268 MY SOMALI BOOK 



And there is always with a magazine action the 

 possibility of jamming, owing to the ingress of grains 

 of sand or other obstruction. The late Mr. A. H. 

 Neumann had a very narrow escape from an elephant 

 which knocked him down, owing to his magazine 

 failing him. And more recently in East Africa, a case 

 in which a sportsman died from the effects of mauling 

 by a lion might not have had fatal results but for the 

 jamming of a magazine rifle in the hands of a friend 

 who went to his assistance. With a good rifle and 

 proper care the chances of jamming are remote, but 

 they exist. 



The charge has been made that a magazine rifle 

 is apt to engender unsportsmanlike habits. For this, 

 unfortunately, there is some ground, mainly in the case 

 of a certain type of pseudo-sportsman, and sometimes 

 of a novice carried away by excitement. But it only 

 applies, as a rule, in respect of such game as deer and 

 antelope, and need not affect us here. 



On the whole, by reason of its greater safety and 

 handiness, especially with the perfect balance given by 

 a good maker, superiority in my opinion rests un- 

 questionably with the double rifle, provided always 

 that the weight is not excessive. The question of 

 weight we will consider further in dealing with individual 

 rifles later on. 



So much for the form of the rifle. Let us now 

 consider the bullet. The older forms of bullet were 

 constructed entirely of lead. As methods of rifling, 

 improved and increased velocities were obtained, it 

 was found that the soft lead stripped in the rifling, 

 with the result of excessive fouling and loss of power. 



