378 RIFLE- CO VERS AND SAFETY-STOPS 



nor can I say that I approve of the telescope sight for 

 sporting purposes, however satisfactory they may be 

 for target-shooting. 



Rifle-covers should be made of soft, waterproof 

 tweed, which is noiseless when being removed. These 

 covers should be made some three or four times too 

 large at the stock end, so as to allow of the hand 

 being readily passed into the cover and the rifle 

 grasped above the trigger-guard, so as not to lose an 

 instant in case of emergency. Many an easy chance 

 at a stag has been lost to the stalker by reason of the 

 rifle-cover being too tight, and the rifle thereby stick- 

 ing at the critical moment. 



In my opinion all rifles should have hammers, for 

 the latter serve as a guide to the eye when firing in a 

 hurry, and at once show if the rifle is level and the 

 back-sight upright, as it should be. Hammers, too, are 

 safer, and serve to show whether a rifle is at full or 

 half cock. Rebounding locks are by far the safest 

 and best. 



Every sporting rifle should have stops for bolting 

 the triggers, and these should push forward when it 

 is desired to bolt the locks, and the reverse when 

 required to fire ; for they can be drawn back almost 

 by the same motion as that made by the hand when 

 seeking for the trigger-guard, the eye of the firer 

 being frequently of necessity fixed on the deer, which 

 latter may be also gazing at him, and ready to detect 

 the slightest motion of the eye when being, so to 

 speak, ' stared out of countenance.' 



The cover should always be kept on the rifle when 

 any crawling after deer has to be done, and the rifle 

 should always be carried by the leader, and so no 



