BULLETS; EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 337 



of an ax would split in two, I utterly failed to split or 

 even crack- With eighty grains of powder the balls 

 penetrated only some four inches and were torn in 

 splinters, while the hole was blackened with powder. 



The reason of this will be readily seen. A Win- 

 chester '73 ball two hundred grains of lead and forty 

 of powder, caliber .44 ball quite flat-headed, will split 

 a rabbit completely in two with a raking shot, or cut 

 it half in two with a broadside shot. But through a 

 deer, a wildcat, coyote, or other tough animal it will 

 make a hole but a trifle larger than itself. A fire- 

 cracker fired in a glass vial left uncorked will split 

 the vial in a hundred pieces if it be very thin, but 

 will not even crack it if it be tolerably thick like a 

 small ink-bottle. The difference in the first case is of 

 course in the toughness of the flesh, in the second in 

 the toughness of the glass. The tough bottle resists 

 the gas long enough to allow its excess of pressure 

 to escape at the mouth. In the same manner tough 

 flesh resists the pressure long enough to allow 

 the gas to escape around and behind the bullet. And 

 in the case of the bullet the pressure of gas is also re- 

 lieved by the ball cutting a large and increasing hole 

 in front about as fast as the gas can fill it. Continued 

 experiment and observation convinced me at last that, 

 unless filled with some violently detonating powder 

 that would be too dangerous to use, a ball is actually 

 better to be left merely hollow. 



The reason of this is the lack of penetration of explo- 

 sive balls. In an average of over fifty shots at game, 

 as shots must now be taken, penetration is about as 

 essential as anything. To contain enough of any ex- 

 plosive that could be safely used the hole in the front 

 of the ball must be both large and deep. In any ball 



