Sporting rifles.
When the elephant hunters lie at the water by night, and shoot at very close quarters, they find that a sharp-pointed conical with very high velocity, pierces so suddenly and sharply, that the animal feels no shock to the nervous system, and gets away for many miles, and dies beyond their reach. They therefore choose a short, smooth-bore gun, with a very large round bullet. We have seen them as large as half a pound; and this, with a comparatively small charge of powder, say 9drs. or 10drs., bruises rather than pierces, communicating such a shock to the adjacent parts that the creature is stunned as well as wounded, and is not able to make those marvellous last efforts that in the former case would enable him at least to die in peace far out of reach of his pursuers. We, after a fair trial of the conical ball in India, abandoned it on account of the quantity of wounded game lost, and returned to the old spherical projectile.
Cartridge making.
Improvements in guns are long before they are generally adopted in wild and distant countries. The old flint musket is to this day the favoured weapon of most of the border tribes of South Africa, America, and the East; it will shoot quite well enough for them, and, if of military make, it lasts a long time in comparatively good order. Percussion guns found their way very slowly even among the Dutch colonists; many admitted their superiority, but there was always the uncertainty of being able to obtain a supply of caps, and, in the same way, many excellent forms of breech-loaders cannot be adopted by persons travelling or residing far from civilisation, because complicated and expensive cartridges are required, and when the supply runs short the gun is useless. And sometimes, because however perfect the gun may be while well taken care of, its delicate adjustments soon give way under the rough wear and tear of actual hard service. The advantages of facility in reloading, especially on horseback, or while running after or away from the game or enemy, are so great that if a breech-loader can be made sufficiently strong and simple in all its parts, capable of being used as a muzzle-loader on emergencies, or with cartridges so simple that a person of ordinary skill can make them for himself, it will surely commend itself to men whose lives, in many cases, depend upon the effectiveness of their guns. It would be invidious in us to compare the merits of the various forms. We have already mentioned the satisfaction with which we used the single-barrelled Wilson breech-loader, the simplicity and strength of which, combined with facility of loading, were all that could be desired, unless, indeed, it were made self-capping, which we believe could easily be done. A metal breech-plug, to be inserted when required, converts it into a muzzle-loader; but then a smaller size of bullet must be used, and the cartridges are so simple and inexpensive, that we found it more easy to make them on the spot. The materials required were a few sheets of tissue paper, a quantity of felt wads, tolerably stout, half of them the exact size of the bore, and the rest a little smaller. A piece of tin of the form and size indicated by the diagonal lines (Fig. 1) in our illustration was used as a pattern by which to cut the paper. The straight edge that was to surround the bullet, and the farthest diagonal side, were touched with a little gum, gathered from the nearest mimosa. A small cylinder of wood (Fig. 3) was then taken by the knob, in the left hand, and, with the right, the hollow base of the bullet (Fig. 2) was fitted on to the convex end, laid fairly on the paper (Fig. 6) and rolled forward until the cartridge case was formed. The wood was then withdrawn, and the paper, adhering to the bullet, left to dry. When a sufficient number were completed, they were set upright in any convenient trough, or in a block of wood (Fig. 7), 3in. deep, bored with holes of the proper size (Fig. 11). The charge of powder was poured into each and covered with a small disc of card or paper. One of the small wads, saturated with grease, was next put in (Fig. 8), the superfluous paper folded down on it (Fig. 9), and a full-sized wad was then affixed to the
end with a drop of gum (Fig. 10). The tissue paper was quite strong enough to confine the powder, and a military cap, of fair average quality, never failed to drive the fire through it to the charge. We found it best to saturate our wads by melting, or rather heating, our hardest fat nearly to boiling point, throwing them in and letting them absorb as much as possible, and then spreading them out on a clean surface to cool. Of course we carried a couple of wad punches of the proper size in case our supply should run short.
In making a cartridge for a muzzle-loading rifle, the wooden roller should have a hollow to receive the point of the bullet; the bullet is placed on the paper with the base towards the right hand, just so far within the edge as to allow a wad to be put behind, and the paper turned down over it. The powder is then measured into the case on the point, and, in loading, the powder is first poured into the gun, then the bullet is reversed and the paper torn off before it is rammed down. It is questionable, however, whether any form of single-barrelled rifle or shot gun can compete with a double barrel for general usefulness and efficiency. Whilst on the subject of cartridges, it may not be amiss to refer to the tallow cartridges used for shot guns. They add greatly to the length of range, and are extremely valuable for wildfowl shooting. The following communication to the Field newspaper will serve to explain the mode to be observed in their manufacture:—