A/f Unpublished Manuscript of Frank Forester's. 



375 



cles to ignite, many of them, especially 

 in powder of good firm grain, will fly 

 off unburnt, and, of course, a part only 

 of the charge would be proved. 



The part attached to the wheel of 

 the epreuvette, which shuts the mouth 

 of the chamber, should be so nicely 

 adjusted, that on looking closely at the 

 parts, when in contact, no light can be 

 seen between them ; for, if any light, 

 there is of course so much vacancy, 

 and consequently so much windage ; 

 and, in proportion to the windage, the 

 proof will be lower, and, therefore, 

 incorrect. 



Three fires, at least, should always 

 be made in proving, and the average 

 taken as the mean amount ; for varia- 

 tions frequently happen in fires 

 immediately following each other, 

 although made with considerable at- 

 tention. Care should be taken, after 

 every fire to clean the chamber nicely, 

 or otherwise the foulness left by the 

 preceding discharge would lessen the 

 space, by which the succeeding charge 

 would become proportionally less. 



The best powder for flint-gtms is the 

 "fine cylinder," for copper cap guns, 

 either cylinder No. 2, according to the 

 length of communication ; because with 

 these guns the larger grained powder 

 often fails to ignite. But with copper 

 primers we should use No. i, which is 

 of larger grain ; and particularly in 

 damp weather, or on salt water. 



As I stated to Messrs. Curtis and 

 Mr. Harvey, I have invariably observed 

 that small-grained powder fails to 

 answer in large guns; particularly on 

 salt water and in damp weather. It 

 always shoots weak, beyond fifty or 

 sixty yards, and is very liable to hang 

 fire. If a punt-gun is loaded with fine 

 powder, and brought in at night, the 



chances are that it would hang fire in 

 the morning. But with coarse cannon- 

 powder, I have known a gun that has 

 been loaded abovt; a fortnight go off 

 as well as possible, by merely being 

 probed and fresh primed. 



When using cannon-powder for small 

 guns, you must regulate your measure 

 by weight; because the grains are so 

 large that your common flask-top, if 

 filled up, would contain as much vacuum 

 as powder, and consequently give you 

 scarcely more than half a charge. 



[For myself, I have always shot in 

 the United States with English powder, 

 unless during the short period in which 

 Rogers' Orange powder was manu- 

 factured at Newburgh, N. Y. It was 

 the best, and only clean, American 

 powder I have ever seen. It left an 

 orange stain in burning, and was both 

 strong and free from corrosion. 



Common powder is the best for 

 fowl shooting, with the exception of 

 a splendid article — Hawker's ducking 

 powder — manufactured by Messrs. Cur- 

 tis & Harvey, and for sale by Wm. 

 Brough. It resembles bits of anthra- 

 cite coal more than gun powder, and 

 seems almost as hard and as 

 inflammable, for I have vainly tried 

 to ignite it on a sheet of pasteboard 

 by a lucifer match, and then by a hot 

 poker; though it never fails to explode 

 to the cap, even when far too large to 

 chamber in the nipple. It never melts 

 or sweats in the dampest sea air. 



I think we are all in the habit of 

 using our powder too fine. Part of the 

 charge, when extremely fine, ignites so 

 rapidly as to drive out the remainder 

 unexploded, besides which an undue 

 velocity retards rather than accelerate 

 the force of the shot, by creating an 

 undue and unnecessary resistance.] 



[to be continued.] 



