THE SPORTSMAN'S RIFLE-SIGHT 403 



and using the ^OO-bore rifle and " Axite " powder, it is really 

 not necessary to do more than bring the bead on any animal 

 at a distance of anything less than a furlong, and perhaps 

 a bit farther. As a concession to human weakness, I have 

 a slot cut in the top of the ring, the use of which means 

 a range of 500 yards or so, but I have never had occasion 

 to use it. 



Not long ago I read in an American sporting magazine 

 (and the Americans know pretty well what is wanted in 

 sporting rifles) that "an objection to some of the orthoptic 

 sights now on the market is their liability to accidental 

 swinging, forward or backward, from the perpendicular posi- 

 tion, with a consequent certainty of undershooting." There 

 certainly can be no risk of this with the " Snaffle " sight. 



Another objection has been that these sights were too near 

 the eye and might be dangerous. That also ceases to exist 

 with my sight, as the best place to put it will be found to be 

 on the breech of the rifle, just in front of the doll's head on 

 an ordinary double rifle. 



The reader must not imagine that I am sufficiently pre- 

 sumptuous to write of my invention as the sportsman's rifle- 

 sight. What I consider so is a recent improvement in all 

 orthoptic sights, which I have hastened to apply to all my 

 own, and for the idea of which I was originally indebted to 

 Mr Rigby. It consists simply in enlarging the aperture of 

 the rear -sight. I find that, instead of the pin-hole with 

 which we were formerly familiar, a hole one -eighth of an 

 inch in diameter ogives the best results. 



I cannot do better than again quote an American writer, 

 Mr Claud King. He says : — 



" When sights of this class were first introduced, riflemen 

 were slow to understand the principle involved. In spite of 

 argument and demonstration, they could not believe accurate 

 shooting possible with a sight through which could be seen 

 not only the bead and target, but also the entire rifle-barrel 

 as well, and a circle of ten or a hundred yards circumjacent 

 to the object of aim. It was quite beyond their comprehen- 

 sion, and it is more than likely that the inventor reduced the 

 size of the aperture more than he otherwise would in defer- 

 ence to their prejudice. But the test of years has proven 



