The expense of an outfit, consisting of a rifle, one thousand cartridges, and a bell-ball is less than twenty-five dollars, which divided between three persons is very light.
Three persons can work together to advantage by taking the positions of firer, tosser and scorer, and benefit by friendly competition.
2. The rifle should be the elementary arm used in practice, and be handled with success on all the shots before the shot-gun is taken up.
True impressions only should be given the learner, which the rifle does, and the shot-gun does not, give.
Occasionally, the scattering of shot may allow an object to drop without being hit, when the gun has been held right on it, and again, a stray shot may hit, when the aim has been high, low, or to one side, in both of which cases the impressions given the firer are erroneous.
With the rifle this cannot occur, and every time one makes a hit he has received a true impression of the position the sights should hold relative to the bell.
3. Rifles of .22 calibre are the best to use in practice, for several reasons:
1. The expense of shooting them is very light, owing to the low cost of the cartridges.
2. Because there is no perceptible recoil, which is an important consideration, inasmuch as the flinching which a beginner does involuntarily, if he stand behind a kicking rifle at first, is very hard to overcome; but which he avoids when he has learned to hold his gun firm against his shoulder and to brace against it.
3. The rifle does not heat quickly, and in cool weather can be fired one hundred times without becoming hot. The reasons for this are the thickness of the barrel, and the small quantity of powder burned in each cartridge.