HOW TO SELECT A GUN. 21 



clear of its mark altogether. A gun for brush-shoot- 

 ing, therefore, should throw its shot so that at a dis- 

 tance of 35 or 40 yards any bird coming within a cir- 

 cle of 30 square inches would not escape unhit by 

 some one of the pellets. 



In aiming at a bird on the wing, in the brush or 

 open field, we do not exactly cover him, or bring the 

 sight of the gun into an exact line with him (as we 

 should do if using a rifle), but we are often an inch or 

 two wide of the mark, and cannot have time to do 

 better. In my own experience, when a bird at the 

 distance above mentioned has come within a circle 

 of about a barrel-head, and I have had no time for 

 improvement, I have always considered the game se- 

 cured. 



A gun must therefore scatter fairly and evenly at 

 the full average distance, in order to be serviceable 

 in brush-shooting. Some guns, undoubtedly, scatter 

 too widely, and these are not reliable. When I hear 

 a sportsman say that he likes a gun that scatters 

 well, I am apt to infer that he shoots indifferently, 

 depending too much upon the spread of his shot. 

 The best kind of gun for brush-shooting — which will 

 not only shoot strongly, but will scatter its pellets 

 evenly — is that above mentioned, with the 28-inch 

 barrel, the gauge 14, and a weight of from 6| to 7. 



I prefer laminated steel barrels (in which the iron 

 and steel are mixed together before welding), but 

 have used stub-twist iron barrels, which do their 

 work equally well. The former are a little stronger 

 and more elastic, and will endure rather more hard 



