THE CHANGING HILL RIFLE

The 1840s and 1850s:

Rifles of this period were already impressively accurate. John Dickson made them with two-groove rifling, firing pear-shaped bullets with ‘wings’ that fitted into the grooves. They were effective at ranges up to 200 yards. Remarkably, telescopic sights were being fitted to these rifles as early as the 1850s.

The pinnacle of percussion stalking rifle development was a double rifle of 30-bore, with leaf sights to 100, 200 and 300 yards. The external