EVOLUTION OF GUNS AND RIFLES 
has more than double the energy of the old Express rifles of small calibre. 
Within possible limits of weight, the modern rifle carries an enormous 
power of destruction. These rifles have developed on the lines of the 
ordinary double barrel with drop-down action, and it is much to the credit 
of the rifle makers that they should have applied the principle success- 
fully to the very different conditions of pressure and strain which the rifle, 
as distinct from the shot-gun, entails. At the present time the production 
of powerful single-barrel rifles, with magazine to hold four or five car- 
tridges, seems to be indicated, and for these, as being very practical 
weapons, much lower in price than double barrels, there should be much 
demand. 
The “ pump -gun ” or repeating principle is applied to rifles by several 
American firms, and on that continent the hunter looks to being able to 
pour in a rapid succession of shots at his game. Such mechanism, however, 
has not been successfully applied to the heaviest charges. The self-loading 
rifle is in gradual process of development, and will add further facilities 
for the destruction of wild animals in far countries, now proceeding too 
rapidly. The multiplication and popularization of cheap magazine weapons 
is already going far towards the extermination of game in many parts of 
the world, and the outlook for the survival of large animals is gloomy 
indeed. The triumph of science over Nature is in this respect only too 
complete. 
Added accuracy has of late years brought with it added refinements 
of sighting. Aperture sights have been used for hundreds of years, but 
we owe to America the production of a practical aperture sight for sporting 
purposes, the use of which has much increased in this country with the 
advent of the new types of weapons. The aperture sight is likely soon to 
be used by the soldier, a lesson taught him by the hunter. The use of the 
telescopic sight is also becoming more frequent, and though this costly 
appliance can have but a limited use, it enables full justice to be done 
to the accuracy of modern rifles of medium power in shooting on open 
ground. The difficulties of securing the rigid fixing of the telescope, and 
of rapidly attaching and detaching it, have been satisfactorily overcome, 
and the comfort and certainty of its use must be experienced to be fully 
understood. 
With the Rifle Club movement evoked by the South African War, came 
a great popularization of the *220 rifle, a miniature gallery rifle firing a 
rim -fire cartridge, which was a production of America dating from some 
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