The British Sporting Gun and Rifle

Book excerpt: The definitive book on the subject The period from 1850 to 1900 witnessed the most far-reaching changes sporting gun and rifle design had ever experienced. Prior to this, changes had been pedestrian; the muzzleloader still prevailed in 1850 as it had for previous centuries. In this major work, Dallas details the many changes that occurred in the latter half of the nineteenth century. He describes at length the pinfire, centre-fire, and hammerless developments along with all the ancillary changes made to sporting guns. He also outlines the many developments in rifles: the superseding of the two groove muzzle-loading Express rifle by the multi-groove, breech-loading rifle of smaller calibre with higher velocity and greater power, propelled by nitro powder and with many different mechanisms on offer.