ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 85 



A white foresight is the best for game shooting, 

 but those made of ivory are very fragile and apt 

 to shrink and fall out in dry, hot weather. 

 Enamelled steel answers perfectly, and a touch of 

 white paint, if chipped, is all that is required to 

 repair it. Platina-lined back sights are a mistake 

 in a sunny climate, as they glitter too much to 

 allow of focussing the front sight distinctly, unless 

 it is taken full, and thus are often the cause of a 

 miss by firing too high. In fact, the back sight 

 should be as black as possible, and if file-cut, 

 so as to be always dull, so much the better. 

 Assuming that game should not as a rule be 

 fired at beyond two hundred yards, and that 

 indeed very little is killed by even first-rate shots 

 beyond one hundred and fifty, it is quite 

 unnecessary to use any but the hundred yards' 

 sight in the field. With a little practice up 

 to the distances mentioned experience proves 

 that the most effective shooting is made by taking 

 as fine a sight as possible, and raising it a little 

 above the spot usually aimed at when the object 

 is out of the point-blank range of the weapon in 

 use. 



Distances are usually overestimated in the field, 



