Excerpt from The Sportsman's Vade-Mecum for the Himalayas: Containing Notes on Shooting, Outfit, Camp Equipment, Sporting Yarns, Etc

This may be well styled a dangerous subject, as to mention individual makers would lead to the supposition that it was worth my while to puff them; I must therefore omit all names, and trust my readers to believe me when I say I have tried and fired weapons by most well-known, and by some unknown, makers. In the latter category are included those who are local and do not advertise in any papers that have passed through my hands, besides those who have joined the great majority and are now forgotten. From all I have tried I have drawn my own deduc tions, and to-morrow could select a gun from one house and a rifle from another without any deliberation as to which to choose for a name.

No matter where you buy your weapons, try them yourself at 100, 150, and 200 yards for the rifle; at 40 yards for the gun. Diagrams are perfectly correct and dependable when supplied, but it is a fact that they have been made by men who have much experience and practice, and represent what can be done with the weapon when in their hands. There are many reasons why you cannot do as well, and, unless you can make fairly average shooting with both barrels, try another and another weapon until you get what you want. One of the commonest sources of irregular shooting is the weight of the pull-oe of the triggers; for a rifle they must be heavy, otherwise the left hammer may fall on the explosion Of the right barrel. But they should be alike, and you should be thoroughly accustomed to the strain required. Last Winter a friend of mine made vile shooting with a gun he had selected after trial at a well-known maker's; he Shot so badly that at last be appealed to me. I tried the gun at rabbits bolting across narrow rides cut through high gorse, found the pull-off excessive, told him so, and he had it rectified, making excellent practice subsequently.

When firing snap shots with a rifle you may not heed the pull-off, but at the end of a long stalk, after a good head, you will find that an excessive strain on the forefinger is by no means conducive to good shooting.

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