278 MY SOMALI BOOK 



said to " mushroom " because the resistance which it 

 meets flattens out the point until it takes a shape like 

 the head of a mushroom, whose diameter is greater 

 than that of the unexpanded portion of the " body " 

 of the bullet behind. It mevitably follows that as 

 the size of the mushroom head increases, its outer 

 edges of lead overlap, and, lacking support from the 

 " body," which continues to press forward, give wa}^ 

 to the resistance against them and break off in pieces. 

 Consequently the bullet, as a whole, loses weight and 

 substance with the repetition of this process as it 

 advances, and cannot expand laterally — that is, increase 

 its striking surface — beyond a certain limit. 



Undoubtedly these broken fragments may of them- 

 selves cause much laceration of tissues and often 

 increase the total of damage done, but their action is 

 uncertain, and in many cases will fail to compensate 

 for the loss of mass in the bullet as a whole, and 

 consequent diminution, as it advances, in its power to 

 do injury. It is obvious that a less elongated bullet 

 of larger bore will, under similar conditions, lose a 

 smaller proportion of its mass. In practice, the amount 

 of lateral expansion possible is found to depend upon 

 the material and composition of the bullet : one of 

 solid lead, if not unduly hardened, giving better 

 results than any composite bullet, except perhaps the 

 capped form. 



The expansion of a bullet depends upon the amount 

 of resistance it meets ; a high velocity bullet in passing 

 through an animal overcomes the same amount of 

 resistance as a slower one, but does it more quickly ; 

 it is only when it proceeds further than the slow bullet 



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