322 THE SPORTING KIFLE. 



for a showy and, said to be, superior weapon. 

 The cutter should be just a fifth of the circumference of the 

 bore, and very shallow, and care taken not to go so deep as to 

 .affect the five points of the original surface where the bullet 

 is seen to touch the sides, leaving the bore without any 

 sharp edges. I have enclosed you a bit of lead, which I 

 have driven into the barrel ; you will feel, by rubbing your 

 fingers over it, that it is nearly smooth, though on looking 

 at the end you will at once perceive the mark of the five 

 hollows or grooves that grasp and guide the bullet while 

 turning and passing through the barrel. 



"My ' disc bullet' the one I recommend for such a 

 barrel is what is commonly called Cylindro-conoidal in its 

 outward form. That which I generally use is about 1 1-16 

 inches in length, as represented by the diagram ; though it 

 may be made longer if the rifleman desires a heavier one for 

 particular purposes. 



" In the end of the bullet, which is a fair cylinder for 

 half its length, I have a cavity formed as shown at a, which 

 extends a little more than half the length of the bullet. 

 Upon the edge of the cavity b b I place the round disc c, 

 which is cut out of thin iron to fit exactly, so that it will not 

 drop out after it has been pressed in by the thumb or gently 

 on a table. When the explosion takes place, the disc 

 becomes so firmly fixed by the contraction of the lead 

 around it that it never falls out, nor is it driven, or intended 

 to be driven, further in than the rest of the lead at the base 

 of the bullet. 



"Experience shows that the 'disc' bullet rifles itself as 

 distinctly as if it had been cast in the grooves of the barrel : 

 a complete answer to the supposed effects of all such nonsense 

 as the 'expanding' cups and plugs which many, who ought 

 to know better, still believe in. It may also be called a safe 

 bullet, for any number may be fired at a distant object over 

 the heads of bodies of men employed or moving in the inter- 

 mediate space, without any fear of the discs leaving the 

 bullets, like the cups of the 'Minie*,' and injuring the men. 

 I have fired thousands of these bullets, and, though not a 

 first-rate marksman, I have repeatedly placed 70 per cent, of 

 them in a space two feet broad by four feet high, at 600 



