Wild Beasts and Their Ways, Reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America — Volume 1
- Pages
- about 393
- Category
- History
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7.2 h at 250 wpm
From the opening
Forty years ago our troops were armed with a smooth-bore musket, and a
small force known as the "Rifle Brigade" was the exception to this rule.
The military rifle carried a spherical bullet, and, like all others of
the period, it necessitated the use of a mallet to strike the ball,
which, being a size larger than the bore, required the blow to force it
into the rifling of the barrel in order to catch the grooves.
Sporting rifles were of various sizes, but they were constructed upon a
principle generally accepted, that extreme accuracy could only be
obtained by burning a very small charge of powder.
The outfit required a small mallet made of hardwood faced with thick
buff leather, a powerful loading-rod, a powder-flask, a pouch to contain
greased linen or silk patches; another pouch for percussion caps; a
third pouch for bullets. In addition to this cumbersome arrangement, a
nipple-screw was carried, lest any stoppage might render necessary the
extraction of the nipple.
The charge of powder in ordinary use for a No. 16 bore (which carried an
ounce spherical ball) was 1 1/2 dram, and the sights were adjusted for a
maximum range of 200 yards. Although at this distance considerable
accuracy could be attained at the target upon a quiet day, it was
difficult to shoot with any precision at an unmeasured range owing to
the high trajectory of the bullet. Thus for sporting purposes it was
absolutely essential that the hunter should be a first-rate judge of
distance in order to adjust the sights as required by the occasion. It
was accordingly rare to meet with a good rifle-shot fifty years ago.
Rifle-shooting was not the amusement sought by Englishmen, although in
Switzerland and Germany it was the ordinary pastime. In those countries
the match-rifle was immensely heavy, weighing, in many instances, 16
lbs., although the bullet was exceedingly small.
A short sample. Read the whole book
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