Chapter XXXII

The Sighting Of Hunting-Rifles

 

   The more I experiment with sights and shoot with other people's rifles the more I become convinced that bad sights are nearly as fruitful a source of misses as anything so far considered. Though more accurate shooting can be done with globe-sights, there is no question of the superiority of open-sights for all quick shooting or shooting in dim lights or in the woods. And they are accurate enough to two hundred yards at least.

   The open sight usually put upon rifles by manufacturers can scarcely be considered "the pink of perfection." The very essence of a front sight is that it appear always the same, and be visible in every light. The huge piece of dull metal, shaped like a slice of watermelon, that adorns the muzzle-end of most factory rifles can hardly be seen at all in some lights. And when it can be seen it is often nearly as bad as if it could not. Stand out in the sun with a rifle having one of these, and holding it at arm's length, with your eye upon the front sight, turn completely around. You will probably see the center of brightness shift all over it from base to tip and from side to side. This center of brightness is what you will take for the true center in nearly every case where there is the slightest need of expedition in shooting. And upon running game you will be quite certain to always do so. You can see for yourself what the result of so doing must often be, especially when a fine shot is necessary.

   No metal shows in so many lights as ivory or white agate does. And they hardly ever fail to show the true center at a glance. For running shooting on snow or flying shots against the sky, gold or brass or even iron is better, but for bare ground the whiter the sight the better. The liability of ivory or agate to break seems the only objection. This can be readily obviated by having an extra sight. But ivory can be so set that there is little or no danger. It should be screwed into a screw-hole in an iron block having a guard of iron on the muzzle-side. When filed away on the sides and top this guard and the ivory will be of the same width and height. The guard will be invisible, but will be quite sure to protect the ivory; will, at all events, preserve a part of it; can itself be used as a temporary sight if the ivory should go; and is a ready guide to the adjustment of another piece of ivory, or bone if you have no ivory or agate at hand. Ivory must be kept free of grease, though grease can soon be taken out of it by boiling in alcohol, alkali, etc., or by rubbing it well with ether.

   The beginner with the rifle lays to his soul no unction so flattering as the idea that a shot a few inches above or below the mark is a good shot because it is what the world is pleased to term "a line-shot." In dueling, "a line-shot" means something. In shooting at game where there is seldom six inches to spare above or below the center, and much less if you intend to hit the vitals, and where the mark is from five to twenty times the distance of the mark in dueling, "a line-shot" also means something; to wit, a clear miss three times out of four. It is on the horizontal and not on the vertical line that "a line-shot" that is worth anything for game must generally be made. And this is just the hardest of all to make. Except in a cross-wind the veriest tyro can with ease hit above or below the mark at quite long distances. But to reach the horizontal line requires the very best of work. And it is on this line that all defective work in the rifle, all bad loading, all bad shooting, etc., shows itself three times out of four. And in the long-run, a horizontal line-shot a foot from the center on either side will miss less game than a line-shot six inches above or four inches below the center.

   The top of the front sight should therefore be so flat and broad as to insure the best horizontal shooting without too much sacrifice of accuracy on the upright line. But it can be made quite flat and broad upon the top without any such sacrifice of vertical accuracy as would be supposed necessary. If sharp it cannot be depended on for quick work or in every light; though when there is plenty of time the best of shooting can be done with a sight as sharp as a knife-blade. A front sight about as broad at the top as a common pin-head and perfectly flat will be accurate enough for all hunting purposes when your eye gets used to it. And even if a sacrifice must be made, it had much better be made on the vertical line. It will do no harm to have the top of the back edge slightly sloped off. With a metal sight this had better be done so that a little spot shines there like a star; all below it being kept dull in color, and the star portion being kept polished by a few rubs with a bit of wood as often as it gets tarnished.

   The front sight is generally made too high. It need be just high enough to enable you to see when you catch too much of it with the eye. High sights are harder to catch with the eye and easier to catch in anything else than low ones. In falling snow they are better, but then even high ones are bad enough, and the rifle should be carried upside down, and occasionally wiped, with any sights. With low sights you cannot so well raise the trajectory by what is called a "coarse bead" taking a coarse view of front sight. But this in the long-run will be the greatest blessing that could happen you.

   It is often convenient to have a quickly adjustable globe-sight on the rifle. The principle of Beach's combination-sight is a good one, but the open part of it is entirely too dull, besides the objection of varying play of light upon it. Cut it down one half and solder a little strip of. gold on it. Or, which is better yet, cut it off entirely and set a low ivory sight in front of it that can be seen over the ring when flat, and above which the globe can be seen when the ring is raised.

   But here is one, in my humble opinion, better yet for one who needs a globe-sight at all; and with it the best of horizontal shooting can be done. I have never known any one else use it, but I found it very good.

   Take a common long-barreled globe-sight and cut away with a file or drill all of the top half of the barrel or cylinder except just enough to protect the thread and ball making a perfect cage of it and admitting all the light possible. Then put a golden ball upon the thread and whiten all the inside of the cylinder with paint so as to cast as much light as possible on the underside of the ball. Shape this ball somewhat like a pin-head flattened a little on top. Or make it round if you choose. Adapt the size to your convenience. You can now use this as an open sight with the open back sight, or can use it with a peep-sight on the stock. It works well either way. If you wish it shaded you need only a little slide of bent tin to slip over the cylinder. By cutting out the top a little more you can insert two threads or arms with different-sized balls, or one of silver and the other of gold. These arms should be set at right angles and work on a pivot in the center. It is easy to set them so as to come exactly to the same place, one lying flat when the other is up. They can be easily changed with the finger or a stick. After they are set in, a strip of wire may be soldered over the top where it was cut away to admit them.

   Beyond the importance of some flatness at the top of a plain open sight to insure good horizontal shooting, the fineness or coarseness of sights is very much a matter of what the eye is accustomed to. Except at long distances, one can with practice soon do excellent shooting with a tolerably coarse sight, and excellent quick shooting with a fine sight. But it must be remembered that much of your shooting must be done in a dim light.

   Bold indeed must one be to say a word in derogation of the venerable and fashionable buckhorn sight. But, even at the risk of being considered too iconoclastic, I must mildly insinuate that very good shooting can be done without the aid of this long-revered idol.

  One who has never tried it would be surprised to see how well he can shoot over the open barrel with only a small front sight. The eye takes the center of the barrel as naturally as a duck to water. The main use of a back sight is to cut off the amount of the front sight necessary to give the right horizontal range. Getting the vertical range is mere child's play compared with this. For doing this the high sides or horns of the buckhorn or back sight are of no use whatever. Their only use is to prevent reflection of light which would glimmer from the corners of a notch in a flat-topped bar of iron.

   There is, however, one thing that these horns or sides do most fully accomplish. They cut off and partly destroy that clear and comprehensive view of everything ahead that is so important for running shots. They also actually delay one in "finding the sights," instead of aiding one as many suppose who have never tried anything else. The notch at the bottom, by pinching out the view of the front sight, prevents the eye from taking always the same exact amount of front sight, especially when the sunlight pours into the notch from in front or from behind. Almost the entire trouble that old-sighted persons have in shooting a rifle is with this notch, it being almost impossible for them to see the. exact bottom and shape of it so as to align the front sight with it. Or as they express it, they "can't get the front sight down into the notch." When one has good sight and plenty of time first-class shooting can be done with the buckhorn sight. Possibly for very fine target-work it is a trifle better than any other open back sight.

   But for quick shooting, and especially for good horizontal-line shooting quickly cutting off the right amount of front sight I long ago discovered that a straight short bar, without horns, scoops, or notches of any kind, was far superior, especially for quickness. And on the vertical-line shooting there is no such difference as would be supposed. The eye finds the center of it so instinctively that you do not have to look for it at all. You merely raise the rifle and look for the proper amount of front sight, or "the right bead." Then the eye finds the center so exactly that except possibly for the very finest kind of target-shooting, you can detect no difference. I say possibly, for I have never tried it on anything finer than an inch bull's-eye at twenty yards that being about my outside limit with any rifle. But a dozen or more of my acquaintances have at the first trial with my rifle so sighted shot exactly the same as with their own. Many of my friends have adopted it; all of them are pleased with it; none desire any other. One friend made the best shooting with it at bullet-holes and rabbits running that he has ever made with anything. This may be used as well with the globe-sight above described as the buckhorn may be.

   The back sight I use is a straight bar of hard black rubber about thirty-five hundredths of an inch wide, perfectly level on top. Iron or bone soaked with ink will do as well; but iron should be kept corroded with tincture of iodine and then blackened with ink. With such a sight and ivory on the ball in front you can swing your rifle around the horizon in the sun and see no change of light-center and not a glimmer from the bar. And you can shoot ten degrees closer to the sun's eye with them than with any other set of open sights. The very best of all is a piece of hard sole-leather, made still harder by boiling and hammering and drying in an oven. Soaked with ink, not a ray of light will this cast. It can be screwed in through a hole.

   If, however, you prefer a notch, you need no horns around it. Cut a notch with a knife only a line or two deep in the center of the bar, keep well rusted with iodine and ink, and you have all the advantages of the buckhorn, with its disadvantages greatly modified. Iodine and ink are in fact indispensable for keeping any back sight of iron in proper order, and should be frequently applied; the iodine a day or two before the ink. But give the straight bar a fair trial and you will not want notches.

   Elevating-sights upon a rifle are very prone to tempt one into using them where the level sight only should be used. For this reason many hunters will not have them upon a rifle at all. This, however, is unwise. The remedy is not to discard them, but learn to use them properly. Just so surely as .the game is beyond the natural point blank of your rifle, so surely must the rifle-ball rise in its flight to reach it. There are four ways of making it do this: 

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   • Sighting rifle to "artificial point blank."

   • Taking a fuller view of front sight, or, as it is called, "a coarse bead."

   • Holding high on game.

   • Elevating the back sight.

  

   The great trouble with all these methods is that of all long-range shooting the calculation of distance. The artificial point-blank is no better than any elevated sight except in requiring no adjustment. Unless the game happens to be at the right distance it has no advantages. And inside of that distance it is as much a nuisance as level sights are beyond their proper distance.

   Holding high on game is well enough tip to a certain point; but as soon as the game is so far off that you have to hold entirely above the body, then arises the same trouble that makes the "coarse bead" unreliable beyond the same point; to wit, it involves a double guess where a single guess is bad enough. It involves not only a guess at the distance, but a guess at the distance you are holding above the game, or a guess at the amount of front sight you are taking. The eye cannot every time accurately measure off the same amount of front sight even when you know just how much you want. And at a hundred and fifty or two hundred yards the eye, in measuring off a yard or so above a deer's back, will be extremely apt to be a foot or so out of the way.

   A good elevating-sight, when tested and marked entirely avoids the second trouble. It involves only the estimate of distance. And this difficulty is no worse than in the other cases. But the sight should be thoroughly tried at a target and marked for different distances. The factory markings are not at all reliable.

   The common elevation on the open back sight a small set of steps is of very little use beyond the second or third step. The best way to use it is to have the first step for the level sight or natural point blank of your rifle. Then file the second step so as to make an artificial point blank of a hundred yards. File the third step so as to raise the point blank to a hundred and fifty yards, and cut away the front edge of this step so that it can be pushed into place in a second with the thumb instead of requiring both the best adjustment for the woods. Carry the rifle with back sights set on the middle step. This is better than having it firmly fixed at the lowest point blank you wish to use. For all close shots where there is much danger of overshooting, as in bad light, against the sun, down hill, etc., slip out the elevator to the first step, provided you have time. Use the second step for all else up to a hundred and fifty yards; that is, what appears to be a hundred and fifty yards. Use the third step for all beyond that up to what you consider two hundred yards. This dis- count of fifty yards on your estimate of distance is intended only for cases where you have no time to make any careful estimate. But you had better discount twenty-five at least, even where you have time. Especially is this the case in the woods. This arrangement of open back sights is better than leaf-sights, etc.

   Beyond two hundred yards open sights, even when very fine, begin to get unreliable. And coarse sights begin to be so at a hundred and fifty yards. For distances beyond two hundred yards there is nothing like an elevating peep-sight on the rifle-stock. This may be used with a globe-sight at the muzzle-end or with a plain open front sight, ranging the top of it with the center of the hole.

   The elevating principle of Lyman's back sight is very good the best perhaps up to ordinary ranges for game. It also gives two holes, a fine and a coarse hole.

   There is, however, no need of any such fine hole as is generally used in peep-sights. It is too hard to find the game through it, especially in the woods. The eye finds the center of a large hole just about as accurately as it does the center of a small one.

   The common sliding elevation of the rear peep-sight as now placed upon many rifles can be much improved by the following plan; and taken for all distances is perhaps the best elevating-sight there is: Ream out the peep-hole to the size of a large pin-head and rust it with iodine. Find the lowest point at which you wish to use it; say a hundred and fifty yards if your open sights be coarse, two hundred if very fine. Put a drop of solder on the track there so that it will stop at that exact point when suddenly pushed down. Next find the two-hundred- or two- hundred-and-fifty-yard point, or fifty yards above solder, and cut a deep mark there that, if necessary, can be found with the thumb-nail while you are watching game. Put similar marks at the three-hundred-yard and three-hundred-and-fifty-yard point, etc. Then carry the slide on the lowest mark above the solder. To push it from there to the solder is no trouble whatever. You will rarely need to raise it above where it is. If you do, it can be quite easily done. It is best not to shift the sights for a slight variance above or below the game; but when you see a ball strike above or below, hold a little lower or higher the next time. This will be better than at- tempting to use twenty-five-yard intervals. The quickness of finding this sight with the eye can be increased by cutting away the upper part of the plate containing the peep-hole, so that the upper half of the hole is like a half-ring.

   A telescopic sight will do finer work than any sight that can be put on a rifle. But of course the same trouble of estimating distance remains. Up to three hundred yards globe and peep sights are accurate enough if you know your distance. A telescopic sight is troublesome and bungling; is in the way of open sights on the barrel; the open sight upon top of it is too troublesome to find for quick shooting; and all quick work through it is nearly impossible.

   The back open sight is generally set farther back than it should be. Theoretically it will in this way do better shooting, any variation being more apparent. Practically it will do no such thing. Set six inches farther up the barrel, the difference can hardly be detected at the target. Whatever is lost by the difference in appearance of variation is gained by the greater clearness of the outlines of the back sight. This is important even to young eyes, and especially to aged ones. So set, a sight is also more quickly taken by the eye, its center is more easily held, and it will cut off the proper amount of front sight more distinctly.

   Having chosen the kind and shape of sights, the very important- question of how to adjust them still remains.

   All rifles shoot for a short distance on a line practically level. That is, if the line of the sights be adjusted perfectly parallel with the axes of the bore, there will still be a distance at which the fall of the bullet will be almost inappreciable. And even after the fall becomes appreciable there still remains a distance beyond that point where the fall may be disregarded in shooting at game. Both of these points are called indiscriminately and carelessly the "natural point-blank." This is a very unphilosophical term, but it is so common and expresses a practical truth so well that it may as well be retained. For practical purposes it may best be defined as that distance at which the ball will strike the regulation bull's-eye for that distance without rising in its flight. This will cover nearly all game that is ever shot at. For instance, the bull's-eye for twenty-five yards is one inch, for fifty yards is two inches, for seventy-five yards is three inches, for a hundred yards is four inches, corresponding to a grouse's head at ten yards, a squirrel's head at twenty-five yards, a duck's or hare's body at a hundred yards, a turkey at a hundred and fifty yards, a deer or antelope at two hundred, an elk at two hundred and fifty, a buffalo at three hundred, etc., all on the same scale.

  This "natural point-blank" is much less for all rifles than is commonly supposed. In many it is not fifty yards. It probably cannot be made to exceed a hundred and thirty yards in any rifle. Conceding that outside of the plains three fourths of the chances to kill game fall inside of a hundred and forty yards, the vast importance of this point-blank is at once apparent. Every rod that can be added to it is more than equal to a yard added to the killing range of a shot-gun. It is often said in answer to this that more deer are killed inside of seventy-five yards than beyond it. Admitted; but where are the most missed? Between seventy-five and a hundred and fifty yards. And why are the most of them missed there? By undershooting, and overshooting in attempting to is.

  By so adjusting the sights as to make the ball rise in its flight and sink into the mark another point blank may be given to it. This is the point where the ball descends into and cuts the line of sights after rising above it. Thus when a Winchester rifle of '73 model is sighted to hit the bull's-eye at two hundred yards, the ball at ten or fifteen yards from the muzzle rises into and cuts the level line of sights, keeps above the line of sights, rising all the way to about a hundred and ten yards, then descends toward the line of sights, and touches it again at two hundred yards the bull's-eye. This is called the "artificial point-blank," and may be varied to any distance to which the rifle may shoot. It is contended by good authority, and on very strong grounds too, that this is the only point-blank, that no such thing as a natural point-blank exists, and that the distinction should be abolished as absurd. My answer is, that though according to strict philosophy there may be no natural point-blank, yet that practically there is; that the idea is firmly lodged in the heads of the great majority and never can be dislodged; and, above all, that there is no sounder philosophy than that which recognizes a useful, practical truth, although it may be in fact an error.

  By the artificial point-blank all the practical advantages of the natural point-blank may not only be retained but much extended. Suppose a rifle to have a natural point-blank of seventy-five yards, the ball at that point being about an inch and a half below the center. Now if the ball had been made to just cross the line of sights at forty yards, it would be in the center of the mark at eighty yards and not over an inch below it at a hundred yards. And yet it would not have missed a squirrel's head anywhere along the line. In this way a rifle throwing a very swift large ball may be made to shoot to a hundred and thirty or a hundred and forty yards, so that one can shoot all along the line at small marks and yet notice neither rise nor fall so long as he shoots off-hand and with open sights. And a very swift and velocity-sustaining ball may be thus sent for a hundred and seventy yards without missing a turkey any- where along the line.

  But if the rise at the middle of the course be too great there is, as we have seen, a loss. And this may be so great as to overbalance the advantage. A rifle sighted to a point blank too far off, or having so slow a ball that it has to rise high to reach a short point-blank, will miss far more game inside of a hundred and fifty yards than it will catch beyond that point. Such is the case with many rifles as they come from the factory; and attempting to hold low enough with them is one of the most delusive things in the world.

  Keeping, then, clearly in mind that the less rise there is to the ball the better, the adjustments of the sights for large game will depend entirely upon the kind of ground upon which you are to hunt. Remember, however, that, on account of the strong tendency to overshoot, an inch of rise above is in the long-run as bad as two inches of fall below or three inches of deviation to either side the mark. And remember the natural tendency to overestimate the distance at which most game is killed, and that the most advantageous point at which to shoot at game is much closer than is commonly supposed.

  

The following rises of bullets at the middle point will, I think, be fully enough, supposing you use a swift ball:

  

   • For the woods, one inch.

   • For the open hilly ground, two and a half inches.

   • For the plains, four inches.

  

   No rise of ball higher than the above should be made with the open sights if you are to do any shooting at running game. If you are to take only standing shots you may set them as much higher, being very careful to shoot low at the midway point, and also down hill, or in dim light, against the sun, etc.

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Chapter XXXIII

The Loading, Care, And Management Of Rifles

 

  Although upon principle the rotation of a rifle- ball balances inequalities in it as rotation does in a spinning top, yet the fact is that the effect of inequalities is simply reduced and not annulled. Though defectively cast balls may appear to shoot quite well, yet they will not average such accurate work as well- made ones; and however true some of them may go, any one of them is liable to stray at the very time when you most depend upon it. Lead for casting balls should be melted in a large ladle; or a small pot is better. It should be stirred to a uniform density, kept clear of dross, kept at a uniform heat, and not allowed to get too hot. It should be dipped out with a clay pipe or iron spoon, which should also be kept at the same temperature by being kept immersed in the molten lead.

  It used to be thought that the softest lead is the 'best. This is true enough for solid balls as far as killing effect is concerned. The softest lead is not only the heaviest, but will expand the most upon striking. For a muzzle-loader with round ball or short cylindrical or conical ball it is probably the best metal. But whether softness is necessary for accuracy in any rifle, however light the ball, may well be doubted. It is, however, in such cases accurate enough.

  But where the ball is very long and heavy relatively to its diameter it starts so much more slowly that if soft it may be mashed out of shape before fairly under way. This is the case with the breech-loader, especially with a heavy charge of powder. This has already been fully considered. The best remedy for this is the admixture of tin with the lead. Five per cent of tin or ten per cent of common solder will improve the shooting of any ball from a breech- loader, whether long or short, round or cylindrical, and whether shot naked or patched. Double this quantity is sometimes necessary for very long balls. And even double that may be used. I once tried some balls that were about forty per cent tin, so hard I could hardly hammer them into the shell with the loading-tools. I shot these naked from a Maynard rifle, and they did the best work I have ever seen from a breech-loader. Five of them in succession I placed in a four-inch ring at two hundred yards, with globe- sights and rest of course. Several more fired at short distances cut into the same hole with almost the regularity of a muzzle-loader. The same is the case with round balls, which generally must be hardened to work well in a breech-loader. It is possible that a little tin in the ball might improve its accuracy even when fired from a muzzle-loader, though I have never tried it.

  The molds should be kept hot during the casting. Wrap the handles well with buckskin and let the molds get as hot as they please. Pour in only enough for one bullet at a time, putting the dipper back into the pot to keep hot. Pour in enough to fully fill the entrance-hole, and jar the molds a bit so as to have the metal well settled. In shaking balls out of the molds have a mat of cloth or paper to drop them on, and do not let them strike each other hard, as when hot they are very easily indented.

  Reject every defective ball. If the molds are new and make wrinkled balls, smoke them in a candle, burn grease in them, wipe thoroughly, resmoke and rewipe, etc. If you have many defective balls, keep them to melt over together with some more soft lead, as they may be too hard to load easily if remelted; and if put in the pot with the others they may affect the uniformity of the hardness of the rest. Where balls are to be patched they should be smoothed off and made even with a swedge. And even when to be shot naked this will improve them.

  These matters look like needless niceties. Of course good shooting may be done with carelessly made balls. But to observe this care will not make fifteen minutes' difference in the whole time of casting, and may some time save you a deer or an antelope. All through your dealings with the rifle observe this rule: whenever care costs little or nothing, use it.

  It used to be a maxim of the old hunters that "too much powder makes a ball fly wild." There is some truth in this if the ball be soft and the twist of the rifle swift, and plenty of truth in it if the ball be both soft and long. But if the ball be short or round and well hardened with tin and the twist slow, the amount of powder that may be used without affecting accuracy seems to be unlimited.

  It may be said that a small rifle cannot burn a large charge. Literally that is true. However small an amount of powder be put in a gun, some of it will probably be thrown out unburned unless in a very long barrel. But the greater the charge the greater the amount actually burned, although the proportionate amount burned will of course be less; just as two thirds of six drams is actually more than three fourths of four drams, etc.

  More powder can be used with effect behind round or short balls than behind very long ones. The effect of an increase of charge is noticeable at once in the straighter trajectory of the ball at short range, while the increase of recoil amounts to little. The increase of the charge of powder behind a long heavy ball is noticeable at once at the shoulder, but is hardly noticeable upon the ball's trajectory until it passes five hundred or six hundred yards, when extra force begins to show itself. The reason is that the increase of velocity has been too slight to materially straighten the curve of first two hundred yards or so. But this very slight velocity, uniting with the great weight of the long ball, has made a very material difference in momentum, upon which a long flight depends. It may, however, affect the trajectory by recoil, as we have seen under that head. As the killing effect of light balls depends materially upon velocity, one can hardly use too much powder behind them.

  For shot-guns both coarse and fine-grained powders have their champions. There is, however, now no dispute as to the best for a rifle. Fine powder used to be thought the best, and in a short barrel with a round ball doubtless will give a higher velocity. But coarse powder is generally quick enough, and for all long bullets is far the best. But where the bullet is not very long and you wish excessive force, as in an express rifle, it is well to put half a charge of coarse powder in the shell first with half a charge of fine upon the top of it. This will give a steady start and a swift send-off. But fine powder being quicker than coarse is more liable to jam or "upset" a ball, unless used upon this compensating principle.

  At short range, especially with round or short bullet, a trifling difference in the quantity of powder or in its dryness is not very material. But, where possible, care should be used even in this respect. And the longer the ball and the farther you wish to shoot the more essential becomes this care, and the more essential becomes the even setting of the powder in the shell; and take care not to break the grains by hard pounding, etc. More powder may be put in a shell, and it will be more evenly packed, by pouring it into the shell through a tube a yard or so in length.

  The mouth of the shell should be kept clean with diluted vinegar and a rag. The balls, if shot naked, should be thoroughly greased with tallow, which in hot weather may be mixed with a little beeswax, but in winter should be used pure. Beeswax dirties a rifle fast and should be used only when necessary, as in hot weather. A wad or two of heavy leather beneath the ball will do no harm, and will be apt to improve the shooting by preventing the flashing of fire around the ball as it passes into the grooves.

  But no rifle will shoot a long series of naked balls as well as one of patched ones. And if you get any rifle besides a repeater you should have it chambered and the shells fixed for shooting patched balls. I say "besides a repeater," because they are now all made for shooting naked balls. But I see no reason why such a fine rifle as the Winchester express should not be made to shoot patched balls, and see no reason why it could not.

  Long balls are patched with bank-note paper, gold-beater's skin, bladder, or parchment. Fair patching for deep-seated balls may be made of good strong linen smeared until stiff with hot tallow. This makes good patching for a muzzle-loader. Parchment is the best, and under the head of dressing buckskin I will show how to make some very easily that will be far superior in toughness to any you can buy. The material is cut into strips that will roll once and a half times or twice or two and a half times around the ball, according to thickness of material. It is wet with a little gum-arabic water, then rolled around the ball so as to cover about two thirds of its base, and the whole should then be dropped into a hole in a block to dry in that shape. You will, however, do well to buy a cartridge already patched and examine it before following directions from any one.

  To load round balls so as to shoot accurately in a breech-loader is no trifling matter and has puzzled many a one. To be shot naked they must be made very hard. They must fit very tight. Plenty of grease must be put around them and a heavy leather wad below them. Then they may work fairly well.

  But for good work they also must be patched. They cannot, however, be patched and pushed into the shell as into the muzzle of a muzzle-loader. The shoulder of the rifle will strip off the patch half the time. The following plan I find the most certain, and have picked up scores of patches in front of the rifle without finding any sign of stripping, tearing, or burning. Putting on a thick leather wad wads are even more essential under a round ball than under the cylindrical, as the fire leaks around them more I cut a strip of strong parchment well greased and about three quarters of an inch wide and just long enough to go once around inside the shell. Into this I push the ball, and turning over the edges of the patch put half a split wad upon the top to keep out dirt, etc. If round balls loaded in this way are not as accurate (at short range, of course) as the long ones, the fault is in the shoulder of the rifle-chamber. It is either too sharp or too far from the end of the cartridge, or some- thing of the kind. Buckskin makes even better patching than parchment, but is harder to use with full shells. The best patching varies, however, with rifles, and must be ascertained by experiment. This even of the muzzle-loader, and even more so of the breech-loader.

  Patched balls like naked ones should fit very tight in the shell. And in order to get them in straight and prevent swelling the shell so as to cause it to stick, it is better where the balls are deep-seated in the shell, as round ones generally are, to put the shell into a solid tube of metal such as is used as a "loader" to retain the shell when the ball is driven home. The more lightly the ball sits in the shell the nearer it comes to being in the grooves when receiving the first blow of the powder, and therefore the better it will shoot, all else being equal. In such case you may not be able to drive the ball in with the loader without damaging the patch, unless you use much care. But with the loader you can get it in tighter and generally much more true than by hand. If you use a double rifle, the balls must fit tight enough to prevent recoil throwing them in the next barrel out of the shell into the chamber.

  The shoulders of some rifles, especially of those made several years ago, may need some beveling off or other fixing before they will shoot patched balls well, as the shoulder may strip or cut the patch. Care must also be taken in carrying patched balls; for if the patch runs outside of the shell, as it should do for all long bullets or very accurate shooting, it will get torn or frayed in carrying. It should be carried in a belt that will protect it perfectly. A leather belt is the surest for this purpose. But every few days the cartridges should be taken out and wiped free from the verdigris that accumulates on shells in a leather belt. For other shells canvas makes a better belt.

  The cleaning of the rifle is a matter of much more importance than is generally supposed. Because a rifle may often shoot quite well when it is dirty many suppose that it either needs no cleaning or else cleans itself. All rifles need cleaning after every shot; that is, to do their best work. No rifle cleans itself except a muzzle-loader, and wiping will improve the shooting even of that. When shooting in damp air, cleaning is of less importance than in dry air, though its neglect may at any moment cause even the best breech-loader to throw a "wild" ball. But when shooting in dry air, especially on a hot day, the dirt burns so dry and hard that the bullet cannot push it out or slide over it without being affected by the roughness. A barrel containing such dirt is liable at any time to cut or even strip a patch, and is quite sure to wipe off lead from a naked ball. I have seen a Winchester of 1873 model shoot all over a two-foot candle-box at thirty yards after firing six or seven shots from it; and then after two or three good wipes shoot into a two-inch ring on the same box. The more powder you shoot, and the longer the barrel of the rifle, the greater the necessity of cleaning.

  Of course no one can stop to clean when shooting at game. But when no more game is in sight there is generally no reason for not cleaning except laziness. The power of that I must myself admit. The more unnecessary work invention removes, the more we shirk what necessary work remains.

  Cleaning in the field is so easy a matter that it is astonishing how we neglect it. A pocket wiper can be made and carried by every one. Every rifle should have a wiping-rod in the stock as does the Winchester.

  Wet dirt can nearly always be taken out with a dry rag. Dry dirt will generally yield to it after the barrel has been breathed into a few minutes. When in haste you may pour water or any other convenient substitute.

  Perfect cleaning may not be always convenient in the field, but there is no excuse for neglect of it, or for makeshifts of any kind when at home or in camp. The rifle should always be cleaned and oiled at night if it has been used during the day. Cleaning has been so thoroughly tested at the target that it is quite useless for any "practical man" to jump up and tell us how much game, etc., he kills with a dirty rifle, etc. We know all that. Of course it can be neglected as well as a dozen other points may be. The only question is, is such neglect profitable when all you gain by it is such a trifling bit of personal comfort?

  Some say, "never pour water in a fine gun." Water hurts a gun just as it does a razor when it is left on the metal. But a razor may be wet every day for a hundred years without injury from rust. So may a gun. There is absolutely nothing that takes hold of powder-dirt like water. Half the substitutes for it, such as kerosene, benzine, alcohol, etc., are heartless hoaxes and make thrice the labor that water does. If new strong cloth be used for wiping there will be no danger from water. It is a common idea that any old rag will do to clean a gun with. On the contrary, to clean a gun well requires good, strong, new, and rough cloth. Nothing lighter than heavy unbleached muslin can be relied on to bring all the dirt, lead, and dampness from a rifle.

  For cleaning, a strong rod of the best hickory should be used, notched and jagged instead of having a miserable eye or hook at the end, so that a heavy wad of cloth may be used without jamming. And this wad of cloth should occasionally be made so tight that the rod has to be driven against something solid to force it through. Only in this way can you be sure that your rifle is not leaded. The cloth thus driven through will either bring out the lead or show that it has passed lead.

  For greasing, almost any animal or vegetable oil is good. Rattlesnake-oil has more body than almost any other oil and is often easy to make. An excellent oil is made by cooking the marrow of a deer's legs. Vaseline and cosmoline are also good.

  But for a rust preventive scarcely anything excels mercurial ointment. Too much grease, however, may overshoot the mark. Enough is enough, and a tight and well-greased rag or bit of buckskin forced through the barrel once or twice is best.

  Should your rifle happen to get rusty inside it should be attended to at once. This had better be intrusted to a reliable gunsmith. But if none is at hand you had better do it yourself than leave it so. Very fine emery is safe enough for any one to use who is careful, but the rag should be well oiled and run back and forth through the barrel several times before the emery is applied to it. Apply it as evenly as possible, make the stroke long and steady, use plenty of oil, and keep up the polishing no longer than is necessary. Emery may, however, be as hard to get as a gunsmith. In such case use fine wood-ashes and plenty of muscle, and in either case have the barrel firmly lashed or fastened to something solid.

  But no amount of care with a rifle will obviate the necessity of practice with it in order to do good shooting. And this practice should be in the field, at natural marks, at varying distances, and in varying play of light and shade. It should be up hill and down hill, across valleys, etc. etc. Beyond the ordinary and obvious reasons for this I will mention another which affects me very much and must affect every one somewhat; viz., ocular aberration, or the impossibility of always measuring off with the eye the same exact amount of front sight necessary for good shooting on the horizontal line. The difference on the front sight of the thickness of two sheets of paper may cause a miss at one hundred yards. Who without much practice can tell the edge of six sheets of paper pressed together at the edge and held four feet from his eye from eight sheets held the same way? It would be hard enough even if both were seen side by side. Get a good carpenter to make you a foot-rule from memory, or ask a good draughtsman to mark you out by his eye a dozen or so separate one-eighth parts of an inch. Then get him to measure them and you will see one great cause of bad shooting.

  All through the subject of rifles I have for brevity omitted much that is generally known, such as how to load a muzzle-loader, etc., and much that can be left to the reader's common-sense, such as which way to move a rifle-sight to make it shoot high or low, or to right or left, etc.

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