402 BIG GAME SHOOTING \ 



conical bullet; in fact, even the admirers of the "450 warn sports- ; 

 men that such rifles are useful under certain conditions only, \ 

 and this warning is absolutely necessar}% several fatal accidents ; 

 having taken place through sportsmen having misread or not * 

 properly appreciated the accounts of the shooting made with I 

 these small weapons and the circumstances under which they| 

 may judiciously be used. 



Systems of Actions for Rifles. — Different kinds of ' actions 

 are constantly being invented for double-barrelled rifles, bu 

 very few, if any, have the sterling qualities of the old double 

 grip lever, especially when used for rifles shooting heavy 

 charges. No doubt snap-actions of various kinds are made'] 

 which are sufficiently sound to stand the strain of the charges f; 

 fired, especially if the 'body' be long and deep, but none of ' 

 them have the binding doivn power of the grip lever, which : 

 is really a kind of screw-grip. Another point in favour of the; ■ 

 grip lever is that, should there be a piece of cap or other obstruc- 

 tion between the action and the barrels, the grip lever will have . 

 sufficient power to force the action to close and allow the i 

 rifle to be fired ; and the same thing applies when a very tight ; 

 cartridge, or one with somewhat too thick a rim, requires 'to i 

 be forced home. Now, under the same circumstances, a rifle 

 with a snap action could not be closed at all, or, at all events, j 

 only with great difficulty and with unusual force, because all 1 

 spring bolt systems require that the barrels should close up ] 

 freely upon the action before the bolt can move into its proper j 

 position for fastening down the barrel. j 



For small bores such as are used for deer stalking, &c., I 

 the hammerless system has some advantages ; but there are ob- \ 

 jections to these actions for weapons intended for foreign sport, j 

 and these objections apply more particularly when big game | 

 rifles are in question. Most sportsmen are fairly well acquainted 'i 

 with the construction of the ordinary hammer gun fitted with \ 

 rebounding locks, but very few know anything of the internal fi 

 arrangements of the hammerless system, and there is no doubt j 

 that the internal arrangements of the latter are more likely ,1 



