B38 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



So the following remarks are submitted with diffi- 

 dence, and with a thorough appreciation of the fact 

 that most stalkers and big-game hunters have their 

 own ideas about sporting rifles and their use ; and 

 that the school of experience may, to some extent, 

 even teach different lessons to different men, according 

 as these men differ in physique, in temperament, and 

 in character. 



First, then, as to the weapon itself. The primary 

 fact that stares us in the face at the outset is the 

 enormous improvement in all fire-arms of precision 

 generally, and in sporting rifles in particular, that has 

 taken place during the past decade. 



As an instrument for projecting a bullet with 

 accuracy, with force, and with despatch, there is 

 nothing like the modern smokeless, cordite-powder, 

 small-bore rifle. Whether it be the Lee-Enfield -303, 

 the Mannlicher, the Mauser, or the Krag- Jorgensen 

 these three latter being of a slightly smaller bore 

 than the Lee-Enfield all these weapons are, in effect, 

 among the most powerful and the straigh test- shooting 

 rifles now manufactured. In muzzle velocity, in flat- 

 ness of trajectory, and in consequent accuracy of 

 shooting, they are all superior to the now rather old- 

 fashioned black-powder express rifle. 



So far as my own experience goes, I have practised 

 at the butts with a Lee-Enfield, and killed big-game 

 with a Mannlicher ; but and here I may argue myself 

 to be hopelessly out of date I still have a liking, 

 sentimental, perhaps, under certain circumstances, for 

 the older double *500 express, with which I have done 

 most of my shooting when after the larger varieties 

 of Norwegian and American big-game, such as elk 

 (or moose), wapiti, buffalo, and grizzly. A man is 



