498 The Hunting Grounds 



Arms are still in a transition state, and it is yet a 

 matter of doubt as to which principle is the best. 

 From the numerous experiments I have made and 

 witnessed, I consider that, for accuracy of fire, nothing 

 equals the system of Mr. Joseph Whitworth of Man- 

 chester, his rifle with the hexagonal bore and elon- 

 gated projectile having lt distanced " every other at 

 long ranges in a course of experimental trials lately 

 made at the School of Musketry at Hythe ; besides 

 which the trajectory is lower than any other system. 

 He uses a short barrel, having an hexagonal bore and 

 a very quick turn ; for whereas the Enfield rifle has 

 only one turn in 6 ft. 6 in., and therefore only half 

 a turn in the barrel of the Enfield, which is 3 ft. 3 in., 

 he has a 45-inch bore, with one turn in 20 inches, 

 which rotation is sufficient with a bullet of the requi- 

 site specific gravity. Mr. Whitworth has reached 

 such a pitch of accuracy, that in a shed excluded 

 from the influence of wind, and firing from a beau- 

 tifully-contrived rest, at 500 yards he can put any 

 number of consecutive balls within a space less than 

 that occupied by a five-shilling piece ; and it is said 

 that he will not be contented until he can throw a 

 bullet from the barrel of one rifle into the barrel of 

 another placed at 500 yards' distance. His ordinary 

 rifles are guaranteed, in the hands of a good marks- 

 man, to be true at the same distance within eight 

 inches. When his rifle was tested at Hythe with a 



