SHOOTING MENAGE

Evening Star, Issue 23123, 24 November 1938, Page 12

SHOOTING MENAGE

THE SAWM-OFF RIFLE CORONER EMPHASISES DANGER [Pek United Press Association.] BLENHEIM, November 24. The danger of carrying a sawn-off rifle was stressed by the coroner, Mr E. J. Hill, at the inquest at Pictou yesterday afternoon into the death of Alan Steele Bunt, at Endeavour Inlet. Returning a verdict that deceased died from the effects of a bullet wound in the neck, the result of a shot accidentally fired by a companion on a pigshooting trip, the coroner stated that too much emphasis could not be placed upon the danger of the practice of some shooters of using snwn-off rifles, reduced to pistol size. Two such weapons had been recently the cause of fatalities in Marlborough, A warning should be issued as to the menace of such weapons. In the present case, the pistol was an amateur construction, according to the report of the Government arms expert. There was no trigger guard, the safety catch had been removed, the trigger pull was very light, and the weapon was extrcmely clumsy and awkward to lead. Even with considerable tare the operation of loading would be dangerous. The evidence of deceased’s companions showed that shots had been fired at a pig, and Borne was reloading when the pistol went off, the bullet striking Bunt (who was in front) in the nock.