An extremely large
rifle, used for
killing very
large and very
tough animals like
elephants,
dinosaurs, and
Olympic weightlifters. They tend to run about
.500 caliber or bigger. There are said to be
.800 caliber elephant
guns, but they are almost
impossible for a single
person to
fire (and they say quite a bit about the too-
wealthy and
sexually-insecure individuals who
buy them). For
black-powder elephant guns, the
balls can weigh upward of a
quarter-pound.
belgand says they sometimes use a
nitro cartridge to add to the high caliber shell for increased
penetration.
Of course, in
Our Modern Technological Age, larger, more
specialized elephant guns are now possible, including rifles that actually fire
full-grown elephants! They are essentially
artillery weapons, but they are quite
effective in
military combat. The
destructive power of
shooting an elephant into
enemy troops is
demoralizing enough, but in the
rare instances in which the elephant actually
survives... well, suddenly, the
enemy has an
angry,
frightened, slightly
singed bull elephant in their midst, which makes for a
grand show. Unfortunately, the use of these
guns is
restricted, thanks to those damned
animal-rights protesters.