EXPRESS RIFLES 



substance, e.g., a cap, or a large pocket-handkerchief 

 well bunched up, between the barrels and the rest. 



EXPRESS RIFLES 



These, in spite of the recent introduction of the 

 303 and '256 sporting rifles, are still the weapons 

 in most general use, by the majority of sportsmen 

 who enjoy frequent opportunities of large-game 

 shooting, upon the lighter and softer-bodied class 

 of game animals ; while the largest of these 

 excellent weapons, viz., the '577, is, with suitable 

 bullets, very deadly when employed against even 

 the ponderous section of Indian and African ferse. 



The principle of the express proper is the 

 enormous velocity imparted to a light, and more 

 or less hollow bullet, driven by a very large charge 

 of powder, causing the projectile on entering an 

 animal's body (i) either to break up altogether, 

 and thus to act like an explosive shell ; (2) to 

 break up partially, while the large solid base and 

 a portion of the adherent anterior part of the 

 bullet carries on ; or (3) to open out in a mush- 

 room-like form, and thus present a cutting surface 

 equivalent to that of a bullet of much larger 

 calibre. All these three results may be attained 

 by the use of different bullets from the same rifle, 

 and although in the case of each pattern the 

 results attained will be less accentuated the greater 

 the range at which the shot has been fired, and 

 are moreover liable to variation when large bones 

 are struck, their relative effects may be relied upon 



453 



