3 6o THE COMPLETE SHOT 



its energy on the other side, and the former tends to flatten out 

 and smash up large portions of the internal organs and to remain 

 in them. 



But every prospective big-game hunter will be wise to go to 

 some of those who make it a business and a specialty to fit 

 out expeditions, and there he will not only hear the latest 

 views of those who have returned from expeditions, but see 

 the very latest designs for increasing the effectiveness of rifles. 

 If the author were going for big game, and especially dangerous 

 game, the first persons he would consult are Mr. Henry Holland 

 (whose opportunities of hearing the latest views of sportsmen 

 returned from expeditions are unique), Messrs. Rigby, Purdey, 

 Westley Richards, and Gibbs of Bristol, for the last new thing, 

 because rifles cannot be said to have reached finality, and are 

 being evolved and improved every day, as is also the powder to 

 be used with them. 



There is at present considerable difference of opinion as to 

 whether .450 high velocity rifles are equal to the task of dropping 

 an African elephant by a frontal shot. 



Mr. Naumann believes that they are equal to anything, and 

 he has had experience ; but then he may have been lucky in not 

 having his bullet deflected from the brain by the mass of bone 

 it has to break through. A great deal would certainly depend 

 upon the angle at which the bullet first struck the bone. Steel 

 cores to the bullets prevent expanding or breaking up of that 

 part of the bullet, but not of the leaden covering, and this ex- 

 pansion necessarily would greatly retard the speed and distance 

 of penetration. 



