362 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



open sights on the barrel; the open sight upon top of 

 it is too troublesome to find for quick shooting; and 

 all quick work through it is nearly impossible. 



The back open sight is generally set farther back 

 than it should be. Theoretically it will in this way 

 do better shooting, any variation being more appar- 

 ent. Practically it will do no such thing. Set six 

 inches farther up the barrel, the difference can hardly 

 be detected at the target. Whatever is lost by the 

 difference in appearance of variation is gained by the 

 greater clearness of the outlines of the back sight. 

 This is important even to young eyes, and especially 

 to aged ones. So set, a sight is also more quickly 

 taken by the eye, its center is more easily held, and it 

 will cut off the proper amount of front sight more 

 distinctly. 



Having chosen the kind and shape of sights, the 

 very important question of how to adjust them still 

 remains. 



All rifles shoot for a short distance on a line prac- 

 tically level. That is, if the line of the sights be ad- 

 justed perfectly parallel with the axes of the bore, 

 there will still be a distance at which the fall of the 

 bullet will be almost inappreciable. And even after 

 the fall becomes appreciable there still remains a dis- 

 tance beyond that point where the fall may be disre- 

 garded in shooting at game. Both of these points 

 are called indiscriminately and carelessly the " natural 

 point-blank." This is a very unphilosophical term, 

 but it is so common and expresses a practical truth 

 so well that it may as well be retained. For practical 

 purposes it may best be defined as that distance at 

 which the ball will strike the regulation bull's-eye for 

 that distance without rising in its flight. This will 



