SPORTING RIFLES AND THEIR USE 341 



struck. This on the supposition that the Mannlicher 

 bullet missed the large bones, and so passed through 

 the bull elk in question without expanding. 



After this incident 1 went back to the '500 bore 

 for the rest of that hunting trip, except when after 

 antelope. 



There also was another reason for the change. The 

 Mannlicher was an ordinary single-barrel, bolt-action, 

 magazine rifle, with which five shots could be fired 

 more rapidly than with an ordinary double rifle ; but 

 not two shots. For a rapid right and left there is 

 nothing like a double rifle ; and in woodland hunting, 

 or when after dangerous game, this is a most im- 

 portant consideration. When I lost the bull wapiti 

 mentioned above, there was time for a quick second 

 barrel from an ordinary double rifle in the thick green 

 timber where I found him, but there was not time to 

 get in the second shot from the bolt-action Mannlicher 

 that I carried that day, and so I lost the chance of a 

 second shot. 



On another occasion I lost a chance of a right and 

 left at two good wapiti bulls in thick cover for the 

 same reason. The first bull was killed, but the second 

 disappeared before there was time to pump a second 

 cartridge into the breech, and so the opportunity was 

 missed. 



Again, there is the question of dangerous game. 

 A quick second barrel has saved my life more than 

 once in the case of charging grizzlies, and these are 

 experiences that one does not forget. The old bull elk 

 of Norway I have also found awkward when wounded 

 and approached too closely. All wild animals strongly 

 object to be shot at a prejudice on their part with 

 which I entirely sympathize and some of them 



