MUZZLE-LOADERS AND BREECH-LOADERS. 61 
day’s fag will be found annoying. But for all the 
shore-birds, and even for English snipe, the breech- 
loader has an immense advantage. It requires a 
quarter of a drachm of powder extra, and, on this 
account as well as from the cost of the Gases, is more 
expensive in use; with the extra allowance of pow- 
der, however, it shoots stronger, with as good a pat- 
ten and as little recoil as its rival; it is somewhat 
heavier to carry, infinitely safer to load, rarely misses 
fire, and may be cleaned ere the tow can ne prepared 
for the. muzzle-loader. 
Of course the better the barrels, the better it will 
shoot, to a greater degree even than the old gun; 
and it-is being daily made more perfect. The weight 
has already been reduced, for field-guns even of No. 
12 bore, to six pounds ten ounces, which is as light 
as any double-gun should be, and the mechanism of 
the parts is very fine. Of course the friction on the 
hinge will in the end wear it loose, but the expense 
of a new one is trifling, and its construction might 
almost be entrusted to a country blacksmith. The 
barrels are said to spring slightly at the discharge 
when the load is heavy, so that a piece of thin paper 
pasted across at the break-off along the ridge will 
be rent ; and, on the other hand, Mr. Dougall, of 
Glasgow, claims to have made an invention called 
by him the “ Lockfast,” that removes this difficulty. 
The objection, however, is not important; and Mr. 
Dougail’s invention, by which the barrels slip into a 
shoulder-cut on the face of the breech, is consider- 
ably slower in action than the other patterns : it can- 
