The Arizona sentinel., 1899-12-02
BOER AND HIS RIFLE.

iiLiC; buG CbCiI NSd t'O'4 blICA VI di very different from the arm useC last week at Dundee. The rifle O 20 years ago was built on the lines of the British Martini. It was $ harmless arm of about nine pounds in weight, with a 30,inch half oc- tagon barrel and a shotgun butt stock. The caliber was 45, with a bullet weighing from 305 to 45C grains The powder charge was 90 grains in brass drawn cartridge case. The rifle was sighted up to 2,000 yards. Besides the usual sta tionery sight it had a reversible front-that is, sight capable of being used as an ordinary front sight, and, by single motion, it was changed into a fine pinhead sight covered with a ring to keep it from being knocked off. On an oc- casion where particularly fine shoot ing was demanded this front globe was further covered with thimble shaped hood, shading it perfectly The usual standing rear or fixed sights were on the barrel, while on the guns grip was a turndown peep that was regulated by a side screw to an elevation of 2,000 yards. The peep and globe were never used under 700 or 500 yards.
 q was very much interested in the Boer ridemen and their weap- ons," said Archibald Forbes, who was wi;h Sir Evelyn Woods column Tn South Africa in 1S79-8O. "They are marvellous rifle shots. They shoot their antelope and other game from the saddle, not apparently caring to get nearer to their quarry than 600 or 700 yards. Then they understand the currents ofair, their effect upon the drift ot bullet, and can judge distance as accurately as 1t could be measured by skilled englneer. They can hit an officer g far aS they can discern his in, 'ignia of rank. Sir George ". CoIley, the commander in South Africa, was killed at distance of 1,400 yards at Majuba hill. We lost terribly in officers at the fight mentioned, and also at Laing's Nek and Rorke'5 Drift, from the deadly rifles of the sharpshooting Boers,"
 It is easy enough to see how the Boers became so expert with the rifle. History of l00 ard more years ago in the Southwest and the West of this country Is repeating itself on the South African v.ldts. Every old state of the American Union except Louisiana was won from it's red owners by the pioneer and his deadly rife. For 240 years the Hollander who went to far-off South Africa and his decendants have fought wild beasts and wild men for the country they wanted. The Boer region of south Africa, producingfne wheat and corn crops, s very fertile. Ii has native grass that live stock thrives on, with a climate very mu-h like that of the country from southwestern Kan sas to New Mexico But to obtain this country the Boers had first to conqueor;t. This made him asharp- shooter One hundred and fifty years ago the Dutch farmer with his fve-foot- barrel CT, a smooth- bore gun, was dead shot within the limitations of his weapon Every Beer is q hunter. He has to be. His farm is large, anywhere from 15.VO0 to 25,O0O acres. The country Is sparsely settled The lion and other smaller eats and the hyena were the natural enemies of his ao3ks and herds. They had to be kept down by the roer and ia.er by the rifle, Kruger l. himself said to have killed 25O lions, not to speak of partners and hyenas. Then the ever-present danger of a native outbreak caused the solitary farmer or Boer to see to 1t that he had the best arms available for de- fense and offanse.
 The Boer weapon that did such execution the other day is the sport ing model of the Mannlicher. German arm, perhaps the most powerful weapon of its caIiber and
  weight Tn the world. The military is used in the armies of Austria, Holland, Greece, Brazil, Jhili, Peru and Roumania, The