GUNS AND LOADING. 495 



a certain ten-pound gun, I shoot at fowl one ounce of 

 shot and four drams of powder. This charge of shot 

 will be regarded as small by many gunners, but with it 

 this gun does better work than \vith any other charge. 



The tendency among gunners also is to use too large 

 shot. Number 4 is quite large enough for ducks, cer- 

 tainly for canvas-backs and redheads; while for mal- 

 lards, pintails, and smaller ducks, No. 6, or early in the 

 season No. 8, is quite large enough. One may kill many 

 geese at long range with fours, although the more com- 

 mon practice is to shoot B shot at them. For swans, 

 BB is large enough, though for long shots at birds far 

 above one, T or O may be used. It is always worth 

 while when going duck shooting to carry a few B cart- 

 ridges, and eight or ten shells, loaded with the larger 

 shot, for swans. They do not take up very much room, 

 and are sometimes very useful. 



While with perhaps a majority of gunners the nitro 

 powders at once came into favor, there was another 

 considerable class, more conservative, which long de- 

 clined to use them. As time passed, however, the 

 manufacturers overcame very many of the difficulties 

 which at first gave trouble with the product, and, at the 

 present day, the number of men who decline to use it, 

 because they do not regard it as being as effective as 

 black powder, is small. Although the nitro powders 

 are a great advance on the old-fashioned black explos- 

 ives, they are not yet all of them perfect. As they are 

 chemical and not mechanical compounds, they are sub- 

 ject to certain changes, depending on the conditions by 



