RIFLES FOR BIG GAME 



drew a little fine or a little coarse with the front 

 sight, and the look of the front sight was the deter- 

 mining factor in making the shot. 



There is one great thing to be said in favor of the 

 open sight, which often is lost sight of by the theo- 

 retical writer on rifle shooting, and that is the "illu- 

 mination," the distinctness with which the sights 

 can be seen. In a dark wood, or on a dark day, 

 or in a snowstorm or rainstorm, you cannot see 

 so clearly through the average aperture sights as 

 you can through the average open sights. For all 

 purposes, therefore, the latter are more apt to be 

 ready for instant work on a fairly efficient hunting 

 basis. If, therefore, you can still shoot the open 

 sights, and if you have your sights adjusted not to 

 hit four or five inches above where you are holding 

 but to hit directly where you hold with a fair, fine 

 sight, you will have worked out a system which, in 

 all likelihood, will hang up meat in your camp. 



But suppose you are something of a theorist, or 

 suppose you are something of an old man, which is 

 more to the point, and that for you the open sights 

 begin to look a little woolly around the edges. There 

 remains for you the refuge of certain scientific op- 

 tical principles. In reality the most accurate shoot- 

 ing you can do will be through some sort of aper- 

 ture sight. Thus you will get a long sighting base 



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