With a blue elephant gun. How do you shoot a white elephant? You hold its nose until it turns blue and shoot it with a blue elephant gun. And how do you shoot an elephant with one of the most expensive guns ever made? You buy this pieceĀ from its owner (good luck with that) or commission a master rifle maker to make you something similar. Worth it? That depends on how you feel about elephant hunting and how much money you have to your name. Oh, and if you live in New York you may not be able to sell the gun, everĀ (regardless of the fact that the ivory is from a long-extinct Wooly Mammoth). Does that matter? [h/t TP]

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

37 COMMENTS

  1. “I once shot an elephant in my pajamas.
    What he was doing in my pajamas, I’ll never know…”

    Groucho Marx

    • My kids got more of a hoot out of Robert’s joke. At 7 & 10 they are, as of yet, unable to appreciate the genius of Groucho Marx…

      • Raise them better than a friend’s parents raised him. I loaned him a box setof Marx Bros movies and he couldn’t watch more than a few minutes of one. Said the misogyny and sexism disgusted him.

        • Misogyny and sexism are good things? Perhaps it’s your parents that didn’t do a very good job of raising their rug rat.

    • “And how do you shoot an elephant with one of the most expensive guns ever made?”

      Make sure he doesn’t see you, because he might shoot back.

  4. That thing is SUPER tacky.

    I’ve seen some beautiful safari guns. Fine wood, excellent action, and tasteful embellishment. This seems like an 8-year old’s caricature of an elephant gun.

    Sad.

  5. I find it stunningly beautiful, and would have it at the range within 15 minutes of arriving at the house.
    Petrified mammoth tusk is ok, we handle boxes full of it all the time in the shop.

    • I have to ask (assuming that’s not /sarc). What do you use it for? I’m guessing the “why” is the ban on ivory importation, right?

  6. Probably a highly valued piece for its history, but I don’t want such a thing.

    In my world it’s a ridiculous looking dust catching safe queen that nobody in their right mind would take into the wet drippy woods. So what good is it?

    When I go elephant hunting I’m gonna take a Barrett M107! šŸ™‚

  7. You know you’re a gun nut when your first thought is how you wish that lady would just get out of the way so you can ogle the gun.

    Although I have to say the rifle was a bit underwhelming. Obviously a lot of artistry went into it, but the end result is less than the sum of its parts. It’s the firearm equivalent of an overdressed billionaire socialite who has gone through too many plastic surgeries.

  9. Whilst there are those that will find my comments distasteful-they are entitled to their opinion, and as such-so be it. I personally find that rifle to be a work of serious craftsmanship. The detail in it must have been a daunting task to accomplish. One can only imagine the perseverance of the creator of such an heirloom, as it obviously must have been highly work intensive and time consuming. Safe queen is it’s only purpose, as who would actually use something that is without question extremely costly and likely one of a kind.

  10. Elephant skin texture. I had a 1944 mosin nagant that had a finish just like that. I only paid 50 bucks for it.

    And if mammoths are extinct it was george bush’s fault.

      • I seem to remember the date as 44. A 91-30 put out in haste at the height of the great patriotic war. The rifle was fully functional but it had horrendous tool marks all over it, sorta like the skin effect on that elephant gun.

        And yes I know why you said 41 or 43. Haven’t you heard the libs favorite meme? It’s all their fault.

        • I have a ’42 with the same tool marks on the receiver, They were definitely cranking them out as fast as possible.

          Nice “blame bush” reference. I heard global warming forced the polar bears south and they ate all the elephants.

        • Yeah, I got rid of all mine but a 1938 91/30. World of difference between the pre war and middle of the war production.

  13. Three years in the making, chambered in .416 Rigby, built on a 98 Mauser action. No prices listed. of course.

  15. I was all for it until they said 24k gold. That stuff is WAY too weak to put into a firearm. If I can scratch it with my fingernails, I don’t want it on a gun that I plan on ever shooting, and I don’t want a gun that I don’t plan on shooting.

    Also, who makes a gun like that with scope mounts and doesn’t include the scope to go with it? There’s no way I’m going to stick even the nicest scope on that thing unless it matches the rest of the gun and I’ve never seen an elephant skin scope body.

    Sure, it’s nice as art, but as a functional gun, it’s just pointless. Kinda like taking a monet or picaso elephant hunting.

  17. That rifle is absolutely stunning! I also have to disagree with all the “safe queen” comments, just because a gun is beautiful doesn’t mean you can’t shoot it or hunt with it. At the very least that rifle deserves to go on an elephant hunt.

  20. Meh. I spotted a two or three errors.

    The grip cap’s rosette was mis-aligned with the long axis of the gun.

    It appears that the gold band surrounding the ivory foreend isn’t uniform in width.

    There’s a slight gap in the inletting of the ivory foreend on the right side of the barrel.

    For the money this gun no doubt commands, I’d be expecting perfection. Not “nearly perfect,” but absolutely perfect execution.

Comments are closed.