THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 363 



cover nearly all game that is ever shot at. For in- 

 stance, the bull's-eye for twenty-five yards is one inch, 

 for fifty yards is two inches, for seventy-five yards is 

 three inches, for a hundred yards is four inches, cor- 

 responding to a grouse's head at ten yards, a squn-- 

 rel's head at twenty-five yards, a duck's or hare's body 

 at a hundred yards, a turkey at a hundred and fiity 

 yards, a deer or antelope at two hundred, an elk at 

 two hundred and fifty, a buffalo at three hundred, etc., 

 all on the same scale. 



This " natural point-blank" is much less for all rifles 

 than is commonly supposed. In many it is not fifty 

 yards. It probably cannot be made to exceed a hun- 

 dred and thirty yards in any rifle. Conceding that 

 outside of the plains three fourths of the chances to 

 kill game fall inside of a hundred and forty ) r ards, 

 the vast importance of this point-blank is at once ap- 

 parent. Every rod that can be added to it is more 

 than equal to a yard added to the killing range of a 

 shot-gun. It is often said in answer to this that more 

 deer are killed inside of seventy-five yards than be- 

 yond it. Admitted; but where are the most missed? 

 Between seventy-five and a hundred and fifty yards. 

 And why are the most of them missed there ? By 

 undershooting, and overshooting in attempting to 

 avoid undershooting. Every one should try his 

 rifle and find out just what its " natural point-blank" 

 is. 



By so adjusting the sights as to make the ball rise 

 in its flight and sink into the mark another point 

 blank may be given to it. This is the point where 

 the ball descends into and cuts the line of sights after 

 rising above it. Thus when a Winchester rifle of 

 '73 model is sighted to hit the bull's-eye at two 



