4o6 



TJic Avicrican Aiii^Ier 



lire. This proves to answer very well ; 

 but I dislike all the others, both for use 

 and appearance. 



[The movable pistol-stock here de- 

 scribed is not only useless but is a hid- 

 eous disfigurement to a fowling piece. 

 In a very heavy duck gun it is a very 

 advisable appendage, as such a gun is 

 apt to kick terribly if not held tight to 

 the shoulder.] 



The stocks of single guns are generally 

 tipped or capped with horn ; but some 

 makers have discarded this, through 

 fear of its being split by the recoil, and 

 either leave a clumsy continuation of 

 the wood, or tip the stock with a ginger- 

 bread-looking piece of silver ; whereas, 

 if they would only leave a space of about 

 the thickness of a shilling between the 

 end of the rib and the horn, the recoil, 

 however great, could have no influence 

 on that part. 



The length, bend, and casting off a 

 stock, must of course be fitted to the 

 shooter, who should have his measure 

 for them as carefull}- entered on a gun- 

 maker's books, as that for a suit of clothes 

 on those of his tailor. He has then only 

 to direct that his guns may be well bal- 

 anced ; to do which, the maker will put 

 lead, proportioned to their weight ; so 

 that, on holding each of them flat on the 

 left hand, with the end of the lock op- 

 posite to the little finger, he will find a 

 sufficient equilibrium to make the gun 

 rest perfectly steady on the hand. 



I have proved that this degree of bal- 

 ance answers best, as a butt too much 

 loaded is apt to hang upon the right 

 hand in bringing it up, and -oice versa on 

 the left, which is top-heavy. 



N. B.— The lower down the butt the 

 lead is let in, the steadier the gun will 

 keep to the shoulder, as it then acts like 

 ballast to a rolling vessel. 



REMEMBER— The American Angler is 

 now only One Dollar a year. 



All stocks should have a good fall in 

 the handle, and not be, as some are, 

 nearly horizontal in that part. This has 

 nothing to do with the general bend or 

 mounting of the stock, but it is merely 

 to keep the hand to the natural position, 

 instead of having, as it were, the handle 

 wrenched from the fingers while grasp- 

 ing it. 



A stock that is deep and comes out 

 well at the toe, or bottom of the heel- 

 plate, is the most steady when pitched 

 on the object. 



For those who take a pride in the ap- 

 pearance of their stocks and select hand- 

 some pieces of wood, I know of nothing 

 better to keep them polished, than a 

 little linseed oil, and plenty of what is 

 vulgarly called elbow grease. 



[It is remarkable that Col. Hawker 

 should make no allusion here to what I, 

 consider the greatest beauty of a stock — 

 I mean a nice, slender, delicate gripe, 

 without which it is scarcely possible to 

 bring up a gun hastily and agreeably to 

 the face. The defect in this point, 

 clumsiness of the gripe, I regard as one 

 of the worst faults a gun can have ; and 

 on .that account I detest back action 

 locks, which, unless this portion of the 

 gun is unduly thickened, weakens it so 

 much that a break is almost the sure 

 consequence of a fall.] 



The new and easy recipe for polishing 

 gun-stocks is to varnish them precisely 

 like the panels of a carriage. 



[This varnish, however, easily scratches 

 and shows an ugly white line. In' my 

 opinion, a plain well-oiled stock, if of 

 handsome work, is by far the best, and, 

 as the Colonel says, a little elbow grease 

 always keeps that right.] 



To Lay Up your Gun for the Wititer. — 

 Run melted mutton fat in the barrels 

 until they are full. To do this the bar- 

 rels must be moderately warm when you 

 commence the operation, or the grease 



