Round the Camp Fire. 197 



rifle's usefulness by its power to punch holes in an armour 

 plate I And so the tale proceeds. Off goes the hunter, 

 armed with some theoretical paragon of a rifle guaranteed 

 to penetrate so many inches of steel plate -but of which 

 he knows uncommonly little certain of its marvellous 

 effect against all and every kind of big game, and imagin- 

 ing that all he has to do is to press trigger, when the doomed 

 animal will (to use a favourite phrase) * fall as if struck 

 by lightning !' 



But when the inevitable catastrophe arrives, no 

 allowance is made for the fact that, on occasions, nothing 

 in the way of fire-arms appears capable of " stopping " 

 an animal unless struck in brain or spine ; so, 

 condemned out of hand, without a thought as to the 

 real reason, nothing can then be too bad for the wretched 

 weapon ! 



Many men have been disappointed with these new rifles 

 when making trial of them on antelope, etc. They expect 

 so much of these weapons that it is disappointing to find 

 that, in such cases, their killing power does not seem to 

 be much advance on the old " Express." But they should 

 not be disheartened until they have given the cordite rifle 

 a trial against heavy game, when its extraordinary 

 power, meeting with the requisite resistance, will be fully 

 developed. 



The many advantages of the medium-bore cordite rifle 

 are too well known to require repetition. Its disadvan- 

 tages seem apparent in but one direction its somewhat 

 excessive weight when made in the double-barrelled form. 



Single-barrelled rifles of this type are not of all-round 

 use, while in them recoil is unpleasantly increased. Maga- 

 zine rifles of this class have been attempted, but hitherto 

 seem to have been only dangerous failures. 



