hat
many persons fire so hastily at game that they take no sight at all, as
though they were snipe-shooting with many hundred grains of shot in the
charge. This will never do for ball-practice, and when the rifle is
placed in such hands, the breech-sights naturally bother the eye which
is not accustomed to recognize any sight; and while the person is
vainly endeavouring to get the sight correctly on a moving object, the
animal is increasing his distance. By way of cutting the Gordian knot,
he therefore knocks his sight out, and accordingly spoils the shooting
of the rifle altogether.

Put a rifle in the hands of a man who knows how to handle it, and let
him shoot against the mutilated weapon deprived of its sight, and laugh
at the trial. Why, a man might as well take the rudder off a ship
because he could not steer, and then abuse the vessel for not keeping
her course!

My idea of guns and rifles is this, that the former should be used for
what their makers intended them, viz., shot-shooting, and that no ball
should be fired from any but the rifle. Of course it is just as easy
and as certain to kill an elephant with a smooth-bore as with a rifle,
as he is seldom fired at until within ten or twelve paces; but a man,
when armed for wild sport, should be provided with a weapon which is
fit for any kind of ball-shooting at any reasonable range, and his
battery should be perfect for the distance at which he is supposed to
aim.

I have never seen any rifles which combine the requisites for Ceylon
shooting to such a degree as my four double-barreled No. 10, which I
had made to order. Then some persons exclaim against their weight,
which is fifteen pounds per gun. But a word upon that subject.

No person who understands anything about a rifle would select a light
gun with a large bore, any more than he would have a heavy carriage for
a small horse. If the man objects to the weight of the rifle, let him
content himself with a smaller bore, but do not rob the barrels of
their good metal for the sake of a heavy ball. The more metal that the
barrel possesses in proportion to the diameter of the bore, the better
will the rifle carry, nine times out of ten. Observe the Swiss rifles
for accurate target-practice--again, remark the American pea rifle; in
both the thickness of metal is immense in proportion to the size of the
ball, which, in great measure, accounts for the precision with which
they carry.

In a light barrel