Round the Camp Fire. 195 



sioned by faulty, smokeless ' powders' and unsuitable bul- 

 lets. As was natural, however, these rifles were soon tried 

 beyond their powers and out of their own particular sphere. 

 In some cases they exceeded their admirers 5 most sanguine 

 hopes ; in a good many others they led to very dire 

 accidents on account of their general lack of knocking-down 

 power. 



So there grew a demand for weapons possessing similar 

 : advantages but of larger bore and greater power. 



The outcome of this was the medium bore cordite rifle, 

 which has now become so popular. 



It is worthy of note that the evolution of this type of 

 sporting rifle is due to the skill and enterprise of a firm of 

 London rifle-makers then supposed to occupy a somewhat 

 second-rate position ; the 'leading' firms meanwhile appar- 

 ently regarding its efforts with complacent humour. Their 

 attitude however was altered when it was seen that such 

 weapons had come to stay, and possessed qualities that ren- 

 dered existing sporting rifles obsolete. So soon therefore 

 as was compatible with an effort to keep up the prestige 

 of the older weapons awhile, in order to avoid a * slump ' 

 in their value, the ' leading ' firms began to follow their 

 pioneer's lead, and to turn out new rifles, differing by a 

 few hundredths of an inch in the diameter of the bore for 

 the sake of an appearance of * originality,' or in order to 

 make a speciality of their own cartridges ! 



So rapidly did some manufacturers take up and turn out 

 the new cordite rifles that they failed to pay proper 

 attention to their peculiarities ; and this resulted in some 

 cases of failure and even of disaster to the breech or barrel 

 all of which re-acted unfavourably on sportsmen, especially 

 those of conservative ideas, who looked askance at such 

 dangerous arms, 



