The patches should be of silk, soaked in a mixture of one part of
beeswax and two of fresh hog's lard, free from salt. If they are
spread with pure grease, it melts out of them in a hot country,
and they become dry. Silk is better than linen as it is not so
liable to be cut down by the sharp grooves of the rifle. It is
also thinner than linen or calico, and the ball is therefore more
easily rammed down.
All balls should be made of pure lead, without any hardening
mixture. It was formerly the fashion to use zinc balls, and lead
with a mixture of tin, etc., in elephant-shooting. This was not
only unnecessary, but the balls, from a loss of weight by
admixture with lighter metals, lost force in a proportionate
degree. Lead may be a soft metal, but it is much harder than any
animal's skull, and if a tallow candle can be shot through a deal
board, surely a leaden bullet is hard enough for an elephant's
head.
I once tried a very conclusive experiment on the power of balls
of various metals propelled by an equal charge of powder.
I had a piece of wrought iron five-eights of an inch thick, and
six feet high by two in breadth. I fired at this at one hundred
and seventy yards with my two-grooved four-ounce rifle, with a
reduced charge of six drachms of powder and a ball of pure lead.
It bulged the iron like a piece of putty, and split the centre of
the bulged spot into a star, through the crevice of which I could
pass a pen-blade.
A ball composed of half zinc and half lead, fired from the same
distance, hardly produced a perceptible effect upon the iron
target. It just slightly indented it.
I then tried a ball of one-third zinc and two-thirds lead, but
there was no perceptible difference in the effect.
I subsequently tried a tin bill, and again a zinc ball, but
neither of them produced any other effect than slightly to indent
the iron.
I tried all these experiments again at fifty yards' range, with
the same advantage in favor of the pure lead; and at this reduced
distance a double-barreled No. 16 smoothbore, with a large charge
of four drachms of powder and a lead ball, also bulged and split
the iron into a star. This gun, with a hard tin ball and the
same charge of powder, did not produce any other effect than an
almost imperceptible indentation.
if a person wishes to harden a bill for any purpose, it should be
done by an admixture of quicksilver to the lead while the latter
is in a state of fusion, a few seconds before the ball is cast.
The mixture must be then quickly stirred with an iron rod, and
formed into the moulds without loss of time, as at this high
temperature the quicksilver will evaporate. Quicksilver is
heavier than lead, and makes a ball excessively hard; so much so
that it would very soon spoil a rifle. Altogether, the hardening
of a ball has been shown to be perfectly unnecessary, and the
latter receipt would be found very expensive.
If a wonderful effect is required, the steel-tipped conical ball
should be used. I once shot through fourteen elm planks, each
one inch thick, with a four-ounce steel-tipped cone, with the
small charge (for that rifle) of four drachms of powder. The
proper charge for that gun is one-fourth the weight of the ball,
or one ounce of powder, with which it carries with great nicety
and terrific effect, owing to its great weight of metal
(twenty-one pounds); but it is a small piece of artillery which
tries the shoulder very severely in the recoil.
I have frequently watched a party of soldiers winding along a
pass, with their white trousers, red coats, white cross-belts and
brass plates, at about four hundred yards, and thought what a
raking that rifle would give a body, of troops in such colors for
a mark. A ball of that weight with an ounce of powder, would
knock down six or eight men in a row. A dozen of such weapons
well handled on board a ship would create an astonishing effect;
but for most purposes the weight of the ammunition is a serious
objection.
There is a great difference of opinion among sportsmen regarding
the grooves of a rifle; some prefer the two-groove and belted
ball; others give preference to the eight or twelve-groove and
smoothbore. There are good arguments on both sides.
There is no doubt that the two-groove is the hardest hitter and
the longest ranger; it also has the advantage of not fouling so
quickly as the many-grooved. On the other hand, the
many-grooved is much easier to load; it hits quite hard enough;
and it ranges truly much farther than any person would think of
firing at an animal. Therefore, for sporting purposes, the only
advantage which the two-groove possesses is the keeping clean,
while the many-groove claims the advantage of quick loading.
The latter is by far the more important recommendation,
especially as the many-groove can be loaded without the
assistance of the eye, as the ball, being smooth and round, can
only follow the right road down the barrel. The two-grooved
rifle, when new, is particularly difficult to load, as the ball
must be tight to avoid windage, and it requires some nicety in
fitting and pressing the belt of the ball into the groove, in
such a manner that it shall start straight upon the pressure of
the loading-rod.
