerous animals , is because some people have a view that under lever rifles are inherently less accurate than bolt operation rifles . Exactly how true this statement is , I reality ... I cannot say.
The final reason ( according to my observations ) is that under lever rifles are typically viewed as less reliable than a conventional bolt operation rifle. There may be some grain of truth in this , because l vaguely remember Poton's grandfather experiencing a jam or two , in his Winchester model 1895 under lever rifle on some of the occasions when we used to go hunting together . That traitor to the hunting community , Kenneth Anderson also documented some instances in his book of his Winchester model 1895 under lever rifle jamming . However , this was over five decades ago , and l do believe that modern manufacturing techniques have largely eliminated any potential jamming issues in under lever rifles .
This is how l feel about under lever rifled anyway .
On a related subject , President Theodore " Teddy " Roosevelt is , was and always will be my favorite of all American Presidents. I have also read his excellent Safari book " African Game Trails " as a child and if my memory serves me correctly , he only killed a single elephant with his .405 Winchester calibre under lever rifle . I remember reading his own words in the book that he considered the .405 Winchester calibre as perfect for lions , but not thick skinned animals .
In my humble opinion , he was the perfect combination of Shikari and conservationist . He is perhaps the world's most renowned example that hunting and conservation can ( and should) go hand in hand . Unless one can read minds ( that too , of people deceased long before their birth ) it is not possible to determine what went in his mind when he established national parks . However , it is an inescapable fact that those national parks aided in conservation. I also believe in the concept " innocent until proven guilty ". Therefore , unless otherwise proven , l choose to believe that his intentions for establishing conservation were noble and not selfish . Also killing a single elephant with a .405 Winchester calibre rifle , in an era when people were saying hundreds with the service .303 bore Lee Enfield rifles , does not make someone a bad man ( l believe ) .
@Major Khan , could you share some of the details about Jalaluddin Nana's Winchester model 1895 under lever rifle jamming , with these gentlemen ?
