Wild Beasts and Their Ways, Reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America — Volume 1Baker, Samuel White, Sir
History
Wild Beasts and Their Ways, Reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America — Volume 1
Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Animal behavior; Hunting
This is clumsy shooting. The solid bullet of pure lead would have killed
upon the spot, as the bullet would have retained its substance although
it altered its form, and the shock would have been more severe, The
hollow bullet exhibits a peculiar result in a post-mortem examination:
the lungs may be hopelessly torn and ragged, the liver and the heart may
be also damaged, all by the same projectile, because it has been
converted into small shot immediately upon impact. Frequently a minute
hole will be observed upon the entrance, and within an inch beneath the
skin a large aperture will be seen where an explosion appears to have
taken place by the breaking-up of the lead, all of which has splashed
into fragments scattering in every direction.
Common sense will suggest that although such a bullet will kill, it is
not the sort of weapon to stop a dangerous animal when in full charge.
Weak men generally prefer the hollow Express because the rifle is
lighter and handier than the more formidable weapon, and the recoil is
not so severe, owing to the lightness of the bullet.
My opinion may be expressed in a few words. If you wish the bullet to
expand, use soft lead, but keep the metal solid. If you wish for great
penetration, use hard solid metal, either 1/10 tin or 1/13 quicksilver.
Even this will alter its form against the bones of a buffalo, but either
of the above will go clean through a wapiti stag, and would kill another
beyond it should the rifle be '577 fired with 6 drams of powder.
The same rifle will not drive a soft leaden solid bullet through a male
tiger if struck directly through the shoulder; it will be found
flattened to a mushroom form beneath the skin upon the other side,
having performed its duty effectively, by killing the tiger upon the
spot, and retaining intact the metal of which it was composed.
A post-mortem inquiry in the latter case would be most satisfactory. If
the bullet shall have struck fair upon the shoulder-joint, it will be
observed that although it has retained its substance, the momentum has
been conveyed to every fragment of crushed bone, which will have been
driven forward through the lungs like a charge of buckshot, in addition
to the havoc created by the large diameter of an expanded '577 bullet.
Both shoulders will have been completely crushed, and the animal must of
course be rendered absolutely helpless. This is a sine qua non in all
shooting. Do not wound, but kill outright; and this you will generally
do with a '577 solid bullet of pure lead, or with a Paradox bullet 1 3/4
ounces hard metal and 4 1/2 drams of powder. This very large bullet is
sufficiently formidable to require no expansion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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