I9O ON THE WING. 



the cap, i. e. whether at the extreme base of the 

 charge, or from the top or centre, or from the forward 

 part of it. But from what I can learn from the expe- 

 rience of others who have tested the question, I think 

 the point of ignition makes no material difference as to 

 the recoil. I learn from a celebrated rifle-maker of 

 this country that he has experimented without finding 

 any perceptible difference. In this connection I will 

 give, from the " Essay on Shooting," the statement of 

 M. Le Clerc, gunsmith to the king of France in 1780, 

 who was well informed on all subjects relating to his 

 profession. 



"These experiments," says M. Le Clerc, "were 

 made with a barrel (flint lock) nearly thirty-two inches 

 in length (English measurement), and weighed, with 

 the loaded plank upon which it was fixed, twenty- 

 eight pounds. The barrel had four touchholes, which 

 could be stopped with screws. The charge consisted 

 of one drachm and twelve grains of powder, from a 

 royal manufactory, and eight drachms eighteen grains 

 of shot, called small 4. The barrel was fired from 

 each touchhole at a sheet of paper, measuring twenty 

 by sixteen inches (French measure), placed at a dis- 

 tance of nearly forty-five ordinary paces." The only 

 difference in loading was that, in the first set of ex- 

 periments, the wads consisted of hat-felt, cut to fit 

 the calibre, while in the latter paper wadding was 

 used. Had these trials been made with no other 

 motive than to determine the degree of recoil pro- 

 duced by the situation of the touchhole, there would 

 have been no use in marking the size of the shot, the 



