358 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



It is a golden rule, with any rifle, to take the finest 

 possible sight at short ranges, for the reasons indicated 

 above. 



At distances over 400 yards elevating flaps may 

 be of advantage. But it is not often that game is 

 killed at over 400 yards, or even fired at. Telescope 

 sights are advocated by some gun-makers, and by 

 some deer-stalkers I have met. No doubt they give 

 definition, particularly for the middle-aged deer- 

 stalker whose sight may not be so keen as formerly. 

 I once tried a telescope sight in the Rockies, and 

 promptly discarded it. I found it cumbersome and 

 unsatisfactory. But my experience of it was so short 

 that it is a point on which I cannot write with any 

 authority. 



Then there is the trigger and the pull. This is 

 the mechanism and the operation on which successful 

 results largely depend. The alignment may be per- 

 fect, but if the trigger is pulled with a jerk and the 

 alignment disturbed at the moment of firing a certain 

 miss is the result. To press the trigger gradually 

 and firmly, with open eye, and meanwhile to hold 

 the foresight correctly on the mark, is the main 

 secret of accurate rifle-shooting. How to do this is 

 the same old story ; it can only be learnt by continual 

 practice. But the actual ' pull ' (or resistance) of the 

 trigger is an important mechanical item. The harder 

 the pull, the more difficult it is to shoot with accuracy. 

 The pull of a sporting rifle should not exceed a 

 maximum of 4^ pounds, and may be lighter with 

 advantage, provided the safety limit be not passed, and 

 provided the hammerless or bolt-action mechanism, 

 as the case may be, allows. The historic Mr. Briggs 

 killed his first stag, we all know, because his rifle 



