74 ON THE WING. 



use of these English tipping guns, arising from the 

 complicated and extensive machinery required for fix- 

 ing the ammunition ; and then a grave defect in the 

 cartridge when prepared. In no weapon is greater 

 simplicity required than in the fowling-piece and all 

 things pertaining thereto. But the contrivances for 

 fixing the ammunition for these tipping guns seems to 

 have been constructed with the idea of making the 

 manufacture of cartridges a highly professional oper- 

 ation. Go to any of the dealers in these foreign 

 breech-loaders, and see what an array of instruments 

 they will place before you. Spread them out upon a 

 table, and you will see a collection of implements that 

 will nearly rival the table of a first-class dentist. 

 Then, too, the cartridges themselves are objection- 

 able; being, in the first place, quite expensive, the shell 

 or case alone costing some two cents each ; and, in the 

 second place, the cases being made of paper, they are 

 liable to get damp, and after being discharged to adhere 

 to the barrels of the gun, particularly when the barrels 

 get a little foul and heated from repeated shooting. 

 I have seen them adhere to the barrels so firmly as to 

 require forcing out from the muzzle of the gun : in- 

 deed, I have seen them withstand even this process of 

 expulsion, by the breech-end or brass chamber of the 

 cartridge giving away, and leaving the paper portion 

 still adhering to the barrels, to be removed by some 

 extractor or as best it might. 



It is said that these cartridge-cases can be used 

 two, three, or four times ; but I have observed that 

 sportsmen generally use them only once, as they do 



