MY SOMALI BOOK 273 



resistance at any one point) is the same in 



each case, the two bullets being of equal 



diameters. They will therefore, being equal 



in momentum, overcome the same amount of 



resistance and penetrate to the same distance. 



(6) Given equal velocity, but A bullet the lighter, 



it follows that B bullet has the greater 



momentum and will therefore penetrate 



further. 



The average amount of resistance over a given portion 



of the resisting substance is the same in both cases, and 



unaffected by iveight. 



Now let us take weight and velocity as constant, 

 and bore as variable. Then, if A bullet, with equal 

 momentum, penetrates further than B, it must be 

 because it meets with less resistance. And that in the 

 circumstances can only be because it is smaller in bore. 

 The average amount of resistayice over a given portion 

 of the resisting substance is greater in the case of the bullet 

 of larger bore. 



It should be clear, then, that it is diameter of bore 

 and not weight which, granted sufficient momentum 

 to attain the requisite penetration, is the prime factor 

 in the shock efficiency of the large bullet. 



It is not only the size of the large bore bullet, 

 however, but also, paradoxical though it may seem, its 

 comparative slowness, which possesses under certain 

 conditions direct advantage. 



As exemplifying this and directing notice to a 

 further point, I cannot do better than quote from 

 Mr. Hicks' chapter on the subject in Forty Years among 

 the Wild Animals of India. He asks " Which would 



T 



