Classic Book Review

“African Rifles and Cartridges” by John Taylor

If you’re a fan of big game hunting or just big game rifles you’ve probably already heard of this legendary book. With any luck you may have had a chance to read it, and if you haven’t you should. Since it was published in 1948, it has been the bible for African hunting aficionados, and countless hunting writers and gun scribes all over the world have been quoting it ever since.

John Taylor puts across his views on much debated subjects such as double rifle vs. magazine rifle, high velocity small bores vs. medium velocity large bores, and soft points bullets vs. solid bullets. With 30 continuous years living and hunting the African bush there would be few who could argue with Taylor’s qualifications to do so.

The aim of the book was to educate American hunters of the time in the type of shooting hardware they should bring on their African safari. Taylor’s experience was that too many American hunters were bringing rifles and calibres that while quite suitable for the type of game hunted in the USA, they were eminently unsuitable for hunting in Africa where so much more of the big game bites back. The heavy boned game such as Rhino, Buffalo and Elephant were very much harder to stop than anything America could offer up, and the lions “tenacity to life” as Taylor puts it, has to be seen to be believed.

Taylor also introduces his now famous “Knock-Out Value”, his own self styled value he gives to each cartridge as a means of assessing it’s performance on game in actual field conditions. His contention is that his figure gives a more accurate indication of killing power than does purely mathematical velocity and energy figures, based on his experience in the field. In his experience some cartridges had killing power in excess of their purely paper figures, and for others the opposite was true.

All throughout the book the subject matter is constantly interspersed with hunting stories which usually relate to the subject being discussed. Incidents with man eating lions and leopards, charging rhino, buffalo and elephant are all throughout the book. This succeeds in making what could be a dull, purely factual book into an exciting and quite readable one.

Taylor’s time in Africa spanned the phasing out of black powder cartridges, though Cordite and on to early nitro-cellulose powered cartridges. His hunting experience includes the use of single shot, double and magazine rifles of all calibres. He covers everything from the fearsome 600 NE down to what he considers the small-bores such as the 6.5x55. Even the humble 22 RF a “miniature” calibre as he refers to it, receives much praise from the venerable “Pondoro”. All this gives the book some historical value while at the same time making it totally relevant for today’s modern hunter.

If you’re very lucky, you may find a copy at second hand book store, jumble sale and so on, but they are becoming harder to find. Those people who have a copy tend to hold on to it tightly and lend it very reluctantly. A quick search of the internet finds various different editions available from second-hand booksellers in other parts of the world. A new hardcover reprint edition will soon be available from Safari Press and at a cost of $39.95 US. I’d say it’s money well spent and a must have for any student of African hunting.

African Rifles and Cartridges

Price: $39.95 US
Book Size: 6x9
Author: Taylor, John "Pondoro"
Data: 1994 Long Beach, 431pp, illus.

Reprint Available Fall 2005

For more information contact:

Safari Press
15621 Chemical Lane, Bldg. B, AWB961
Huntington Beach, CA 92649-1506, USA

Email: info@safaripress.com

Web: www.safaripress.com