BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 343 



Ely's wire cartridges nor any mode of loading buck- 

 shot can remedy this very much. Of the cartridges 

 over one half will either go like a solid ball and miss 

 generally entirely, or they will go like loose buckshot. 

 Not one half will go as they are intended to go; and 

 when they do, they do not add much over twenty-five 

 yards to the range of the gun. The killing effect 

 of a single buckshot is not to be compared to the 

 effect of a rifle-ball of the same size. It lacks both 

 the velocity and flattening quality and the cutting 

 power of the rotation. Buckshot kill only by their 

 number or by the accidental striking of a vital part; 

 generally both conditions are necessary. The temp- 

 tation to shoot with them at deer too far off is almost 

 irresistible. And the certainty of crippling is about 

 in inverse proportion to the probability of killing with 

 them. Before a pack of hounds or for close night- 

 shooting the gun may be tolerated. For still-hunting 

 its use is an outrage and a sin. 



I have never tried bullets slit or sawed into pieces 

 half way to the center. Where great penetration was 

 not needed they would doubtless be better than the 

 solid ball. But they would be hard to make well, and 

 could not give the same striking surface as if made 

 with the proper-shaped hole in front. Neither could 

 one made with an expansion-hole in the rear. Such a 

 one would doubtless expand upon bone or a solid mass 

 of muscle like the haunch. But almost any ball will 

 expand enough on such parts. And they are pre- 

 cisely the parts where much expansion is rather un- 

 desirable. 



