Von Roelen was less fortunate. He wounded a bull and was charged in long grass. Fortunately there was a tree nearby, but before he could avail himself of it's protection the buffalo had grazed his side and hooked his horn through his ammunition belt. The toss had landed him against the trunk of the tree which he lost no time in climbing. From his position he dispatched the bull with a heavy-calibre revolver.

This the earliest account I have found of a cape buffalo being dispatched with a revolver. The exact date is unclear but it's likely to have taken place prior to 1917.

Horned Death pp. 209 (A great book from Safari Press)
John Burger

The late Elgin Gates, longtime president of the IHMSA, was also once treed by a cape buffalo. After a while, when the buffalo wouldn't leave, Gates tired of it and pulled a S&W .357 Magnum loaded with FMJ bullets. He shot down through the buffalo's skull, killing it.

I know I have the Elgin Gates article somewhere in my files and if I`am not mistaken he used the S&W model 28 with a 4" barrel to kill the buff as 500WE say`s above.Great story....

thanks Gary for the info.I'm gonna have to read that book-johnw.

Handguns used against dangerous game go way back to the late 1700s !! In India a "howdah" pistol was developed as a back-up gun when hunting from the back of an elephant ! If the rifle failed to do the job the hunter had a chance with his howdah pistol .Remember that one of the most dangerous animals was the tiger ,well capable of jumping up on the elephants back to attack the hunter.Originally these pistols were single shot .75 caliber. 100 years later they made up to 4 barrel guns using cartridges and rifled barrels.
Not too long ago I saw a video of tiger research in India .They were trying to dart a tiger but he attacked .Very fast and seriously injuring the the man on the back of the elephant !!
I'd really like to have one of the 4 barrel Lancaster howdah pistols which used a .450 cartridge.

Ross Seyfried, hunted and killed a Cape Buffalo with the 45 Colt and a flat point hard cast bullet of 355 grins I believe was the weight

A buddy of mine used his 44 mag with handloaded 320 hardcast bullets to shoot his cape buffalo. If I remember his story correctly, he used his 375 JDJ loaded with softpoints so the bullet didn't penetrate the shoulder so the animal took off. They found the buffalo a few days later when all he had was his 44 so that is what he used. He said the shoulder was badly infected.

Just ordered Horned Death.

Is your buddy Dirk Starck?

That's him. I met him while I was stationed in Alaska.

This is the article by Elgin Gates where he used his 357 to kill the buff that treed him.The picture of him with bull is from and old issue of "The Sixgunner"....

Very cool, thanks James