24 WING-SHOOTING. 



can pronounce them first-rate, I have used the Orange 

 Lightning, No. 5., Hamilton Caribou, No. 5., and Pigou, 

 Wilks and Laurance's Alliance, No. 4, quite extensively in 

 12 -gauge guns, and usually prefer them to all others. 

 These brands are strong, clean, and do not burn rapidly, 

 giving out little recoil, so that any one may fire several 

 hundred shots a day without a bruised shoulder or a head- 

 ache. The granules are not of equal size ; some are small ; 

 some medium ; while the majority are of the required 

 size ; this irregularity is supposed to be an advantage as it 

 causes a more complete combustion. A reason why a coarse- 

 grained powder is preferable to a fine-grained one is, that it 

 is burnt the whole length of the barrel, increasing its force 

 as it proceeds, and giving out less recoil ; while the fine- 

 grained powder is more rapidly consumed, spending its 

 force nearer the breech, so that the force of the shot is 

 somewhat impaired by the friction along the barrel. For 

 small guns and short barrels a fine-grained powder can be 

 used to advantage, but it is a rule that the wider the bore 

 and longer the barrel the coarser should be the powder. 

 When a gun is found to recoil too much, a coarse-grained 

 powder should be used. 



