342 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



the " loader," into which you can run a gimlet and 

 bore into the ball after it is loaded in the shell. 



A round ball, if large enough, makes a splendid ex- 

 pansive ball, being most truly " express" up to a hun- 

 dred and fifty or two hundred yards. For the reasons 

 before given it must, however, be large so as to have 

 penetration enough. The hole must also be made 

 more flaring at the entrance than in the other balls, or 

 it may slip through without expanding at all. 



I have tried very large and very small holes in both 

 long and round balls, and am satisfied that there is no 

 way in which a ball can be made to first penetrate 

 well and then fly to pieces. Its flying into splinters 

 depends so entirely upon its shape that it will fly at 

 an inch or two of depth no matter what its velocity. 

 And if it be made with a very small hole it cannot be 

 driven into " splash" upon mere flesh. 



I have tried and am still trying to so shape a ball 

 that it will expand upon the stomach and soft parts of 

 an animal, yet penetrate the solid muscle, etc., without 

 expansion. The results are not wholly satisfactory. 

 Hollow balls can be so made as to penetrate wood 

 without expansion, yet expand upon water. But they 

 all tend to expand upon flesh if the hole be of any 

 size; and if too small, to slip through without spread- 

 ing. 



A ball well hardened with tin is much less likely to 

 break up than one of soft lead. But if the hole be too 

 large the very hardest ones will splinter at once. 



Deer are occasionally still-hunted with buckshot in 

 shot-guns. It is a wretched apology for the rifle, and 

 the distance at which deer can be killed with buckshot 

 is vastly overrated. Even at forty yards, with ordinary 

 guns, two are crippled to one that is killed. Neither 



