Customer Reviews

African Rifles & Cartridges

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Taylor is one of the most competent gun writers I have ever read. He has tremendous practical experience with almost every large calibre rifle of his time, including the spell bounding numbers like 600, 577s, 500s, 450s, 450/400, 375 etc., with a nostalgic term of Nitro Express..! When discussing a calibre, he talks of taking literally hundreds of elephant, buffalo & other big game with it. So who can question his authority on African rifles. He has also covered every possible aspect of sporting rifle, which can be questioned, with respect of African hunting, e.g., doubles versus magazines, barrel length, weight, sights, triggers, ejectors/non-ejectors, etc. A must read book for the person who wants to know about large calibres, double rifles and nitro / black powder express. Excellent drawing of each cartridge is also given with details i.e., bullet weight, powder charge and pressure.

John Taylor's masterpiece - the definitive work on African hunting from a technical perspective. And even though his experience is nearly 100 years old now, it's still as fresh as yesterday, because the rifles and cartridges really haven't changed much. Craig Boddington's important work on the same subject is truly current, but you won't miss a beat if you just go by what Old Pondoro says.

But that's not the book's real glory - anyone can publish ballistic data and shooting tips. What Taylor does is to back up his opinions with some of the most exciting hunting literature ever jotted down by lantern light. He's a wonderful writer, with an easy flowing style that grabs you and takes you along. He saw and did things that noone else will ever again do or see, and in a sense saw the last of the old Africa pre WW2, and brings it alive. He tells you that the .577 NE is just the perfect thing for elephant, and has a couple of tales to prove it. Or how about the .375 H&H as a long range caliber? Well, did he ever tell you about the time that... It sounds contrived, but it isn't.

I can't put this book down, and approach it with caution because I know if I crack it open it'll be like saying "Jumanji" 3 times - the next thing you know hours have passed and there's a lion in your kitchen, licking the butter. Absolutely a desert island book, and one of the first to go in the lifeboat.

If you love hunting- and african hunting in particular- you MUST have this book! It is the classic by which all others should be judged. I read my first copy so often- and referred to it when reading other African hunting books- that it started to fall apart. I bought another to read and loan, plus one bound in leather to keep for good in mint, unread condition.
Believe me, you will love this book if you are a hunter!

For most of us, the dream of going to Africa and hunting with the classics of the past will always remain that. However, if one has hankering for the great guns of the past and a by gone era, this book will fill that niche. If you are lucky enough to ever be able to travel to Africa, this book would be essentual reading as knowledge- practocal knowledge - of the big guns is very hard to find and full of misconceptions.

If you fall into the latter catagory, Taylor had several lifetimes of practical hunting experince, and his knowledge shines.

For most of us, there are very few hunters and shooters who have not dreamed of owning a Purdy, Holland and Holland and others of the past, in such lovely calibers as 375 H&H, and .600 Nitro. This is a book to own and dream with.

Incidentaly, despite its comparative age, much in here is still current, although much more recent calibers are not really discussed.

Grade: A+

Timeless writing! A treasure trove of literary delights for anyone interested in the ambience of a bygone era of action and adventure ala Hemingway, Selous and Bell. Something for everyone, whether an enthusiast of shooting, safari, classic cartridges and rifles of legend (doubles and single action sporters) or a mere naturalist. John Pondoro Taylor was clearly a genius in his given profession, albeit politically incorrect for his time.

With the increasing interest in classic African cartridges today, no one planning to purchase a new or used rifle in the old English calibers should do so without a thorough reading of Taylor. He used nearly all of them at one time or another during his poaching days in the first half of the XX Century. His writing style is light and brisk. He would most definitely qualify as Politically Incorrect today, except for the fact that he was gay. Gay, yes. Effeminate, no! Whatever your opinions on lifestyles, here was a man very familiar with his topic, often in life or death situations. Read and take heed.

This book is far and away the most important book ever written on the subject of safari rifles and dangerous game rifles. Taylor was a great, albeit interesting and unusual, man with tremendous vision, understanding and experience. His thoughts on rifles and cartridges are worth considering.

This book is one of those that inspired me to write rexGun and to develop the Terminal Medicine formula.

Good reading, good shooting, and good hunting.

Cheers,

Dr. Stephen W. Templar: Author, rexGun Rexgun

The specter of John Pondoro Taylor looms large over anyone attempting a book on big game hunting and big game rifles. With his AFRICAN RIFLES AND CARTRIDGES, Taylor set a standard that has never been equaled. Every gun writer after him must work in Taylor's shadow-- either copy him or go against him. He simply cannot be ignored.

There have probably been greater hunters, Karamojo Bell and J.A. Hunter come to mind, and greater rifle experts like Jim Carmichael, but no one combined erudition, technical knowledge and storytelling the way Taylor did. It was an inspired piece of writing that produced a timeless classic that will never be replaced. It is the one indispensable book on rifles and hunting.

John Taylor was a controversial figure. The few remaining people who knew him personally have no affinity for him and says that he was a dedicated poacher and a hopeless alcoholic with dubious sexual preferences who also refused to pay Fletcher Jameson's widow what he owed her. Others claim that if he had half the experience claimed he would have been grabbed by the gun industry as a salesmen rather than having to die in poverty and solitude upon his return to the UK. Apparently no record of him ever having purchased the rifles he claimed he bought from English gun companies exist. I would not know. I don't care.
What I know, is that despite his dubious claims that he shot through seven eland and a tree in his book Big Game & Big Game Rifles, I have always enjoyed his African Rifles and Cartridges more than virtually every other book. To me this book started the information road about dangerous game cartridges and served as record during the period when the old safari and express cartridges (sadly) declined with colonialism (fortunately).
The book is not perfect, as Taylor was influenced by anti-German sentiments regarding many metric cartridges and he did not understand the difference between bullet construction and sectional density well, but I still prefer what he (or was it Fletcher Jameson as some claim)wrote about these cartridges to virtually anybody else's writing.
Yes, the facts and figures used are ageing and the new AFRICAN DANGEROUS GAME CARTRIDGES will most probably replace this old classic soon, but your education is incomplete without this grand classic on your shelf. It has been the single most informative book on the topic since 1947.

This book was the single most read book of my childhood. It was available at the local library, and I checked it out repeatedly over a period of several years, enthralled by Taylor's descriptions of hunts and the equipment that he and people like Karamojo Bell used on those hunts. The line drawings of the huge .577 and even .600 rounds that were used were awe-inspiring to a kid who shot a .22 at Boy Scout camp. At some point, however, hunting and killing large numbers of magnificent animals lost its appeal, and the book receded in my memory.

Fast forward to about 15 years ago, and I was in London with family. Walking around an area not far from our hotel, I spotted the Holland & Holland retail establishment. I wandered in, looking for the rifle display, and after some time being ignored (to be fair, I hardly looked like a typical (wealthy) customer) an employee approached me. I gushed about my love of the H&H history and rifles, and he stifled a yawn. It was clear that he was thinking it unlikely that I really knew anything about what they produced and sold.

I decided I might try to convince him. I asked if they still made the "magazine" rifles (their term for bolt-action), and he raised an eyebrow and said yes. I then asked him if they were still available in .416 Rigby, and he said "Certainly, sir. Would you be interested in seeing the gun locker?" What followed was a wonderful time viewing and actually handling some of the rifles that I knew only from Taylor's book.

When it came time to leave, I thanked the clerk, and mentioned in a totally off-hand manner that all of my supposed knowledge came from a library book that I recalled from more than 35 years earlier. I briefly described it, mentioned the cover art, and he said "Oh, that would be the Taylor book, and we might have it in stock." They did, I bought it, and the experience was probably the highlight of my trip.

Buy this book, both as a fascinating look at a time in African colonial history and, perhaps, as a cautionary tale of the need for wildlife conservation.