MUZZLE-LOADERS AND BREECH-LOADERS. 41 
this is a sheer impossibility. The gas cannot pene- 
trate the paper of the cartridge, and if it bursts the 
latter, still cannot escape except through the brass ; 
and although the least perceptible amount may come 
out alongside of the pin, it 1s scarcely traceable, and 
nothing like what is lost at the percussion-cap in the 
common gun. These cartridges are wonderfully 
close, as the reader may conclude when he is in- 
formed that a loaded breech-loader, left entirely 
under water for fifteen minutes, was discharged as 
promptly as though it had never been wet; while a 
muzzle-loader, that had not been half so long ex- 
posed, would not go at all, and required an hour’s 
cleaning. In fact, the breech-loader is entirely im- 
pervious to any ordinary wetting, will not fail in 
the worst rain, and the average number of miss-fires, 
in well made cartridges, is one in a thousand. 
In the handling of this gun there is one peculi- 
arity: the pins rise from the middle of the car- 
tridge, and not at one side, like the ordinary cones, 
thus bringing the hammers closer together. To the 
beginner this may appear awkward, but is no real 
disadvantage. It would seem also desirable to use 
more powder with a breech-loader, although this is 
not necessary to so great an extent as it was for- 
merly; but, on the other hand, the weight at the 
breech appears either to diminish the recoil or reduce 
its effects on the shooter; as the testimony of persons 
using breech-loaders is unanimous that the recoil is 
less perceptible than with muzzle-loaders, although 
the scales have refused to verify their impression. 
