MY SOMALI BOOK 297 



Paradox (12-bore Magnum) remains good enough, 

 the somewhat greater power of the Explora at one 

 hundred yards being a comparatively sHght advantage. 

 Otherwise the choice between the two would depend 

 on choice of bullets. A fault occasionally found with 

 the Paradox is that the bullet does not always expand 

 with certaint}^, it having to be made of lead hardened 

 to some degree to take the rifling without stripping. 

 This is but to say that, as with any other bullet, 

 conditions vary. The only question is whether the 

 capped Explora bullet is more adaptable to varying 

 conditions. I think that in all probability it is. 



With the Paradox the hollow pointed bullet should 

 almost invariably be used in preference to the some- 

 what heavier solid one, it being more accurate in 

 flight and giving greater expansion. Messrs. Holland 

 and Holland inform me that the weight of the hollow- 

 pointed bullet could be increased by thirty to forty 

 grains if that would be an advantage. If this were 

 done and the additional metal added at the base of the 

 bullet, the hollow in the point could be deepened some- 

 what to give increased expansion, without, I believe, 

 an3' risk of over-doing it or of lessening the stability 

 of the bullet. 



Some reference to the 12-bore (rifle or smooth- 

 bore) used with a spherical bullet seems desirable in 

 view of the strong case made out for the latter form of 

 projectile by Mr. Hicks in his work on big game in 

 India, already referred to. This writer, as I have 

 mentioned, is an advocate of the large bore ; also of the 

 superiority of the spherical over the elongated form of 

 bullet in respect of liability to deflection, both in the 



