504 The Hunting Grounds 



of the breech-end should be very much thicker than 

 at the muzzle, towards which it gradually tapers, as 

 it has to stand the force of the explosion of the charge. 

 In consequence of this contraction, every barrel has in 

 itself a certain degree of elevation but of this more 

 anon. 



The axis of the barrel is an imaginary line drawn 

 through the centre of the bore, and parallel to the 

 interior sides. 



The line of fire is the continuation of the axis in a 

 straight line, and marks the direction the bullet 

 would take on leaving the barrel, propelled by the 

 explosion of the charge, were it not that it is also 

 acted upon by the power of gravity, which attracts it 

 towards the earth, and the resistance the air offers to its 

 passage, which is always in direct opposition to its flight. 



The trajectory is the actual course of the bullet, 

 which always describes a curve a fact easily ac- 

 counted for, as, from the moment it leaves the muzzle, 

 the force of the gunpowder drives it forward, and 

 gravity draws it downward, so that by yielding to 

 both forces i. e. by moving onwards and downwards 

 at the same time it must travel in a curve diverging 

 more and more below the line of fire, until at last, the 

 propelling power being expended, it falls to the earth. 

 Hence it follows, that if the axis of a barrel is directed 

 upon the bull's-eye of a target, at one hundred yards' 

 distance, the bullet will strike about one foot five 



