SCIENTIFIC MATTERS. I97 



bustion, are questions that demand careful study to be 

 understood ; and the sportsman will not find his time 

 misapplied who examines them carefully in detail. 



The question as to whether or not the force of the 

 charge is at all increased beyond the force of the im- 

 mediate explosion at the breech-end of the gun, is one 

 on which there are a variety of opinions. My own con- 

 viction, formed after much thought on the subject, 

 is that 'the chief force of a given charge of powder 

 is made within three or four inches from the breech or 

 chamber of the barrels. As the charge proceeds out 

 of the barrel, the gases expand, finding more room as 

 the wad above the powder reaches the muzzle of the 

 gun, and consequently on the passage the propellent 

 force is somewhat diminished. It cannot possibly be 

 increased if the combustion is complete at the breech 

 end of the gun, as there is nothing more to make it an 

 accelerating power. And this suggestion does not 

 conflict with the statement that coarse powder being 

 slower in its combustion than fine, its propellent 

 gases are continued farther up the barrel, and give 

 greater force to the charge. 



If we estimate the force of two and one half drachms 

 of gunpowder as equal to five thousand pounds, and 

 then suppose this quantity to be instantly ignited at 

 the chamber of the gun or a very few inches from it, 

 then the whole force being instantly expended, it can- 

 not in any conceivable way be increased in the barrel, 

 between the place of ignition and its muzzle. There- 

 fore, I think, so far as force alone is concerned, that 

 short-barrelled guns (of the same bore) will throw their 



