iv PREFACE. 



thirty years ago and were then regarded as absurd, 

 but which are now generally acknowledged by scien- 

 tific gunners as the only means of insuring the de- 

 siderata of the rifle, i.e., high velocity, low trajectory, 

 long range, penetration, and precision. 



When I first began rifie-shooting thirty-seven 

 years ago, not one man in a thousand had ever 

 handled such a weapon. Our soldiers were then 

 armed ' with the common old musket, and I distinctly 

 remember a, snubbing that I received as a youngster 

 for suggesting, in the presence of military men, ' that 

 the army should throughout be supplied with rifles.' 



This absurd idea proposed by a boy of seventeen 

 who was a good shot with a weapon that was not in 

 general use, produced such a smile of contempt upon 

 my hearers, that the rebuke left a deep impression, 

 and was never forgotten. 



A life's experience in the pursuit of heavy game 

 has confirmed my opinion expressed in the ' Rifle 

 and Hound' in 1854 — that the best weapon for a 

 hunter of average strength is a double rifle weighing 

 fifteen pounds, of No. 10 calibre. This should carry 

 a charge of ten drachms of No. 6 powder (coarse 

 grain). In former days I used six or seven drachms 



1 With the exception of the Rifle Brigade. 



