PUNT-GUNS. 123 



the pimt-g'un should never be shifted about, or taken to or from the 

 punt, with a cap on the nipple. It is also indispensably necessary 

 that the lock should be protected from the weather and ill effects of 

 salt water, by an oil-skin or painted-canvas coating", which should be 

 kept over the lock at all times, except when actually punting- or 

 settinff to birds. 



Elevation of the Punt-gun. 



The success or failure of the punter's expeditions depend mainly 

 on this important consideration ; for it must be obvious to every one, 

 that unless the punt-g;un lies in a position bearing accurately upon the 

 object fired at, the shot will be ineifective. Now it would seem an 

 easy matter to place a gun, whether heavy or not, in such a position 

 upon the head of a punt, as to be at all times in a direct line with 

 the object to be fired at. It is, however, by no means so simple a 

 task as many would suppose ; and, as it is one particularly demand- 

 ing- explanation, it will be our purpose to describe minutely the 

 whole art. And, for this purpose, a knowledge of trig-onometry will 

 be found very useful to the punter, and enable him the sooner to 

 acquire the art of rightly adjusting his gun on the head of the punt. 



In the first place, the punter must remember that his gun is not 

 so light and handy a weapon as to be capable of being- moved about 

 with the facilities of a shoulder-piece ; and when he is lying- flat on 

 his chest on the floor of the piuit, working- his way towards a 

 number of wild-fowl, he cannot then shift his gun, nor can he, in an 

 ordinary way, alter the elevation, but must fire it from the position 

 in which it is placed; and which, unless he is an experienced punter, 

 is more likely to be too hig-h or too low than to be exactly right. 

 Here are at least two chances to one against its being placed at 

 proper elevation. 



A punt-gun, to be strictly in its proper and most effective 

 position, should lie so as to bear point-blank upon the object fired 

 at, eighty yards from the punt ; and, if the pimt be of proper 

 form and depth, as already described (p. 116), the strong- or 

 eifective shot will range from sixty to one hundred yards, killing 

 everything- in its track within that distance ; and, when once so 

 elevated, the punter should be careful to keep the gun always in 

 that position. The slightest alteration makes material difference — 



