DIAGRAM OF RIFLE-BULLETS. 



179 



ever since. I ordinarily fire 12 drams of powder with it. This is as far 

 as man can go with powder and lead, if I except Sir Samuel Baker's half- 

 pound shell-rifle, the "Baby;" and though the above gun has failed me 

 once, as I will hereafter relate, it usually effectually settles any difference 

 with an elephant. 



I have another favourite weapon, a No. 8 double rifle, firing 12 drams, 

 and weighing 1 7 lb., also by W. W. Greener. As may be imagined it has 

 enormous penetration, and is very accurate. I have stopped and killed 

 charging elephants with it, but I prefer the 4-bore for certain occasions 

 in elephant-shooting. The illustration shows the relative and actual sizes 

 of balls of the different calibres above mentioned. Gauge means the 

 number of spherical lead balls to the pound. 



No. 4. 

 (Four oz.) 



No. 12. 

 (One and a half oz.) 



00. -450. 



(Express.) 



Notk. — Eley's No. 4 cartridges do not take a bullet of much over 3 \ oz. A breech-loading 4-bore, 

 therefore, carries a bullet only a little larger than a muzzle-loading No. 5. 



Heavy-game rifles are, of course, only taken in hand when the game 

 is met ; the sportsman could not carry them far himself. Any man of 

 medium strength will find himself capable of handling a 17 to 20 -lb. rifle, 

 and of firing 12 drams with spherical ball, under the excitement of ele- 

 phant-shooting. As regards recoil, it is not serious with such weighty 

 guns. A friend of mine, the well-known " Smooth-bore " of Madras, once 

 fired at a tusker with my No. 8 double rifle and 1 2 drams. I usually keep 

 the left barrel of heavy pieces on half-cock, as the jar to the left lock in 

 firing the right barrel is very great. " Smooth-bore " did not think of this, 

 and we afterwards found that the left barrel had also had its fling at the 

 tusker. My friend had fired 24 drams and a pair of 2-oz. bullets almost 

 simultaneously, but said he did not feel any severe recoil ! 



All rifles for elephants and heavy game should be double-barrelled, as 

 they have to be made as heavy if single to withstand the recoil, and the 

 danger of a miss-fire is a fatal objection to single-barrelled weapons. It 

 is evidently useless to have a light large-bore, as the recoil of such a weapon 



