THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
hollowing it more or less deeply at the point, and thus increasing its 
tendency to become deformed on striking, and forcing it to open and use 
all its power upon the tissues first encountered. The same principle was 
applied to the new description of bullet. The envelope was filed away at 
the tip, or a hole was bored in the nose of the bullet; and where this was 
judiciously done, the killing power of the bullet was found to be even greater 
than that of the larger bores had been. The force of a bullet depends even 
more upon its speed than upon its weight. The new rifies were more 
accurate; they would kill further; their flatter trajectory made a precise 
estimate of the distance much less material than before; the effect of 
wind on the flight of the bullet was much diminished; the recoil was very 
slight, whereas that of the black powder Express had been punishing; 
the reduced recoil made it easy to use a Lyman (aperture) backsight 
or a telescopic sight, which much assisted certainty of aim; the absence 
of smoke when a shot was fired often prevented the game from discovering 
the direction and source of danger; and finally, where a single-barrelled 
rifle was used, the magazine enabled it to be reloaded almost instan- 
taneously. No wonder, then, that the old Express rifies speedily lost 
ground; they were outclassed for thin-skinned game such as deer and 
antelope. 
The last few years have witnessed another remarkable advance in 
military weapons which has had its effect on sporting rifies. It was realized 
abroad that at high velocities it was well worth while to use a bullet with 
the head prolonged to a sharp point; and that such a bullet, if made light 
enough to enable a very high velocity to be given to it, had an extremely 
fiat trajectory for the first few hundred yards of its fiight. This gave a 
great advantage from the military point of view; for to increase the effec- 
tiveness of fire at the shorter ranges was well worth some sacrifice of 
striking power at much longer ones. Still greater was the advantage to 
the hunter. By the use of improved steel for the action and barrel, and of 
a cartridge of larger capacity, it is now possible to obtain velocities up 
to 3,000 feet, which, with a pointed bullet, give trajectories far flatter 
than used to be imagined possible. Thus, in “The Field” rifle trial of 
1883, the height of trajectory in a flight of 150 yards with Messrs Holland 
and Holland’s *400 bore was 4| inches, and that with their *450 bore 
not quite 4| inches, the velocity being for the former 1,875 feet per second 
and for the latter 1,777 feet. A rifle such as the *280 Ross of to-day, with 
a velocity of 3,000 feet per second, gives a height of trajectory not more 
315 
