ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 71 



much-bepraised -303 rifle is, for its size, a very 

 powerful weapon, with indeed superfluous powers 

 of range and penetration, for sporting purposes ; 

 it soon goes off its shooting under stress of work 

 and cleaning, its unique advantage consisting of 

 the lightness of its ammunition. 



For foreign use, especially in hot, dry climates, 

 it is very important to select such as are chambered 

 for what gunmakers call the straight taper cartridge 

 case, as these never jam, can be reloaded an in- 

 definite number of times without resizing, and thus 

 obviate the portage of a set of implements easily 

 mislaid or lost, or, if resizing is repudiated as a 

 nuisance, the necessity of carrying about a very 

 cumbersome amount of cartridges. I have found 

 that one hundred straight cartridge cases can be 

 reloaded fifteen times at least without resizing, 

 but that bottle-necked ones must be put through 

 that process after each shot or thrown away; 

 another objection to them is that if made in an 

 extreme form such as that of the regulation 

 cartridge for the Martini recoil is very much 

 increased. 



Soldiers both in the Soudan and Boer wars 

 very justly complained of these vagaries, but 



