To an American in the 1920s, “repeating rifle” would probably first suggest a lever-action rifle, although the term was also used for bolt-action, pump-action, and even semiautomatic rifles. 30-06 Springfield, that would have meant serious outlay, however.
At over $100 per thousand for a serious calibre like the. Even those are small boxes rather than cases, though, so perhaps he actually did mean that Akeley bought several thousand rounds. 22 Long Rifle cartridges usually came at the time. 22-calibre ammunition, he might have thought of the 50-round packages in which. Since Lovecraft was probably most familiar with. Of course, Lovecraft could have mixed up the term with “box,” generally indicating a much smaller unit of 20 rifle rounds per box, but even that would mean quite a lot of shooting. He protected himself with a large pack of guard dogs and a “big-game repeating rifle” which he used so extensively that at some point he had to restock his ammunition, buying “several cases.” Considering the standardized ammunition packaging of the 1920s, this would mean 1,000 rounds per case, suggesting considerable ammunition expenditure. This makes it feel less immediate, but the descriptions still suggest severe combat.Īkeley, living in a remote area of Vermont, was beset by alien forces and their local agents. Practically all of the action comes to us second-hand, through the letters that Professor Albert Wilmarth received from Henry Akeley. Lovecraft’s writing is a one-sided affair, one of his most iconic stories features a veritable shootout. No doubt it was absurd, but I kept ready for some unknown emergency gripping in my right hand the revolver I had brought along, and holding the pocket flashlight in my left. Sleep, I decided, would be out of the question so I merely extinguished the lamp and threw myself on the bed fully dressed. (set in 1928, written in 1930, published in 1931)īlasphemous influences seemed to surround me and press chokingly upon my senses. Part of Lovecraft’s Investigators and Their Guns.