32 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



have found the Express rifle to be the best of arms, as I 

 used the same sight, with the exception of its being a lit- 

 tle coarser, at objects one hundred and fifty yards away 

 that I did at those only fifty, and I found very little dif- 

 ference between my accuracy at both ranges. The double 

 Express has one fault, however, and that is that both bar- 

 rels do not shoot with equal precision, and, in hunting, a 

 person sometimes forgets w^hich barrel he is shooting; so 

 fails to allow for its peculiarities, and the result is often a 

 serious miss. A single-barrelled weapon is devoid of this 

 fault; but then it is not so convenient as the preceding, 

 especially where one desires to plant his bullets rapidly in 

 the body of a running animal that may get out of range be- 

 fore a second ball can be inserted and aim taken. The for- 

 mer, even with its failing, may therefore be said to be the 

 better of the two. I have found the Winchester magazine 

 or repeating rifle very convenient for general shooting ; but 

 that also had its faults, not the least of which was that the 

 bullet would sometimes tilt as soon as it reached the breech 

 from the magazine, at seemingly the most critical moment ; 

 and ere it could be extricated and placed in its proper posi- 

 tion, the game would probably be out of sight. I was com- 

 pelled to leave a buffalo hunt on two occasions on account 

 of this serious defect in its working, and I have several 

 times lost a deer through the same cause. Another fault 

 that it possessed for shooting heavy game was that the 

 charge of powder it carried was too small, and, as a matter 

 of course, its driving power was not great enough to give 

 hard-killing animals a fatal wound ; but it atoned in some 

 respect for this by the rapidity with which it could be fired 

 when the magazine was full. I understand that it has been 

 improved very much recently, so the failings I mention may 

 exist no longer. 



Some excellent single-barrel sporting rifles are now made, 

 both in Europe and the United States, which are quite ac- 

 curate up to four or five hundred yards, and carry powder 

 and ball enough to kill a large animal w r ithin that distance. 

 These are very useful weapons for hunting the grizzly bear, 



