Often these animals are in rapid motion. I stand up to shoot, there is no lying down on the face and aiming for ten minutes.
Modern “improved” rifles are quite unsuited for this.
The long distance they carry is a great drawback and makes them very dangerous to use in a populous country and for the beaters.
Their small calibre does not knock down an animal instantly like a big bullet does. They have too much penetration and are apt to hit two or more animals with the same bullet.
A charging animal a few yards off may do a lot of damage after being hit by a small bore rifle. There have not been fewer, but more, fatal accidents from wounded lions and buffalo in Africa since these small bore, high power, rifles have come into use.
The heavy weight of a double high power rifle is of a prohibitive weight for snap-shooting.
The recoil also is so great that aim cannot be instantaneously taken for the second shot.
In the black powder days sportsmen’s requirements were not subordinated to military requirements.
Express rifles were used by deer stalkers in Scotland and the typical U. S. rifle for grizzly bears was the .44 Winchester repeater which shot a small charge of powder.
For big game shooting accuracy is not needed beyond two hundred yards but a big bullet giving a knock down blow and a rifle capable of firing several shots in succession with great rapidity. Rifle to be light and handy as a shotgun.