AN UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT. 



RY FRANK FORESTER. 



(Concluded from page 375.) 



The sight is little used except for be- 

 ginners and by slow poking shots, who 

 dandle their guns after a bird for ten or 

 fifteen yards ; and therefore the less it 

 is the better ; one scarcely bigger than 

 a pin's head will be more out of the way 

 if not wanted ; and for those who require 

 it, the smaller it is the more readily it 

 will help them to the center. 



Directions for Trying Barrels. — A 

 man may be taken in with a horse or 

 dog, but never with a gun, after being 

 simply told Junv to try it. 



Having taken out the breeching, and 

 ascertained that the barrel is free from 

 flaws or unsound places, let him fire 

 about a dozen or twenty shots at a quire 

 of the thickest brown paper, by which 

 he will know to a certainty, both the 

 strength and closeness wnth which the 

 shot is driven ; and he should remem- 

 ber, that the strongest and most regular 

 shooting-gun is the best, provided it does 

 not throw the shot so thin as for a bird 

 to escape between them. 



The same quire of paper might do for 

 all, if one fresh sheet is put in front of, 

 and another behind it, every time the 

 gun is fired. 



Another, somewhat inferior, though a 

 quicker and cheaper way of trying bar- 

 rels is, to borrow an iron plate and white- 

 wash it every shot. By doing this you 

 save the expense of and time required 

 for nailing up paper, and can form a 

 tolerable idea of the strength, by observ- 

 ing the impression of the lead ; as the 

 stronger the gun shoots, the flatter the 

 pellets are beat and the larger, of course, 

 therefore, will the dark spots appear, on 

 the white surface. 



Before concluding on the examination 

 of barrels, it may be proper to observe 

 that a barrel may be pretty good and 

 perfectly safe, and yet not able to bear 

 the scientific inspection of a first-rate 

 maker or judge : that is, to hold the bar- 

 rel up to the window, and gradually 

 raise it till the shade, from above the 

 window, runs along its surface ; by which 

 inspection you will easily discover the 

 most trifling want of flnish. For in- 

 stance, examine a barrel of Mr. Lancas- 

 ter in this manner, and the shade will 

 run along it like the even surface on the 

 flow of smooth water. But take a bar- 

 rel of an inferior finisher, and you will 

 perceive the iron all in bumps, as if the 

 flow of water was agitated by wind. To 

 the many, however, who fancy them- 

 selves good judges of a gun, the one 

 might appear as perfect as the other ; 

 and so indeed it would, to every person 

 who examined it in the ordinary way. 

 To inspect the inside of a barrel raise it 

 in like manner, and if the stream of 

 shade, as it were, flows true and steady, 

 the boring may be considered straight, 

 and free from any palpable defect. 



The stock, to be neat in appearance, 

 should be cut away, as close as strength 

 and safety will admit of, and well tapered 

 off at the locks. The butt may be rather 

 full. A check-piece, however, is not 

 only as frightful as its usual companion 

 the scroll-guard, but is sometimes apt to 

 give the very blow that it is intended to 

 save. If, however, a sportsman prefers 

 having something to steady his hand, 

 Lancaster will show him a plan of mine 

 for a movable pistol gripe, that can be 

 put to any stock, and taken off at pleas- 



