RIFLES FOR BIG GAME 



made with a twenty-six-inch barrel, which he found 

 long enough; a rifle too long and too heavy is not 

 desirable even when one has a couple of Pullman 

 porters to carry it. In brief, this man's preference, 

 to which he was entitled in view of his long record 

 of success, was the .318 for long range and the 

 577 for short, close, and dangerous work. 



Even with these powerful rifles, one must not 

 under-estimate the need for accuracy on the part 

 of the shooter. To hit an elephant in the brain is 

 something of a trick, even when it is standing still. 

 One aims at the brain "on a line between the eye 

 and the ear" of the elephant, but as the animal 

 sometimes stands eight or nine feet high, obviously 

 the angle to the brain changes in proportion to the 

 distance from the animal itself. If you are close up 

 you must aim below that line between the eye and 

 the ear. If you are farther off and you must not 

 be so far off that you cannot shoot with exactness 

 you can aim closer on that line. Miss the brain and 

 you are worse off than if you had not shot. 



A friend of mine who has killed his charging ele- 

 phant says that the animal comes on, not with the 

 trunk rolled up as usually you see it in the old 

 pictures but with the trunk extended and moving 

 about. The point of aim for the frontal shot is 

 just at the base of the trunk ; but that also must be 



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