Existing comment:
Springfield Rifle:
Theodore Roosevelt brought three rifles to hunt game in British East Africa: a Winchester 405; a double-barreled 500-450 Holland and Holland; and this "army Springfield, 30-caliber, stocked and sighted to suit myself," which he used with a new "small, solid, sharp pointed army bullet." On safari, he personally carried either the Winchester or the Springfield, which "for ordinary game I ... preferred ... to any other rifles," acknowledging, however, that one's "choice of a rifle is... a matter of personal idiosyncrasy ... [and] that any good modern rifle is good enough. The determining factor is the man behind the gun."
Roosevelt's marksmanship had grown rusty while in the White House, and unbeknownst to the public, a boxing injury he incurred while he was president blinded him in one eye. Once in Africa, however, he improved rapidly. Although no longer a good target shooter, he was regarded by a professional hunter on the expedition, as "a much better game-shot than the majority of riflemen."
from Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, National Park Service, Oyster Bay, New York |