What Calibers can take an African Elephant?

Question

What Calibers can take down an African Elephant?

I specifically want to know about the .500 Smith and Wesson and the .460 Smith and Wesson. I've heard the .500 S&W can.

Any Impute on the .50 BMG, .338 Lupua, .454 Casull and the .44 magnum would be excellent too.

Thanks in Advance.

Answer 1

.338 Lapua could definitely do it, along with .50 BMG.
Thing is some African countries have a law of a minimum caliber of .375 for Big Five Game. So although the Lapua is more than adequate (4810 ft-lbs!) you'd need some legal waiver hoop-jumping to be allowed to hunt with it in some countries.
.500 S&W has supposedly done it already. .460 S&W would be an ok choice. It is the fastest velocity handgun cartridge but falls about 700lb/ft short of the .500.
I imagine .454 Casull could (barely) as well. It is only about 300lb/ft short of the .460 but this is entering the very lower performance level of a cartridge for elephant. I would definitely want a cartridge that develops (well) over 2000 lb/ft.
.44 Mag is definitely a stretch, personally I wouldn't ever feel comfortable relying on it.

Renderman gives a very good list of suitable rifle calibers.
I would add the .577 T-rex and .700 Nitro Express.
(The Nirto Express guns and ammo are so expensive that for one double barrel and two rounds you could buy 4 Barrett M82s and more ammo than your shoulder could handle in a year)
Also the .408 CheyTac and .416 Barrett to it.
One must remember though that the .338, .408 CT, .416 B, and 50 BMG are military designed rounds which in some countries are not allowed.

Answer 2

You can kill an elephant with anything but will you survive the experience??? THAT is the question.

You are asking about a mixed-bag of calibers... Revolver calibers, pistol calibers, rifle calibers, heavy-machine-gun calibers??? Get a proper elephant gun. If you can handle the recoil (and the asking price) get a Nitro Express in .470 to .600 or .700 calibration. Better yet, get a .460 Weatherby Magnum which is at least as effective as the old .600 Nitro Express and is probably more affordable AND only has about a hundred pounds of felt recoil impulse to the shoulder. If your budget and shoulder can handle it, get a .577 T. Rex.

Forget the .50 BMG. That is not a hunting caliber. The only people that recommend it have never tried to carry one, much less shoot it!

Forget the handguns too. Your question suggests you are fairly new at this game and not likely to take an elephant with a handgun... Yet! Also, African countries have caliber requirement for dangerous game. So check first before trying the .44 Mag,, Casull, Lapua or any of the S&Ws.

Good luck.

H

Answer 3

I would agree with some of the above answers, and say go for .375 H&H and above, though the 9.3x62 R is also a well renowned round once used extensively in Africa prior to the .375.

If you want an affordable rifle as used by most these days, go for a CZ550 mag in .458 Lott.

I am unaware of any part of Africa that accepts pistols to be used for elephant hunting.

The .338 Lapua has the penetration, but not the diameter, which is legally confined to .366(9.3) or larger.

If the only question you wish answered is 'what can take down an African elephant, legality not withstanding' then yes any you mention, probably via more than one shot though and with immense risk to yourself.

Ben

Answer 4

the taylor ko factor puts a 500 s&w between a 375 h&h mag and a 458 win mag and i know energy isn't everything so im saying this a 500 with 700 gr rounds going 1200 fps for commercial loads 1400 if you habdload it really hot will penetrate more ballistic medium(i.e. ballistics gell,wet newspaper ,phone books....ect) with an inch of leather over in than 30-06 or 308 at point blank for both rounds using fmj ammo in the rifle ( i think the 500 went around 57 inches ) and thats with almost 2 ounces of lead and karamojo bell (D58 got the name wrong ) killed over 1,00 elephants in his lifetime and arount 800 were with a 7x57mm(275 rigby ) with 173 gr military fmj ammo and almost all were head shots and the 500has already been to africa and taken elephant look up the article by mark hampton he killed not one but two one round each one from 40 yards from shooting sticks and another that 2 of his his PHs carrying a 500 jeffrey and a 375 h&h mag failed to kill when the shot from the first elephant (which only went 30 yards and was shot in the shoulder not the head and only with 440 gr commercial lodas) spooked the heard and she charged the guide with the 500 jeffrey was attacked and was about to be crushed when mark shot the cow with the 500 (also a shoulder/lung shot ) and then again in the head when she went down to be safe and the original question was whats can kill an elephant not what kills it best although the 500 does a decent job not the best but more than enough to qualify for the top 10 and those 600 NE and 700 NE double riffles weigh about 40 pounds and mostly sit in a truck tell the time for shootin comes their not made to for stalking their made for carrying so if their contenders the 50 bmg is cause i've seen them as light as 26 pounds and they will still kick less than those 600 and 700 NE rifles and the 577 is worse and the only african laws regarding firearms for hunting is the bore diameter (.366 or more) hteir are no laws against handguns so long as they match that regulation it is slightly more difficult to fly to africa with a handgun than a rifle but not enough to stop you and people have takin the elephant with 44 magnum,454 casull, 475 linebaugh, 500 linebaugh,480,ruger ,maybe the 50 ae and i don't think anyone has done it with the 460 s&w magnum yet but my point is its more about shot placement than who has the biggest bullet thats why they have a regulation about bullet diameter so you can't get anything less than whats the minimum for a humane kill

Answer 5

I'm sure the .50BMG would do it. I don't really know about the handgun cartridges. Yeah maybe in some circumstances they can if you're riding on the elephant's back and can shoot it right in the back of the head or something. I don't know if I would ever rely on a handgun round to stop a charging bull.

Generally, the large calibers used for stopping large, dangerous, and charging animals like an elephant are:

.375 H&H Magnum
.416 Rigby
.458 Winchester
.458 Lott
.470 Nitro Express
.505 Gibbs
600 Nitro Express

That's just to name a few of the more common ones.

Answer 6

in the starting up the S&W 460 or 500 isn't 50% more beneficial effective than the 454 Casull as reported by ability of someone right here. I own the Ruger SRH in 454 Casull. The 460 is a similar bullet yet a touch longer with a touch more beneficial powder. The 454 Casull has about 1800 feet/lbs of power on the muzzle on everyday and the 460 has about 2200 feet/lbs, relying on the bullets used. the 5 hundred is about 2800 feet/lbs of power at muzzle. Neither of those is 50% more beneficial. in case you may be able to conserving your witts about you and are able to make the brilliant shot then any of those 3 might want to doubtlessly carry down an elephant with the 5 hundred being the most detrimental one. the possibilities of you with the flexibility to make this shot may be slender at best meaning you get trampled. those different guns reported listed decrease than are unobtainable with the help human beings until eventually you're Donald Trump. The Pheifer reported is a particular order gun that in undemanding words some were made, they fee about $17,000.00 so why human beings even aspect out them is previous me. in case you've been going to attempt this then i'd recommend that you've one individual on both area of you with a .458 rifle as a back up. this can be the in undemanding words issue saving you from being trampled to lack of life.

Answer 7

Peter Hathaway Capstick noted Author and Professional Guide and at one time a Game cropper for a Country Africa.

Stated in one of his many books (which one I don’t remember off hand) related a story of a man trying to move a medium size elephant from thick cover, decided to shoot it with a 22 LR rim fire just to get it to move out in the open so his friend could shoot it with an large caliber rifle and kill it.
Some thing went terribly wrong the elephant took off running away from both hunters, it traveled less then 75 yards and died, and the 22 LR was the only shot on it.
They butchered the elephant to see what had truly killed it.
What the found was the 22 LR had struck the elephant in the arm pit area of the front legs where to their amassment was very then skin and had traveled straight to the top of the heart and had cut the main artery feeding the heart, and the elephant had bleed to death.
Up on telling another game cropper what had happened, he found disbelief.
The three or them went out to repeat the process, upon finding another medium size elephant the hunter with his trusty 22 LR shot it in the same spot as the last time.
This time the elephant covered 100 yards before bleeding to death like the first.

Now I am just telling what I have read in a non fiction book of Africa.
All I have to say is D a m n.

I do have the book, as to which one it is I am not sure, for I have 95% Capstick entire work in my library, with many other noted big game hunters and authors, but when I come across it again I will make note of it for future reference.

D58

Answer 8

I would use heavy rifles, not handguns for elephants. I own a Weatherby .460 magnum. It is fine for elephants. No handgun can approach it in power. It uses 500 grain bullets at 2600-2700 ft/sec. Kilmajaro Bell killed many elephants with a 7mm Mauser rifle. One hunter said Bell probably strained his heart running after wounded elephant. Some African nations prohibit anything less than a .400 rifle for elephant. That makes sense to me. A elephant is likely to be annoyed if one shoots it, so I want something that will KO it. My .460 Mag rifle will do that much better than any handgun or smaller rifle.

Answer 9

I have read that the countries that allow elephant hunting will not let you use a handgun personally i would not want to go after that big animal with a handgun. Minimum of 458 Winchester up to a 460 nitro express weatherby.

Answer 10

a .50 bmg and a 44 mag works nice