John Buhmiller checking out a Zulu warrior’s spear point in Africa.
Imagine getting a letter from a farmer looking for someone to handle varmint duties halfway around the world in Tanganyika in exchange for room and board. In 1954, John Buhmiller did just that. At the time, he was 62 years old, recently widowed and seeking adventure to fill his loneliness.
The varmints weren’t the type you and I think of when hearing the word — these varmints were elephants and Cape buffalo! Buhmiller, a barrel maker from Kalispell, Mont. was up for the challenge.
When he arrived, he learned he was only allowed to buy two permits for elephant, costing $490, but that was all he needed to become fascinated hunting the large pachyderms.
An abundance of rogue elephants were destroying his farmer friend’s crops, the only food source for the many surrounding villages. Not having the proper guns needed to kill such large crop raiders, the farmer friend wrote a letter to Buhmiller asking for help.
New Beginnings
Buhmiller arrived in Africa in 1955. The real purpose of the trip for him was to test the killing power of rifles he made. Just as now, there was much controversy regarding the proper rifles for African use. Buhmiller wanted to obtain firsthand knowledge on the subject and he did so by hunting by himself while having no experience with the dangerous African game.
Over his eight trips to Africa, from 1955 to 1964, Buhmiller killed 183 elephants, 18 rhinoceros, 71 Cape buffalo and one hippopotamus. Talk about experience!
His hunts lasted anywhere from 2–4 months. After filling his first two tags on his first hunt, Buhmiller had his farmer friend contact the Game Commission asking for more tags. The Commission told him they were too busy to eradicate the elephant but allowed Buhmiller to do the task — but without pay. This was fine for Buhmiller. Room and board for his services was enough. Most of us would agree!
Another nuisance tusker down for the count.
Action!
Buhmiller built experimental guns using large Brevex Magnum Mauser actions for most of his rifles. Later, he switched to Enfield 1917 actions after a close call with an elephant. Running his Brevex-actioned rifle nearly dry, he dropped a round in the chamber with a wounded elephant in pursuit but couldn’t close the action since the cartridge wasn’t fed from the magazine.
The Enfield action held up to six of Buhmiller’s cartridges after magazine modification and the action allowed him to drop a cartridge in the chamber and close the bolt when a fast load was needed.
Big Bores Galore
Buhmiller liked cartridges in the 0.45″ to 0.51″ range. He stated, “The .510 is a very satisfactory gun when loaded with 85–90 grains of 3031 and 570-grain Kynoch bullet. I never needed more than 90 grains of 3031. It killed better than the .505 Gibbs because of the better bullet. Solids are okay, they have steel jackets and heavy points and will go through an elephant’s head.”
Buhmiller’s best day in the field included killing 10 elephants with 10 shots. Remember, these were rogue, nuisance elephants destroying the entire food source for local villages. If the elephants weren’t killed, it would indeed be tough times for the area natives to survive.
On his first safari, Buhmiller took his .375 Magnum and .505 Gibbs. On the second, he brought his .458 Winchester, a .450 Buhmiller wildcat and another magnum wildcat made from a necked-up .378 Weatherby Magnum to .458 caliber, essentially a .460 Weatherby. On his third trip, Buhmiller used his .450 Magnum and .458 Winchester. On his fourth he brought his .470 Magnum and .500 Magnum.
Buhmiller says, “The bullet is a big factor in this shooting. These .470 and .510 bullets have a tendency to tumble after heavy bones are struck and this makes them even more deadly than a slug that drills straight through, especially on shoulder shots.”
Primed
Powder ignition could be futile at times with such heavy loads. These were the days before Magnum primers. Buhmiller’s solution was to load half his powder charge, drop a live primer in the case and finish dumping the rest of the charge. Innovative indeed!
Standing at just over 5 feet and weighing 127 lbs., Buhmiller wasn’t the biggest of men. He was a big believer in muzzle brakes and stated his “ears had calluses” from using them. He was a respected barrel maker, making barrels for men such as Elmer Keith, Jack O’Connor, Charlie O’Neil and Iver Henrikson. They thought highly of his barrels and used them on custom builds.
Times were certainly different back then, but not so different that overpopulation of elephants is still occurring in certain parts of Africa. Game management is always a useful tool to remedy the problem.
Hunting is game management. Buhmiller made his first trip to Africa at age 62 and continued until he was 70, showing it’s never too late to achieve your dreams, learn firsthand what works and lend a helping hand all at the same time.
=============================================== What a STUD!! I’m 67 and I can barely make it to the bathroom in time!!! Grumpy
