NOTES ON RIFLES AND AMMUNITION 399 



good shooting may be made with both, with the same sighting ; 

 and a most useful arrangement this will prove to be, the 

 heavy cartridge being very deadly for all game found in India, 

 with the exception of the pachydermatous animals, while for 

 the deer tribe and for practice the lighter charge is all suf 

 ficient. Perhaps the most useful battery on a small scale for 

 India is a '450 Express for deer, and a 12- or i6-bore Paradox, 

 which does well as a shot-gun, and is also most effective as a 

 rifle. 



Ball-Guns. One of the advantages which the ball-gun has 

 over the ordinary rifle is its lightness and handiness compared 

 with the latter, but the serious drawback to its wide use was, in 

 the first place, that it would fire spherical bullets only, and con- 

 sequently lacked penetration ; and, in the second, that it gave 

 but irregular shooting, except at very short ranges. This state 

 of things has been completely reversed by the introduction 

 of the ' Paradox ' gun, the invention of Colonel Fosbery, V.C. 

 In the ' Paradox' all the advantages connected with the light- 

 ness and handiness of a gun have been retained, while great 

 accuracy when fired as a rifle with a smashing conical bullet has 

 been added. 



Since Colonel Fosbery's invention was brought to the 

 notice of sportsmen, the ' Colindian ' and other systems of 

 ball-guns have been introduced. 



The result has been quite a revolution in the manufacture 

 of weapons for use against game of all kinds, from the larger 

 kind of deer up to elephants. 



Take, for example, the i2-bore ' Paradox.' This weapon has 

 all the advantages of quickness and handiness of mounting to the 

 shoulder, so essential in snap-shooting, and yet fires a conical 

 bullet (see fig. 15), hollow or solid, up to a hundred yards or 

 more with the accuracy of a good Express. For all practical 

 purposes, and with all game up to and including tiger or bear, 

 a 'Paradox' weighing from 7 to i\ Ibs. has all the necessary 

 qualities of a lo-lb. rifle, and has, moreover, the handiness of 

 a i2-bore shot-gun, discharging shot quite as well as a good 



