MY SOMALI BOOK 



199 



range of a bullet fired from this rifle is 11 inches. It 

 is further found that shot at 200 yards with 300 yards 

 sighting bullets go 10 inches high, or at 300 yards with 

 200 yards sighting they go 15 inches low. Or in other 

 words if you under-estimate the range at 300 yards by 

 100 yards your bullet will be 15 inches low. 



If your error amounts to 50 yards only, your bullet 

 will be about 6 inches low. In the case of the Sher- 

 wood we find the height of the trajectory at 300 yards 

 to be over 33 inches instead of 11. This would involve, 

 at a rough estimate and to be quite on the safe side, 

 an error of about 15 or 16 inches in a bullet fired at 

 300 yards with 250 yards sighting. 



Now a 12-inch bull's-eye would more than cover 

 the area, includuig both heart and lungs, within which 

 one should place one's bullet in a broadside shot at 

 the body of a blackbuck or aoul. It will not be denied 

 that it takes a good shot to hit a " bull " of tliis size 

 at 300 yards known range twice out of three shots. 

 And how many sportsmen can judge that distance to 

 within fifty yards under 

 varying conditions in 

 the field with any de- 

 gree of certainty ? Not 

 many that I have met ; 

 while an error of judg- 

 ment of only fifty yards will, though you be steady 

 as a rock, result in your bullet passing at least six or 

 seven inches clear below your buck. Is that good 

 enough ? Even when your elevation is correct, do your 

 bullets at 300 yards never stray to right or left of that 

 12-inch " bull," though the target, unlike the buck, is 



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