What Constitutes an Elephant Gun?

"As far as I am concerned 30-06 will kill just about anything on the planet so I am wondering what qualifies a gun as an "elephant gun" ".
Anything that costs lots of peanuts!

Big bore (.400 and up) on a "Magnum" performance level (>4000 fpe). Minimum would probably be the .450/.400 Nitro.

375 H&H magnum, or larger.

Bazoo said:

375 H&H magnum, or larger.

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This is the traditional standard as far as Dangerous Game rifles go, and AFAIK .375 caliber is still the minimum legal standard to hunt Elephant, Rhino, Cape Buffalo, etc while in Africa on safari.

The waters get a little muddy when considering larger diameter calibers that are overall less powerful than .375 H&H, like .45-70. It's up to the local jurisdiction to determine what qualifies. This is of course purely a legal concern, not necessarily what constitutes a sufficient caliber to reliably take African dangerous game.

.338 Lapua Magnum would certainly be up to the task from a practical standpoint, but most of these minimum legal caliber regulations were drawn up 60+ years ago before such high powered yet smaller diameter calibers existed.

.30-06 is marginal at best. It's a powerful cartridge, but not quite powerful enough to guarantee penetration through inch-thick hide plus several feet of bone and tissue to reach vital organs on larger dangerous game. There was a company from many years ago that rechambered M1 Garands to .458 WInchester Magnum specifically for guys who wanted to use a Garand for hunting African dangerous game.

As much as I love my 06’, I wouldn’t want to take elephant or cape buffalo with her. How about a 416 Rigby? I shot one that was actually used to take an elephant. It was an exhilarating experience…

Living here in the Rockies, I’ve got a “bear gun” (.357 loaded with 180g Buffalo Bore) that I carry when they’re awake. My “cat gun” (also my off duty edc) is a P365. My meat maker is an ‘06 and I never feel the need for a sidearm when hunting with her.

An elephant gun is a gun designed to kill elephants. Not a gun that can kill elephants. So it starts at .375.

Gun4Fun90 said:

As far as I am concerned 30-06 will kill just about anything on the planet so I am wondering what qualifies a gun as an "elephant gun"

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But would you want to rely on it to keep an elephant from killing you in a bad situation.....were one allowed to legally carry it for said purpose.

I have a 458Winchester, and a .375 Ruger.
Neither are elephant guns because I have no interest in using them for such a task.

In fact one got nicknamed "Rock Breaker" and the other "Party in a box".........
So I'm pretty sure you can figure out what they're actually used for

Any rifle thats legal where your hunting elephants. Many parts of Africa the 9.3x62 is minimum, some are 375 h&h. Some have a power minimum like 4000 foot pounds or a certain weight bullets going a minimum speed.

It is just about time in this thread when “that guy” types that there were more elephants killed with the 7 x 57mm Mauser than all other calibers combined - it’s coming, wait for it.

My impression is also that the term “elephant gun” refers to black powder rifles of 8 and 4 bore.

I am not sure if this carries over to black powder cartridges or not but in modern times folks have made black powder cartridge 8 and 4 bore rifles.

Also in modern times, I have heard folks call large powerful rifles of the 375 H&H class and above, elephant rifles or elephant guns. I generally disregard that terminology anymore as gun shop nonsense. Since there is so much gun shop nonsense in regards to things such as this, it is an easy conclusion to reach. Nonetheless, they may be technically correct if not historically.

Bazoo said:

375 H&H magnum, or larger.

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This is what I was going to say, but after further deliberation I think I have to say….

275 Rigby, or larger.

I once read a short story by Rudyard Kipling (probably a journal entry) who desribed the euthenasia of a "mad" or rogue elephant by its British owner. The owner fired several rifle rounds at the elephant that knocked it down but the elephant continued to live in great agony as Kipling described. The owner fired two pistol shots into the mouth of the wounded elephant (probably trying for the brain) but only increased its agony. Finally the local constable came with a long, heavy, antique rifle over his shoulder. Placing the muzzle between the eye and the ear of the agonizing creature (think temple here, if an elephant has one) the constable ended the horrific scene with a loud thud. Then came all the villagers with baskets and pots and machetes and knives of all flavors to render the animal into meals for every hut.

Rudyard Kipling called this long, heavy rifle an elephant gun. He gave no clue as to caliber or cartridge or even if it was black powder.

I'm not much of a rifleman, but I do love to read Ruark and Capstick about hunting Africa. As best I remember they considered .375 H&H to be about the minimum for large and dangerious game.

As an aside, offtimes, when my wife asks me why I'm stopping at the gun store I remind her I don't have an "elephant rifle." Suppose someone was to call me and ask me to go elephant hunting with them? I'd have to say "No, I'm sorry. I can't go. I don't have an elephant rifle." It's about like a woman not having a "little black dress."

THAT she understands.

CajunBass said:

I'm not much of a rifleman, but I do love to read Ruark and Capstick about hunting Africa. As best I remember they considered .375 H&H to be about the minimum for large and dangerious game.

As an aside, offtimes, when my wife asks me why I'm stopping at the gun store I remind her I don't have an "elephant rifle." Suppose someone was to call me and ask me to go elephant hunting with them? I'd have to say "No, I'm sorry. I can't go. I don't have an elephant rifle." It's about like a woman not having a "little black dress."

THAT she understands.

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Sounds like it's time for Jonny to go to the gun store...hehehehehe

Steve S. said:

It is just about time in this thread when “that guy” types that there were more elephants killed with the 7 x 57mm Mauser than all other calibers combined - it’s coming, wait for it.

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Guess what...you were that guy.

I'd have sworn that there was a sticky in the Hunting forum that listed the minimum rifle requirements for hunting the Big Five in each African country. I just checked and it's not there. Am I misremembering or was it deleted/moved?

I would never shoot an elephant, but I did see a few when I was deployed to africa. To me, my definition of an "elephant gun" is any long gun that produces an excessively uncomfortable amount of recoil. For example, when I load my Mossberg 930 with 3" turkey loads, it magically transforms into an elephant gun. When I load the same rounds into my 870, it becomes more of an elephant gun.

It is just about time in this thread when “that guy” types that there were more elephants killed with the 7 x 57mm Mauser than all other calibers combined - it’s coming, wait for it.

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I suppose I'm "that guy".

For the record WD Bell killed over 1100 elephant in his career. His preferred cartridge was a 7X57 and he used that cartridge on the majority of them. I have no idea how that number stacks up against other cartridges. He did use other cartridges, most of them would be considered inadequate.

I've never implied that 7X57 was an adequate elephant cartridge. My point has always been that if a cartridge that small could be used to take the largest game animals on the planet that it, and similar cartridges, were more than adequate for the biggest game animals in North America. I'm sorry you missed that point.

FL-NC said:

I would never shoot an elephant, but I did see a few when I was deployed to africa. To me, my definition of an "elephant gun" is any long gun that produces an excessively uncomfortable amount of recoil. For example, when I load my Mossberg 930 with 3" turkey loads, it magically transforms into an elephant gun. When I load the same rounds into my 870, it becomes more of an elephant gun.

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Try 3.5" turkey loads in an 870. I used an online calculator a few years ago. Those 3.5" shells produce as much recoil as what we would all consider "elephant guns." Firing it seated at the bench (to pattern) typically results in the shooter's hat and glasses either on the ground or almost falling off as their body moves backward so quickly that inertia prevents the hat and glasses from moving that fast.

Actually, most concessions, or else countries themselves, dictate the minimum allowable cartridge for legally hunting elephant.

[QUOTE="Gun4Fun90, Hopefully 2022 leads to stuff being affordable again.[/QUOTE]

I share your hope but considering certain things I am not holding my breath waiting for it to happen. Maybe after the next election some sanity will return.

As tothe question, when I was a kid it was considered to be a large bore rifle, usually a double rifle. Lots of things have changed since I was a kid.