The fact is, that many persons fire so hastily at
game that they take no sight at all, as though they were
snipe-shooting with many hundred grains of shot in the charge.
This will never do for ball-practice, and when the rifle is
placed in such hands, the breech-sights naturally bother the eye
which is not accustomed to recognize any sight; and while the
person is vainly endeavouring to get the sight correctly on a
moving object, the animal is increasing his distance. By way of
cutting the Gordian knot, he therefore knocks his sight out, and
accordingly spoils the shooting of the rifle altogether.
Put a rifle in the hands of a man who knows how to handle it, and
let him shoot against the mutilated weapon deprived of its sight,
and laugh at the trial. Why, a man might as well take the rudder
off a ship because he could not steer, and then abuse the vessel
for not keeping her course!
My idea of guns and rifles is this, that the former should be
used for what their makers intended them, viz., shot-shooting,
and that no ball should be fired from any but the rifle. Of
course it is just as easy and as certain to kill an elephant with
a smooth-bore as with a rifle, as he is seldom fired at until
within ten or twelve paces; but a man, when armed for wild sport,
should be provided with a weapon which is fit for any kind of
ball-shooting at any reasonable range, and his battery should be
perfect for the distance at which he is supposed to aim.
