Pre-1900 African Hunting Cartridges & Guns links?

[kombi1976]

I was wondering if anyone could point me toward some websites that have information on the cartridges pre-1900 that were used in Africa?
I already have info on the Nitro Express cartridges and European big bores designed for this sort of game but I'm interested in finding out about the origins of bore rifles(i.e. 4 bore and 8 bore), the black powder cartridges like 450/400 and 577 Snider that were used for African game and the transition to smokeless cartridges.
I know there are many excellent books on the subject but I'm not in the position to afford them and they also tend to be hard to get here in Australia, further raising the price.
So please, any links on this subject?

[50 Calshtr]

Kombi,
   Try http://pub182.ezboard.com/bbritishmilitariaforums.  These guys are mostly into Martinis and Sniders but also have sections dealing with sporting rifles and reloading.  Seem to be a good bunch of guys from 'round the world.  Also if you can find them older "Rifle" and "handloader" magazines had articles by Ross Seyfried that often delt with the older guns.
Good luck.