Hunting in the Cattle Country 



his gun had more penetration than those from 

 the Winchester — which had no more to do 

 with the question than the production by the 

 Winchester people of targets to show that this 

 weapon possessed superior accuracy would 

 have had. Of course, the element of penetra- 

 tion is only one of twenty entering into the 

 question ; accuracy, handiness, rapidity of fire, 

 penetration, shock — all have to be considered. 

 Penetration is useless after a certain point has 

 been reached. Shock is useless if it is gained 

 at too great expense of penetration or accu- 

 racy. Flatness of trajectory, though admira- 

 ble, is not as important as accuracy, and when 

 gained at a great expense of accuracy is sim- 

 ply a disadvantage. All of these points are 

 admirably discussed in Mr. A. C. Gould's 

 "Modern American Rifles." In the rig-ht 

 place, a fair-sized bullet is as good as a very 

 big one; in the wrong place, the big one is 

 best ; but the medium one will do more good 

 in the right place than the big one away from 

 its right place ; and if it is more accurate it 

 is therefore preferable. 



Entirely apart from the merit of guns, there 

 is a considerable element of mere fashion in 

 them. For the last twenty years there has 



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