1 86 ON THE WING. 



RECOIL. 



THE subject of recoil, I do not think, is generally- 

 understood. Almost every one knows when a 

 gun kicks, and some of the causes of its kicking ; but 

 all do not fully understand why one gun kicks more 

 than another, or the laws by which the phenomenon is 

 governed. 



Action and reaction being equal and in opposite 

 directions, it follows that the recoil of a musket or 

 fowling-piece is in proportion to the quantity of pow- 

 der used, the weight of the gun, and the obstruction 

 in the passage. All guns recoil more or less, from the 

 amount of powder used in their discharge. But what 

 the sportsman should particularly attend to are the 

 causes which produce excessive recoil, or kicking, and 

 which, in the case of guns of the same calibre and 

 weight, loaded with equal charges of powder and shot, 

 make one kick more violently than another. This 

 question of recoil underlies all the essential differences 

 found between guns. Two persons may have guns 

 made by the same maker, exactly alike in length, 

 weight, bore, and quality of iron, of which one will 

 shoot well up to the mark, while the other behaves but 

 indifferently ; and the difference in the recoil will per- 

 haps be considerable. This is because, in one of the 

 guns, there is some slight inequality of the bore, some 



