SEC. I IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE ii 



pump away till your arms ache. Change the rag or tow, and the 

 water too, till they both stay clean for all the swabbing you can do. 

 Then use boiling water till the barrels are well heated ; wipe as 

 dry as possible inside and out, and set them by a fire. Finish with 

 a light oiling, inside and out ; touch up all the metal about the 

 stock, and polish the wood-work. Do not remove the locks oftener 

 than is necessary ; every time they are taken out, something of the 

 exquisite fitting that marks a good gun may be lost ; as long as 

 they work smoothly take it for granted they are all right. To 

 keep a gun well, under long disuse, it should have had a particu- 

 larly thorough cleaning ; the chambers should be packed with 

 greasy tow ; greased wads may be rammed at intervals along the 

 barrels ; or the barrels may be filled with melted tallow. Neat's- 

 foot is recommended as the best easily procured oil ; the porpoise- 

 oil which is used by watchmakers is the very best ; the oil made 

 for use on sewing-machines is excellent ; " olive " oil (made of lard) 

 for table use answers the purpose. The quality of an oil may be 

 improved by putting in it a few tacks, or scrajDS of zinc, — the oil 

 expends its rusting capacity in oxidising the metal. Inferior oils 

 get " sticky." One of the best preventives of rust is mercurial 

 ("blue") ointment; it may be freely used. Kerosene will remove 

 rust ; but use it sparingly, for it " eats " sound metal too. 



To Load a Gun effectively requires something more than 

 knowledge of the facts that the powder should go in before the 

 shot, and that each should have a Avad atop. The most nearly 

 universal fault is use of too much shot for the amount of powder ; 

 and the next, too much of both. The rule is hulk for hdk of powder 

 and shot. If not exactly this, then rather less shot than powder. 

 It is absurd to suppose, as some persons do who ought to know 

 better, that the more shot in a gun the greater the chances of kill- 

 ing. The projectile force of a charge cannot possibly be greater 

 than the vis inerticc of the gun as held by the shooter. The explo- 

 sion is manifested in all directions, and blows the shot in one Avay 

 simply because it has no other escape. If the resistance in front 

 of the powder were greater than elsewhere, the shot would not 

 budge, but the gun would fly backward, or burst. This always 

 reminds me of Lord Dundreary's famous conundrum — Why does a 

 dog wag his tail 1 Because he is bigger than his tail ; otherwise 

 the tail would wag him. A gun shoots shot because the gun is the 

 heavier ; otherwise the shot would shoot the gun. Every unneces- 

 sary pellet is a pellet against you, not against the game. The 

 experienced sportsman uses about one-third less shot than the tyro, 

 with proportionally better result, other things being equal. As to 

 powder, moreover, a gun can only burn just so much, and every 

 grain blown out unburnt is Avasted. No express directions for 



