Appropriate Arms & Ammunition
Opinions among experts vary as to what sporting arms constitute the best battery for hunting the Royal Bengal tiger . Speaking for myself , I have always used two very particular sporting arms to contend with these brutes - One rifle . One shotgun .
My rifle is a .458 Winchester Magnum . It is custom built by an American gunsmith on a Winchester Enfield Model 1917 action , with a 25 inch Douglas Premium barrel and a contoured French walnut stock . Since 1976 , this grand old American rifle has helped by account for no less than nine of my marauding Royal Bengal tigers .
My shotgun is a 12 bore double barrel side by side , which was made by Laurona in Eibar . It has 70 millimeter chambers , automatic ejectors , double triggers and 30 inch barrels ( a 1/2 choked left and a 1/4 choked right ) . Up until 1976 , this was the only arm which I possessed for all of my hunting purposes and I used it to shoot my first ever Royal Bengal tiger . For hunting Royal Bengal tigers , I have always loaded my Laurona 12 bore sidelock ejector with Eley Alphamax 2 3/4 inch LG shells ( with each shells holding eight antimony hardened lead slugs of .36 calibre ) . I stopped using it for hunting Royal Bengal tigers , once I acquired my .458 Winchester Magnum In 1976 .
Throughout the 20th century , all manner of rifle calibres have been employed for dispatching Royal Bengal tigers . The legendary Jim Corbett ( perhaps the world’s most renowned hunter of marauding Royal Bengal tigers ) is frequently credited with using a .7x57 millimeter Mauser and 175 grain soft nosed ICI Kynoch factory loads to take out all of his marauders . While there is some grain of truth to this claim ( Mr . Corbett did use his 7x57 mm Mauser to fatally shoot ONE marauding Royal Bengal tiger ) , the reality is that most of Mr . Corbett’s Royal Bengal tigers were shot by a far heavier rifle - a double rifle built by W J Jeffery of .450/400 Nitro Express calibre and employing a 400 grain bullet .
While critical shot placement should always be prioritized , using a rifle of sufficiently large calibre is advantageous in more than one way . While a brain shot with even a small calibre rifle ( such as .270 Winchester and 150 grain cartridges ) is capable of cleanly taking out a Royal Bengal tiger , heavier calibre rifles really come into their own when body shots are required on these animals . Aside from creating larger wound cavities ( which accelerate blood loss by causing the Royal Bengal tiger to hemorrhage) , a heavier bullet ( being propelled at an adequate velocity ) delivers more shock to the central nervous system of a Royal Bengal tiger . For this reason , I subscribe to the quote “ Err on the side of caution . “
In India ( Bangladesh’s neighboring country ) prior to the 1972 ban on all hunting by the Indira Gandhi radical Hindu Regime , there was actually a legal regulation in 16 of the country’s 17 states . This legal regulation stipulated that no rifle calibre lighter than .375 Holland & Holland Magnum and 300 grain bullets was to be used for the hunting of Royal Bengal tigers . I personally would not be so stringent with my views and would consider the 9.3x62 mm Mauser calibre ( employing 286 grain bullets ) to be perfectly acceptable for the largest of our Royal Bengal tigers .
During my “ hay days “ of hunting marauding Royal Bengal tigers for the Sundarban Forest Department ( 1972 to 1981 ) , the options for a large sporting calibre were fairly limited . None of the British sporting calibres were available during the 1970s due to ICI Kynoch ( the only manufacturer of ammunition in these calibres ) ceasing production of all central fire ammunition in 1972 . The only choices for a heavy calibre were :
1 ) 9.3x62 mm Mauser ( employing 293 grain bullets )
2 ) 9.3x74 mm R ( Rimmed ) ( employing 293 grain bullets )
3 ) .375 Holland & Holland Magnum ( employing 300 grain bullets )
4 ) .458 Winchester Magnum ( employing 510 grain bullets )
Any of these would make for an excellent choice against even the largest of our Royal Bengal tigers and the choice among them now becomes a matter of personal preference . A special word of warning is requisite about the .458 Winchester Magnum , however . During the 1970s , only two companies used to offer factory loaded ammunition for this calibre : Winchester and Remington . Both of them loaded their .458 Winchester Magnum ammunition to produce a velocity of 2040 feet per second . While perfectly adequate for Royal Bengal tigers weighing under 226 kilograms, I have personally found the penetration to be quite marginal for body shots any Royal Bengal tigers exceeding 270 kilograms in weight . Hand loading is the answer over here . By using 500 grain Hornady bullets and IMR3031 propellant powder , hand loaders can achieve a velocity of 2100 feet per second in their .458 Winchester Magnum ammunition. Of course , the charge of gunpowder in these hand loaded rounds is significantly compressed . This makes the shelf life of these “ high velocity “ hand loaded .458 Winchester Magnum rounds much more finite than that of their lower velocity factory loaded counterparts ( as offered by Winchester and Remington ) . That said , 500 grain .458 calibre bullets being propelled at 2100 feet per second certainly makes for an absolutely authoritative killer on the largest of our Royal Bengal tigers with utter impunity .
Today , factory loaded cartridges and reloading components for the British sporting calibres are once again widely available . Hunters may opt for a .404 Jeffery .450/400 Nitro Express , .416 Rigby , .416 Remington Magnum , .450 Nitro Express , .500/465 Nitro Express , .470 Nitro Express , .500 Jeffery , .500 Nitro Express , .505 Gibbs , .577 Nitro Express and .600 Nitro Express. There are also a number of newer sporting calibres on the market such as the .450 Rigby , .450 Dakota and the .458 Lott . Any of these would be a perfectly reasonable choice for the hunting of Royal Bengal tigers ( assuming that one can comfortably handle the recoil , of course ) .
However , I am a man of simple tastes and I am perfectly content with the .458 Winchester Magnum ; A calibre which has never given me even the slightest reason to complain , even when used against the largest of our Royal Bengal tigers .
Regardless of the choice in calibre , it is imperative that only premium quality expanding bullets be used against Royal Bengal tigers . During the early 1970s , I used Winchester Super X factory loaded 510 grain soft nosed ammunition in my .458 Winchester Magnum . While it was perfectly adequate for the bulk of our Royal Bengal tigers , I often found the velocity of 2040 feet per second to be quite marginal whenever I had to stop charging large male Royal Bengal tigers weighing in excess of 270 kilograms ( particularly when frontal heart shots had to be taken ) . Thus , I began to hand load my own .458 Winchester Magnum cartridges from 1975 onwards . For this , I used 500 grain Hornady soft nosed bullets and IMR3031 gunpowder . My hand loaded rounds ( when fresh ) were now achieving a velocity of 2100 feet per second and I immediately noted a marked improvement when using the .458 Winchester Magnum for frontal heart shots on even the heaviest of our male Royal Bengal tigers . In 2018 , Hornady began to manufacture 500 grain factory loaded soft nosed ammunition in the .458 Winchester Magnum calibre . These were called the Hornady DGX ( Dangerous Game eXpanding ) Bonded line . These boast a velocity of 2140 feet per second and ( having tried them out against a brace of marauding Royal Bengal tigers ) I could not be happier with their terminal performance . Especially on Royal Bengal tigers .
During the 1970s , choices in large calibre soft point sporting ammunition was reasonably limited . RWS ( in Germany ) used to manufacture excellent quality 293 grain soft nosed rounds ( named “ TUG “ ammunition) for the 9.3x62 mm Mauser and the 9.3x74 mm R ( Rimmed ) calibre . Winchester ( as part of their Silvertip line ) and Remington ( as part of their Core Lokt line ) used to offer factory loaded soft nosed ammunition for the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum calibre in 300 grain and 270 grain weights respectively . Winchester and Remington would both offer factory loaded 510 soft point ammunition for the .458 Winchester Magnum calibre . And that was about it . In 1974 , Winchester altered the jacket material of their infamous .375 calibre 300 grain Silvertip soft nosed bullet from a mixture of copper , nickel and zinc to aluminum . While this reduced the manufacture costs for Winchester , it also turned a once perfectly reliable soft nosed bullet into one which was now completely unsuited for the hunting of dangerous game . During this time , there were also some batches of 510 grain soft nosed Winchester brand ammunition ( of .458 Winchester Magnum calibre ) which had been loaded from the factory with undersized bullets . The results ( when this ammunition was used against dangerous game ) were often disastrous . My good friend , Mr . John Coleman ( a retired Eastern Cape based South African professional hunter with more than six decades of field experience in hunting African dangerous game ) tells me that the 510 grain soft nosed bullets used in the Remington brand .458 Winchester Magnum cartridges occasionally suffered from the same problem during the 1970s as well .
Choices for the hand loader were limited to either Hornady or Barnes bullets . Hornady used to offer excellent soft point 300 grain bullets for the .375 calibre and 500 grain bullets for the .458 calibre . Barnes would also offered splendid copper jacketed soft point 300 grain bullets for the .375 calibre and 500 grain bullets for the .458 calibre . While Barnes offered a few other choices of bullets in the ( then ) obscure British sporting calibres , that was about it .
Needless to say , choices of premium quality soft point factory loaded cartridges and reloading components are sufficiently varied today . Excellent soft point factory loaded cartridges for most sporting calibres may be easily sourced from Hornady ( as part of their Dangerous Game eXpanding line ) , Federal ( as part of their Trophy Bonded Bear Claw line ) , Norma ( as part of their Professional Hunter line ) , Swift ( as part of their A Frame line ) , Barnes ( as part of their TSX line ) or Nosler ( as part of their Safari line ) . Excellent soft point bullets for the hand loading market may easily be sourced from Hornady , Barnes , Nosler , Norma or Swift .
Whether the operator should opt for a bolt action rifle or a double rifle for hunting Royal Bengal tigers , are largely a matter of personal preference . When shooting a Royal Bengal tiger over baits or by stalking , I find that a bolt action rifle is far more desirable . The single sighting plane allows for more accurate shots to be made at longer ranges . During a beat however , a quality double rifle with double triggers really comes into it’s own . It is extremely quick , well balanced and easily to point and take an instant second snap shot at a moving Royal Bengal tiger ( quite similar to how one would use a traditional side by side game gun to take a snap shot at driven grouse ) . Since I do not own a double rifle , I have always used my .458 Winchester Magnum . Despite being a bolt action rifle , it has left nothing to be desired for me during driven shooting .
An ideal bolt action rifle for hunting Royal Bengal tigers should employ a control round feed action such as the Mauser Model 98 , early pre 64 Winchester Model 70 , Springfield Model 1903 , Pattern 14 Enfield , Enfield Model 1917 or BRNO ZKK 602 . These feature a long Mauser style extractor which practically guarantees flawless extraction under any circumstances . It should use a barrel no longer than 26 inches . Anything longer may prove to be a great hindrance in the dense thickets of the Sundarban mangrove forests. It should feature a French , English or Turkish walnut stock instead of American walnut stocks . American walnut ( such as Claro ) is quite open grained and does not lend itself to holding up long , in large calibre heavy recoiling rifles without the stock splitting or cracking due to recoil . The rifle should feature detachable mounts for easily adding or removing a telescopic sight ( depending upon whether long range or close quarters shooting is requisite ) . For shooting Royal Bengal tigers over bait or by means of stalking , a good telescopic sight is always preferable . It is the objective of any ethical professional Shikari to always aspire to dispatch any game animal with the first shot , and for this reason the first shot must be as accurately placed as possible . For instinctive close quarters shooting however , a telescopic sight is quite out of place . For this sort of work , I find that open iron sights with a wide V back sight and an uncovered ivory bead fore sight are most preferable .
During the 1970s , new control round feed action rifles were practically non existent . The Winchester Model 70 was using a push feed action , as was the Fabrique Nationale Mauser ( also known as the Browning Safari High Power ) . The other large calibre rifles which were being commercially manufactured at the time , included the Remington Model 700 and the Weatherby Mark V - Both push feed actions . The only control round feed action large calibre rifle available on market , was the Czechoslovakian BRNO ZKK - 602 . The predecessor of the CZ 550 Magnum action , these were offered in two large game calibres : .375 Holland & Holland Magnum and .458 Winchester Magnum . While the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum variants were perfect , the .458 Winchester Magnum variants needed to be significantly modified with aftermarket alterations in order to feed reliably . In 1974 , Interarms began to offer their Mark X Whitworth Express Mauser 98 based bolt action rifles . A predecessor of the modern Zastava Model 70 , these rifles were offered in two large calibre chamberings : The .375 Holland & Holland Magnum and the .458 Winchester Magnum . While the actions were robustly constructed , their magazine floor plates were notoriously prone to springing open as a result of recoil . The barrels were also made from relatively soft steel , and barrel rifling was known to have a relatively short life .
Things were not much better with custom gunmakers either . The only option for a proper control round feed bolt action rifle back in those days , was to salvage actions from military surplus rifles and extensively rework them into forming the basis for large calibre sporting rifles . Options included :
1 ) Salvaged military surplus Mauser Model 98 actions
2 ) Salvaged military surplus Springfield Model 1903 actions
3 ) Salvaged military surplus Pattern 14 Enfield actions
4 ) Salvaged military surplus Enfield Model 1917 actions
Naturally , none of these actions were originally designed to accept large calibre sporting rounds ( such as the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum or the .458 Winchester Magnum ) . As a result , non many of them fared well in the field ( except if an extremely competent gunsmith was responsible for the build ) .
Today however , the choices for the aspiring hunter are endless . Excellent Mauser Model 98 action large calibre sporting rifles are being manufactured by Dakota ( their Model 76 line ) , Heym ( their Express magazine rifle line ) and Granite Mountain Arms . And this does not even include the countless bespoke rifle makers such as Lebeau Courally , Hambrusch Hunting Rifles , Griffin & Howe , Dorleac & Dorleac and John Rigby & Co .
That said ; I have never had the misfortune of feeling underarmed when pursuing Royal Bengal tigers while armed with my Enfield Model 1917 action 458 Winchester Magnum and my Laurona 12 bore sidelock ejector .
I should add a small note , over here . It is actually quite possible to dispatch even an unwounded Royal Bengal tiger by using a 12 bore shotgun ( which is loaded with LG shells ) . It is simply a matter of getting close to the animal . Under normal circumstances , this will usually only be possible when stalking the animal to point blank range at night ( as discussed in the “ Stalking “ section . The ideal point of aim on a Royal Bengal tiger ( when employing a shotgun ) is the region where the neck meets the shoulder . I actually used this method to shoot my very first few Royal Bengal tigers . This was also the method employed by the late Pachabdhi Gazi ( Bangladesh’s greatest hunter of marauding Royal Bengal tigers ) to take out 58 of his 61 marauding Royal Bengal tigers . Pachabdhi used to own a 12 bore exposed hammer side by side shotgun , which was made by H Pieper in Belgium prior to the first world war . This antiquated weapon ( loaded with Eley Alphamax LG shells ) in Pachabdhi’s hands , was responsible for taking out the bulk of his marauding Royal Bengal tigers ( and now , his son owns and uses it without any reasons to complain ) . Other than that , the use of shotguns on Royal Bengal tigers should strictly be averted .
It is absolutely crucial that the operator use the largest sizes and heaviest charges of buckshot available to him , during these circumstances. I would only recommend the LG shot size ( with each slug being of .36 calibre ) for this application . I am not particularly fond of copper plated buckshot shells for this sort of work , because my 48 years of professional experience has shown me that these excessively hard plated buckshot slugs tend to glance off the shoulder bones of the heaviest Royal Bengal tigers . However , one should also avoid using buckshot shells where the slugs are too soft because this shall result in under penetration . What is required , is a buckshot shell which is loaded with properly constructed antimony hardened lead slugs . I personally find only two makes of buckshot shells to be satisfactory for follow up work on Royal Bengal tigers . The first is the English Eley Alphamax LG 2 3/4 inch shells , which is what I have been using ever since 1972 . The second is the German Rottweil SG/LG Magnum 2 5/8 inch ( which holds nine slugs of .34 calibre ) . In 2016 , Eley decided to cease manufacture of any shot size larger than BB and I only have less than two dozen Eley Alphamax LG shells in my inventory . Upon expending them , I will switch to using the a aforementioned Rottweil product . It is quite blatantly obvious that a 3 inch LG shell is far superior than the 2 3/4 inch LG shells which I am accustomed to using ( due to the ability to hold more slugs and take a larger charge of powder ) . However , I have never ever had a reason to complain about the performance of the standard 2 3/4 inch LG shell ( especially since those are the only ones which I can use in my Laurona 12 bore sidelock ejector , as it possesses 2 3/4 inch chambers ) .
For the purposes of hunting Royal Bengal tigers at night , one’s weapon should always have a powerful torchlight clamped to the fore end . I find that a six cell torchlight provides the best degree of illumination for nocturnal shooting .
.458 Winchester Magnum owned by the author
Winchester Super X 510 grain soft nosed .458 Winchester Magnum factory ammunition
Laurona 12 bore sidelock ejector owned by the author
Eley Alphamax LG shells owned by the author
Forest ranger Pachabdhi Gazi with his H Pieper 12 bore exposed hammer side by side shotgun . 1971
