482 THE HUNTING GROUNDS 



with the grooves, and thus receives the spinning 

 movement on its longer axis, which not only ensures 

 accuracy of flight, but also always keeps its point 

 forward. By the bullet being thus expanded, and 

 so much enlarged as to fit the barrel and grooves 

 tightly, none of the explosive power of the gas en- 

 gendered by the ignition of the charge is allowed to 

 escape, but the whole propelling force acts upon the 

 projectile. There is also a much better chance of 

 the whole of the powder being burnt. 



The barrel is a tube of iron, of which the sides of 

 the interior, or bore, are parallel, but those of the 

 exterior converge, it being necessary that the metal 

 of the breech-end should be very much thicker than 

 at the muzzle, towards which it gradually tapers, as 

 it has to stand the force of the explosion of the 

 charge. In consequence of this contraction, every 

 barrel has in itself a certain degree of elevation — 

 but of this more anon. 



The axis of the barrel is an imaginary line drawn 

 through the centre of the bore, and parallel to the 

 interior sides. 



The line of fire is the continuation of the axis in 

 a straight line, and marks the direction the bullet 

 would take on leaving the barrel, 'propelled hy the 

 explosion of the charge, were it not that it is also 

 acted upon by the power of gravity, which attracts 

 it towards the earth, and the resistance the air offers 

 to its passage, which is always in direct opposition 

 to its flight. 



