An elephant gun is a large caliber gun, rifled or otherwise, so named because they were originally developed for use by big-game hunters for elephants and other large dangerous game. They used black powder cartridges at first but later started using smokeless powder. They were sometimes used in wars.
Read more about Elephant Gun: Early Use, Features, Use in War
Famous quotes containing the words elephant and/or gun:
“Love will draw an elephant through a key-hole.”
—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)
“As for fowling, during the last years that I carried a gun my excuse was that I was studying ornithology, and sought only new or rare birds. But I confess that I am now inclined to think that there is a finer way of studying ornithology than this. It requires so much closer attention to the habits of the birds, that, if for that reason only, I have been willing to omit the gun.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)