To Kill A Mocking Bird Chapters 9, 10, 11

It is said that Atticus is the top shot of the county in the story, but i find that a bit unclear. When he shot the rabid dog, it was mentioned that he was far away from it and that he didn't have his glasses on, plus if he missed, he would hit the Radley house. There are many factors that would have come into play here. What type of rifle was he using? Being in older times, if it was a Flintlock Rifle, it would have been impressive, but around that time, there were rifles that had cartridges like modern day guns, and it was more likely that he was using the later kind. Also, I wasn't clearly told how far away Atticus was from the dog when he shot it. So if he had a higher elevation and he was using a more modern rifle, then it probably wouldn't have been that impressive from the perspective of a gunmen from this time. But it was an older time, so if he was using a Flintlock from the same elevation at night without his glasses, that would probably make it a more impressive feat.