LET US GO AFIELD 



that is to say your sights will be a long way apart, 

 as your eye is close to the rear sight so that your 

 actual practice may be more accurate than it is apt 

 to be with the open sights. The drawbacks are two : 

 you will lack illumination, and you will have diffi- 

 culty should you find that you need to readjust your 

 range. In the latter case you cannot just draw 

 coarser with the front sight; you will have to hold 

 your whole system of sighting at a point above the 

 place where you want to hit on the animal. If you 

 are a man of the old open-sight school, this may 

 cost you a head of game or two. It may confuse 

 you and make you irritable for a time. Your theor- 

 ist or your man who has grown accustomed to 

 this style of sighting on a rifle will laugh at you 

 and tell you it is all your own fault. This latter is 

 true, though not comforting. 



The great argument in favor of the old open 

 sights is the argument in favor of all fool-proof 

 devices. The gun always ready to go off and always 

 safe to shoot with a certain per cent of accuracy is 

 the one which will do the most good for the most 

 men. Finesse in trajectory and sights is some- 

 thing for those more concerned with writing than 

 with shooting. If your desire is not to be a faddist, 

 or even not to be so much an expert shot as an effi- 

 cient gentleman-sportsman in the field, you will per- 



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