Drew,

You were right, the book is indeed “The Curse of the Wise Woman”. I have bought a paperback copy.

In it Lord Dunsany, writing about a .250 rook rifle, a hammer rifle with a non-selective ejector recommends disabling the ejector to lose the very audible “click” on opening the rifle and learning to cock the hammer silently.

He recommended shooting with both eyes open, and using hollow point bullets as being more humane and less likely to ricochet .

He does however condemn the “shiny” centre line on the back sight stating that it makes it “impossible to tell” “whether you are taking a fine sight or a coarse sight” and says there should not be anything “shiny” on the back sight .

He clearly did not subscribe to the school of thought that says you should only use “the bead, the whole bead and nothing but the bead” and just aim up or down on the animal to allow for range.

Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction,

Keep Well

Parabola