ON LOADING PUNT-GUNS 211 
previous six. Needless to state, this fowler was delighted 
beyond words. He told us that the difference he found 
in the strength of the shooting of this gun after the new 
arrangement was far beyond his expectations. The real 
shooting of a punt-gun and all other wildfowl guns can never 
be as well tested as when actually tried at fowl. ‘‘ Plating” 
shots from guns serve their purpose, but we must all admit 
there is no better way to try a gun than by putting it to its 
work. 
In the case of a muzzle-loading swivel-gun and a plain 
breech, if the detonator is good, the flash from the ignition 
cuts clean into the centre of the bulk charge at the base, by the 
continuation of a groove across the inside of the breech and in 
a line with the vent. Probably the best and most reliable 
ignitions used for firing muzzle-loading punt-guns are the 
simple tube and double cap arrangements. The tube is not 
recommended for large charges (say over three ounces of 
powder), when rather too sudden a shock on explosion 
would be felt. Nipples, single and double, should be bushed 
with platinum at the ends of flash-holes. This metal, though 
expensive, in a marked degree prevents the flame widening 
the nipple channels, which, in the absence of platinum, would 
rapidly occur. In twin-cap ignition, where an excess of 
priming can be used, an escape hole is generally placed under- 
neath, by which means the overcharge can escape. 
Although we have been referring, up to the present, to 
muzzle-loading punt-guns alone, the matter illustrates the 
theory of proper ignition of big guns better than an 
ordinary reference to breech-loading swivel-guns. In the 
instance of an excess of ignition in a well-designed muzzle- 
loading gun, there is an escape for the overcharge. In a 
breech-loading weapon this is impracticable ;«:thus for good 
results the correct amount of priming must be loaded in the 
firing cartridge or tube. Of course, all who have used breech- 
