122 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
styled, out of sight, in all the three great desiderata—ac- 
curacy, range, and force of execution. 
All these points being taken into consideration, I am 
inclined to prefer Perry’s breech-loading rifle, even as a 
sporting weapon, to any gun ever yet invented ; adopting, 
for that purpose, a very simple modification of its ordinary 
form. For use in close covert, and still more on horse- 
back, in which condition, whoever has tried it knows that 
it is almost an impossibility to load a rifle, its superiority 
is inconceivably pre-eminent; and, even in common use, 
the saving of the actual labor of forcing the patched ball 
down a foul barrel, is a matter of no inconsiderable 
moment. 
A good rider might load, fire, reload and fire again, a 
carbine of this construction, while sitting in his saddle, 
with his horse at full speed, almost as readily as he could 
do so on foot. 
For buffalo-hunting, in the great plains, no weapon 
could by any means compete with this; and were I about 
to stake my life on the continuous and uuvarying perform- 
ance of any fire-arm I have yet tried, this is that on which 
‘I should determine the risk. 
The cause of its superior carriage is simple and easily 
explained, and is due to its peculiar construction : pro- 
ducing by a different mode the same effect as is obtained 
by the expansive bullet which forms the peculiarity of the 
Minie rifle. In the ordinary rifled-barrel the ball is 
driven down through an arrangement of sharp-edged spiral 
grooves, which cut it into ridges and furrows in its descent. 
On its projection, it passes out, retained in its position 
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