286 MY SOMALI BOOK 



The old black powder Express rifles have done 

 great work in their time, but the day of black powder,* 

 with its smoke and fouling, is past. But these rifles 

 need not be discarded on that account alone, for many 

 of them will shoot light cordite charges with satis- 

 factory results, and for jungle work are still worth}^ of 

 consideration. 



I have personally used the -450, '500, and -577 

 (Nos. 1, 3, and 5 on the list) against tiger and leopard 

 in India, and done good work with all three. My 

 experience is perhaps hardly sufficient to generalise 

 from, but I find that it agrees in the main with that 

 of most writers or men I have met who had shot 

 enough to make their opinions of value. It amounts 

 to this, that the *450 has not, on the whole, sufficient 

 power; that the '500 is often good enough, but some- 

 times fails in shock-effect ; and that the '577 is as good 

 a rifle as there is for the purpose — if you can handle 

 it. The -500 Magnum I have never used, but it is a 

 powerful weapon. 



With all these I am assuming that the copper- tubed 

 bullet with small hollow is used : there is a common 

 pattern, with the hollow of considerable depth, which 

 is very liable to break up, and therefore dangerous. 

 The solid lead bullet, owing to the necessity for harden- 

 ing the lead to prevent " leading " in the barrel, does 

 not usually set up sufficiently, but is useful for a raking 

 shot. We shall return to the question of weight later 

 on, only noting for the present that no rifle of this 



* A point in favour of black powder lies in the greater reliability, in hot 

 climates, of cartridges that are not quite fresh. Old cordite cartridges cannot 

 be trusted. 



