Hand Cannons
Among other weapons, I had an extraordinary rifle that carried a half-pound percussion shell—this instrument of torture to the hunter was not sufficiently heavy for the weight of the projectile; it only weighed twenty pounds: thus, with a charge of ten drachms [270 grains] of powder, behind a half-pound shell, the recoil was so terrific, that I spun around like a weathercock in a hurricane. I really dreaded my own rifle, although I had been accustomed to heavy charges of powder, and severe recoil for some years.
None of my men could fire it, and it was looked upon with a species of awe, and it was named "Jenna-El-Mootfah" (Child of a Cannon) by the Arabs, which being far too long a name for practice, I christened it the "Baby;" and the scream of this "Baby" loaded with a half-pound shell was always fatal. It was far too severe, and I very seldom fired it, but it is a curious fact, that I never fired a shot with that rifle without bagging: the entire practice, during several years, was confined to about twenty shots. I was afraid to use it; but now and then it was absolutely necessary that it should be cleaned, after months of staying loaded. On such occasions my men had the gratification of firing it, and the explosion was always accompanied by two men falling on their backs (one having propped up the shooter), and the "Baby" flying some yards behind them.
Source: Sir Samuel White Baker, 1866
Elephant guns with the Stopping Power trait were designed for one and only one purpose: immobilizing or outright killing giant megafauna in a single shot. Wildly impractical for any other purpose, these behemoth firearms were historically the purview of nobles and aristocrats. They were first popularized in the 1840s by British hunters on expedition in the British Raj in India, or on safari in various African territories controlled by the empire. Similar, although less extravagant “Buffalo Rifles” became common in the American West in the 1870s, used for the mass slaughter and near extinction of the American Bison.
