292 MY SOMALI BOOK 



that, like the '256 split bullet, it will, sometimes, go 

 to pieces upon the shoulder bone of a tiger ? while 

 great though the velocity, the light weight reduces 

 the momentum shock of the bullet to less than that of 

 the '500 Express. 



But in view of the present boom in these rifles, an 

 ounce of fact is worth a pound of theory. Manj^ will 

 recall the sad death of Mr. George Grey from the 

 effects of mauling by a lion in East Africa during the 

 current year (1911). xA.ccording to the account given 

 in an East x\frican paper at the time, Mr. Gre}^ had 

 ridden down an unwounded lion, and it turned to 

 charge ; he dismounted and got in two shots, hitting 

 the lion, at twenty yards, in the shoulder, and again, 

 at five yards, in the jaw, but entirely failing to stop 

 him. It is not so well known that the rifle which (or 

 rather its bullets) thus failed in the hour of need was 

 a '280 Ross. Would the result have been the same 

 had the weapon been a '400 cordite or a 12-bore 

 Paradox ? We cannot know, but I trow not. And 

 it is instructive to note that when two of the unfortu- 

 nate sportsman's friends came up, each put a -256 

 bullet into the lion's body at twenty yards, but the 

 beast was still able to turn and proceed to maul the 

 fallen man further. 



There is a characteristic of the '280 bullet which is 

 supposed to increase its deadliness. This is the fact 

 that if it strikes the object at all obliquely, its very 

 slender shape tends to cause the bullet to turn over on 

 impact and enter the body transversely, thus causing 

 a very wide entrance wound. No doubt in some cases 

 this would mean an increase in the damage done» 



