WMD " Karamoja " Bell and his rifle maker

“Karamojo Bell “, a name anyone with even a slight interest in rifle marksmanship will have heard of .

Walter Maitland Dalrymple Bell was a truly remarkable product of the Victorian age . His autobiography ,”Bell of Africa “ published posthumously , should be read , whether you have an interest in Africa , Big Game and adventure , or not . He lived at least 9 lives in one and opens what appears to be an honest , no frills door on the last knockings of colonilisation of the last remote corners of “the dark continent “

 The great game warden Bruce Kinloch met and stayed with Bell in 1950 , an account of that stay is contained within " The Shamba Raiders " by Kinloch and will throw more light on the man at the centre of this story who , as you'll read , built light weight 318 s for Bell , however i digress from this previously untold account

This young Walter Bell  ventured into what was regarded as the dangerous and hostile territory of “Karamoja “ in North east Uganda in 1901 when he was just 21 . He proved to the indigenous tribes that he was trustworthy and strong , a “red man “ not to be messed with .

He was honest in his dealings with them and did not allow himself to be overawed or bullied by them either .He cultivated their friendship , sometimes  blood brotherhood and regarded one individual ,  Pyjale,  as one of the most remarkable humans he ever met . Bell made his name as an Ivory hunter by bringing in large hauls of Ivory , many tusks of over 100 lbs each , all harvested with small bore rifles ,only regarded , then as now , as suitable only for shooting deer and antelope

Amongst his favourite rifles for Elephant were 2 x 303 sporterised Lee Enfields but his absolute favourite was  a John Rigby and Co .275 ( 7 x 57 ) , the rifle and calibre , whose barrel “was never polluted with a soft nosed bullet” , that helped build his reputation . Later he tried 256 Mannlicher , 318 Westley Richards amongst others but the 275 Rigby was always his favourite when used with German 176 grain round nosed solid ammunition

In order to feed the large number of porters and “helpers “ required to move such a safari , sometimes over 800 mouths to feed , he used a George Gibbs .256 ( 6.5 x 53R) Dutch Mannlicher , which he regarded as the finest sighted and most accurate rifle he had , for use with soft nosed bullets ( he never shot an elephant with this rifle ) . He recounted shooting a Leopard at an estimated 300 yards with this open sighted rifle , making a perfect shot , however he did admit that in later years he was not sure how much of a “fluke” that shot had been !

My interest in W M D Bell was fostered when at the age of 10 my father gave me a copy of Bell’s first book “ Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter “ and just dropped in , for good measure ,that Bell had lodged his rifles at my father’s gun shop , Dad had spoken with him on the phone and that the book was superb . As a result I was “hooked “!

Later Dad told me his introduction to Bell came through a former business partner of Dad's , Fred Clarke , who had been Bell’s gunsmith of choice , after Bell retired from Africa.

Now I had no idea who Fred Clarke was, Dad would not talk about him as he and Clarke had a major falling out , as a result , Dad claimed , of all his firms money being removed one Friday , pay day and disappearing along with Clarke .

Dad had told me of one of Bell’s 275’s sent to I M Crudgington in Bath to be sold in 1953, a year before Bell’s death ; Dad said it had a large hole cut in the stock so that Bell , late in his career could hang the rifle on the butt of his tracker’s spear where it was instantly available for use but without Bell having to carry it’s meagre 7lb all of the time ,as he had in his youth

After my Father’s death , I , like many others in that position , tried to remember and record as much detail of their parents life , the tales of Bell and Fred Clarke being amongst them

In 2017 Ludo Wurfbain , owner of Safari Press announced he was going to publish 2 new books of Bell’s writings , gleaned from the large volumes of information sent to Bell’s American editor Col Townsend Whelen in 1954 , shortly before Bell’s death . I ordered both books and was not disappointed .

In one of the books “ Reminiscences of an Elephant Hunter “some of Bell’s private letters are published , one to a Mr Barclay describes Bell’s experiments in the 50s with Naval Bronze homogenous solid bullets and describes “ I got Clarke to load some “ . At last a tangible link to Fred Clarke !

Then I was fortunate to discover my Father’s earliest Firearms registers and there on 9th June  1953 , J Rigby 275 No 4968 , sent to Dad to sell along with possibly another of Bell’s rifles a 303 Army & Navy Lee Speed . This was Bell’s last Rigby 275 , ordered in 1923 for a motorised safari he made with the Forbes brothers . This rifle later owned by the famous author Robert Ruark has a large slot cut in the stock just as Dad described .

My father had recounted to me a couple of other tales of Bell and Clarke . I was told that in the 1940s and early 50’s Clarke travelled regularly to Corriemoillie , near Garve in Ross-shire . This was the estate of Mr & Mrs Bell . There he would take the latest rifle he had made or altered for Bell , a favourite was a bolt rifle with 2 interchangeable barrels one 30-06 and the other 318 , built on an American Springfield action . Bell and Clarke would experiment with rifles , sights and ammunition in the month or so Clarke would spend at Bell’s home , usually in Sept/October

Bell’s forest was fairly modest however it was still a deer forest . Bell had a “mild " heart attack in 1948 and did not venture onto the hill much after this , preferring to “pot “ rabbits around his house , sometimes with Clarke . However one year , guest rifles on the Corriemoillie forest wounded a stag ,whilst Clarke was in residence . They failed to secure the stag for 3 days despite it being seen on a couple of occasions “swinging a foreleg “ This state of affairs annoyed Bell immensely and he hatched a plan to take Clarke onto the hill in a pony and trap . after dropping Clarke off on the “ downwind “ end of the piece of ground , Bell and the driver would proceed as far as the trap could go , up wind and hope to move the stag , possibly in Clarke’s direction . If this failed then Clarke was to stalk up wind and try to find the Stag.

Well they got up onto the hill , Clarke armed with a very accurate ‘scope sighted 30-06 of his own make and Bell carrying a 318 , a companion that had slain many Elephants 30 years earlier . Nearing the spot Bell wanted Clarke to alight , up got a stag some 200 + yards away , a quick inspection confirmed the amazing luck that this was the one they wanted as it had a foreleg smashed just below the brisket .

Clarke slipped out of the trap unseen whilst the stag stared at this unusual interloper into it’s domain . Clarke crawled forward for a few yards , steadied himself , controlled his breathing and shot .

He missed the stag completely ; which now lurched off broadside to him , Clarke cycled the bolt and started to take aim when a shot rang out close by and the running stag pitched head over heels into the heather . Clarke looked up to see Bell slumping down in the trap ,which was moving around due to the skittish behaviour of the pony which had once again been scared by a rifle shot at close quarters and was giving the driver some anxious moments trying to control it .

When Clarke got to the stag he found it shot through the neck just forward of the shoulder , he gralloched it and dragged it back to the trap where Bell asked if it had been neck shot ? When told the affirmative the old man smiled and said “ my timing is not what it was , I was lucky not to miss it by shooting too far infront “ Clarke was amazed , this 70 year old man , in failing health had deliberately taken and pulled of the most amazing shot , as Clarke put it “I had ever witnessed with either a shotgun , rifle or pistol “ and this achieved by a heart attack survivor of about 70 years old ,standing up , shooting off hand without any sort of rest , whilst perched on an unstable and moving platform , with an open sighted rifle at an animal lurching at speed over uneven ground .

If you have never read any of Bell’s 3 original books or the 2 new ones published by Safari press , can I recommend that you do so and hopefully like me you’ll find yourself transported to the early 20th century, to the wilds of a fierce and savage land and “witness “ the amazing life of a truly remarkable man