MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 387 



course as the proper plan to prevent the engendering of rust. 

 Whether or not he also advised the standing of the barrels in a 

 damp cellar for a month or so, we did not ascertain, but might be 

 led to infer that he could not certainly object to this addition. 



When a barrel is fired, the metal of course becomes heated, and 

 the natural consequence of the application of this heat is a rapid 

 condensation and accumulation of moisture upon the inside of the 

 barrel, — the same as we often see collected upon the window-panes 

 of our houses on a cool November morning. This fact may be 

 clearly ascertained, if any one of my readers doubts the assertion, 

 by merely thrusting the little finger into the muzzle a minute or 

 two after firing, when it will be found that the inside of the gun is 

 covered with a certain degree of dampness which increases the 

 farther we go down the barrel. This moisture, in connection with 

 some of the ingredients used in the manufacture of powder, soon 

 creates a deposition of rust of a most corrosive character, which, 

 if allowed to remain for several weeks, will materially injure the 

 weapon. 



When a rust-spot or flaw is once made on the inside of a 

 barrel, it is very diflficult to be got at; and even after the most 

 cautious cleaning a small particle of moisture will be found cling- 

 ing to its uneven surface, which will continue to corrode the barrel 

 at this point, until at last a hole is actually eaten through, pro- 

 vided the gun does not burst before this takes place. A rust-flaw 

 upon a fine sword-blade is a most difiicult thing to get rid of, 

 although easily got at, and will often defy the rubbing and polish 

 ing of the most persevering amateur. How much more difficult, 

 therefore, must it be to remove it when entirely hidden from sight 

 far down the barrel ! 



Some shooters are in the habit of putting their guns away 

 loaded and letting them remain in this condition for weeks at a 

 time, and then fearlessly firing them ofi", little dreaming of the 

 danger they run by this piece of negligence, owing to the accu- 

 mulation of rust around the powder and along the barrel. That 

 the corrosive action of rust is the frequent cause of those terrible 



