APPENDIX II 



THE BATTERY FOR CEYLON 



IN my humble opinion, the only weapons necessary for a Ceylon 

 shooting trip are a modern small-bore rifle and a ball-and-shot gun 

 of the " Paradox " type. 



Thus armed, a man can with confidence attack any animal in 

 Ceylon (provided he can shoot and knows his guns), for there is 

 neither quantity nor variety enough of game to necessitate the 

 carrying of a larger battery, and, moreover, guns are not easy to 

 keep clean in the low country, so the fewer you have the better. 



As regards the rifle, there is a fairly large range of makes to 

 choose from, varying from, say, .256 to .450 every man to his 

 taste but, for the very short ranges at which the majority of shots 

 are taken in Ceylon, I am inclined to think any rifle with a 

 projectile velocity of over 2000 feet per second is unnecessarily 

 powerful. 



Power also means weight, which is an important consideration 

 in a tropical country like Ceylon, where, in the jungle, it is very 

 advisable for the sportsman always to carry a gun of some sort 

 himself, on chance of the " unexpected," which not infrequently 

 happens. 



Coming now to the type of rifle, again it becomes a case of 

 " every man to his taste," but I very strongly deprecate the use of 

 single-barrelled non-repeating rifles. 



The choice, then, rests between double-barrelled rifles and 

 repeaters, and of the two I much prefer the latter, on account of 

 the saving in weight, the convenience of the magazine for carrying 

 cartridges, and the instant availability, if required, of a third barrel. 



Do not let off that old " tag " about " pumping lead " the 

 repeater, like the motor car, has " come to stay," and a man who 

 would be likely to " pump lead " if he had a repeater can make 

 just as big an ass of himself with a modern double-barrelled breech- 

 loading rifle. 



After trying a variety of rifles, I finally, some five years ago, 

 fixed my affections on a .303 " Savage " repeater, and have stuck to 

 it ever since. 



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