Perhaps the single most common question I'm asked, by mail and in person, is "Which is your favorite cartridge for deer?" The answer is that I don't have one. Sometimes it's phrased differently; for example, a reader may say "What do you use for deer, most of the time?" The answer to that one is most likely to be "Whatever happens to be handy."

In order to secure these revealing recoil studies, flashlight bulbs were taped to the muzzles of the guns and, for the rifles, to the scopes and the temple of the author's shooting glasses. The strobelight exposure was made a split-second prior to firing, and the traces made on the film by the bulbs records the movement of gun and shooter while the camera's shutter is open.