SHELLS. 181 



Baker says : " A hollow bullet fired from an express rifle will double up a 

 deer ; but it will be certain to expand upon tlie hard skin of elephants, rhino- 

 ceros, hippopotami, buffalo, &c, in which case it will lose all power of 

 penetration. When a hollow bullet strikes a large bone, it absolutely dis- 

 appears into minute particles of lead, and of course it becomes worthless." 



Two sportsmen, Captains E. and P., perhaps the best shots in Southern 

 India, if the Bangalore rifle-meeting performances are a test, who have shot 

 in the Billiga-rungun hills with me, have, after ample experience, denounced 

 the use of the express on bison. On one occasion P. fired six times at a 

 bull with a "500 express and hollow bullets: the sixth shot, which was in 

 the head, killed it ; but the others, which were all accurately placed behind 

 the shoulder, beyond sickening the beast failed through want of penetration. 

 E. fired eleven shots amongst bison with both solid and hollow hardened 

 bullets, with unsatisfactory results : one bull that was dropped, and again 

 floored whilst struggling on to Ins legs, and left for dead whilst E. pursued 

 the herd, got up, and was never seen again. If a solid hardened bullet 

 be used with an express, the principle of the weapon, and the cause of its 

 immense efficiency on soft-bodied animals, are lost, and the rifle becomes 

 merely a hard-hitting small-bore. No one will dispute the sporting truism 

 that " a good big 'un is better than a good little 'un ; " and both theory and 

 practice sufficiently show that a hard-hitting large-bore, before which the 

 largest bones are as those of chickens, is the proper weapon for heavy game. 



My experience of shells has been too limited to allow of my saying 

 much on the subject. What I have seen of them has led me to discard 

 them myself as unnecessary, but I do not wish to condemn them. I have 

 found Forsyth's swedged shells fairly effective in a 12 -bore rifle; but Mr W. 

 W. Greener advised me against having them for an 8 -bore he was making for 

 me, on the ground of their not possessing sufficient stability for a large-bore 

 and heavy charge. He recommended a steel-core bottle-shell in preference. 

 I tried three Forsyth's shells, which I made and loaded carefully myself, 

 with the above rifle (No. 8) and 6 drams of powder, at a target forty yards 

 distant. Two of these flew into two pieces each ; these pieces struck three 

 feet apart, and effectually frightened me from trying any more experiments. 

 I think that with the express — which acts like an explosive bullet — for the 

 lighter class of game, and with heavy solid spherical bullets (the only reliable 

 bone-smashers) for the heavier class, sportsmen will find themselves able to 

 do without shell-rifles of a calibre between the two. 



Supposing the young sportsman to have provided himself with an 

 efficient battery, I will now proceed to make a suggestion or two for his 

 camp-management. 



