266 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



If the young sportsman chooses a -280, "275, or -256 

 Magnum, he had better get a second rifle shooting heavy 

 blunt bullets as a standby, but then it will often not be 

 handy; whereas if he had a "350, -318, or ygmm. in his 

 hand all he has to do is to change the cartridge if a solid is 

 necessary for use on an elephant or rhino. 



Buffalo are easily killed with a hollow point or slit bullet, 

 but let the slits be short. A " Dum-dum " form of bullet, 

 that is one which has a very small amount of lead showing 

 at the point, is a most excellent projectile for buffaloes or 

 elands, and it will easily kill an elephant or rhino with the 

 body shot. 



Never have an automatic safety catch on a rifle. These are 

 not fitted to magazines, but on falling blocks and hammer- 

 less doubles they are usually fitted, so it is best to get them 

 altered to non-automatic, which, I believe, it is easy to do. 



An automatic catch flies back to safety when the breech 

 is opened, and a non-automatic stays as it is until altered 

 by the thumb. 



In hilly ground a sling is useful, so the rifle ought to 

 have an eye fixed to the barrel and stock for fixing the 

 sling to. 



As to sights, I think the open broad v best, made very 

 broad with a silver line, or ivory or platinum pryamid, 

 leading to the centre of the notch. These are much 

 quicker in use than any form of peep sight, and I consider 

 telescopic sights only necessary for old men whose sight 

 has failed. They are heavy and very easily damaged by a 

 fall or knock, and in cases where they are fitted an opening 

 should be left for using the ordinary V sights when 

 necessary. They are sometimes fixed to the side of the 

 barrel, which is a good plan. 



After firing at an animal with a magazine rifle, load up 

 at once, as the noise of the discharge drowns the noise of 

 the magazine working. With practice one can be very 

 quick with a Mauser or Mannlicher-Schonauer ; in fact so 

 quick that a charging animal will not have come far before 

 one is ready, 



